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New Tractor

Started by Weekend_Sawyer, March 15, 2004, 06:18:06 PM

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Weekend_Sawyer

Well it's new to me, what you see here is a 48 Farmall Super A.





I had been keeping an eye out for one for a while. I was looking for one a little further out, so I could take a road trip. It's just as much fun to go get them as it is to restore them. But as it turns out this one was about 10 miles from me. Even stranger it turned out to be someone I used to work with when I first got to NASA back in the late 70's. We were both surprized, spent some time catching up and I promised him he could drive it in the Burtinsville parade after I finish the restoration.
It had been sitting for 5 years, I picked it up sunday and had it running tonight. You just can't kill these old tractors.

WS
Imagine, Me a Tree Farmer.
Jon, Appalachian American Wannabe.

chet

You got yourself a good little tractor there. I rebuilt my stepdads for him, and had lots of fun doing it. We need pics when you get her done!
I am a true TREE HUGGER, if I didnt I would fall out!  chet the RETIRED arborist

dail_h

   Those were the tractor of choice for tobacco farmers where I grew up. Good reliable small tractors
World Champion Wildcat Sorter,1999 2002 2004 2005
      Volume Discount At ER
Singing The Song Of Circle Again

Kirk_Allen

My dad has two Model M's.  He used one of them to pull a monster cherry out of the creek.  

Hard to imagine how much torque those oldies have until you see it.

I tried to get him to part with one of them but that aint happening any time soon.  One is used for cutting the hay and bailing and the other is hooked to the manure spreader full time.

If I can only talk him out of the 59 Ford grain truck 8)  PTO dump bed with removable sides and back.  It would make a great log hauler. ;D

redpowerd

much more rustic than them new farmalls.
i know of one with a cracked block for 350, i have a mower for it and thinking of putting one together for roadside stuff along cornfields. need to show off them pioneer signs ::)
have fun! looks to be in DanG good shape!
NO FARMERS -- NO FOOD
northern adirondak yankee farmer

Frickman

Good looking little tractor there. We have one just like it here, it doesn't get used much anymore though. An uncle of mine uses it occasionally for dragging firewood out of his woodlot. I used to use it to cultivate corn, but don't anymore. I found that low gear is geared way to high for cultivating, even with the motor at an idle. You'd bounce along too fast and end up tearing out some corn.

Back when we milked we used to use it every few weeks to chop hay for bedding. We have an old Papec silage chopper that was used to fill silos. It runs off a flat belt and let me tell you, you'd be suprised how much power that little tractor has. We parked it outside the barn and would chop mulch quality hay into bedding for several hours at a time, and the tractor would never miss a beat. In new equipment I prefer John Deere green, but those old reds are OK too.
If you're not broke down once in a while, you're not working hard enough

I'm not a hillbilly. I'm an "Appalachian American"

Retired  Conventional hand-felling logging operation with cable skidder and forwarder, Frick 01 handset sawmill

Pretend farmer when I have the time

redpowerd

NO FARMERS -- NO FOOD
northern adirondak yankee farmer

Weekend_Sawyer

 True confessions. I to have an old JD 40 in the barn, don't use it much anymore because of all the red tractors around it but I do love the sound of an old Johnny Popper 2 cylander.

Just got back from picking up a used, very good condition 6' woods belly mower for my A. This tractor is coming together nicely.
Imagine, Me a Tree Farmer.
Jon, Appalachian American Wannabe.

Weekend_Sawyer

Heay Dail_H,
 I noticed you are from Durants Neck Va. The Lovely Miss Celest has a place in Great Neck. My question is why are these places called "Neck" on the Va shoreline?
Imagine, Me a Tree Farmer.
Jon, Appalachian American Wannabe.

lamar

I have an A TOO. Its set up with planter att.and cult.Also has a air cyl.that lifts the cult.Runs off belt pully under the drivers seat.
the other is for planter guy I guess.
The gen. is bad but mag is good so I crank.It starts easy once you get things right.Problem is manifold is shot.Got so Id have to shove a rag into carb intake to get enough choke to get gas up to cyl.Need new one but might try brazing old one shes go a lot of holes.

Stan

What's the use of bein' able to see where you are cultivatin' if you're goin' so fast you're pullin' up the plants. Gimmee and Allis G.  ;)
I may have been born on a turnip truck, but I didn't just fall off.

ksu_chainsaw

We have new JD tractors that we use for field work 7810, 8400, but we use the old farmalls for all the daily work around the farm- 706 diesel, and we used to use the 450nf, but it needs a rebuild right now, so the skidloader gets more of a workout.  You just cant beat the old tractors for their reliability and how easy it is to work on them.  Too bad they still dont make the tractors that can be worked on without having a masters degree in electrical engineering :-/

Charles

Ed_K

 If your looking for another New Tractor  ;). I have a 42 MH model 81r. Its running, but needs paint  ;D.
Ed K

Weekend_Sawyer

well post a pic of it Ed. always room for another tractor around here... somewhere.



