Not much gray

In response to "She is a good looking tractor but the only thing I can find wrong with it is that there is not much Gray on it !  ;- )"

Yes, not much grey or gray on the Farmall.

The gas tank and hood (one piece unit) is at the local repair shop. Today, God willing, I will remove the radiator and take it to the same shop. I am slowly buying appropriate parts to include nuts and bolts. There is a Hodge podge of fasteners on this tractor and I am going to restore it to uniformity. Bolts where there should be bolts and screws where there should be screws. Of course I refresh old threads on bolts and in bolt holes as well as in nuts. Then a little oil or grease to reduce further rust and all is well.

I may get to try my hand at sand blasting today too. I have a very old red wagon to try out as well as some of the tractor parts. The wheel weights, although heavy at 150 pounds each, are a straight forward sand blasting chore. The air cleaner tube which runs between the air cleaner and the carburetor on the Fords is a mess on the 640. I let rain water get into it and it fouled the carburetor as well as seriously rusting the inside of the tube. I can blast it inside and out then prime it both areas too. The rubber connectors were age hardened and I managed to cut them away. I can probably find some appropriate tubing and cut it to length.

I was contemplating cleaning the gas tank and repairing it myself, but for just three times my cost I can get the repair shop to do it. The bonus is I don’t blow up or poison myself with fumes. I started cleaning the carburetor from the Ford 640 yesterday. I soaked it in the cleaning tank for almost all day then dunked it in water to neutralize the cleaner. I started scraping off mud, rust, whatever. Today I will get back to it and continue the process. It takes a while, but when I am done, the carburetor is like new.

Tractor Boy

Farmall Cub carb and oil

The past few days I have been working on my Jan 1949 Farmall Cub tractor. I replaced the oil filter which was made of cardboard with one from NAPA with a metal body.  Pic 1264 shows the oil drain location on the right side of the engine. 1268 shows the oil drained, and 1269 shows the old oil filter. The oil was a bit dirty, but much, much cleaner than the black oil I drained from the 8N Ford. The oil filter reservoir cap needed cleaning and painting so I took care of that too. A dental pick was used to scrape off mu7ch of the dirt, followed by a small steel brush. Then a coat of primer and two coats of Farmall red made a pretty looking cap.

 

It is a good thing I have tools! A set of used dental picks, several small brushes, a cleaning tank, left handed drill bits, and finally a can of carburetor cleaned were all used to clean and restore the carburetor. Tractor Supply sells a kit for the IH carburetor on the 59 year old tractor. Pic 1261 shows the carburetor as removed from the Cub. Pic 1262 shows the beginning of the cleaning process. Pic 1270 is just before dipping in the cleaner solution. Pic 1271 is after I finally got that stuck screw out. The head got twisted out of shape. Penetrating oil did not free it, so I used Dye Chem to paint the groove, then a dial caliper to mark the midpoint, a hole starter followed by several left handed drill bits to drill enough through the screw that I could remove it.

 

Pic 1272 shows the bolts which secure the carburetor to the manifold. I used a dies to re-cut the threads, and even used taps to refresh the threads in the carburetor body. Pic 1273 is the reassembled carburetor and the oil filter can cap. It all looks good to me. Pic 1274 shows the governor link installed. Much of the time I had to improvise for screws. My local hardware store had the best looking replacement screws for the body of the carburetor and my own supply had the one to tighten the link onto the governor butterfly. Pic 1275 is the other side of the carburetor. The dental picks and much patient scraping got most of the old paint off the carburetor, but that can of liquid carburetor cleaner dissolved the remaining paint, dirt, grease, and anything else that had not been removed earlier. Pic 1276 is the carburetor back on the tractor. Obviously I need to replace the short piece of hose to the air cleaner. It was dry rotted, yet still tough to get it off the air cleaner pipe.

 

Tractor Boy

1949 Farmall Cub

I drove to Bivins, Texas with Bruce Lambert using a borrowed 18 foot trailer of Randy Curtis.

We went to pick up this good condition (I hope) Farmall Cub. I also bought rear wheel weights and was given the hydraulic system and a breaking plow which fits under the belly of the Cub. Interesting machine. I plan to get it running – carburetor, gas tank needs cleaning, rear light not attached, hydraulic lift to be painted and installed, decals. I am not sure I will keep it, but it certainly is an interesting little tractor. There are MANY of them in East Texas. The soil there is quite suitable to this little 9 horse tractor made for farms under 40 acres. With a little work, the Cub will run like it is supposed to and may even be useful with a belly mower or cultivator on it.

 

Tractor Boy

Governor reassembled

Tonight I reassembled the governor to the 8 N tractor and it looks good. The package from YT was finally delivered. I put a dab of grease on bolts and the housing itself then put the internals back into the cover and bolted the cover to the tractor torquing to 7 foot pounds. Literally 112 inch pounds as I have an inch pound torque wrench. I need an extension to go from ¼ inch female to something larger male. I could not get to the top bolt with the wrench so simply guessed based on how stiff the bottom bolt felt which was indeed set to 7 fp.

 Next comes the rear light wiring harness, for which I have some pictures as well as descriptive text. Then the brake job which requires me to raise the rear and remove those big wheels.  I must check to determine whether the 6 ton jacks will extend high enough else get some wood to build a couple platforms. I am smart enough to avoid sintered block called cinder block as it can shatter at inconvenient times due to the weight on it.

 Tractor Boy

Governor of Independence Day

Friday 4th July I decided to remove the governor cover as it is definitely leaking there and spraying oil onto the right front wheel. So much oil that it pooled at the base of the wheel rim. That governor was warped about fifty thousandths! No wonder it leaked there. After several hours of lapping spread out over four days it is looking good. I have painted it and will re-install the governor once the new gasket arrives today. Pic 1207 shows the warped governor cover. Pic 1210 shows the initial lapping. Pic 1212 and 13 show the finished job. The governor is lying on the lapping plate which is a one inch thick 12X12 inch square of aluminum. It took 7 sheets of 100 grit garnet paper, one sheet of 80 grit aluminum oxide paper, and I finished with 150 grit garnet paper. Lapping was done using a figure eight pattern.

Tractor Boy