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Sovereign 18 with Power steering...


Mike_H

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I've kinda been looking for a factory powersteering machine for a bit. As most of you know, I have an 20 HP command sitting on the shelf in my barn, waiting for the right tractor to power. I pretty much gave up on the powersteering machine...they were too much money, or gone by the time I was able to look at them. I was starting to plan out the installation of power steering and the command in my 7016. It was going to be tight, but I thought it would work. Last night, I got a message from a friend about a power steering machine for sale about 35 miles away. My craigslist alert went off this morning...I made contact with the guy to set up an appointment to put eyeballs on it. Wasn't totally sure of the condition, as I could tell the paint was faded, but the seat looked ok. Didn't think it sat outside, but wasn't sure.I was pretty excited when he open the shed, and I saw how clean it was. The upper surfaces of the hood and fender pan are faded, but that's it. Everything else looks nearly factory fresh! Wheels, transmission, chassis, even the seat is clean...no tears. The tire still have the little tits on the beads! Bonus, its the Command 18, not the Triad. We haggled on price a bit, and he came down to $1300 for me, and I brought it home. There are a couple items to address...the sticker for the dash is all cracked and falling off, the front tires will need tubes (looks like they went flat, and sat for a bit) and I'll need to break out the wet sandpaper and buffer. Headlight lenses need a good scrub. Need a little bit of tune up here and there: Air Filter, Tranny fluid (the filter has NEVER been changed) etc. Deck is a little rough. Its packed full of grass, and I can see the rust starting. Has a decent set of gator blades on it though. I'll probably sell that deck with the 7016, and keep the deck I rebuilt last year. Already had the wife on it, and she likes it WAY better than the 7016. Its amazing how much quieter the newer twins are than the Briggs single. Anyway, enough babble, pics, right?

LH side.jpg

Front quarter.jpg

Dash_decal.jpg

Engine.jpg

Transmission.jpg

Front.jpg

So, another thing that the guy had was a pretty original Garden Mark sitting there, with a Bronze colored sickle mower on it. Also had a deck. He STOLE the thing. Paid 200 bucks for it. I should have taken pictures, but it was buried in the shed with no lights.If I had more cash, and a more understanding wife...I think I could have talked him out of it...He seems to be in a selling mood. Likes John Deere, and older farm tractors. Didn't really know anything about the Simplicities.

 

Edited by Mike_H
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Nice! And a good deal too. dOd I guess that's as good a place as any to store the rear attachment idler pulley.....

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Real nice lookin rig! Always amazes me how someone can have a machine that high class, and have it just sit.I wouldn't monkey with wetsanding Mike...if you have a buffer, some compound will make that thing come to life with less effort than waxing. My Massey was faded the same way as your Sovereign, but worse, and it came back 100%.This Deutz was the worst fade I've buffed out.

deutz1_n.jpg

deutz2_n.jpg

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Nice ride, good deal, AND the "Jury" liked it! Good all round scores.

Twins will typically seem quieter, due to the alternating combustion cyccles. That PS will be nice come winter and th "white stuff". May consider saving the $ on tubes, and putting it towards tri-ribs on the front.

Cheers,dOd

Wayne

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I have a set of Tri-ribs ready to go, Wayne!

Josh, I was playing with my compounds last night, and there are some stains that need sanding. Its cleaning up, but 1500 grit paper will go quite a bit quicker. When one owns a boat (esp one that had been a little neglected), one becomes VERY familiar with what compound can, and cannot do :D

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Got the Shine inducing tools out tonight...This tractor is going to shine up good. Used 1000 grit and 1500 Grit paper, then a cutting compound with a 100% wool pad on my high speed buffer. Graduated to a blended synthetic polishing pad for the polish, and finally a foam polishing pad for wax. Here is the result. Its pretty awesome that the color of the tree is reflected in the red paint...

shiny.jpg

shiny2.jpg

Its not perfect. In the high res versions of these photos, you can see some leftover scratches, and there are some paint chips that will need to be addressed. Lots of orange peel, and Simplicity's draw process for the grill portion of the hood could have used some tweaking (lots of wrinkles that capture the oxidized paint). The fuel tank filler neck is also contacting the front of the clearance hole, so the paint has been rubbed off there, which I'll fix (probably this winter). I also pulled the headlights off, and cleaned em up. Thought I was going to have to replace the lenses....Nope. They were PACKED with dirt. This tractor must have lived 19.5 of its 20 years in a dry, dusty barn or shed. It has zero rust that I've found, but its filthy anywhere its not easy to clean. The rest of my clean-up will be posted in my Blog...I'll post the finished photos here though too.

headlights.jpg

 

Edited by Mike_H
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Mike, you can get the dash decal from click it and stick it. I had Corey make that for me a few years ago. The headlight lens are still available new from Simplicity for $11.25 each part number 1677368SM.

dash2.jpg

dash2.jpg.04a1fa737d2f45ecb9b71672c9e6676f.jpg

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Thanks for the heads-up Ray! The Dash decal is actually still available from Simplicity as well...I ordered one from my local dealer...It was a couple more bucks vs the clickitandstickit price, but no shipping. I also ordered a couple grips for the control levers...Looks like a rat chewed on mine.

