"The WarHorse"

Winch Plate - Part 1

I FINALLY got an actual start on the winch mounting plate! I made the design and template at the start of October but with the price of steel these days I stalled until I could find a piece to use for cheap. The metal supplier in my area wanted $60 for a 2x2 foot piece of 1/8" plate so I said forget that and decided to wait... mid November when I was at the salvage yard I made a deal to cut my own piece for $20 so the project moves ahead!


Here's the mockup, design and the cardboard template I made in October.




With the required steel now in stock it was time to re-mockup the template,  add to some measurements for wiggle room and subtract from others to account for the bends. I've illustrated the 3 point (technically 5 point) mounting system for a visual by using red dots and arrows, it should be plenty strong overall and won't be hard to beef up in the future if required.



Armed with the knowledge of adjustments to my measurements it was time to transfer it over to the steel.



Then it was time to trim the excess from around the outside...  



and then to cut out everything else!



Feels good to have gotten to this point with it finally, it was one of the first things I planned and started working on but the lack of reasonably priced steel held it back! Still lots to do in the form of cleaning, bending, welding and painting but I'm happy to have made this progress!

Until next time!

In the mockup, the winch is outside the hood.
The other pics seem to show it almost touching the engine. That is kind of scary. If it is mounted that close, ramming something (tree?) could kill the engine too.

The winch will be in front of the grille and the grille will actually sit on the plate, what you're seeing close to the engine is the piece that extends under the grille and will be bolted to the frame vertically there. There's only a few inches of clearance between the grille and motor as it is so hopefully I don't end up fighting a tree! Lol

Edit: You've inspired me to build a little spark plug shield out of some of the leftovers just to be on the safe side.

Definitely looks much closer than it actually will be, have about 7" between the winch and motor but thank you @Nevadablue for spotting a potential hazard! We're all here to help each other and I appreciate you keeping a keen eye out!

Looks good! I’m getting ready to finally put the roller fairlead and new rope on the winch on my RTV and was watching for ideas.

Are you going with synthetic rope or standard wire rope? I ask because I came across an article of wire vs. synthetic, roller vs. standard fairlead and it stated you CAN use synthetic rope with a roller fairlead IF it (or the rollers) are brand new, any scoring on the rollers from wire rope will damage the synthetic rope.

I installed the winch mainly to lift the snow blade on the front of the rig. The steel cable did the normal steel cable thing and broke, tangled and I ended up running it for a long time with a knot tied to keep it together. Last year I switched to a nylon strap and broke that almost immediately while lifting the blade up as I pushed a big pile of snow. It is now tied... sigh. So, the synthetic rope and roller fairlead are going on soon I hope. I bought the rope when I installed the winch, but the round tuit supply was short and I never found another.

That's a bummer! Yup cable has a life span but it's quite strong that's for sure! I thought about synthetic rope for my build (hence my research) then thought twice figuring what was the point for my tractor?! Lol.

Winch Plate - Part 2


I made a big leap forward today! Check out how I bent the metal HERE.



Once I bent all the pieces...




it was time to start finessing the corners. I started hammering the side pieces into the front but as you can see the metal started to curl.



I used the cutting disk on the grinder to open the gap a little then hammered it in again.


Time to start welding! What I did was weld a little, hammer a little, weld a little, hammer a little ect ect until the first side was done.





Then on to the other side. Finally got the welder dialed in by the end of the first side, I probably should've done that before I even got started! Lol.



A quick test fit to make sure the mounting tabs will fit in their place, once I straitened the left side bracket on the tractor it went on without much of a fight! I can't slide it back to where it needs to go without removing a ground cable and doing a little clearancing but it was getting late and I made enough noise tonight so I shut er down, I try to be a good neighbor!



I'll hopefully get more done on it this weekend, im very glad to have tackled that step though!

Nice! Watching.

Small Update

I didn't get a whole lot done this weekend but a little something is better than nothing!



