F-20 at the Plow Day

Our local farm show grounds had a fall plow day yesterday. My 8 year old son got excited when I offered to take him and his F-20 to go plowing.

I actually bought this tractor a couple years ago to turn a few bucks on. We ended up not selling it cause my son really likes this style tractor. The gas tank was full of rust, so we cleaned that out last fall and installed a liner.

This tractor never pulls anything but my boy tooling around on the farm. When we hooked it to the two bottom Little Genius, it ran well for about the first 50 yards then it would fall on it's face. My boy was really disappointed. At the end of the row it would be fine again. So fuel flow for sure.

We headed back to the truck for a farm field carb rebuild. Pulled the screen off and cleaned the rust out. Then pulled the bowl off and cleaned it out. Pulled the needle out and let gas flow through it to clear it out. Put it all back together and headed back to the field.

We made it the rest of the day in third gear with her barking very sweetly. Everyone there was amazed how well she ran in such short order.

My son was ear to ear grins all day as he steered for me. In fact when we got to the truck at the end of the day, he had dirt stuck on his front teeth cause he wouldn't quit smiling all day.
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All of that shows your boy to have a respect for things that are old but viable. So many kids these days want to throw everything away when the new style comes out. Those kids will be in debit up to their eyeballs buying a new tractor every other year.

I was just like your boy. I remember being amazed when I graduated up to the field tractors and they had live hydraulics and PTO. I was sure I had hit paydirt. It taught me to respect the older machines first, though.
 
very nice. two things to be proud of. son and tractor. what part of the country are you in? that ground looks very sandy.
 
That's great, unforgettqble. Mind if I suggest something? Hope you don't mind. I replaced that big coil spring under my H seat, with a new one., Every so often those old rusty ones snap and dump the person off the back. Bad news, Not expensive.
 
I often wonder why we never had row crop tractors
until I was drafted into the Army and my brother was in the Air Force. Hal
 
I have an F-20 in the shed that I purchased when I was 15. My grandpa got it running and we repainted it and won award for Best Restored tractor at the city festival. That was awesome. I put new rubber on that tractor before I put new tires on my truck =) I liked how I prioritized things back then. I still remember my grandpa telling me, hey you should purchase some of that bottom ground for $900 an acre. I had the F-20, and he had an M Farmall and a MF235 he would of let me use. I was only 15 so I thought that was over my head to make a decision like that. Turns out, looking back he was simply telling me what a good decision could be if a fella wanted some advice. Now, that same bottom ground is going for $6,000 an acre.
 
Brian - -Good for you, and him too!

Just in case you need some more of that style, I"ve got a F20 and the F30 (one you got me the tires for in 2007) still in the barn.

Take care!
John
 
great shot, good to see another generation appreciate the F-series. They are a fun tractor to plow with. Good job bringing him up right.
 
Good hearing from you again John. Yea, we will likely want to take you up on that one of these days. He likes the F series. We don't have an F-30 yet.

We are looking for a decent set of 12.4X36 tires for his. They are pretty shot but hold air. Can't complain all that much. But if the right deals comes along it would be great. It will give me a reason to blast and paint the wheels the right way.
 
Thanks for the suggestion FBH44. I have 23 of these old tractors. I am a big boy, the seat spring is one of the first things I replace on these. It is cheap and once you find out the hard way, you usually do the same thing.
 
We are just north of Waterloo Iowa. In the background you can see US 218 ("The Avenue of the Saints"). We live about 2 miles from here. It is very sandy around us. There was no practical reason to plow the ground. In fact it will probably blow this winter if they don't get something planted on it in the next couple weeks. They are talking winter wheat and/or oats in the spring so they got something to thresh for the show in August.
 
We have been slow to restore this. I want my son to see and help with every part of this project. It is what my dad did with me and how I learned that I could get anything running. Once you understand how things work, you can do anything.

I have had my son welding, sand blasting, working on hydraulics systems, and painting stuff. His 9th birthday is next month. I think a nice starter toolbox is in order. Of course he already has his own pliers.

It was fun to watch his furrows through the day as I taught him how to follow a straight path and what the furrows look like when you are daydreaming.
 
Glad you got it going. The process you used sounds so familiar to the process we went through every spring to get the Farmalls going even when they were somewhat new. Don"t be surprised if you have to do this again when you put it under load after a period of setting up. I bought an SC a few years ago and took it to south Georgia to cut about 80 acres of cotton stalks using a pull behind stalk cutter. It took about two tanks of gasoline and cleaning the carburetor, screen, fuel lines, and tank bowl about 3 times to get it going. After that it did wonderful.
 
(quoted from post at 17:28:23 10/14/13) We are just north of Waterloo Iowa. In the background you can see US 218 ("The Avenue of the Saints"). .
Very close to "God's Country"... I was raised about 40-45 miles east of there. Not quite as flat.
 
Thanks, Brian - -good to see your posts as well.
Just be careful, and have fun - -and call when want to talk about the F30.
John
 

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