Carson's C-121

Doing some misc things today, filling fluids, other small wiring details, and doing the tedious task of getting the ID decal on perfect.  I put the ID plates with a decal on with #6 machine screws and lock nuts just barely snug.  The pressure from the rivet to pop it pushes the decal out and doesn't look so good.

You will be happy I found the perfect voltage gauge.  It was actually in the back here already.  Someone was looking at the articulating tractor up front and I thought there's the perfect gauge.  I had forgot I had ordered 2 when I did the order.  It's a completely sealed + waterproof gauge, mount, and connector.  It also has an anti fog lens.

The question I have now is if you want it lit up.  It will be lit whenever the key is on.  The color choices are no light, red, or yellow.  The red looks nice but it's harder to read than the yellow.  It's hard to get a good pic of it because the camera tries to adjust too many things.  If it would just take a pic without adjusting light or color that would be nice.  It does a great job getting in the pic what you can't see with the eye, the dust on things...  

I'll try to call you in a min after this is posted.

2 Posts today.  The 1st pic is from yesterday of a mini harness for the volt gauge.  It will plug into the original volt gauge wires and be removable.  The rest of the pics are from today.  2nd pic shows it installed.  There are 2 black right angle plugs to the right of the volt gauge plugin in the pic.  These were  a hot and ground for the original hour meter that I kept in case you ever want to add something to the panel where the volt gauge is.  You could add and hour gauge, lighter socket, USB plug in for USB things like a phone charger, etc, anything 12V pretty much.  3rd pic just shows the wiring setup for the clutch switch, rear lights, and the extra wires and plug in for the new amp gauge tied up in the main tower.  4th pic shows another extra ground.  Instead of just relying on the ignition switch ground I added 2 more backups.  One is up front in the harness behind the battery, this is the other one.  I felt this was necessary because it takes a good ground to kill the Magnum engine and if the ignition switch ground to the body has any issues there are 2 more that will take over.  

I went on and put the rear hitch back together and on just to get more parts out of the way that were ready.  The next step was getting a battery hooked up to test things so custom battery cables for the battery to the starter solenoid and from the solenoid to starter were made.  They are 6 gauge fine stranded welding cable.  The cable, ends, and heat shrink are all Made in USA.  



 

Once the battery was hooked up everything was tested and everything works perfect like it should.  Every switch, wire, ground, fusing was all double checked.  Most pics are just routing and what it all looks like with everything just finger tight to check it.  The 5th pic is the other extra ground mentioned in the previous post not grounded yet so the rear one could be tested.  The front one was checked while unhooked.  

After everything was good it was all tightened up, fuse block and the other ground mounted, and some other small details finished.  The last thing was covering and running the headlamp wire to the front and adding a few more clamps to keep it in place and away from the drive belt and steering. The wiring is now all in and done minus head and tail lamps.  

Tomorrow will be make custom choke and throttle cables like I thought I would do today first thing...  

 

The throttle + choke cables are done, installed, and adjusted.  It took a little longer than usual doing them from scratch, I usually have an old one to copy but they came out great. The dash panel is all done and mounted also. 

I found grandpas lift arm, it was right in front of me on a cart yesterday but I missed it.  It got blasted today and I went on and painted it since it wasn't much to do.  It's on the drying rack and we'll see how long it takes to dry with the higher humidity.  

GREAT JOB 

Thanks Nappy.  

Today the lower lift arm and upper trunnion + chain was put in and adjusted.  The upper volt gauge panel can go in now.  The adjustment lock nut is about center of the 2nd pic that hooks to the lift arm behind the volt gauge panel just so you know.  The decal on top is nice and black, it's just the camera trying to "fix" things when it actually messes everything up...  

A lot of the day was sorting through steps.  None of the pics do the rust pits justice.  The first pics are grandpas.  The second set (gray) are off of a GT series, pretty nice set but not perfect.  The last read set are off of a 312, almost perfect on the very outside and not bad on the inside.  Gotta be careful when getting into the newer red electroplated paint steps, a lot of them look really nice until they are blasted.  The paint tends to stay on and look good but electroplated paint is like powder coat, because it is so hard it hides the ugly under it...  The GT newer series (gray tractors) did not have electroplated paint.   I may try another set or 2 then we'll pic one.  


 

Hello Gene, sorry I haven’t gotten back to you sooner about the hitch, I’ve been busy with getting things done around the house. Anyway, I decided that I would like a slot hitch put on the tractor. Thank you, -Carson

Will do Carson.  Don't worry about anything, take all the time you need if I ask you anything, it's no rush there's still more to do.