I drilled all the mounting holes, mocked it up and cut out the spot where the winch fairlead will sit. 


I'm thinking I'm not happy with the original grille brackets and will be making new, extended ones to give more support to the front half of the winch plate. This will also give me a good spot to mount a front skidplate.


Then it was time to pull the motor so I could mark out and drill the rear mounting holes.


I pulled the front axle plate and installed 5/16" studs in it for now, they're only grade 5 but I dont think those 3 will be under much stress and will be fine. All other hardware will be replaced with grade 8 hardware,  I may have a small stockpile of high grade Caterpillar hardware coming my way! *fingers crossed*



Here's how she sits for now! I want to clean up the axle, will probably do some reinforcements while it's out and would like to figure out a way to make it easy to oil/grease it without having to remove it.


I've gotten carried away and have gone WAY above and beyond my original intentions with this beast already but the worst part is I'm not even 50% of the way there yet! Blast this site for filling my head with so many ideas! Lol! I'm having fun building it and that's what it's all about right!

That's it for now, more to come soon!

wait till ya start driving the tractor you will want more then one!

man, that winch plate looks beefy! any mods/upgrades to that front axle to strengthen it up?

Budget_gokart wrote:

wait till ya start driving the tractor you will want more then one!

I have more than 1! I get to use and enjoy My Bolens all the time! Plus I have other tractors I can play with in the future.

MN mudder wrote:

man, that winch plate looks beefy! any mods/upgrades to that front axle to strengthen it up?

It sure will be and yes sir. I'm planning on gusseting the spindles, upgrading the spindle bushings and reinforcing the front axle somehow, not sure exactly how until I get into it though! Lol. Also, that front axle plate (that I put the studs in) was held in by 4 large metal screws so I'll replace them with bolts and nuts.

Another Small Update

I'm feeling pretty motivated to get the winch plate done so I can move onto other stuff so tonight I made a template for the new support brackets I mentioned in the previous update.


I also picked up these metal tabs while I was at Princess Auto tonight for a couple bucks each. They will be for the D ring mount on the front of the winch plate, I figured they were well worth it because they'll save me time instead of having to make my own!



That's all for now, Im hoping to have it all done by the end of this weekend!

Winch Plate - Part 3

I'm really happy with the progress I was able to make today, the winch plate itself is finally done! Please dont scrutinize my welds TOO much as I can lay down WAY better but not at home where I have factors working against me (a mediocre 110v welder, only 60 amp service and I live on a crappy old power grid), I'm surprised I can get any welding done at all! Lol.



First I bent up and welded the D ring tabs together (and forgot to take pics of that). To spread the load out across more than just the little (bent) tabs I made a support plate which I cut a slot in and welded it to.





I cut a matching slot in the winch plate and started welding it in from the backside.  


Then I welded not only it but all the seams on the side plates...


and around the D ring mount out in front!


I grinded down some of the welds a bit then got to coating! A couple light coats of self etching primer...



and it was ready for a couple coats of my favorite "paint".... spray on bed liner! Love this stuff! Looks tough, is super durable and that texture is great for hiding imperfections!  



With that monkey off my back I can finally move onto other stuff that needs doin' and there's no shortage of that! What have I got myself into!? Oh welly... Lol.

Until next time!

Nice work! What brand of bed liner are you using?

Thanks!  I've been testing out this Duplicolor Truck Bed Coating and loving it!  A much sharper texture than the DC Bed Armour and no nozzle clogging like every Rustoleum (bedliner) spray can I've ever gotten!  Lol. One of the cheapest price wise too so that's a bonus!

Well, It's been a busy few days and part of that is the progress I've made on the old girl, I'm hoping to have it on its wheels again soon so I can at least roll it around! Anyhoo, here's what I've gotten accomplished!



