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Hello Guy's
Six weeks ago, I answered a local Craig's list add in my area that advertised a John Deere 316, 50" Mowing deck, extra floor pan and Power flow bagger attachment $200.00. I called the seller who had it and sight unseen told him that I would take it. I set up a time to get it and travled 120 Miles one way with my truck and Trailer to get it. The seller had no Picture's of it in his add but he told me that it had spent most of it's Life in Florida so the body panel's had some rust on them. That was an Under statement as this Tractor was super rough. I asked if he minded if I checked the engine out. I noticed that it was a later made 316 as it had the Onan P-218 engine in it. I hooked up my Jumper cables and tried to start it, but only the dash light's came on, it's starter would not engage. I did Hear a clicking noise while I had my Jumper's hooked to it and noticed that it's engine hour meter was working and showing to have just 349.2 Hour's on it. I saw where the engine did not have any Oil leaks and also notice that it's steering wheel had the pebble Grain design around the outer edge of it, which told me that it may very well be a Low hour machine. I asked the owner what his best price was on it as he too saw that it would not even turn over and he said that he would Take $75.00 for it. I countered with an offer of $50.00 and he accepted so we Loaded it up. Once I got it home I found a starter wire cut that is why it would not turn over, so I fixed that and it's engine started up and Ran fine. I stripped it to the rolling chassis painted all of it and just got it all back together. it will be for my Son in law I will be delivering it to him this weekend. I painted it's Mowing deck yesterday afternoon and will be placing it under the Tractor this afternoon. it was a Lot of hard work but as it sit's now he has just $632.00 in it total. Here is how it looked and how it turned out I will add Picture's of it later on with it's Mowing deck back under it and the restoration completed. Regards, Hammerdown


The day that I brought it home...




How it Look's now...

You did a nice job I hope mine will look that good after I restore it what kind of paint and primer did you use

Very good job. That's nice old well built tractor.

Ean said:

You did a nice job I hope mine will look that good after I restore it what kind of paint and primer did you use

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Hello Ean
The Paint used was John Derre Green and I had a quart of Majic Brand John Deere Yellow on hand that I used on the mowing deck. The primer was lacquer High Build Gray primer. Regards, Hammerdown

NICE JOB!!

Hello
Here is the two Tractor's side by side for their Father-Son Pictures. Regards, Hammerdown

Damn, that is impressive work!!!

Fish said:

Damn, that is impressive work!!!

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Hello Fish
I appreciate Your Kind word's here. The Tractor was not that far from being scrapped. It's Body panel's were in really Bad shape with Very Deep Pit's left behind under the failed Powder coat paint. If it had not been such a Low hour machine having just 349.2 Hour's on it's engine hour meter I would not have bothered to restore it. It had spent it's entire life in Stuart, Florida on the East coast sea board which in turn added to it's runied body panel's due to the air borne salt air. There is no easy way to deal with Failed Powder coat paint. I had to use Numerous D-A sanding disc's of 40 Grit to peel down the metal Body Panel's geting them prepared for their skim coat of body filler. It Took just shy of a Gallon of body filler to cover all of the body panel's filling in the deep pit's left behind from the failed Powder coat paint. I placed Three heavy coat's of High Build primer on them then sanded it down in stages of 120, 220 Then finished up with 320 Grit sand paper before Placing Three coat's of paint on the panels. I added a Paint Hardener to the mix to keep the paint hard and shinny. This restoration was rough on me as I was not fully recovered from two major surgeies that I had one being my Back surgery where they fused me from my tail bone to my rib cage back in late September, Then another surgery where they removed half of my right kidney due to a cancerous tumor that my back surgeon spotted from my MRI Images, so in late February they did the Kidney surgery. Prior to that I had been sedentary awaiting my spine to fuse, so when one does that it makes you real weak starting back out building your Muscles back to what they used to be. There were many days during this restoration where I could barley walk into the house at the end of the day, but with an 8 Hour sleep I was stronger and ready for the next stage of it. I am Now much stronger than I was before I started this project, but I do not desire to do another one in this rough shape again. Regards, Hammerdown

Nice job!:thumbsup:

Mikel1 said:

Nice job!:thumbsup:

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Hello Mike1
I appreciate your Kind word's. For those that are wondering, we will be using both of these Tractor's for our Long Nine Month Mowing season here in Knoxviille. I also use mine to Till Our Vegetable Garden with my model 30 Hydraulic tiller as well as my 54" four way hydraulic dirt dozer blade. Regards, Hammerdown

Hello All

I delivered my son in law's new to him 1991 John Deere 316 last Friday. He mowed with it the first time and it never missed a beat. Here it is in action. Regards, Hammerdown