G'day Mr. Armadillo and Geo, thanks for the input - at this point, considering all the other nice new components going into the rest of the front end I am definitely leaning towards the replacement of the brackets that bolt to the subframe and the A arm shafts. There is corrosion on both sets of eccentrics for caster adjustment and the big nuts where they meet, so new brackets make sense all round. I will get my engineer friend (note for Geo: he happens to have a lot of tractor resto experience) to repair the small cut in the subframe, he can fix the nasty weld in the same area at the same time.
My 'engineer' mate (let's call him Turtle - everyone else does) is a member of the local Tractor Club, they hold a big tractor show at Milbong (half way betwixt Boonah and Ipswich S E Qld) once a year. He just sold a beautiful Fergie he restored from the ground up for $7,500, pity I couldn't find the funds for that one...I used to work for Dover and Sons in Boonah, they have a nice collection of tractor models for sale, I picked up a few while I was there - I saw a nice Fergie model in the shop just t'other day, let me know if you're interested and I'll get some details for ya - pix to follow of my little collection
cheers
BP
My 'engineer' mate (let's call him Turtle - everyone else does) is a member of the local Tractor Club, they hold a big tractor show at Milbong (half way betwixt Boonah and Ipswich S E Qld) once a year. He just sold a beautiful Fergie he restored from the ground up for $7,500, pity I couldn't find the funds for that one...I used to work for Dover and Sons in Boonah, they have a nice collection of tractor models for sale, I picked up a few while I was there - I saw a nice Fergie model in the shop just t'other day, let me know if you're interested and I'll get some details for ya - pix to follow of my little collection
cheers
BP