Farmall H TracTracTor Re-Assembled!

Finally got my Farmall H tracked conversion put back together after a long winter. I replaced the original T-20 tracks with newer (and much better) tracks from a TD-6 and rebuilt both front idler wheel spindles with new bearings. I had a heck of a time getting the front idlers re-adjusted for the new tracks. They had been turned way out to take up the slack in the worn T-20 tracks, but after a broken pipe wrench and several bent "cheater" bars I got the "new" tracks on. The TD-6 tracks had 32 plates per side where the T-20 only had 29. I had the local Cat dealer remove the three unnecessary plates and links. I didn"t receive the mater pins with the tracks so I machined my own from two of the spare pins. My next step is having my students cut down each plate from 16" to 12". Its takes about 15 minutes to cut each plate (6 to 7 minutes per side). I figure if we can get 8 finished each day it will take about 10 days to get them all cut to size. I"ll get the all the "new" stuff primed and painted after that and re-attach the plastic pads to each plate. Enjoy the picture I took when I got finished a few weeks ago and the picture of the custom decals my students and I made.
Farmall H Tractractor Left Side

Farmall H Tractractor Front

Farmall H Tractractor Right Side

Farmall H Tractractor Custom Decal

Looks great! How much of it did your students do? That is great hands on for them; fun learning as well as an interesting application with physical results for icing on the cake, that's hard to beat!

That is pretty cool! I like it!

Randy

It's an abomination!

I like it a lot! Very interesting and different! 8)

It is quite the abomination, but no one else has one [i:6fbf745175]exactly[/i:6fbf745175] like mine!

My students did a LOT of the initial work when we first put this together with my guidance and supervision. They did almost all the cutting, welding, grinding, painting etc. There were always the spots I would need to touch up here and there, but really the majority was completed by them.

With the replacement of the tracks I've been pretty much on my own at home. I ended up selling the old tracks at an auction before I had the newer one on so I really couldn't move the thing (without ripping my driveway to heck!) Now that I've got it back together the kids are cutting down the plates I bring in each day and in a week or two I'll take it back to the school and let them prime and paint the new tracks.

In answer to an e-mail I recieved:

Yes, those are TD-6 lights mounted on the sides of the hood. They are wired in with the regular lights and are all 12v.

If anyone else has trouble finding the special 12v or 6v bulbs for the crawler lights (the have a special triangular mounting plate instead of the regular pegs) I can give you the web address for the company I got mine from.