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Ammco 6" Metal shaper

Well I think I am done. Maybe a sticker or two will be needed to be printed up a the sign shop, but otherwise done.

One of the things I do for my shop machines is make covers for them as they may sit idle for many months due to other projects being address. Sanding, ripping wood and grinding body metal all put a lot of dust in the air in the shop and machines have oil on them and the dust just sticks.
IMG_5164.JPG


So in keeping with fashion I took a ride to Fabric Land St. Catharines and purchased some denim material to make a cover. Took some measurements, cut the sections and loaded the bobbin and thread into the sewing machine in my basement.
IMG_5165.JPG

While in St. Catharines I also stopped in at Princess Auto and purchased some wrenches to be dedicated to this machine. Then to keep all of the paper work and manuals I made a sheet metal box so that they would be handy to the machine.
IMG_5166.JPG


So what is all this worth. There is a saying that an item is worth what a willing seller and a willing buyer agree upon for a said price. I have been watching an ebay item a 7' Ammco that has been for sale for months, price now dropped to $2250 USD, still no takers.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2567750728...qTKWCujHZZnIoA+hQvyhZlXfaA==|tkp:BFBM_PnpycVl

I think a realistic price for my machine is about $1500 CND and possibly $300CND for the Hard Maple stand/bench, possibly. Looking into what I have into the machine. I purchased the machine, incomplete for $200, Electrical $200, Nuts, bolts, hand wheels $200, Paint $120, Blast sand $70, Tool holder $35, Tools $65, Cover Fabric $40 and a whole bunch of time. I have in direct costs $865. Restorations, seldom benefit the person doing the work, yet there is passion in restoring something to live on for many more years and to be appreciated by many. I do enjoy the challenge.

So I will share a few links of other things that I have sunk a lot of money and time into that some day a long time from now may be worth something to someone else. ( Just not me )

My 1953 John Deere Model 40 Short Track Crawler. One of 2262 made. $15K invested ( 2001 )


My Son's 1985 1/2 Mazda RX7 Sports Car, $30K invested. (2012)


My nephew's 1982 Fiat X1/9 Turbo Engine Swap. He paid for the parts and material $10K and I did all of the labour. (2024)

500 Abarth 1.4 Turbo swap. | XWeb Forums


It has been the tools that I have acquired over the years that have allowed me to make any and all of this to happen.

I say, live, dream, work and watch it happen.


All the best.


TonyK.

Grimsby Ontario Canada.
 
Pity about the stupid US bumpers on the X1/9, destroys the design. US did the same to Ferrari 308GT4, thankfully mine was a Euro model.
 
Tony I have a running 58 420c and a 54 40c basket case. I’m now selling both for far less than I paid for them. We downsized so no space. Half my stuff is now outside covered by tarps which I actually really hate. My kubota should be sold here this week. Then our rv trailer, flat deck will be next. Rv we will lose a lot on the sale but again no where to put ‘em or money to use em. I changed careers two years ago for a lot less income, but way less stress and hopefully a job till retirement. So we had to downsize everything.

I love your idea of the covers, very smart. I use cheap bbq covers myself for outside I try to get the covers that are weather resistant. Never thought to use em in the garage, logic fail on my part I guess.
 
I know I've said this a few times now, but excellent job Tony. Thanks for taking us along for the ride. I like the fitted covers. I've thought about that a few times for my shop too.
 
JustaDB said:

TractorData.com John Deere 40C tractor engine information

www.tractordata.com www.tractordata.com
Click to expand...
That appears to be correct information. Just to let you know, JD had over sizes of .015", .030" and .045", then there were after market piston and ring sets of .060" .090" which I have installed and wait for it... .125" over size. There is a lot of metal on the cylinder block walls. I took the block to a local engine builder who did the boring for $50 a hole but complained that the cast was so fine and difficult to hone he wouldn't do another for that price. I gave him another $50, on top of the $100 for the 2 holes, he replied, fair enough. The engine nick named the Johnny Popper has the spark timing the same as a Harley Davidson Motor Cycle. What that means is when #1 hits Top Dead centre and fires #2 then reaches TDC and fires. So listening to the engine you hear Bang Bang, nothing, nothing, Bang Bang... My dad grew up on a farm in Manitoba and said the reason for this type of timing was for hand starting. Few had electric starters and those that did, well batteries were expensive. These engines were just heavy, the fly wheel weighs 80 LBS and the engine idles at 500 RPM, so it was all you could do to get it to TDC by hand on #1 and hope that it would fire and when it did, #1 piston went down and #2 came up and fired directly afterward. If the engine hit on both there was enough momentum to keep it turning and you were good to go.