It seems silly to spend 20 bucks on knobs, when the ones I have function fine, but I want perfect, dang it! You guys understand, right? Its the same reason I have the sheet metal all pulled off, and I'm wetsanding it to restore gloss. My wife just shakes her head at me...but she lets me have my garage time, so its ok!

I did find the first spots of rust on this tractor, while cleaning up the fenders/decklid. Where the seat bolts go through the pan, both sides started to rust. There were bubbles in the paint, so I sanded that down, and am picking up a can of touchup paint tonite.

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Awesome!

It took me awhile to get used to PS, but now it's the only model I mow with (I also added a spinner knob). Congrats on a great machine dOd

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quote:Originally posted by Chris727

Very nice work with the hood. Maybe there's hope for my faded DLX.


id="quote">
id="quote">Sure is...Its a bit time consuming, but in the right mindset, its therapeutic. YOu get to see the color return, but its a matte finish...then you get the compounds out, and the shine comes back rapidly. Sometimes, its nice to see progress!
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  • 4 weeks later...

I've been using it quite a bit. I have most of it cleaned up. Hood and rear fender pan are nice and shiny. The dash tower still needs some attention, and the running boards are pretty dull. I was going to leave them, as is, but had an issue with a gas leak.When I got this tractor, it didn't idle well at all. It was SUPER rich. It would bog down, and eventually die. As part of the "onboarding" process at my house, I replace filters and fluids if it isn't immediately apparent when they were last done. Since I was having trouble with it idling, I replaced the fuel line and filter. Had to run to the store the next day for parts, and left my vice grips on the fuel line to pinch it off...Well, apparently I cut the tubing when I clamped the pliers on but didn't notice it. Leaked about 2 gallons of gas all over the LH side running board, deck, my nice new shop floor, into the floor drain, etc. It made a MESS. Anyway, the gas destroyed the paint on the running board, so they will be coming off and getting a fresh coat. All that, and it still didn't idle. I knew it was carb related at this point. I finally had some time today to pull it off the engine, and take a look. The PO had said he put a kit in it...which meant trouble to me. When I opened her up, I found the float set about 1/16" too high (which was probably part of the problem) and the Idle mixture screw was about 3 turns out! I reset it to 1.5 out (my default for everything) and put it back together. Fired it up, and I could tell that it was worlds better already. I adjusted the idle speed back down to 1250 (increased it just to keep it running) and she runs pretty good now. Could stand a little more fiddling, she still loads up a little at idle, but its SO much better now. I Love bringing a machine like this back to perfection. Its so rewarding. Here are some pics of what it looks like now...

left side.jpg

RH side.jpg

Here is a bonus top view, with my 7016H

Top.jpg

57e062ed4e9f9_leftside.jpg.2ba796c5763c9023511bfc2c28846a3b.jpg

57e062ed58a83_RHside.jpg.4080b9c95767eb1c171d6d5d8fc050cf.jpg

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Both tractors look great. The Sovereign 18 probably better than when it was delivered.

Is the Sovereign 18 going to be a worker? Even though I've never shined a "new to me" tractor up as much as you have, it hurts when you use them and they're never going to be as "clean" as when you finished.

And do you have much seat time in it yet? How to think the sitting position compares to your older tractors? I'm not a fan of the newer seat mounting setup. I have a hilly property and the new setup makes you sit even higher. I switched both my 75ths back to the hinge type arrangement.

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Oh, it's a worker. I can't justify spending that kind of money on a display piece. I like tinkering, so it's good shop time for me to just go and clean things up. I generally blow it off after use with shop air, and I wash it frequently. It's not perfect, so wear and tear isn't painful for me. I'll repair/refurbished as necessary.

I actually don't mind the higher seat position. I'm 6'2", so any additional leg room is a bonus. I have the late model seat on both tractors. I find them much more comfortable than the old hinge style.

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Nice units, both of them. And if people would take care of them like you seem to they would look like that and last darned near forever. As it is, I see plenty of them with little to no care still hangin' in there, after decades of hard use. Amazing machines.

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Thanks for the kind words, gentlemen.

The 7016 is good from far, far from good. The paint on the hood was applied with a chip brush, over the course of about an hour. It kept it from rusting over the winter, but it needs a real paint job. The rest of the paint is original to the tractor and it shows. Shes an honest ol girl, not ashamed of her roots. I was going to strip it all down this winter to give her some pretty clothes.

Its going to be for sale soon though, as part of the deal for the new one is getting rid of the old one. Going to wait a month, then sell it as a package with a 36" blower.

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No No No

You must follow club rule #1:

For every attachment you need a separate tractor.

It's OK to start with one tractor with multiple attachments, but as you acquire more tractors you can't get rid of any until rule #1 is satisfied.

And from your signature area, I see you've already violated rule #1 once. Please don't do it again.

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