1956 case 311 tractor.

[thegawd]

my 56 has a spot for a hand crank, I never clued in until right now though.

 

[thegawd]

not much to update just draining the coolant to get it back to -40 or close to it.

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[thegawd]

well I got it to about -35°f or roughly -37°C.

I think with global warming (or is it climate change? hopefully not that ice age they used to warn about. ) that, that qualifies as good enough!

much better than the -18°C ish I started with. my FIL topped it off with TAP WATER! MO FO! lol

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[thegawd]

Iv been trying to come up with an idea to adapt a 2" receiver to the back of the tractor since I got it.

My FIL gave me this small adapter but I cant for the life of me figure out how it was supposed to ever mount to anything, it may be one of those bumper mounts that use U bolts, no friggen idea.

anyways I was trying to make it simple so it can be taken off easily. Eventually I found some strong 3/8" plate steel the same width as the inside of this hitch, which was also conveniently the same width as the tractors hitch.

I chopped it up into 2, drilled 2 holes, found a perfectly sized giant bolt the right length with a nut and a lock wash. I then drilled 2 more holes through the receiver vertically to bolt it all together through the tractors existing hitch holes.

So one bolt holds it all together.

I have a small 6x8 dump trailer and with this I can finally hook it up! I'm not sure if I would try dumping it but I dont see why it wouldnt work!

gee I may have to hook up a 7way trailer plug. or I guess I really only need 1 wire to charge the dump trailer battery so it doesn't get depleted.

It's really heavy though so if I'm guna use it for firewood the damn ground better dry up or freeze!

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[PlayingWithTBI]

So, that hitch is connected to the draw bar of the tractor not the 3 point hitch right? The reason I ask is there's a lot of incidents where people try to pull something from the higher point of the back of the tractor and flip the tractor over backwards and kill themselves.

Make sure you're always pulling from a point below your center of gravity!

 

[thegawd]

Great advice Peter!

yes, that's connected to the draw bar. I have in the passed used one of those 3pt hitch adapters but not a good one with the top 3rd link. and the trailer could flip flop back and forth. I used my dump trailer and I hated it. I pulled it through a plowed field to take care of some fallen trees and quickly abandoned that idea. I was pretty sure it was a stupid idea that was only going to get worse filled with wood. the ground was frozen and the tilled dirt wasnt moving so it was like driving over small boulders.....

Live and Learn!

 

[thegawd]

That's also why I did not want a tricycle tractor... hit one stump hidden in the snow with the front tires and the tractor gets flipped right over, killing the operator.

I personally knew 1 person this happened to and have heard of many other incidents.

as much as I wanted a tractor I actually passed over 3 cheap tricycle tractors over the last 8 years or so.

Im glad I passed on those because I would have put a lot of work into it and used it like I will this one. except I would have always been worried about that and never felt comfortable... and my wife would have hated it if I brought one of those home.

 

[thegawd]

heres a daytime pic of the 2" receiver adapter. I'm sure this will work perfect for my needs. plus if I need to remove it, it's only 1 bolt.

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[thegawd]

looky what I got.... it's not 80w90 but it will work to flush out the transmission/rear diff! it's used hydraulic/transmission fluid. perfect!

it's nice and warm out today @ 40°F so I'm going to start draining the fluids and hope I can get it completed before dark as I just picked these up!

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[thegawd]

Man it was nice out and then it started to rain and then it got really cold again.

it took 2 days to drain the hydraulic fluid. disgusting milky sludge. I flushed some extra hydraulic fluid through it that I had and that's about it. it keeps snowing on and off and it's cold as hell out there with the wind blowing, it might be 0°F or less with that wind chill.

I have not filled it back up BUT I'm sure there is a filter somewhere and I better look into it cuz it will be nasty as well. Dammit!

the transmission/ rear differential oil is not milky! It looks good just really low. I might just be able to top it up with some 80w90 gear oil that I have hear but one of those 5 gallon pails looks just like gear oil and it's even fairly clean. it might be the hy/trans fluid and even so it's a full 5 gallon pail and is exactly what I need. I'm thinking I'm just going to top it up and go though.

I need to haul some wood!

Since it was snowing I fabbed up a front grill with some soffet. that's good enough for the winter. probably perfect actually.

You must be registered for see images attach

I saw a bunch of coolant on the front of the rad and kind of freaked out a little. it's probably screwed as its original BUT the level inside is full! Phew! it's just from when I spilled it everywhere when I over filled it.....

I was thinking about using some soffet for engine covers, But I cant find another scrap piece long enough. lol. I can cut one out of a full length I have but I really didnt want to as its spoken for. it looks decent enough though so I probably will.

You must be registered for see images attach