That's a 41' M in the back, 49' M in the middle and the little A on the end. It is coming along nicly. I have the bad radiator off, new one on order, valve cover off. This tractor did not need a valve adjustment. First one that didn't.



I always pull the oil pans off. This one was not too bad, about 1/2 cup of sludge in the bottom. I'll be putting it back together over the next couple of weeks and adding a 6' Woods belly mower.
Is it spring yet?
Just having fun in Maryland.
Imagine, Me a Tree Farmer.
Jon, Appalachian American Wannabe.

dail_h

   Weekend Sawer,
   I'm not originaly from around here,so I asked mt wife if she knew. Said no,but it was probably cause it's on a peninsula. She took exception to being put in VA. We are in NC 8)If you look closely at a map,you will see that the point of land between the Perquimiams River, and the Little River Is called Durants Neck,named after George Durant,who had the first recorded land deed when he bought the whole area from the Perquimians Indians. The post office here is Durants Neck,but the comunity is called New Hope- Durned if I can explain that. In this community,5-6 mile radius there is Old Neck,Hog Neck,Cross Neck ,and if you are in the metropilis of New Hope ,Down Neck,ie anywhere toward the point from here. Shoot,didn't mean to ramble on ,but some things need clarifing some ;D Hope this helps.
   Stan. I agree with the Allis G comment, I have the one Dad bought about 1963 or 64 ,he had it rebuilt several tears before he died,but never ran it. Growing up,that was my tractor as my two brothers always wanted to use the big tractor,Ford Jubilee
World Champion Wildcat Sorter,1999 2002 2004 2005
      Volume Discount At ER
Singing The Song Of Circle Again

Weekend_Sawyer

 Neck, Peninsula, sounds right to me.

My appoligies to you wife for placing her too far north. My Mother was a proud South Carolinian and kept her accent for 83 years. She never did get used to Maryland... or Dad.
Imagine, Me a Tree Farmer.
Jon, Appalachian American Wannabe.

Weekend_Sawyer

Update on the Super A

 Spent a couple of evenings last week and all weekend in the barn. Working on it. My new radiator came in. Did not fit. That one is headed back and hopefully the correct one is on it's way.

I put a new wiring harness on and got a nice puff of smoke from under the dash, yea it has a dash. I found that the original harness was in wrong. Thanks to a guy over on the Red Power forum I downloaded the correct wiring diagram and now with a little sanding and asking nicley even the lights work.

 Oil pan is back on. Valve cover is back on. When I drained the trans some nasty sludge came out and a half dozen small metal chuncks. The trans sounds fine, PTO works fine and what gears I can see through the filler hole look fine. I beleive someone had blown the PTO or a gear in the trans and did not clean it out good. It is Clean now. Still waiting on my new radiator and keeping my fingers crossed that it is the right one.
Imagine, Me a Tree Farmer.
Jon, Appalachian American Wannabe.

UNCLEBUCK

hey congrats to you W.S. ! hope you have a good time fixing and showing it !  my neighbor here in central minnesota is a retired nasa man out of gambrels maryland , he is having fun too !  I just got rid of my big big tractor and pulled a wd-9 out of the weeds to fix up for the mill, looks like you know what youre doing, I dont  :D
UNCLEBUCK    bridge burner/bridge mender

Weekend_Sawyer

 Heay Unclebuck, I would LOVE to have a WD-9! What a tractor. I saw one running a 00 frick at a tractor show last year.. is that pronounced double aught frick?  IM me with your neighbor's name, I have been working in and around NASA GSFC for 26 years.

Not to tell you what to do but here's what I suggest you do

1. Take lots of pictures. The Lovely Miss Celest made a nice series of pix of a 50' Cub I restored a few years back.

2. Go to Binderbooks.com and order the Owners, Service and Parts manuals. The parts books give parts blowups so you can see how things go together and are PRICELESS!

3. Enjoy, it's a labor of love for me and it keeps me from sittin infront of the tv eating cheetos.

Here's what happened last night. I put my Brand new from Ebay Radiator in the A last night and was driving it around. I wanted to get some runtime so I could change the oil again. Those 6v lights work pretty good. I pulled it in the barn to put the grill and hood on and noticed a LOT of oil dripping on my foot. Looks like the front main seal is bad. real bad. It's part of the timing chain cover so I have to pull my new radiator (waaah), drop the front end and pull off the bolster assembly with the steering gears, that's heavy but I have a skid steer. Think I'll pull the new(er) M out of the barn. The A has been blocking it and as this may take a while and it's almost time to plow! I have never plowed with an M before, wish I had a 3 bottom plow.

