TRACTOR PART X - ASSEMBLY

‘Men are from Mars and women from Venus’ I screamed at the other half in frustration as we engaged in verbal fisticuffs, all part and parcel of our DIY projects these days. His logic and mine, like the planets are never in favourable alignment which always ends up with me blowing my top in spectacular fashion.

I'm keeping well out of this cat fight

It took all my will-power not to jab him in the right kidney with the bradawl! God he can be so infuriating!! I just can’t understand why he fails to understand my explanations. Maybe next time I should try Spanish or mime language.

Having thrown a strop, calmed down, the petulant teenager in me has struck a truce so that tractor assembly can continue. Clearly after this morning’s altercations there are multiple ways to approach this part of the project so I’m not going to profer any advice here except this – do it however the hell way you want to. This is how we eventually did it:

Begin by turning over your black shaped base panel and drilling some pilot holes in this to correspond with the position of the wooden battens reinforcing the inside of each box.

Drill pilot holes underneath your base panel

Check both boxes to make sure you’ve attached all relevant components such as indicators, number plates, front grille, push lights, seat and brackets for the steering wheel. It may not be possible to fit these easily once the tractor is fully assembled.

Complete all other sub assemblies

Using A frames and a couple of long strips of wood, lay your pre-drilled base feet downwards across the timber and put the smaller engine box on top. Align the box to all the edges so that nothing overhangs or is indented then screw base to box battens from below, taking care not to nudge the box out of place as you work your way round.

Align engine block and screw in from underneath

Next, grab your larger back box and position this onto the pre-drilled base behind the engine block. Again, make sure all outer edges are aligned.

Before screwing this box into place from below, the two boxes will be joined together internally using some 10mm hex bolts. Drill four holes – 2 x top and 2 bottom through both boxes then fit bolts nice and tight so as to close any gaps between the boxes.

Bolt both boxes together

With your boxes secured together, screw the larger box to the pre-drilled base. If you have used correctly sized wood screws then nothing should be visible from inside the box.

Underside of base panel

At last a tractor is slowly emerging

Lastly add the wheels. Position your front wheels so that they slightly overhang the front engine box. 

Wheels slightly protruding out front

Poke a bradawl through the middle hole in the wheel hub to mark out the position for your bolt hole. Drill a hole large enough for a 12mm hex bolt. Repeat for the larger rear wheels. Fix in place using a couple of large metal washers.

Both wheels now added

Touch up any painted bits that may have got scuffed in the assembly process then coat the interior and exterior with yacht varnish for added durability.

Varnish inside and outside 

Looks brilliant!