Replacing all bolts and gaskets?

Hey there,

I've got hold of an old Massey Ferguson MF155 tractor which has been lying in a field for about 5-6 years.

It surprisingly starts and runs well (about 8600+ hours on the counter), and all the gears work etc. However, as you'd imagine, all the bodywork is really rusty (side panels have lots of holes all the way through, seat doesn't have a bottom, etc) and most of the bolts are totally rusted. Radiator's rusted too, and a lot of the rubber seals etc seem perished

Since it seems to be working well, I figured I should strip and repaint everything. What I'm wondering is:

1) pretty much every exposed bolt is going to be seized/rusty to some extent. Should I take everything off and replace bolts with new ones, or at least loosen it and then re-tighten, since painting over it is only gonna make it worse if/when I do need to rebuild the thing?

2) don't know when the gaskets were replaced. Would you recommend tearing apart the engine and replacing all the gaskets as a matter of course while I'm at it, or do you think I can get away with a simple repaint since the engine itself seems to run fine?

No, modern hardware is not the sane quality that came on old machinery. The hardware you have now is high quality. Don't replace any gaskets that aren't leaking. Perfect example of if it ain't broke don't fix it.

Good advice DR.
I agree. Don't fix what aint broken.

I'll agree with that too !

I had a 34 ford pickup that drove back to WY I replaced one head gasket but not the other thinking it looked good later on in WY we found that the side that was not replaced was completely shot. I learned a good lesson just because a gasket looked good on the outside rim doesn't mean it's not shot in the middle. I always replace gaskets that subjected to heat as they will come back to haunt you later.
Most bolts on the old stuff are grade 3 that's the ones with no markings. Some companies like cat will put their name on the them and you can get these from any cat dealer. Look for marks on the head of the bolt no mark grade 3, 2 marks at 90 deg. Stainless, 3 marks grade 5, 6 marks grade 8 the hardest of the bolts used for heads and places that need a good strong bolt. On some bolts you will see 4140 these are very hard and only used on tractors like cats. If you want the tractor to look nice replace all of the bolts its a small cost and you won't have one breaking later on. Don't use cadmium bolts as the paint won't stick good to them.
Remember if it looks like the one that you take out then it is most likely correct. But be carefully on the hood some times you need a carriage bolt.
Walt

Hey...why the surprise at it starting and running......it's a Massey!!!
I think you will find a lot of the bolts will loosen if they are of the same quality as was used on our British built tractors. We get a lot of damp weather here and tractors are often left outside, coupled with salted roads in the winter time and loads of cow poo and yet the only bolts that I find hard to remove are the fender fixing bolts through the rear axles........ Good luck with your 'new' tractor!.....Sam

unless you want to "restore" the tractor - leave well enough alone.

Once you start taking stuff apart, there's no end to it. You'll need an endless stream of new bolts, washers, gaskets, parts, etc etc -

You get into "if I'm going to fix this... then I might as well fix that... and that... and since I'm in here I should fix all this while it's apart..."

Which isn't a bad thing - but probably a lot more than you're looking to do right now.

And if you're not up for that - there's really no point in doing just a little of it.