Reviving a G1900

[jcross312]

Radiator repairs

The bonnet / hood is sitting on top of the radiator on two rubbers. One of them was missing, including the holder. So I made a new one plus a spare in case the other side goes missing.

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Soldered it onto the radiator and also soldered the left side bracket that had come loose.

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A pair of new rubbers made from 30mm round EPDM material, shore 60.

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And, together with the new drain plug, the radiator is good to go into the tractor again.

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Very nice work. I was thinking of welding a washer to a pan head bolt/screw, sanding smooth and soldering to the radiator. There would be no air gap doing it this way

Maybe even use an old valve tappet, as its the ideal shape, but again, no air gap.

Is there any reason why an air gap is necessary?

Pic of said valve tappet

 

[jcross312]

Just so happened, I had a valve tappet in the garage. Its almost exactly the same diameter as the stock peg. Only about. 010" smaller.

Id have to trim it down, but I think this might work...? Feel free to correct me if Im wrong

 

[jcross312]

Spent some more time trimming the tappet down to size and cleaning the top of the radiator. Found my torch, solder and flux. After cleaning the top of the radiator tho, found that its pretty flimsy in the center, where the tappet would mount. Can see it deflecting with the smallest amount of pressure. Suppose thats why the stock brackets move the mounting surface out to the edges.

I have a large fender washer that would double the contact surface. I could put it on first and then solder the tappet to the washer....

I even found some 3/8 fuel hose to slip over the tappet as a makeshift cushion. It fits the tappet perfectly and would give some cushion, tho probably/definitely not a permanent solution

 

[Hugo Habicht]

To be honest, I never put much thought into the rubber mount, I simply copied the shape of the left side. Interesting that it is also your right side that is missing (I know, two tractors have no statistical significance).

You are right, the top cap is more stable on the outside. I think the kinked shape and the gap may be due to the material. The top is brass and the rubber brackets and the side brackets are steel, so the thermal expansion coefficient is different, this "bridge" allows for (relative) expansion.

Maybe that is why the right side breaks, it gets the hottest water and hence has the highest strain on the solder joint. Will not be a problem with my brass piece.

Your temporary solution looks good, simple and does the job.
And probably will still be there in 10 years time

 

[Russell King]

If you are concerned about the thickness of the radiator top, you could just add some bridge across those thicker parts already brazed to the radiator. Or just solder a piece of brass to the top of the radiator and mount your valve there.

If you chose the second method, solder the valve to the new piece first since you can get it really hot when not on the radiator. Then solder that assembly to the radiator.

If you had been a long range planner the radiator shop could have done that work when they had it but your solution will work.

 

[jcross312]

Well, after all of that, I decided to just leave it alone. Its not my tractor, and wasnt 100% confident in my soldering skills. Didnt have the correct cushion, etc etc.

Also dont think the guy is really interested in doing a full resto on the old girl. He just wants it to cut grass. Or more specifically, he wants his daughter to be able to cut her grass. And the bill was already racked up pretty good.

Whats funny is, I talked to her again yesterday, and already knew she said the alarm was going off last time she was using it, and it was overheating. I had implored her when I picked it up to never let it run hot, as it would destroy the engine

But she rehashed it again yesterday and said the alarm was going off, and smoking/steaming so bad she thought it was on fire I told her please dont do that and shut it off if the temp gauge starts getting close to the red mark. And she said... oh, it shut itself off, i didn't have to

I dont know if these have a thermal shutdown, but I didn't think they did. Sounds like she was close to total meltdown.