Imagine, Me a Tree Farmer.
Jon, Appalachian American Wannabe.

oldsaw-addict

I dont know about the rest of you guys, but I would love to see this tractor after its done and has some nice new red paint on it. they  just dont make tractors now like they used to.
Let there be saws for all mankind!

Weekend_Sawyer


 Well Oldsaw, I'm going to keep this thread going till she's done. I had not planned on painting it right away but since I have to pull the front end off, I may scratch it down and shoot a couple of nice red coats on it.
Imagine, Me a Tree Farmer.
Jon, Appalachian American Wannabe.

Weekend_Sawyer

Farmall A update:

 

well I got the front end off pretty well. remove the radiator and a couple of other things. I supported the axle with the forks on the skid steer, removed the four large bolts holding on the bolster and it slid right off.

 The problems occured when I went to pull the crank pully off. I have a real nice pulley puller. You screw a bolt into the end of the crank and let the puller screw ride on that. It was working well but the bolt wasn't long enough and the bolt head could not pass through the hole in pulley. The bolt did get into the hole just enough to get jamed. I took the puller off and put a large socket over the bolt and was driving the pulley back on with a 4lb hammer when I had a swing and a miss! CRACK, I hit the side of the pulley and broke it just as pretty as you please.

Soooo parts are on order again. Meanwhile I can now remove the timing chain cover and press out the main seal.

More later
WS
Imagine, Me a Tree Farmer.
Jon, Appalachian American Wannabe.

Stan

Yeah the goobermint would make short work of a tractor maker who left off the pto shield and the rops.  ::)
I may have been born on a turnip truck, but I didn't just fall off.

Weekend_Sawyer

 Cheezy crackers Batman! This post was 6 pages down. Figured I'd drag it back up and give an update.  I haven't been able to put too many hours in on the tractor, it being spring I spent last weekend doing mower maintenance, that's fluid changes, greasing and bade sharpening on 2 Farmall Cubs and a push mower. Then I had to USE them, sheesh. I also have been prepping the garden, almost time for planting. Did I mention I took a motorcycle ride to Georgia to eat at my favorite seafood restaurant?  Anyway, here's what I have done since my last post.

 I got the timing cover off, timing is gear driven not chain. The governor is part of the assembly that needed to come off, what a simple yet well working device. Everything inside looks good, I knocked out the old offending seal. Remember this was the whole reason for tearing it apart, A $5 seal!!!. Pressed the new one in and started reassembly. The cover and gov are back on. I am going to do a little painting before I put too much back on.

 I stopped by my local Case IH dealer and picked up a gallon of purdy red paint, 2 new front tires, tubes, front axle bearing seals and other miscellaneous stuff. Heck he even threw in a free HAT!!!

Jon
Imagine, Me a Tree Farmer.
Jon, Appalachian American Wannabe.

Corley5

 8) 8) 8) 8)  Lotsa fun aren't they ???
Burnt Gunpowder is the Smell Of Freedom

Stan

Bein' an Oliver man myself, I kinda lost interest when I saw what color it was.  :)
I may have been born on a turnip truck, but I didn't just fall off.

Weekend_Sawyer

Ok Stan, lets not start a color war ;)

I have been doing alot of degreasing. I had the front end in the yard hiting it with simple green, power washer and then scraper when I found the rear part of the front end pivot was broken off. It's a fairly common problem but I am glad I found it now so I don't have to take it apart again.

 A buddy of mine, Celest and I were standing around talking, pointing out various things to get done before a coat of paint can be shot, we were just about done for the evening when the high pressure hose on the power washer burst spraing me right in the... well lower back. What a surprize! That was it for the evening, we all went out for tacos and beers with 2 Xs on them.
Imagine, Me a Tree Farmer.
Jon, Appalachian American Wannabe.

Stan

I don't have anything against red, there is a red Oliver in Maryland, that came from the factory that way in 1938. It seems Oliver sent some various colored tractors around to fairs, to ask folks which they prefered. This old boy bought the red one, and his grandson restored it for him. I wonder what happened to the blue one? :-/
I may have been born on a turnip truck, but I didn't just fall off.

Weekend_Sawyer

 The Super A is still in large hunks on the garage floor. I broke down the bad tires off of the rims and they werent too bad, the rims that is, except for a strange hole near the valve stem hole.


You are looking at the inside of my rim, the big hole is the valve stem hole.

When I pulled out the old tube there was a patch on it right where that hole was!!




Upon closer inspection you may be able to see the metal is torn to the inside. Looks like someone was shootin at a Deere and hit a Farmall :o

I have been distracted on a couple of other large projects, rebuilding my flatbed trailer, working on an addition to our cabin in West Virginia but every now and then I go out and play with the A. The front tires do look good.



now I have to weld the front axle where it is broke and put the front end back together.

