Restoration costs

[AlanPCUBS]

Well my 49 has gone over the $2,500.00 mark but I have a grand in just the engine from mashine shop work. The rest is all parts. But for me its been worth it where the tractor belonged to my grandfathere so to me its pricless. And the experiance is pricless. Hope to do the 50 demo in a few years when my son can appreciate doing it with me.

[Davesaver]

A story about justifying the cost of paint.

Keeping in mind red pigmented paint will be more expensive than most other colors unless they have red in them like yellow, orange, and some blues and purples. Some colors of red paint are more expensive than others . One popular color of red was was $150.00 a gallon not including hardners or reducers. So a guy would come in with his wife looking for paint and pick that color of red. When I would quote them the price the wife's jaw would hit the floor and she would start dragging hubby out the door.

As timidly as I could I would ask the gal how much she pays for a bottle of finger nail polish. The average price then was about $3.25 for a .17 oz bottle. I would then do the math for her. 128 oz in a gal. 128 divided by .17 was 752.9, times $3.25 which came to $2,447.00. The guy would kind of smile as much as he dared thinking about how many bottles of nail polish his wife had purchased over the years. She would quietly write out the check for the paint.

[Buzzard Wing]

Oh Ralph is so right. Someone asked me if I was doing the work to sell the tractor(s) and I said I could never work for free or pay to do the work.

And since I was accounting for everything (except electricity) in that $1000.... it included the propane to heat the garage.

The other way to look at it is that you don't need to spend it all at once, so it is not like shelling out the cash up front. And as Ralph said, it is great experience! Sure beats the mindless junk that is on TV (I cut the satellite TV and never even bothered to rig the rabbit ears, to let you know how much I miss it) and you have something to show for your time that you can be proud of. You will have also learned a lot of useful things along the way. It is certainly easier when you get your second one......

You know we are here to help ya out and support you in the project!
[/i]

[l5foye]

Hello All-
I reckon the last thing you want to do is estimate or count the cost of restoring a tractor. You restore a Cub because you want to. If you think you have better things to do with your time, don't start. The joy of seeing a tractor transformed to the state it was maybe 50 or more years ago, is priceless.

['Country' Elliott]

Hey Paw's49...If you have a budget to live within...why not retore the tractor as you can afford it. Doing it this way allows YOU to controll the amount of money you will spend and the time it will take. HOWEVER, as others have stated here, you have to consider that there will be "hidden" costs not seen at first that will automatically put you over budget, or add more time to your restoration.

DON'T SKIMP ON ANYTHING YOU DO...YOU'RE BETTER OFF DOING IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME THAN HAVING TO DO IT OVER!

[paw's49]

I really appreciate all the varied responses and advice.

Looks like it will be a paint job at this time. I figure I've got about $400 to spend right now, and then it will be a pay-as-you-go in the future. I'd like to think paint is just as important as anything else, because the cleanup/prep will halt/eliminate the current rust, and paint will prevent any further outbreaks hopefully.

Rudi.....from your slide show, I can't tell how you've got those wires attached to the tops of the rebar....could you detail? Currently trying to hunt up a 55 gallon barrel.....

Thanks so much guys.....I'm looking forward to getting started.

[Patbretagne]

Currently trying to hunt up a 55 gallon barrel.....

Thanks so much guys.....I'm looking forward to getting started.

Hi we found ours at the local tractor repair shop, it held antifreeze and cost a bottle of Pernod, even had the chance of sampling the pernod with the owner!
Electol is so so simple, + to the rebars with crocodile clips on shiny metal with a wire running from croc to croc, say 6 rebars and the - black to the item being derusted.
Hope you get it together
PS We didn't put a drain into ours for fear of it being broken off somewhere along the line. IF needbe, a length of hose on the tap other end in tank at bottom, turn it on till no more bubbles in the fluid, then turn tap off, diconnect hose from tap and put finger over end, move that end of hose to a handy drain and let it go, and Voila, as they say over here, otherwise 'there you have it'
Pat

[Rudi]

Craig:

If you look on slide 23 you will see the water proof electrical box that I am using. Inside are two buss bars from an old 100 amp power panel.

