Farmall H restoring to working condition - first steps?

MeanMark87

New User
Soon I will be picking up this 1940 Farmall H. It belongs to the uncle of a friend of mine...I plan to use it around my property, primarily to aid in my side business of cutting, processing, and selling firewood. It last ran 4 years ago, was parked, and hasn't been used since. The transmission is not locked up, and when I put a fresh battery on it, it had a strong crank. It has been converted to a 12v system.

Obviously I know that right away I will be changing all the fluids and rebuilding the carb. However I thought I would ask for any pointers on things to check/watch for as I get it into running shape. At this point I am not looking to do a full restoration, although that may come with time. The tractor has 2 rear hydraulic lines in addition to the lines that run to the lift cylinders, so I am also curious about its capacity to run additional cylinders if I were to convert the loader to full hydraulic. Thanks

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The hydraulics are just able to do the lift function, and it will not be a fast lift. The loader design is good, and has good
breakaway lifting power. The only ways to get live Hydro are to add a belt driven pump to the front of the engine. Fabrication of
belt access, pulleys, and mounts are needed. A second way is to replace the front cover of the engine with one from a 51 or newer
engine, and replace the cam gear with a SH gear. This will allow the use of a live Hydraulic pump from any newer tractor stage 2
SH 300, 350. The bolt pattern for the pump is found on the newer front housing.
Non-live hydro can be drastically improved by belting a pump to the Belt pulley drive. Fabricating drive and driven pulleys, and
mounts. The clutch pedal must be up to allow both the rear PTO and Belt drive to turn. Jim
 
Remove the distributor cap and check for corrosion on all of the contacts and the points. I would check the gas tank and lines for debris. It the fuel system is clean, put gas in it and try to start it. If it does not fire in a reasonable amount of time, then check to see if the spark plugs are wet. If they are, you may have flooded it. Removing the carb. is probably not the first thing to attack.
 
If you know it was running few years ago. I'd clean out carb bowl, empty gas tank and put in fresh, check points and distributor, engine oil level
and try to fire it up. Years ago we purchased a super A that had been in the back of barn for 30 years. No tires would hold air and someone
must have got mad and beat stew out of it with axe. Anyway in 30 min it was running like a top. You never know.
 
check the valve springs to see if any valves are stuck...i bent some push rods when i first got on forum because i started motor with out checking valves..and was told to do so and didnt check cause i didnt know how to...just remove valve cover and push spring down with fist if pops back up they are ok.....dewy
 
Before I replace fluids on any of these old girls I drain them, dump in some diesel fuel (crank case and trans) pull the spark plugs, put it in a high gear and pull it around for a bit. Then drain out the nasty stuff and put in new oil and filters. You won't believe the crud that will come out.
 
First thing I would do is drain a little oil out of the engine pan and see if there is any water or antifreeze in it. Water may have gotten into the engine and froze and cracked
something.
 

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