More soon
Jon

Imagine, Me a Tree Farmer.
Jon, Appalachian American Wannabe.

beetle

That "A" is one reliable tractor, I have had mine for 25+ years, worked her hard and she still goes strong. She will pull the pants right off  them there gray ones. I got two of them green ones, yet, I still like getting on ole red.
Too many hobbies...not enough time.

Weekend_Sawyer

 I got a little more work done on the broken front end the last couple of days.

Here's the broken part It's the pivot point.


I welded it back inplace and fabricated a stiffner plate for it.


Welded the stiffner plate inplace.


and cleaned the whole thing up.


I hope to shoot some red paint on these cleaned parts soon so they don't start to rust... again.
Imagine, Me a Tree Farmer.
Jon, Appalachian American Wannabe.

Buzz-sawyer

One question. How will it pivot with the plate there? What am I missing?
    HEAR THAT BLADE SING!

Weekend_Sawyer

The stiffner plate is on the bottom, the front end is upside down in the frist couple of pictures the last picture is of it right side up clamped in a vice by the stiffner.
Imagine, Me a Tree Farmer.
Jon, Appalachian American Wannabe.

MULE_MAN

Hey your'll have that tractor looking real good in no time at all
Nice weld  8) Must have a Mig welder  8)
What horse power is that Tractor  ???  I think them Ole Tractor's are neat ,no matter what color they are  8)
Wood-Mizer LT40HDG25 with Simple Setworks, debatker, 580 CASE backhoe

Norm

That's one nice welding job! I would never show a close-up of my welding beads. :D

Weekend_Sawyer

Thanks guys, I used a stick welder. My father was a welder and gave me a couple of good tips. I could not do it for a living but I can make stuff stick together :)

The Super As run about 18 hp can handle a 6' mower deck and have live hydraulics. Just an all around nice tractor. I also have a front blade.

 I like Farmall's because that's what Dad and the farms around us had but I like all tractors, the older the better.
Imagine, Me a Tree Farmer.
Jon, Appalachian American Wannabe.

Quartlow

QuoteI don't have anything against red, there is a red Oliver in Maryland, that came from the factory that way in 1938. It seems Oliver sent some various colored tractors around to fairs, to ask folks which they prefered. This old boy bought the red one, and his grandson restored it for him. I wonder what happened to the blue one? :-/

Actually its a canadian oliver, quite a few of them say cockshut on them. I'm with you stan give a wd45 Allis chalmers or an 880 diesal oliver.

And of WS congrats even if it is a farmall

We have two of those nasty JD green things here a 2940 with as loader and 4520, cousin has a JD complex, funny thing is thoug since he finised the rebuild of of his 1750 oliver he spends more and more time on it ::) ::) The daily drivers are a restored WC allis and shudder an H.

 :D :D :)
Breezewood 24 inch mill
Have a wooderful day!!

oldsaw

Dad has a "B" that has been all gussied up and looking good.  He also has his first real tractor which is all painted up too, an "H", then a 450 with a loader.  All of those have been in the family for years.  The 450 when I was a pre-schooler...I still remember when he drove it home.  The "B" was owned by my great uncle until Dad bought it in the 70's after he passed away.  He probably bought it new.  He quit farming when his F20 shot craps, and figured he was done too.  Dad's got a 1686 too, but that doesn't count since he bought it after I left.

In between, we had a 460D, an 806D, and a 706.  Yep, all red.  And I spent a ton of hours on all of them.
So many trees, so little money, even less time.

Stihl 066, Husky 262, Husky 350 (warmed over), Homelite Super XL, Homelite 150A

Weekend_Sawyer

 So I have been tinkering on the front end pices, have most of them ready for paint. I have to scratch the wole tractor down and prime it then fire up the wood stove in the shop and have a shootin good time. That will not be for a wile.

In the mean time I was having Maryland Crabs with one of my brothers and a friend of his we were talkin tractors and he said he had a nice 52' Ford 8N that he was going to get rid of cheep, did I want it ;D

The next weekend it was on my trailer
 

with bushog and scraper blade, could have passed it up... na coulden't  ;)

And then the other day I was having my favorite taco dinner at my favorite taco joint where I can usually be found on tuesday evenings, when a buddy of mine stopped in and said he was thinking of getting rid of his 52'  Super A that is in REAL bad shape. I told him I'd take it. Now I do some sawing for this guy every now and then and I woln't charge him for it cause he is a friend. So he said come and get the A that he would trade it to me for future sawing conciderations. Now that's the kind of deal I like :)

Here's the poor ol A that needs a LOT of TLC
 

It filled the Last bit of space in my shed row.
Imagine, Me a Tree Farmer.
Jon, Appalachian American Wannabe.

