My 982 refurb project

[dday]

Kirk - Thanks for compliment. As for sealing around spark plug holes in the engine sheet metal with gromments - good question. Like you said, no mention in my parts book, or serice manuals. I've never seen a picture of Onan's with them on several web sites either. Can't help you, but I'm interested if someone comes up with a good reference source that calls for them.
thanks,

 

[ksharpe]

Hey Dennis,

Sorry it has taken a few days to get back to you. I pulled the tin off of my Onan and this is what I found.

No “mystery” line like on yours. I looked at your pictures again and I can’t quite tell where the end of the line is attached. It looks like it is attached just below the tin the wiring harness runs out from behind. As you can see there is nothing there on mine, sorry I couldn’t help solve the mystery.

BTW – I sent full size pictures to your e-mail, send me yours will see if we can get anywhere with a better look.

Jeremiah / Dennis – Thanks for the response on the “grommet” issue. I did have a thought about the lack of a seal around the oil filter… I can feel a lot of air coming out from there, perhaps this would function to some extent as oil cooler??? It does seem that moving more air across the fins would work more efficiently though.

Kirk

 

[elincoln]

I may be wrong on the Onan extra line. On most onans the valve spring chamber on the head with the oil filter had a small hole drilled into the cylinder wall like a Kohler. The other valve chamber on the left side does not have a hole in the cylinder wall, it has a hole about 1/2" around to vent the crankcase and drain off any oil bypassing the valve guides. The small hole on the right cylinder must not have worked out so onan added a vent for the right side also. PS; be careful that you don't drop a valve keeper down the large hole on the left side.

 

[dday]

Edward - Thanks for your input on the extra oil drain line on my Onan. I had never heard of this before. Now since my tractor was built in Oct 1980,(and I assume it was built with this extra drain line) - I wonder if earlier built 982s' had this drain line, if your theory is corrrect?

Kirk - Thanks for the pictures of your Onan, that clearly shows that you don't have this extra oil drain line that mine has. I don't have a better picture to send, but it appears that using your 2nd (or lower) picture, my drain line fitting would be located just to the left of the 4th horizontal cooling fin down from the top of head. Also, when was your 982 built - I wonder when this factory change may have been made? Also I wonder how long this drain line stayed into production - even into the mid 80's at CCC?

Anybody else with an Onan have any input on this drain line, and / or build dates?
Thanks,

 

[ksharpe]

Hey Dennis,

You are welcome.

According to the production tables mine was built in June of ’80, S/N 20595U670158. I am at least the third owner of this machine, so I have no idea if the Onan is the original. I have no particular reason to believe otherwise. I have not looked into the engine’s name plate or S/N or even where it is. There is a plate on the fly wheel fan shroud, but that may not be original to my engine. Having this information may provide some additional information.

Kirk

 

[dday]

Well some slow progress on the 982 in last couple of weeks. The front sheet metal - I'm tired of working with it! I wanted to work out several fit up problems with it while it is still unpainted, so that's what I have been doing. Not very exciting work, but necessary for a better looking end result. I first started with replacing the broken cast aluminum hood support - it was broken in two pieces. Also, the LH hinge rod had been welded back together, so I replaced both with some good used parts - thanks eBay. I really wonder what happened to the old girl to break these parts? And maybe if I knew that answer, I would better understand some of the other issues I've found. Here is picture of the two broken hood parts.

Next I noticed that the LH engine side sheet rubbed the fuel tank hard, as shown in next picture.

Part of the rubbing problem was found to be that the LH side sheet had been bent inward (like someone had stepped on it) as I compared with a straight edge to the RH side profile. So I was able to carefully bend the LH sheet out to match the RH sheet. But even after that, I still had some light rubbing, even though the firewall plate seemed centered (equal clearance with LH & RH sheets). So after trying lots of things, I finally decided to move the fuel tank towards the RH side to get some proper clearance, and the best way to do that was to move the 4 mounting holes of the fuel tank strap that bolts to the firewall. So next two pictures show the new holes moved over about 1/4 inch, and then the final result - proper clearance!

Next I added some foam to the firewall, like parts book indicates, to reduce hot air recirculating, as shown in next picture.

Next I started to work on the bad fit ups between side sheets, front guard & hood - which is shown in next picture of RH side sheet to front guard.

While the RH side sheet had a big gap with the guard, the LH sheet was too tight. The front guard seemed out of line with the dash, which also angled the hood. This was the frustrating part - I move one part and then something else looked worse. I must of had these parts off and on 20 times as I tried different combinations of fixes. One obvious problem was that the side sheet's mounting holes (to dash) were badly worn egg shape - letting the side sheet fall down in the rear. While I fixed this, I also decided to slot these holes further to improve the fit up with the front guard, before welding the holes up. So the next picture shows the RH sheet hole before I welded a washer in the correct place.

