Tractor Stories

Today, the day after Thanksgiving, I have the hood back on the Cub for the first time in months. It looks good from a distance. This is the hood for which I have the fuel tank cleaned and relined. That was done with a torch, so the entire hood needed to be repainted. The front of the hood attaches to the front uprights with a bolt on each side. The right side was easy enough, but the left side was off enough that I needed a third arm to align the bolt with the hole in the upright. My daughter started the bolt while I was using a hammer to push the upright back and at the same time holding the hood up a bit. The grill is back on too. I had painted it some weeks ago. Something did not look right still and I realized I have used hex bolts instead of the flat head screws which were used originally. I have a set of them and they can be put on tomorrow. They go on the rear of the hood and on the grill sides. One the grill was on and the hood fastened down, I tried the head lights both on low...

The past few days and evenings I have been working like a bear to get the Cub operational again. First, I removed the auxiliary fuel tank so the hydraulic lift could go in the location where the wooden base of the fuel tank was bolted. Once I had the auxiliary tank off, I lifted the rather heavy hydraulic lift onto the space and slid it under the throttle rod instead of removing the throttle rod along with the choke rod. That was a mistake! In taking a short cut, I managed to disrupt the electrical system, so the lift had to be removed while I sorted out and fixed the problem. The rear light and the front light circuit did not work anymore. After a long time of fiddling and tightening, the light circuits worked again; however, the ignition switch refused to pass through any electricity. It had died. I ordered a replacement along with a metal fuel line and two wing nuts to secure the touch control lift stops. Actually, I thought I had purchased those expensive wing nuts earlier and foun...

Sunday I was going to put the fuel filter and shut off device onto the gas tank of the ’49 Farmall Cub. On the bottom of the gas tank which is an integral part of the hood, there is a brass hexagonal adaptor threaded on the inside. The fuel filter does not fit on this hexagonal adaptor. The shape is different and the size is different. I will ask help from some knowledgeable people to solve this. As soon as I have this solved, the hydraulic lift can go in place. The fuel tank on the hood becomes THE fuel tank for the tractor.   The hydraulic pump goes on the left side of the Cub engine near the bottom. A cover plate is removed so the pump vanes can be put in their place. Two bolts of 5/16X28 and 1 .75 inches long are needed to hold the pump together. Two longer bolts hold the pump to the tractor.  I need to buy the shorter one or cut a longer one off myself to fit.     Tractor Boy.

This morning I got out and drained the Cub radiator, collecting the fluid in a big bucket from Home Depot. Once that was done I added the flushing chemical and filled the radiator with water then started the engine to run the stuff through for ten minutes. At about the ten minute mark the auxiliary gas tank (fancy name for a used tank from a small lawn mower) ran dry. I let the engine cool down some and drained that concoction into the same large “Homer” bucket, then added a gallon of antifreeze and enough water to fill the radiator. This afternoon I drove it around for a while, managing to lose one of the battery caps for a time. I drove to the mailbox which is 600 feet from my house then drove to show one of my neighbors the Cub, all told about a half mile of driving. The Cub performed well so I put it back in the Tractor Building to rest while I begin the next phase. That involved painting the hydraulic pump which mounts to the front of the engine. After it dries it w...

Today I got out to my Tractor Building and put 90 weight gear oil in the two reservoirs near the rear wheels. Previously I made a simple device with a funnel and a large diameter piece of clear plastic tubing to facilitate getting the gear oil around the 90 degree angle of the plug and into the tractor. It surely makes the job less messy. Each half moon reservoir takes 1 ¾ pints of gear oil so that is nearly half a gallon. A long handled half inch wrench removes the plug quickly since the plug has a half inch square indent for just that purpose. I had already removed the hitch to get the half moon parts off and the left plug can only be accessed with the hitch off the Cub. Once the plugs were back on I put the step back on too then cleaned up the tools and wiped the few spills. Oh, it was below sixty degrees this morning so quite cool and the gear oil flowed pretty slowly. That is viscous stuff!   Tractor Boy

I went out to my Tractor Building and checked the gaskets on the half moon covers and found the seal is just fine. I do think the one on the new made gasket has a better sticking, but the other is on there good too. I will put the silicon on the top part of the gaskets this afternoon and put them back on the Cub. Then on Monday I can add the gear oil and hopefully have that part fixed. I still need to drain the radiator and put in some chemicals to flush the cooling system. No way of telling whether that has ever been done. The Cub will be 60 in mid January.   I bought some implements from a guy in Kinmundy, Illinois. I got a single point hitch for the rear of the tractor and then a plow and a carrier. The carrier is a box that attaches by the single point hook. The plow also hooks by a single hook. I decided to let the disc go as I cannot haul it back this trip. I still have my incomplete standard disc plow. I have been unable to find parts so far and may just make them. How...

The gaskets I made for the Cub rear end which hold 90 weight gear oil were leaking. I decided to go ahead and remove the half moon gear cover and put some silicon grease on both sides of the home made gasket. This is the right side gasket and I tore it while removing it. I used rubber cement to attach the gasket the first time. After making a new gasket today I used an automotive (or tractor) silicon sealer. Tomorrow after it has dried I will cut out the center part and apply the silicon to the top side then reassemble to the tractor. After that the left side will be fixed. Once the silicon has had twenty-four hours to cure the 90 weight gear oil will be replaced and I hope all will be well. If this does not actually solve the leak then I may go to cork which was the original gasket material instead of the rubberized fiber material I used. Yes, I could buy replacement gaskets; however, I can make them too.   It has become cooler so it is easy to get out there in my Tractor Bu...

The fire is out! Today I decided to use a propane torch to solder the overflow pipe onto the neck of the radiator. Soon smoke was coming from the neck followed by flames; however, the solder was not going where I wanted it to. Using a trick I learned from watching my father handle a carburetor backfire in his automobile, I put my gloved hand over the neck of the radiator and stopped the flames by reducing the oxygen to the flames. Then I started up the Cub and drove it back into the Tractor Building where I used JB Weld to fasten the overflow pipe to the radiator neck. Starting was a real challenge until I finally remembered to pull out the ignition switch. Once I did that it started right up and I used the choke to adjust the fuel until it was running smoothly. Maybe I need a check list to remember the ignition switch. The 8 inch step arrived today and I quickly figured out how to attach it. It does indeed make it easier to mount to the platform than it is to step that 8 inches hi...

I took my granddaughter, Aleia with me to the tractor show in Temple Texas. It is held the first weekend in October each year. I saw many Farmall tractors as well as John Deere. There were oldies like the huge Case and the Oil Pull. There were more rare ones like the BF Avery. Watching the tractors drive by and hearing their engines was wonderful. Aleia wore out after an hour which was maybe one fourth of the sights to be seen so we went home. Still, it was a good day! I got to see some cultivators on Cubs. There was what looked like a reducer on one Cub PTO. The Cub PTO is opposite all others in rotation and revolves at 1800 RPM instead of 540 RPM.   Tractor Boy