following the unveiling of our refurbished l4300dt (the ‘l’ in the name identifies our tractor as a mid sized machine, while the ‘dt’ means ‘dual traction’ which is a really weird way of saying ‘four wheel drive’) it may not be immediately clear why i embarked on the long & arduous journey of restoring it to its former glory. i mean it’s a tractor, they play rough, right?
when we bought the tractor in early august there was only one thing obviously wrong with it: the alternator was dead and therefore the battery wasn’t charging. not a problem as long as the diesel runs but after a few starts the battery charge would have run out and left the machine dead.
luckily the dealer agreed to help fix the issue and offered a replacement. i (currently?) have no need for the three rear remotes and the hoses were awkwardly in the way, so i removed the entire setup. i’ll disassemble it, give the parts a good clean and pack them away; maybe at one stage we will own something that needs a rear hydraulic take-off.
to be honest, the tractor had been well looked after and was in great shape for a twenty year old machine. there were the inevitable dings and scratches and someone had tweaked the right front corner, which resulted in all of the right side panels being bent and out of alignment.
the mud guards weren’t bad but the rear lights were missing and especially where the indicators were attached and where an enterprising home mechanic had added a trailer connector (i welded those additional holes shut) rust had resulted in damage to the panels and had broken the electrical connections.
the rops (roll over protection structure) was very rusty and its rattling made more noise than the engine. the latter was an easy fix: the original bolts had been replaced by longer ones that failed to properly clamp the pieces together. the rust was addressed by getting the entire structure media blasted and repainted – that should ensure it keeps us safe for another twenty years.
finally there were a few welding jobs to re-attach tabs that had been ripped off. i had to fix quite a bit of rust damage on the fenders (which i ended up getting media blasted as well) which really challenged my mediocre welding skills and in the end i had to learn how to spray paint – an ugly job.
the tractor now starts and drives really well, i can report all the lights work perfectly and the rops is not only a lot prettier and quieter (and definitely not rusty) and the addition of the canopy will ensure kris can work and stay out of the sun. all the panels line up, there is no rust (that i can see) and we now have a fire extinguisher mounted on the rops as well; i hope we’ll never use it.
there is one thing left to do: i need to connect up the rear flood lights and add a switch to control them. i’ve been working on a non-intrusive power take-off but i may have to cut a hole for the switch block and i’m not sure i’m brave enough to take the cutting wheel to the newly painted panels. there has to be a better way.
there are a few more little things to add in the future: i’ll look for a small tool box to store a few items like sun screen or a muesli bar and i plan to add a cup holder for kris. and the front tyres are due for a replacement. definitely.