1947 Farmall M Episode 14: Reassembly Continues

Ken Christopherson

Well-known Member
Morning, fellas!

Well, made quite a bit of progress yesterday. A few frustrations in the process (and without them I probably would have made more progress), but I am happy with how far I have gotten with just two days of reassembly.

The first issue I had was I went ahead and installed the fan belt (prior to installing the generator belt), so of course, I had to do that twice. At that point, I told myself to SLOW DOWN, Lol. Second issue I had was I put the oil pan on and went to turn the motor right side up on the stand and I heard a "clunk". At first I thought it was the oil pump filter assembly just falling to the 'down' position... Then I began to look for my RTV Gasket Goop.. Yup, you guessed it. The tube was inside the oil pan. I also had to do that twice.

Everything seemed to go smoothly after I had a few sips of water and got back to it after that. I decided I needed to walk away for a minute because I was still moving too quick. Got the motor off the stand, flywheel and clutch installed (with a centering tool), and slid outside. The motor and tractor slid together pretty easily - it was just a matter of getting the angles matched up due to the tractor being parked on a little bit of an incline. After that, I figured I would mount the radiator to the front pedestal and frame, and slide it back as an assembly. BOY are those radiator studs/springs/castle nuts fighters! I must have fought with them over an hour and a half to get the nuts on. My friend and I ended up making a modified spring compressor to get everything together in there.

The last thing that fought us was sliding the frame assembly back towards the tractor. It just didn't seem to want to cooperate, so we ended up pulling one frame rail off to get everything backed up, then reinstalled. My friend sat down beside me and said, "You know why you are getting trouble during so many areas of reassembly - it's your dad and grandpa testing you!" Man, oh man.. They sure must have been laughing watching me from above!

In all I put in a good solid 9 hours yesterday and got quite a bit of work done. Now it's time to start setting valves, getting all of the oil lines and fittings installed and ran, getting some wiring done, and adding fluids. From there, we all know what happens... The GRAND FINALE! :) I hope you guys enjoy the pictures, and included is a link to Episode 14 of the '47 Farmall M saga.
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1947 Farmall M Episode 14
 

Shouldn't the steps on the heads be on the other side?
In other words, the spark plugs are on the oil filter side...so shouldn't the stepped head be on the other side? Its been a while since I had one apart so I forgot...
 

My complements on the dedication to getting it done. If I may, I'll offer just one criticism. Those lift chains really should be right down on top of the block, rather than attached at the top end of the head bolts. Much less chance of bending a headbolt that way, or having one just snap off and drop the block on your feet.
 
Its coming together nicely, and when thru you can look back at all the hiccups you had getting it together and be proud you suceeded. Thanks for all the epics...worth a thousand words.

Is that a distillate engine? I noticed the pitcocks on the oilpan. Dads John Deere was an all fuel and we ran it on gasoline, diesel and drip gas. It ran best on drip.
keep us posted.
ET
 
I definitely wouldn't have gotten as far without my friend helping me little by little. Just the extra pair of hands was nice especially when wiggling the motor back into place and getting the frame wheeled back. (He also kept me fairly calm while working on mounting that radiator).
 
Many thanks for that suggestion - next time I pull a motor I'll definitely do my best to get the chains as close to the block as possible! We did consider that when installing it, and watched carefully as we removed it from the engine stand. I think due to the chains length that it helped relieve 'sideways stress' on the bolts. Definitely will keep that in mind for the future projects though! (Oh yes, there will be more)!
 
I was really careful in taking my time during that part of the assembly - because I thought the same thing for a moment. Piston orientation to rod orientation to combustion chamber orientation all were on my mind. The pistons have a convenient little message on top that say "FRONT--->", which helped me a lot. At that point it was just remembering which way the rods went in and installing them on the pistons the proper way.

Although, my friend did try to test my patience once and say "How come all of the pistons are facing one way except for this one?" Man, I about had it until I double checked! Lol. Funny, funny guy.
 
(quoted from post at 12:27:17 06/21/16) Many thanks for that suggestion - next time I pull a motor I'll definitely do my best to get the chains as close to the block as possible! We did consider that when installing it, and watched carefully as we removed it from the engine stand. I think due to the chains length that it helped relieve 'sideways stress' on the bolts. Definitely will keep that in mind for the future projects though! (Oh yes, there will be more)!