Roxie

A true tractor buff would not let a little thing like a lack of storage slow him down!  Why just last week Cowboy Bob came home with a '53 Massey Harris 33 Row Crop with a loader attachment.  (heavy sigh).
Just so happens that I've talked him into selling his '49 John Deere A.   ;)
Check the map.....we're just up the road from ya!!   :D :D
Say when

Weekend_Sawyer

Heay Roxie,
You all are right around the corner, stop on by anytime!
Always looking to meet another FF member.

An a true tractor buff, like me ;), would just build another section of shed roof, like I am!
Jon
Imagine, Me a Tree Farmer.
Jon, Appalachian American Wannabe.

Mark M

I don't even have a tractor :'(

Roxie

Well, if you're up for a road trip, get on over here and we'll sell you that '49 John Deere A!!   :D :D :D
Say when

Weekend_Sawyer


 I'm not afraid of green. A guy here at work just gave me a John Deere Welder. wonder if it will weld on a farmall ???

I have made a promise to myself. I am not going to buy anymore tractors until I finish the 2 projects in the barn.

I'm probably lying to myself  ;)
Imagine, Me a Tree Farmer.
Jon, Appalachian American Wannabe.

IndyIan

Weekend Sawyer,

My father in law has a Farmall A just like yours in his barn that has been run once or twice a year until a couple years ago.  We have a need for a small tractor on our land, do you think it would run a snow blower of any size?  Do you think reverse is slow enough to use a blower?

Thanks, Ian  

Weekend_Sawyer

Indylan,

I don't know, but I don't see why it wouldnt.

Is it an A or Super A. Super A's have hydraulics, A's do not.

check out www.yesterdaystractors.com and post that question in the Farmall section. I'm sure someone there would know.

I do know that woods still makes a belly mower adapter kit for them and there are 3 point conversion kits available.

Happy tractorin. I know I am when I am. 8)
Imagine, Me a Tree Farmer.
Jon, Appalachian American Wannabe.

Murf

Ian, the problem with older tractors and snowblowers is usually not a question of enough power to drive them.

A lot of the older tractors didn't have a slow enough gearing in reverse, the tractor at PTO speed would have it move backwards faster than the blower could clear the snow away. The result was you had to constantly slip it back & forth between neutral & reverse to keep it moving slow enough that the blower didn't just plug up.

If you want to experiment I have a 6' single stage you can try on it.

I'm barely an hour and a half's drive straight west of you.
If you're going to break a law..... make sure it's Murphy's Law.

IndyIan

Thanks for the info guys,
Weekend_Sawyer, by hydraulics you mean it can raise and lower the hitch arms?  It can do that.  I guess 18 hp from 4 cylinders is a bit different than 18 hp in a walk behind blower!

Murf, Thanks for your generous offer, I won't be blowing any snow this year as I'm pretty busy trying to finish our house, so no time to get the tractor going.  IF we get moved in this winter then we'll have to hire someone.  It will be good to see how well a truck does on our hill too as maybe we'll just get a plow.

Ian

Weekend_Sawyer

  If I ever have to disguise myself as a terrorist you will know me as Ibinplowin.
That's the kind of junk that drifts through my brain when I'm plowing or tilling or whatever.

It was a little early but I just had to get the little ford out and work it. I have a new to me Dearborn 3-point double 14" plow. I plowed my little vegtable garden lot and then went over to Brother Chris's house and plowed his lot.

Someone recently gave me a 3 point hitch disk harrow with every disk broken except one. I bought 20 new disks and replaced them all. It was surprizingly easy when you take into account it has spent it's life in the dirt.  I'll hang the only unbroken one on the barn.  I have always used an old-fashioned IH Little Geneious drawbar plow and drawbar disk so it has been a real joy to run 3-point  hitch equipment. You get to the end of the row, lift the implement spin around and run back up the next row, aint it great I just drug myself into the 1940's. ;D

and the Super A project, just about where I left it. I plan on getting back to it now that the weather is getting nice. There is not much left wrong with it except it needs one new rear tire and I need to continue prepping it for paint.

 
Imagine, Me a Tree Farmer.
Jon, Appalachian American Wannabe.

pappy

So Jon ya done scrachin' old paint??? and got dat Super A painted??

Gonna check out the www.yesterdaystractors.com link

thanks.
pappy

"And if we live, we shall go again, for the enchantment which falls upon those who have gone into the woodland is never broken."

"Down the Allagash."  by; Henry Withee

Weekend_Sawyer

Wow, time really flies. It's been almost 15 years since I worked on the ol super A. But I'm back on it. My buddy Dave kept asking when we were going to get that thing running. Well, we started working on it last night.

Here's where I left it.

 

 Here's Dave wrenching away.

 

And this is where we left it, hopefully not to sit for another 15 years.

