Antique Tractor Restoration Tips
“ Farmall Cub Four Bar Grille Repair ”
As you can see from the picture on the left we had a badly bent-up grille on our Farmall Cub restoration project. I'm told most of these grilles are in pretty bad shape after years of use. From looking at the replacement costs of a new grille ($165) it was decided to try and make this grille as good as new. As with most parts of these tractor restorations, when you hit an obstacle, a little thought is required. While I do have some experience in automotive body work, this grille was in pretty bad shape with the actual metal being stretched. Although I did have the knowledge to get the basic shape back on this Farmall cub grille, there was much more involved. Time to do a little research. After some looking around the internet I came across an article on Straightening and Polishing Stainless Trim. This is a very well written article and gave me the inspiration to succeed at repairing the grille on our Farmall Cub.
Time to get busy. First thing was to get some of the basic original shape back to the grille. A couple of 1x2 pieces of wood and a bench vise were used to get the sides of the grille straight. I used the vise to hold one side and used vise grips with a couple more 1x2 pieces to hold the other side. Next, I just grabbed the bar that was bent the most and pulled it back somewhat close to where it belonged. Then took out most of the dents with a body hammer. Things were looking pretty good at this point until we unclamped everything. From all the metal stretching, the original shape was still not there.
It was decided to install the hood and side supports and mount the grille to better evaluate the situation. What happened was the top three bars on the grille pushed out when bolted onto the tractor. The solution to this problem is actually very simple. We took a hacksaw and cut the top three bars in the middle and remounted the grille. From here we could see how far they had stretched and how much metal to remove. About 1/4" in this case. With the excess metal removed, the center of the bars was welded and ground smooth (If you look at the photo on the left, you can see where the welds are in the center of the bars).With the worst part behind us, the next thing was putting the final touches on the grille before painting.
Now that things were shaping up and the basic shape of the original grille was in place, the techniques found in the article on straitening stainless trim were used to get out the small dents and the grille was sandblasted. A small amount of body filler was used to fill in minor imperfections, sanded and finally the grille was covered with a few coats of primer and prepped for painting. You can see the final product in the picture on the right. Although this was not the easiest part of the restoration, it was very satisfying to know that our 1959 Farmall Cub still has the original grille and it looks great. Don't be afraid to try something like this yourself. Take your time and methodically work your way through the process one step at a time. If you get frustrated, or are not getting the results you think you should be seeing, walk away from it for a day or two. Do a little more research and get after it again. You can get the job done with a little thought and persistence.