The next picture shows the end result after welding washer and smoothing around it with body filler.

In the end after trying lots of ideas, I think a lot of my troubles stem from the frame's LH mounting pad for the front guard being bent down and twisted. Also the front guard seemed twisted, like the tractor had hit something really hard. So I added several shims between LH frame pad and guard. Also the RH side sheet was twisted, so I straighten it a bit. I finally got tired of all this and called it good enough. I carefully marked all the positions / adjustments so when I disassemble for painting - I hopefully can get the parts back in postion. The next picture shows the result on RH side sheet - it's better and now consistent with other side.

Well I'll set the front sheet metal aside for now - it's ready for stripping the paint off later when it gets warmer outside. Now on to the seat platform - I need to fix some cracks in it around the seat mounting bolts. More next time.

 

[dday]

Sorry about the pictures not uploading on previous post - darn archive bug! Anyhow here are the pictures.
Broken hood parts:

LH side sheet rubbing on fuel tank:

New hole pattern on firewall to relocate fuel tank to the right:

Final side sheet clearance to fuel tank:

Foam applied to firewall:

Bad RH side sheet fit to front guard:

Worn side sheet mounting hole before welding up:

Fixed side sheet mounting hole with washer welded in:

Final RH side sheet fit up - better!

More next time on seat platform repair.

 

[jchamberlin]

Dennis: While I haven't spent the time you have on this issue, I have experimented with fitting the sheets up to the front grille on my 782. At one point I tried attaching the side sheets loosely to the dash column and using the spring at the front to grip them BEFORE tightening the front grille down. I've never been able to get both sides to line up in exactly the same manner; kind of like trying to trim my sideburns --like you, I finally stopped at "good enough."

 

[dday]

A little progress to report on, as I tackled the cracked seat platform. These weren't terrible cracks and may not have grown much - but I just didn't like them and wanted to fix / reinforce them. The following picture shows the 3 areas of cracks from the top view, with pencils pointing to the hair line cracks.

First I got some 1/8 inch thick plate, 2 inches wide and cut them to length so that they would wrap around the platform's radius a bit. This next picture shows the plates I made, with holes and notch added, and formed ends.

Next I ground out the platform cracks a bit so I could plug weld them, to the plates - as shown in next picture.

The next picture shows the plates in position on the underneath side, ready to be welded.

The next picture shows the final result from the underneah side, with the plates skip welded in place, and the splatter and high welds ground down, and buffed up.

The last picture shows the final result from top side, with cracks welded shut and ground flush.

I was amazed how much stiffer this repair made the platform - now when I pick it up it doesn't seem to twist as easily as before. I made a trial fit up on the tractor and the repair fit fine - the extra 1/8 inch thickness doesn't bother the fit up of the platform's step area to the support angles of the frame. I will set the platform aside now to await warmer weather before I strip it down and repaint. Now on to some small parts and the wheels. Have a good day!

 

[kmcconaughey]

Dennis, nice repair/improvement. That extra 1/8" would be useful for extra clearance for tire chains if you were up here in snow country.

 

[dday]

Well a little more progress to report - I've moved on to final painting of sheet metal and rims. First I stripped the seat & fender platform, hood, side sheets, and front grill down to bare metal with a right angle grinder with a poly mesh abrasive pad - did a pretty good job. Then to finish it I hand sanded, and primed. Next pictures shows this step.

Then I took these sheet metal parts to a painter at a body shop to spray them red. Next picture shows the results, after I got them back and put them in a spare room in the house to keep them clean. They look great - can't wait to get them on the tractor!

While I was waiting on the painter, I started to clean up and paint the rims. I had read on the main forum of a trick to deflate the tire, cut out some card board to slip under the edge of the rim as a mask, then paint. Worked great, as shown in next picture.

Well now to finish up - wheel bearings, decals,front grill, touch up, etc. So long for now.

 

[dtanner]

Dennis M Day

I like your idea of welding in the tin where you fenders had cracks in the tin ;I think I will do that to my 1512 also. It has some stress cracks around the bolts where the fender pan is mounted. That is going to be a great tractor and you should be proud to own it.

 

[mpatterson]

You do some FINE work!

You have got to be proud of this project!

 

[jchamberlin]

Dennis: I second Mike's emotion! I fear you'll come down with the dread disease "Bursellitis" in which you fix the tractor up so pretty you're afraid to use it.

(Are you out there, Harry?)