 

Jon
Imagine, Me a Tree Farmer.
Jon, Appalachian American Wannabe.

yukon cornelius

I sold my A a few years back and then sold my super A a few months ago. Sent if off to a U-pick blueberry farm along with my antique railroad luggage cart. They were going to transport people back and forth to the berry patch. Yours looks like a fun project. They are such a cool tractor design.
It seems I am a coarse thread bolt in a world of fine threaded nuts!

Making a living with a manual mill can be done!

East ky logging

I've Had a super a for about 25 years and it's probably been one of the most reliable tractor on the place,just have to replace the points every few years.It has cultivated untelling how many acres of tobacco back when I farmed it.Dad still uses it to cultivate his garden and a small field of white corn he raises to grind into corn meal.
They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty or safety- Benjamin Franklin

Weekend_Sawyer

I keep telling myself that I'm only going to keep 1 tractor and that's my Ferguson.
But the Super A really is a neat tractor. Ah, decisions.
Jon
Imagine, Me a Tree Farmer.
Jon, Appalachian American Wannabe.

btulloh

Keep it.  Super A's and the newer version, the 140 are great tractors.  Especially if you want to cultivate some row crops.  Besides, you just can't have too many tractors.
HM126

btulloh

Which Ferguson do you have?  Ferguson is good all-round tractor.  
HM126

Weekend_Sawyer

I now have 7 antique tractors in various stages of dis repair.
I had 8 but I sold my 52' 8N.

It's hard letting go of these things but I'm trying to downsize. I will be retiring and moving to WV in a couple of years and really need to lighten my load.
But then again the super A is such a cool little tractor.
Sigh
Jon
Imagine, Me a Tree Farmer.
Jon, Appalachian American Wannabe.

btulloh

Gotcha.  I've been through a tractor reduction myself in the last couple years and I'm not even moving.  It got to the point that I couldn't keep up with batteries and stale gas after a while.  Funny thing is that seemed to coincide with buying a sawmill.   :D  There's only so much time.  Moving adds a whole 'nother dimension.  I've been following your thread on your house build.  Very nice.  I hope you enjoy your retirement and your new home.  A super A would look good in your new barn!
HM126

gspren

I had the newer version of the A, the 140 with a 6' belly mower and it was a mowing beast. When I sold the farm where I kept it I sold the 140 and a 48 Farmall H. On the farm where I live I stayed with all JD and the only antique is a 1956 620. Reading this reminded me that earlier this summer when I tried to start the 620 it didn't and it was too hot to work on it so today I tried again. I had spark but no fuel so started searching and ended up siphoning the gas out and unscrewed the little shut off with strainer and glass bowl and the end up in the tank was really gummed up, I got it opened up and ready to reinstall but I spilled enough gas in the shed to scare me so I'll wait until tomorrow to try again. Fun!!
Stihl 041, 044 & 261, Kubota 400 RTV, Kubota BX 2670, Ferris Zero turn

Weekend_Sawyer

We finished tearing it down as far as were going to. Now there's going to be alot of cleaning, scraping and painting.


 

I'll break the rear tires down, clean and paint the rims and put in new tubes.

 

I'd say it's coming along nicely.
Jon
Imagine, Me a Tree Farmer.
Jon, Appalachian American Wannabe.

samandothers

Good for you guys!  That's gonna be nice when complete.

Weekend_Sawyer

Quote from: btulloh on October 18, 2019, 07:54:18 AM
Which Ferguson do you have?  Ferguson is good all-round tractor.  
I must have missed this first time around.
I have a 54' TO30. Nice tractor with factory wheel weights.
Just a little bigger and more powerful than the 8N.
Which is why I'm keeping it. It's my lawn mower I pull a 5' rear mount mower deck with it.
Imagine, Me a Tree Farmer.
Jon, Appalachian American Wannabe.

Weekend_Sawyer

I'm working on my house more than anything else these days but I get to put a few hours in on the Super A every now and then.

Here's the first coat of paint going on.


 

Dave did a good job.
I still have to attack the rear tires and scratch down a bunch of little pieces.

Jon
Imagine, Me a Tree Farmer.
Jon, Appalachian American Wannabe.

A-z farmer

Very nice restoration job weekend sawyer.
I think it is amazing that IH still has parts available for those A tractors .The A was the first new tractor my grandfather bought to replace the steel wheeled F -20 in the 1940s.

Al_Smith

Late to the party .I've also got a small collection .Two Ferguson TO-20's both with big bore kits ,one with a Davis loader .John Deere A and JD 70 .
Three  Cat D4's 1940 ,1943 and 1946 .One Oliver OC 6 crawler with a home made 6 way blade and super 77 engine up grade .This one had sat 14 years before I got it running last summer .I had restored it about 30-35 years ago so for all intents the engine is fresh .In low gear you cannot stall it .It will dig all the way to China .It won't move as much dirt as the D4's but it does it twice as fast .