I use those to provide the primary connections from the charger. All the leads are battery cables that have been cut in half, so that I could utilize the spring clamp to affix the leads to the re-bar. Slide 26 shows how the cabling enters and exits the box. The positive leads (of which there will be 6 in total- 5 going to the re-bar and 1 coming from the battery charger) all connect to the left-hand buss bar and the negative leads (of which there will be only two- one which connects to the center chain.), connect to the right-hand bar. This is just how I did it... you choose.. what ever makes sense to you. Slide 29 shows the negative and two positive connections nicely.

1 negative and 1 positve lead come in from the bottom of the box through the knockout plug and attach to the buss bar either at the top or the bottom... and this too is a matter of personal choice. Then 1 negative lead gets attached to the negative buss bar and 5 positive leads get attached to the positive buss bar.

Now, I used 3 sets of 10 gauge booster cables that I got for $3.95 a set (on sale) and cut them in half. This works out great for the positive leads, but you end up with a few left overs from the negatives... not too bad cause they can be used for something else. (Glad I saved em, cause I now have my 5 gallon small parts bucket to wire up )

Also, Slide 29 shows the container of TSP that I use. I use the WHOLE 2lbs or 1 kilogram of TSP for the tank. Anything less provides less satisfactory results. Larry can attest to that...

I used a lot of wire ties in this project. I like things neat. Em also tells me I always over engineer a project... she thinks that is the Bavarian in me coming out

I hope this provides a little more clarity.. let me know.. oh, post pics of your tank when done.. be nice to see.

[Buzzard Wing]

Hey Paw.... Emily is right. Rudi has the 'German Engineering' approach to his electro tank. I have gotten by with the 'use what ever I have collected' approach.

I have had a 55 gallon tank sitting around for years and have still not cut the top off and made it a electro tank yet. When I do, the fan shroud, grill and the seat are the items to take the bath first. Most everything else can be done in a 5 gallon joint compound pail or other suitable plastic container. Some things are just easier with a twisted wire wheel on an angle grinder.

Recently on my visit to the mini CubFest at Cecil's I told a old friend that I was visiting about electrolisys. He had someones rifle that had been in a fire and we built a tank from a wallpaper tray, tack welded some spike nails together and in less than a day the barrel looked like brand new. He was some impressed with the results!! The cost was the TSP. I think my box of washing soda was $3 and I still have most of it left!

My seat post looked like a total loss. It was severly rusted (actually through) but that is the perfect part for the tank, deep rust pits can be 'stopped' with electro and I figure the tool box will cover most of the 'ugly'.

And, it's just fun to watch!

[Brandon Webb]

A quart of red oxide primer and activator will cost you almost $100. Red paint is the most expensive you can buy, if you go with dupont or something like that If you buy IH paint then it's a little cheaper. But it's a hobby, and money doesn't go anywhere these days. $100 can easily be spent without coming home with an armload.

[Cecil]

I work for the local JD dealer and use they're parts country paint. It lists for 15.55 a quart and is a perfect match for the IH. Of course then there is the reducer, the hardener and the fish eye retarder. That hardener is about 30 dollars a can. It took 3 quarts to do the most recent Cub that had the depth control and hook up for the two way plow. Then I also have to add in about 4 rattle cans from IH as they are better than the JD rattle cans. I use the cans to prepaint those parts that will be hard to get to after installation and before the full paint job. The cans are easier than mixing up paint and cleaning up afterword. Can't tell the difference when the final coats are applied.
BW saw my tank at the minifest. Just a 55 gallon plastic tank with a big piece of metal in the bottom for the anode and an old plasic planter holder to seperate the part being cooked. Works great and not a lot of engineering. I like to keep to the KISS theory when possible.