She was a working girl. . .

As I spend more time with the OC-3 she reluctantly reveals more of her sorted past to me. My OC-3 was "a working girl", asked to do things that she didn't want to do by bad men who didn't care about her welfare. As I chip through the layers of abuse and neglect I find more evidence that this old OC-3 has lived a hard life.

Sunday was again a very rainy day. I decide to go to the garage to scrape and wash some parts that have not had their turn. With a masterful pitching performance by Johan Santana in the background I took a puddy knife to the final drive housings. After giving the left housing a bath in the parts washer I found a small but significant crack in the housing along one of the bolt holes (the first set of pictures below).

The right housing had an interesting surprise as well. Hidden by massive amounts of dirt and grease, I found a huge braising job from what only could have been a hellacious crack. The braising bead is about 3/4 inch wide by 4.5 inches long. It is found on the outside and inside of the housing (last set of pictures below).

I believe the small crack on the left housing can fixed in a similar way as the right housing. Neither crack should cause any problems with the functionality of the crawler. However, they will be scars that will be with her forever.

More Needle Scaler Work

It was a rainy Saturday afternoon and that made it perfect for some more needle scaler work in the back shed (can't needle scale in the garage during the boy's nap time).

I tackled two of the biggest parts from the crawler - the track frames. They are about 5 feet long and weigh about 250lbs. a piece. They are made of heavy steel and are perfect candidates for the needle scaler. My compressor is still waiting for its parts so the process wasn't exactly fast. I would scale an 8"x8" section at a time and then the compressor would need to catch up. During this time I took my drill with a wire brush attached and went over the section I just scaled. It was a fairly efficient and effective process.

A New (old) Bull Gear!

I paid a visit to a fellow OC-3 owner in Burnsville, MN last night. His name is Les and he is a real nice guy that owns three OC-3's. Les was referred to me by Mike *see my "Parts Progress" post on 6/5/07.

Anyway, Les happened to have an extra final drive bull gear that he was willing to sell. The price wasn't bad and the bull gear, although a little worn and rusty, at least has all 72 of its teeth. *See my 5/31/07 post called "Oh Tooth Fairy!"


So, Les and I got talk crawlers for awhile. He shared some stories, tips, and advice.


After my visit, I got to have a great dinner in the big city with my wife. We then stopped by the Mall of America and I stopped by Al's Farm Toys. This was the first time I've been to Al's. It was okay. A small selection of Oliver toys. Way too much John Deere stuff. Overall it was a good night.

Behold the Needle Scaler (wanted: one large air compressor)

I've read several times on forums like http://www.ytmag.com/ that a tractor restorer's best friend can be this odd air tool called the needle scaler. Many swear it beats getting sand in places where the sun doesn't shine - a common hazard of sandblasting.

So, I finally picked up a needle scaler at Northern Tool & Equipment. It was a cheapy but I figured it would do the job.

It is fantastic! It is three times as fast as the little sandblaster I'm using and it is a lot cleaner. It is made up of 19 hardened steel rods that are about 1/8 inch in diameter. The air-gun portion of the tool works like a air chisel. Aparently it very quickly vibrates the needles and off comes the dirt, paint, and rust. . .

One problem I have is my little 15 gallon air compressor. I am able to needle scale for about 45 seconds before it kicks in again. This wouldn't be too much of a problem but my air compressor is dying a slow death right now. It has a worn vinyl sleeve and o-ring (a hazard of the new oil-free air compressors). I ordered the parts at Sears today and they should be here in a week. Anyway, it takes about 4-5 minutes to reach full pressure again. Hopefully the new parts will bring that down to less than a minute in the future.

Anyway, below you will see some of the work of the needle scaler. You can compare the difference between the old yellow paint and areas stripped by the needle scaler.

Overall it was a good three-hours of uninterrupted work in the garage.

Darwin Award Nomination (wanted: one engine hoist)

The Darwin Award is a reoccurring Internet folklore award given posthumously to fools that kill themselves in creatively stupid ways. It was a night with big OC-3 plans. The kids were at grandma's and the wife was out shopping. First step, remove the remaining dozer mounting structure and attached hydraulic system.

Well, I eyeballed it and thought, "It can't weigh that much?" Well, without the proper tools you improvise. I hooked up some tie-down straps to a few eyebolts I had in the ceiling for the kids' wintertime swings. I've sat in the swings, they seemed sturdy enough.

I got the mounting structure about 4 inches off of the crawler and I knew this wasn't a great idea. The straps were creaking and the structure was moving around with a mind of its own. I could keep lifting it hoping the straps wouldn't snap AND if I got it up in the air. . .what was I going to do with it? It was too heavy to muscle to the ground while running the come-a-long with one hand. . .So I gave up my potential Darwin Award and put it back on the crawler.

Wanted: One Engine Hoist. . .I may have to look into renting one of these things - apparently they are designed to safely lift heavy objects up and then roll them out of the way - fascinating.

The Goal

There is certainly a lot of work ahead in the OC-3 Restoration Adventure. And I'm sure there will be a lot of frustration ahead as well. I'm posting this picture as reminder of where I want to go. I certainly will not achieve this level of restoration but I hope to have my OC-3 roll out of the garage looking good enough to make a rather dramatic "before and after" picture.

Going For It. . .

I was sitting on my little shop stool one night peering into the empty transmission/differential case when it occurred to me. . .I don't think I want to tear this thing apart again. Yet, I do want to see the OC-3 restored to a respectable level. So, this is my one shot to tear the old girl down all the way and do it right.

With that mental conclusion made I have been stripping the OC-3 down a bit more. I have been tearing it down with mechanical restoration in mind and now I've been turning a wrench with cosmetic restoration in mind. How can I get this part cleaned and ready for paint? That is the question in mind these days.

This weekend I disconnected and pulled the gas tank. The tank is sizable - 13 gallons. Of course I wasn't able to disconnect the gas line and drain the tank without getting a little bit of a gas bath.

I also pulled what was left of the grill and side tin. This area was butchered by previous owners as they made room for the front mounted hydraulic pump. I might look around for another grill. But as one person posted on http://www.cletrac.org/ "yeah, you and 1000 other guys are looking for that same grill."

I did find out recently that there are alternative parts sources available. It seems that Cletrac (the company that Oliver merged with in 1945) built a wheel tractor that was basically the HG or OC-3 crawler on wheels.

The tractor is called The General http://www.tractorshed.com/gallery/tphotos/a34367.jpg and it has the same transmission, an earlier version of the Hercules engine (lots of matching engine parts - like the much needed air cleaner), and the same gas tank, hood, and grill. And to add to the parts possibilities, Cletrac sold the General tractor design to Avery in 1945. The BF Avery Model A is another parts source http://www.tractorshed.com/gallery/tphotos/a104086.jpg. The Avery Model A was also sold as the Wards Twin Row http://www.tractorshed.com/gallery/tphotos/a17143.jpg. So, when looking for parts I have a few more avenues to seek for results.

After pulling the grill I drained the radiator (and engine block) of its coolant. I then removed the radiator. The radiator seems to be in good/working condition. I'll probably take it in to a local radiator shop to have it flushed, pressure tested, cleaned up, and painted.

I also removed the generator. I knew a long time ago that the generator was not functioning. However, when I opened an inspection cover a bunch of burnt and crispy flakes fell out of the generator. The generator is certainly on its way to a local generator/alternator shop for overhaul.

One last picture of the drive shaft/clutch area. It is now visible because I removed the battery pan. The next item on the list is to remove the remaining dozer blade structure and all attached hydraulic systems (hoses, valve, reservoir tank). After that I go after the clutch.