Front end stripped down:


Front axle cleaned up and reinforced:





Grease zerks installed in the front axle plate. I tack welded them in and cut what was sticking out the backside off because they would've interfered with the axle. When I did that the spring and ball popped out... no big deal I don't need 'em there anyways I'll still get the grease in!




Front spindles reinforced:
 





And finally everything painted!


I don't know what kind of super steel the steering gear is made of but after 5 mins of *trying* to drill a hole in it (for a grease zerk) I gave up! Barely even made a darn dent in it! But as you can see there's essentially no wear on this 37 year old part and I know this tractor has been worked most of it life so I'm not even going to complain!



Next up I'll have to clean and paint the front half of the chassis and add grease zerks to the back half axle plate so I can get grease in from both sides, then I'll be able to reassemble and get it back to being mobile again. I'm starting a mini teardown on the motor also so I can inspect the bore and see if I can get away with new rings or if it should get an overbore. It "ran when parked" 2 years ago and we all know that's a big red flag! Lol. The good news is I was the one that parked it and it ran decent so we'll see how she looks inside soon enough, oh and... yes I'll be giving everything my personal touch eventually when I do a proper teardown but for now I just want to have a look and get it running again so I can go for a romp in the snow! I need to see how crappy that open diff is! Lol


That's all for now, stayed tuned I'll be back with more soon enough!

I was shocked at how tight the steering on my wheel horse was as well, I have an newer MTD with about 250-300 hrs on it with steering 10x as loose.

my 90s MTDs always had decent steering i love MTDs steering i wish craftsmans had steering that tough i actually pulled the setup from a troy bilt and really considered adding those to a craftsman chassis. its really well built and engineered

looks good I like the reinforcements on those spindles she looks factory!

TechnoChicken wrote:

I was shocked at how tight the steering on my wheel horse was as well, I have an newer MTD with about 250-300 hrs on it with steering 10x as loose.

Your Wheel Horse was a well built tractor! They used to build things to last then they started building them to break, it's good for the economy they say! Lol

Budget_gokart wrote:

my 90s MTDs always had decent steering i love MTDs steering i wish craftsmans had steering that tough

Guess it depends who actually built it and when it was built, my Craftsman rig is MTD built, I think alot of the 90s Craftsmans were Roper built though I could very well be wrong. Maybe that's the difference?

I'm just disappointed I can't add a grease zerk to it, I mean I guess I could if I wanted to go through a big headache but I don't! Lol

MN mudder wrote:

looks good I like the reinforcements on those spindles she looks factory!

Thanks!  But don't you mean factree?! Lol

Well unfortunately my "mini teardown" of the engine for a quick inspection hasn't gone as planned...


When I opened it up I was greeted with this... nice chunks of metallic crap smothered in filthy oil and a scored cylinder!
 



Can definitely catch a nail on them suckers but the funny thing is that the motor still feels like it has tons of compression and will bounce back off it so maybe I'll just giver a quick hone and new set of rings, pending the piston isn't TOO bad. It did run perfectly good and strong last time I ran it so I guess it's lucky it's sat since then! It's trying to eat itself so now I need to get right into it to find out where those chunks of metal are coming from and if this motor will be salvageable or not,  I'll find out soon enough.


This is where I've left off for now.  
 


I'm REALLY hoping it's going to be okay,  it's original to the tractor and I want to keep it that way!  Say little prayer to the flathead gods for 'er boys she needs our help! Lol

Score!   

I think you are OK. Just be sure to get a good crosshatch in the hone. Is there a ridge at the top of the cylinder? If so (and if you don’t have a ridge reamer) be careful putting the piston back in. Of course the new rings will hit the ridge if it is there and is significant. If it is, it would be worthwhile to borrow a ridge reamer.

Lol. I hope so but I'm concerned about where those fragments are coming from...

Not sure about the ridge I ran my finger across it and didn't really feel anything so it's probably fine, the bore itself looks square and there's no play (rocking) in the piston surpringly.

Tomorrow is another day...