TonyK.

Grimsby Ontario Canada.
 
If I could post a video. I have my 420c running at low idle on video. It’s really neat as Tony posted. Both mine have electric start so I have never had to try and turn it over by hand. Long stroke 2 cylinder engines rated at around 25 break hp. I think original compression was 8 to 1 or less. Clearing my parents place I was able to crawl up some trees to push em over. I have a holt blade and Pto winch on mine. My 58 has 1010 chains and pads on it. They are super cool tractors to collect and use.
 
djberta said:
If I could post a video.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, we just don't have the storage space required to host videos. You pretty much have to host it elsewhere and link to it here. Most members use YouTube.

I'd love to see a video or see it in person though.
 
Thanks for the reply. I only tried to hand start it once as the handle came around hard and almost broke my arm. Men back in the day were different to want to do this. Mine has an electric start 6 volt system. Not a lot of cranking before the battery is run down. Starter is a rod on the dash that I pull and it is connected to a switch on the starter. Oh and it is positive ground system. Here is a video from back around 2012 I think. A builder in Grimsby had top soil that he wanted to get rid of all sand so I took 29 loads in the winter when the ground was frozen and spread it out in late May and June. The 3 roller machines porpoised so you have to be quick on the blade control. Spreading dirt with a 2 way blade is a challenge but it is better than moving it by hand. This machine is a Crawler with 540 RPM PTO, it was built for AG use, the Crawler is 1953 and the blade is from 1954. It has 14" wide pads with high grousers and came out of the Hollan Marsh up the 400 Hwy. Back then 4 wheel tractors did not exist, so soft soil meant Crawlers with wide pad tracks were the best suited for AG use.


TonyK.

Grimsby Ontario Canada.
 
Ohh wow I could spend hours running that ol'girl...a little hint tho, that porpoising is caused by the dozer hand...the cat just follows the waves the dozer makes. A good dozer hand was always the highest paid man on the crew, often more than the foremans.
Not many machine companies used hyd on dirt equipment back then, most ( and the ones I learnt on) were cable control, far quicker response than early hyd. The cable cats I learned on were osilating track frames that were far better with just an straight or angle blade. My old man, with one of those cable machines, could spread a dime & leave you a nickel change.
 
Yeah, my ol’man was a good hand on a dozer too. In his later years had a TD 9 to play with, after many years of cable and hydraulic D7s and who knows what else logging. I had an TD6 for a while, a handy size and newer then the TD9 which I ran a bit over my younger years. Was I a good hand on either or any of the dozers I ran, not excellent but passably better then many.
From hand clutch to fluid drives, a big change over the years.
 
Gentlemen. The issue with the Model 40 crawler was that the first 2262 units used the short 3 roller track system from the MC Crawler pre 1953 to use up stock of old track parts. The Model 40 once past that serial number used 4 and 5 roller track systems and were stable for dozer blade installation and use. The short track was never intended to have a blade on it. When sitting level lifting the blade causes the back end of the crawler to come up. Getting off of the crawler with the blade lifted also causes the back of the crawler to come up more. Looking at the machine you will see how far back the front idler is and thus the tipping/balance point of the machine is not stable and closer to the middle of the machine. As I mentioned the short track was made to pull farm implements and not have a dozer blade installed. There were some short tracks that had after market dozing blades but should you see one the blade sits very close to the machine and can hit the front grill. I am sure an operator that uses a stable machine of today's engineering and gets on this machine will have his right hand full as one must sense the blade digging in and correct very fast to limit it from nose diving.


TonyK.

Grimsby Ontario Canada.
 
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