Thanks for all the Welcomes....glad to be here.The stands were definately improvised, but were rock solid. Railroad tie cribbing in the back, and 2 wide base stands up front. The original idea behind tearing it down this way was to build the engine and re-furbish the front end, put it all back together, then move to the rear. But after getting the engine off, it was clear that this was one worn out machine, so decided to keep tearing down. Seems mice had been living in the bell housing and drive shaft housing for a couple generations. I literally had to take a prybar and poke the mess apart (pic with stuff in pan, 4 of those came out). And the throwout bearing was the old carbon type and had never been changed and was worn clear through the carbon to the metal, ruining the pressure plate in the process of course. For those that asked, the name comes from my work, I'm an aircraft mechanic by trade, been in the airline business over 25 years now. In the old days, us mechanics used to go on "test hops", a check out flight with only a few crew on board. But we don't do too much of that anymore. Like everything else, the bean-counters run everything and they say its not needed. Like I said, I have been reading this site since last August, and I have been following the 4-H tractor, and all the others projects both big and small, for quite a while. Sounds like a nice project for the kids.
