[Jimmyrhorton]

i am in process of cosmetic refurb on late dad in laws 1992 lx172. It is a high hour well maintained machine that among other things,has spread ALOT of lawn fertilizer and lime. We talked about removing and repainting fender deck because of rust under seat and foot pads. I am now working on it and have removed deck,fenderdeck,fuel tank, and transaxle for cleaning,rust treatment and paint. Although we washed it after fertilizing each time,i was surprised to see large amounts of fertilizer pellets and dust caked to rear 1/3 of frame and transaxle housing.the frame has some rust but easily fixable. The differential case is heavily corroded,rough white powdery looking.My first question is can i use a wire brush on an angle grinder or will it damage the case? I want to clean it up and maybe clearcoat it.Am looking for suggestions. Second question is about the plastic hood,the lower section and bumper are new,the top is original,scratched and faded. Has anyone painted one of these plastic hoods and if so what type of prep did you do,and how did it turn out?
thanks,jimmy

 

[keith_menin]

If I were you, I would first degrease the deferential case, to see what comes off. If that doesnt do the job the wire wheel should'nt hurt it. I am also wondering about the hood issue too. My fenders and grill are painted, so my hood looks terrible. I used cutting creme which helps a little bit, and then waxed it. It looks much better after that.

 

[Jimmyrhorton]

Well,this is what i came up with,I cleaned the grease off with brake parts cleaner. Then i wire brushed what i could get too using a grinder a drill and small wire brushes. A friend suggested aluminum wheel cleaner for non clear coated wheels,this took alot of the corrosion out of the cracks and crevises.I then clear coated it with rattle can aluminum wheel clear coat. It turned out pretty good. The hood is on hold for now,the fender deck was rusted thru in several places,so i had to buy a good used one. I am going to repaint it install new foot pads and decal soon as it warms up. The new lower hood is green but the bumper came black,so it will have to be painted so i may as well try painting the upper hood also. the only prep i plan to do is wet sand/red scotch brite it then paint we will see how it turns out

 

[aartwmich]

Darn, thought I posted this earlier today but it disappeared!!

Is this 'off center misalignment' of the secondary belt idler and driven sheaves going to/have been cause problems?

My '86 216 threw the secondary belt awhile ago and so I torn into it. I also have a '79 214 (dead engine-parts tractor) and in comparing this area I see no differences..except the 216 belt was more worn and I do not believe it was JD belt and the 214 driven sheave was a little wider(0.030) than the 216 due to a more rolled edge and will not fit between the frame and trans without banging it up there...and the 214 sheaves are centered fine.

The variators on both tractors are equally worn and the 214 ran fine in that respect.

Really would like to eliminate any issues before I put it back together and I really need to get it back together this week.

Any insight would be appreciated...it's hard to working in a vacuum and I tend to over think the minutiae.

 

[lyall]

check the washers on the bolt for the pulley.
the thickness of the washers might be causing the problem
or the pulley was flipped at one time, check the offset

 

[aartwmich]

Thanks Glen..Yep, first thing I checked, thinking offsets were different, they were not.

Am just wondering if I need to do anything at all and if this was the reason it threw the belt or was it just the old non JD belt?

 

[sashiery]

Anne, the belt should run in the center of that idler pulley. I can't see enough from your picture to tell if the pulley lines up in the slot in the frame, but it should. Are the bolt and the bracket worn? The bracket is soft steel and bends pretty easily.

 

[aartwmich]

Thanks stephen....The bracket is not bent that we could tell in comparing the 214 and 216.

I keep comparing the 214 and 216 because the 214 is lined up properly...and I think we put the idler arm from the 214 on the 216 and the misalignment was still there, but maybe I should try that again cause I CRS.

Both the bolts and the bracket holes were worn on both the 214 and the 216 about the same, I did get a new bolt to lessen that play...and moving it with the play in the bolt/hole doesn't line it up even with the spring off.

Not sure what frame slot you mean, do either of these pics help?

 

[inspired_metal]

Anne,
I had one like that and the bushing in the pivot was bad and the bolt was worn. When I took it out and replaced it all was well in the world again.
Good luck.

 

[aartwmich]

Ya know Dominic, that's a darn good idea as I'm tired of messing with it and ya just can't fix worn out anyway....so I called a dealer and low and behold the pivot and bolt is available for about $25, 4 days wait and a 50 miles round trip drive. Thanks!

 

[aartwmich]

New pivot section of arm and new bolt did the trick.