 

[dday]

Jeremiah - I think you maybe right. I'm starting to dread the thought of getting that pretty red paint dirty.

 

[dday]

Well I have seemed to have several distractions in the last month - but some progress to report, and a setback. First I should mention that I have put new wheel bearings in the front wheels, and mounted all 4 wheels to the chassis. Then I mounted the freshly painted front guard, seat / fender platform, and driveline cover to the chassis. I then temporarily set the hood on - it looks great - as the first picture below shows the overall view. Looks pretty good and I'm getting excited to get it finished.

Next I got a brand new seat (the old one looked like it was off a toy) and put it on the seat mounting plate. But that is where the setback happened - I was disappointed with how loose and sloppy the seat felt when I got on and set in it. Closer inspection revealed that the seat mounting plate hinge holes were badly worn oversize, maybe 1/4" - and I had not noticed it before(that is before I stripped / primed / finished painted the seat mounting plate). Next photo shows the loose fit over the pins.

After thinking about it a bit, I felt I just had to fix this and make the hinge joint tight. So I found some plain steel washers, filed the ID for a tight fit on the pins, and planned to weld them to the inside and outside of the plate - on both sides. See next photo for trial fitup before welding.

I then buffed off the nice new red paint and welded the washers in place, filled the rough weld with body filler, primed, and finished painted, as shown in next picture. The fix looks good, and now the joint is tight!

Next I moved on to the front light grille, light mounting brackets and front emblem - they were all rough looking. After stripping, straightening, priming and painting - they look pretty good now, as shown in next picture.

One last issue to fix - was the IH emblem. The tractor didn't have a front emblem when I got it - so after looking quite a while, I found one that wasn't too bad - but it did have the lower mounting post broken off. So I used some good ole J B Weld to secure a 8-32 threaded rod that I had bent into an "L" shape, to the backside of the emblem, as shown in next picture. It seems to be pretty strong now that it has cured.

Well - the next items to work on are the rusty foot plates, the broken front grille, and then apply the decals. I'm getting closer - more next time.

 

[jstertz]

Dennis--that thing is really starting to come together nicely! It is so fun to get to this stage because you can see the finish line in sight. It was the right call to fix that worn seat hinge point. When something like that bugs you the first time you check it out, imagine how bad it will be week in and out! It's really hard to take that short step backwards but its worth it when you have it completed. It looks sharp and you are doing a great job. Soon you will have reached your goal!

 

[dday]

Here is an update of my recent progress - seems like these final little things are slow going. First I worked on the step treads - although not factory intent, the PO had installed a raised metal skid plate that I kind of liked and decided to keep. I removed the old paint / rust / junk, primed painted, and finally applied a textured truck bed liner paint. It turned out pretty good and has a non-skid texture that I like. The first picture shows the final result.

Next area of work was the front grille, that I had been dreading. Looked like PO had ran into something pretty hard and broken the grille in 2 places, and bent it inward.

So rather that trying to buy another used grille (most used ones have their own set of issues) I decided to try to fix this one. First I carefully tried to straighten the grille so it was flat again by using blocks and standing on the grille high spots. Next I glued a threaded rod on the backside of the grille to reinforce it and hold it in the flat position - using J-B Weld. The next picture shows the rod & grille clamped together while the J-B Weld cures out.

After this grille had cured out, I sanded down the high spots of J-B weld, prime painted, painted the small vertical bars black, then masked the black bars with drinking straws & tape, and then I applied a finishd coat of silver paint to the whole grille. Next picture shows the final result, which I think looks pretty good. (I just hope the engine exhaust doesn't get the grille too hot - the J-B weld says it has a max of 550 F.)

The final work this time was fixing the rear lights - seems as the PO had cut the small wiring harnesses off. So I rewired them, and cleaned up the light housings. Well I think my next step is to finish installing the covers & panels, then apply the decals. With no more hold ups, maybe I can get this done soon and then post some final tractor shots to bring this project to a conclussion. More later.

 

[cmwkrill]

LOOKING GREAT!!! I think I just learned something too.. Great job, man.

 

[jchamberlin]

Dennis: Repairing the grille was ambitious; but the results prove your worth.

I love the shot of the TWO exhaust pipes peaking out from behind the grille. (I've got just as many cylinders in my Mag 18, but only a single muffler/exhaust.)

I would not worry too much about the heat, there may be some discoloration from the soot of the exhaust, but I wouldn't anticipate temperatures even approaching the 300 deg F range, let alone exceeding 550 deg F! For example, on my 782, the grille becomes hot to the touch after the tractor has run an hour or two, but that's about it: I've never burned my fingers touching it.