On just the subject of old tractors it's surprising the fact you can find just about any part it takes to restore them .There are salvage yards all over the place plus a huge amount of after market new parts .Cat and JD you can get the parts from a dealer although you are not going to like the price .

The Oliver  crawler I replaced the water pump,rebuilt the carb replaced all the gauges and hung a GM one wire alternator in place of the generator .Fact I don't even fool with a generator any more just go the alternator route from the start .I'm not concerned about being "correct " I just want it to work .

Sedgehammer

Just saw this thread, was a nice read and brought back many a memory, thanks for that and nice job also!
Grew up using an H, M and MTA (didn't like them. No live pto or power steering compared to the same years of olivers). That M sure wood haul butt though. It was nice for a road tractor between the farms. These were my grand pa's, that's why my dad and uncle bought mostly Oliver's...... :D They said that my grand pa even had red long johns..... ;D
We did have a couple of 560's later on, they weren't to bad. The diesel would also really scoot. My dad did buy a 'B' a few before he died that i got till my brother didn't pick it up (an 1850 Oliver also) like asked and he affirmed he wood do from one of the places i sold, that was a handy dandy little tractor.  
Necessity is the engine of drive

Al_Smith

I do have another antique. A 1938 AC model B which I restored in vo-ag class when I was 16 years old which was 56 years ago .Dad bought that thing with a semi mount plow,a hay rake,6 foot disk,4 foot horse drawn IH hay mower for $75 .I used to plow garden plots for$5-15 bucks a pop in the little town I grew up in .I could do more with that little tractor in 20 minutes than they could do in an entire day with a roto tiller .

Walnut Beast

Quote from: Al_Smith on May 21, 2020, 08:40:38 AM
Late to the party .I've also got a small collection .Two Ferguson TO-20's both with big bore kits ,one with a Davis loader .John Deere A and JD 70 .
Three  Cat D4's 1940 ,1943 and 1946 .One Oliver OC 6 crawler with a home made 6 way blade and super 77 engine up grade .This one had sat 14 years before I got it running last summer .I had restored it about 30-35 years ago so for all intents the engine is fresh .In low gear you cannot stall it .It will dig all the way to China .It won't move as much dirt as the D4's but it does it twice as fast .

On just the subject of old tractors it's surprising the fact you can find just about any part it takes to restore them .There are salvage yards all over the place plus a huge amount of after market new parts .Cat and JD you can get the parts from a dealer although you are not going to like the price .

The Oliver  crawler I replaced the water pump,rebuilt the carb replaced all the gauges and hung a GM one wire alternator in place of the generator .Fact I don't even fool with a generator any more just go the alternator route from the start .I'm not concerned about being "correct " I just want it to work .
If you can post some pictures of the crawlers 😊

Al_Smith

Took me a while to find one ,now the big question is can I load it 

 

Walnut Beast


Al_Smith

I had to take another picture of the OIlie this morning because I couldn't find any on my hard drives (plural ) .It's a 1954 model that was never intended to be an excavating machine but rather an ag crawler rated at about 34 HP drawbar,3 plow .
When I got it it had a 4 feet high garbage blade which is may too much for pushing dirt at that HP rating and 9500 Lbs .I cut it down and modified it to hydraulic tilt mechanical angle .Like I said before it won't push as much as the D4 cat but does it much faster and the hydraulics are much faster acting with higher pressure smaller lift cylinders    

 

Sedgehammer

That's really neat!
That's also some really weird lookin corn in the background..... :o
Necessity is the engine of drive

farmfromkansas

I have a '52 super H that I kept when we had my Dad's sale, added a 3 point hitch, and have a old buzz saw mounted on the front, run with flat belt, and also a 3 point sickle mower on the back, but don't get it out much since getting a ZTR mower.  Now one of the rear tires blew out, I need to jack it up and take off the rim, and get a new tire put on.  It is at the farm and i live 2 miles away. 
ZtR mower is much nicer way to mow a yard.
Most everything I enjoy doing turns out to be work

Al_Smith

I've got a 72" Mott  flail mower I ran on the Ferguson TO 20 .It did okay but if the grass got too high it over heated the tractor which has a big bore kit .Evidently the radiator could not handle that extra 5 HP .So it took a cool down period in like July,August .
Same 2 acres of grass,Toro Titan 54 " mower  23 HP .Mows faster doesn't over heat .Much better job .Only one problem,you can't drink beer running that fast ,turns to foam .