Cut a pipe to the right length.



Everything isn't tight in the picture, but you get the idea.



Can't see much, but it shows everything tight.
 
All of the M oil pans had the two petcock setup. The oil pan for an industrial or combine engine would have had a dipstick. I don't know about the W6 but I am sure someone will.
 
I have a super C and just about decided to do an "in frame" rebuild. Now that I have seen your post you have motivated these old bones to split the tractor. Cant wait for the "fire up" episode.
 
Sparky,

Glad I could be of some inspiration to someone. I enjoy sharing my project with everyone on this board just as much as I do working on the tractor themselves. Not a lot of guys I know near me that are into old tractors. Most my friends think it is 'neat', but having grown up in the city suburbs (spending my weekends at grandpa's acerage in the woods), many people I know never really were around tractors or farm work much. This online forum and YouTube is a way for me to meet people who are into old tractors and many other things that I enjoy. I've been coming to these forums since 1998 I believe (originally under the handle FarmallCaseKid).

When I was younger, I did have a 1950 Farmall C that was a great little chore tractor. When grandma and grandpa passed, the family decided to sell the place in the woods which means most my tractors had to go as I had nowhere to keep them. I sure do miss that C from time to time. Maybe you could share your project with the rest of us here on the forum (YouTube too)? I am sure there are plenty who would love to see it progress!

Thanks for staying 'tuned in'.
 
(quoted from post at 06:50:27 06/21/16) Morning, fellas!

Well, made quite a bit of progress yesterday. A few frustrations in the process (and without them I probably would have made more progress), but I am happy with how far I have gotten with just two days of reassembly.

The first issue I had was I went ahead and installed the fan belt (prior to installing the generator belt), so of course, I had to do that twice. At that point, I told myself to SLOW DOWN, Lol. Second issue I had was I put the oil pan on and went to turn the motor right side up on the stand and I heard a "clunk". At first I thought it was the oil pump filter assembly just falling to the 'down' position... Then I began to look for my RTV Gasket Goop.. Yup, you guessed it. The tube was inside the oil pan. I also had to do that twice.

Everything seemed to go smoothly after I had a few sips of water and got back to it after that. I decided I needed to walk away for a minute because I was still moving too quick. Got the motor off the stand, flywheel and clutch installed (with a centering tool), and slid outside. The motor and tractor slid together pretty easily - it was just a matter of getting the angles matched up due to the tractor being parked on a little bit of an incline. After that, I figured I would mount the radiator to the front pedestal and frame, and slide it back as an assembly. BOY are those radiator studs/springs/castle nuts fighters! I must have fought with them over an hour and a half to get the nuts on. My friend and I ended up making a modified spring compressor to get everything together in there.

The last thing that fought us was sliding the frame assembly back towards the tractor. It just didn't seem to want to cooperate, so we ended up pulling one frame rail off to get everything backed up, then reinstalled. My friend sat down beside me and said, "You know why you are getting trouble during so many areas of reassembly - it's your dad and grandpa testing you!" Man, oh man.. They sure must have been laughing watching me from above!

In all I put in a good solid 9 hours yesterday and got quite a bit of work done. Now it's time to start setting valves, getting all of the oil lines and fittings installed and ran, getting some wiring done, and adding fluids. From there, we all know what happens... The GRAND FINALE! :) I hope you guys enjoy the pictures, and included is a link to Episode 14 of the '47 Farmall M saga.
a230105.jpg

a230106.jpg

a230107.jpg

a230108.jpg

a230109.jpg

a230110.jpg

a230111.jpg

a230112.jpg

a230113.jpg

a230114.jpg

a230115.jpg

a230116.jpg

a230117.jpg

1947 Farmall M Episode 14

Great progress Ken,
Lots of hard work will pay off for sure.
When doing these rebuilds I remember the words of a good friend, "Does not need to be ready Monday morning".
It is a fun project and definitely a labour of love, looks to me like you are really enjoying it......and so are we!
 
EZ,

I'm doing my best to enjoy every part of it. I'll admit I was starting to get worried about the machine shop, but I don't have any worries now. Thanks for staying tuned throughout the process. Hopefully the first fire up will come SOON. I really want to hear this beast GASP for air and come to life!
 

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