Had a new exhaust fabricated recently, which is now fitted (photo 0006).
Also had some felt washers made for the reduction gear housings (photo’s 0007 & 0008). I can’t emphasise enough how important these are to the healthy running of a Trusty. The reason my Dad abandoned the tractor in the first place was down to the left hand side reduction gears jamming solid. This happened while ploughing, with the engine pulling hard. The weak link in the transmission turned out to be the countershaft, which ended up twisted like a corkscrew (see photo 0009). The drive chains and sprockets were undamaged. I was fortunate enough to have another Trusty which has been canabalised for spares, donating it’s countershaft for the restoration project. When I originally stripped the reduction housings down, both were missing the felt washers which had resulted in them being full of dirt. There was so much muck in the left hand side housing that it had packed solid around the small drive gear.
While the wheels were removed to fit the felt washers, I took the opportunity to fit the tie rods which hold the side plates of the transmission housing square (photo 0010). The lower one near the large drive sprockets can only be fitted with the wheels off.