Walnut Beast

Quote from: Al_Smith on May 22, 2020, 10:59:18 AM
I had to take another picture of the OIlie this morning because I couldn't find any on my hard drives (plural ) .It's a 1954 model that was never intended to be an excavating machine but rather an ag crawler rated at about 34 HP drawbar,3 plow .
When I got it it had a 4 feet high garbage blade which is may too much for pushing dirt at that HP rating and 9500 Lbs .I cut it down and modified it to hydraulic tilt mechanical angle .Like I said before it won't push as much as the D4 cat but does it much faster and the hydraulics are much faster acting with higher pressure smaller lift cylinders    


Nice looking. Sure is nice seeing pictures of those older treasures 

Al_Smith

I bought the Ollie for 200 bucks .Engine was worn out,undercarriage was junk ,blade was torn off .Sunk half way up the tracks in the mud .
I literally rebuilt it from the tracks up .In those days there wasn't as much after market for parts as there is now .It was a hunt but over a few years I got-er-done .
That JD model A in  the other picture I literally hauled it home with the entire engine parts in 5 gallon buckets with a cracked engine block .Restoration of these natures are not for the weak of heart or impatient .You might travel 3 or 4 states to find the parts to even begin the job .On the other hand they were built to run forever and if you do the job correctly they probably will .Most likely the reason they became in such bad condition was lack of maintenance but it took years before they died on the vine .

Walnut Beast

Yes indeed! I love that old stuff. I've got a Dodge military M37. I started to restore several years ago and still need to get back together. It's got a Hercules Diesel. A DT3.7 turbo. They were made in your nick of the woods. Canton Ohio. When I was really into the old Power Wagons and Willy's. I went to Canton and bought the original proto type m37 with the diesel conversion and gear change from Hercules. I remember that plant was pretty big. You could run down the road 60-70mph. They made that conversion for the Pakistan Army and other countries that were using the Dodge M37. 

Al_Smith

Canton Ohio used to have a big giant salvage yard full of old military stuff .I doubt it's still there though .
When the Chinese a few years ago tried to corner the market on scrap steel a lot of that stuff went under the torch .

Sedgehammer

I was thinking of this thread when a memory came back that I had forgotten about and thought I'd share it.
I was prolly 13, maybe 14. We use to pull at the local brush pulls before we went national and we had a Super 88 Oliver with a Super 99 motor (gas) and another Super 88 with a 1650 motor (diesel, 310 waukasha) that were pretty stout. The 88/99 was untouchable in the light class and the 88/1650 was in the next class up with the 88/99 2nd. Anyways, there was a pull about 9 miles away and the truck was down that we used to pull the trailer, so we decided to drive them. After the pull on the way back through the town we pulled in, we opened them up a bit and I was in the lead on the 88/99 and got pulled over. Was going 54 in a 35..... I knew I was going fast, but had no idea I was going that fast. cop got madder then a peed on hornet. Didn't get a ticket, as I told him that it didn't come with a speedometer, so i had no way of knowing (all the while trying not to laugh). I think i was around 6,000 rmp's at the time....  :o
Necessity is the engine of drive

Al_Smith

You have to figure those engines were governed for about 1600 rpm .They will run at probably 3600-4000 rpm .The problem becomes tractor tires are not  designed to run that fast and usually the steering is all loose .Those things are all over the road then .I made the mistake of free wheeling a John-Deere model B down hill with two wagons of hay behind me once when I was 14 old .In the hills of Knox county Ohio ,big mistake .Never did it again.
I do however have one of my Ferguson 20's set up a little over governed speed and it runs right at 20 MPH on the road .However with a big bore kit if I run it that hard while working it the thing over heats .

Sedgehammer

Yeah, freewheeling is danger ous!
I think you're right on the goverend. We had a 1850 gas carb on her and re-jetted and when we tuned it, pretty sure she did 6,500 - 6,750 rmp's. We pulled the sleeves too, so it was a fair amount larger bore. I don't remember if had the cam done at this time or not, but I don't think so. We had to double spring the valves and they'd still float. If memory serves, they were out of a vette, not that makes any difference, but it'd turn. Narrow fronts on both and I think the 88/99 had 24.5 x 32 on the rears.
Necessity is the engine of drive

Al_Smith

Some of those antiques had a fast road speed .Silver King,Wards Twin Row etc .I know a fellow who shoe spooned an Opal 4 cylinder into a Ford 8N .It was over 60 HP replacing the 22 HP Ford flat head .No governor,gas peddle .It would run over 50 MPH on the road .His kid kept breaking the axles pulling two 12" plows at about 20 MPH and blowing dirt twenty feet in the process ..
Funk in Kansas made a modified 8N with either an 8Ba Ford V8 or a 6 cylinder flat head . That's 85-95 HP and likely 4500-5000 rpm on a stock engine .

thecfarm

That Funk was something. I remember the quote. Remember you have a 80 hp motor in a 20 hp tractor and you won't get in trouble. I never seen one of those tractors work.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

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