1949 TO20 build thread

Ark68SS

Member
I don't have a lot going on today so I'll start on this.
My father-in-law bought this tractor about 25 years ago and used it on his 5 acres. We overhauled the motor about 15 years ago. When he became ill and couldn't use it, he gave it to me in November 2011. He passed away that December.
This is what it was like when I got it-





Cracked axle and worn out pivot pin-



I built some stands to hold it up and began tearing it down. This is in early March, 2013.



Figured out why the brakes kept hanging up-lotsa dirt dauber nests!



Fenders, steering linkage and other bits removed. Look in the axle tube and you can see the dreaded yellowish/watered up oil.



More pics to come later,
BillL
 
Thought I recognized that tractor, it's the 1 with the bumper hinges. Don't get too many things broke apart at once. Parts take longer to arrive than memory of how it all came apart.Good start and you do have the pics to go by.
 
(quoted from post at 18:11:34 01/08/14) Don't get too many things broke apart at once. Parts take longer to arrive than memory of how it all came apart.Good start and you do have the pics to go by.

It's broke apart a whole lot more now.
:D

Pulled the motor to fix a rear main seal leak and to figure out why the clutch felt funny. I think I found the problem. :(



Apparently somebody has replaced the clutch in the past and didn't set it up correctly. Look at the wear on the pressure plate arms in the above photo, and what that did to the throwout bearing in the photo below.



This is the point where I found the excessive play in the input shaft that I discussed in an earlier thread.
Started working with a 7" wire brush on a grinder to knock the rust off of the ol' heap, here's some pics of the cleanup







(quoted from post at 18:11:34 01/08/14) Don't get too many things broke apart at once. Parts take longer to arrive than memory of how it all came apart.Good start and you do have the pics to go by.

It's broke apart a whole lot more now.
:D

Pulled the motor to fix a rear main seal leak and to figure out why the clutch felt funny. I think I found the problem. :(



Apparently somebody has replaced the clutch in the past and didn't set it up correctly. Look at the wear on the pressure plate arms in the above photo, and what that did to the throwout bearing in the photo below.



This is the point where I found the excessive play in the input shaft that I discussed in an earlier thread.
Started working with a 7" wire brush on a grinder to knock the rust off of the ol' heap, here's some pics of the cleanup









I've used up three 7" and one 4" wire wheels on the hand grinder and one 6" on the bench grinder so far removing the rust from the tractor and the parts I've taken off. Still have a ways to go.
I'll try to get some more pics up this week if anyone's interested.
BillL
 
Make sure you are wearing some type of filter mask if you aren't already. The paint used in some areas is lead based and pretty nasty stuff if breathed in .
 
Make sure you are wearing some type of filter mask if you aren't already. The paint used in some areas is lead based and pretty nasty stuff if breathed in .
 
Yeah the brissels from the brush like to embed in the clothing, been there but when I did the 20 I sold to the brother I had it sandblasted and primed, made it easier.Here's a pic
a141216.jpg
 
(quoted from post at 18:02:22 01/09/14) I like the photos.
Thanks, ya'll. I was reading Bob from Australia's post and realized I haven't updated this thread lately, so here goes.

I pulled the top cover off to check out the hydraulic system, and found LOTS of rust on the linkage.



The lift control yoke was so bad I got another one from a guy in Texas who's parting out a TO20. Here's another pic of the the old one, if you look closely you can see how the holes that the clevis pins go through are all wallered out and the metal was too thin and rusted to try to fix it.



I popped the piston out of the cylinder and cleaned all the watered up gunk off of the parts. The cylinder had a little scoring, so I honed it a little bit. I'm keeping the original piston and rings. They both looked OK.



I figured I might as well pull the lift arms off, and here's the rig I used to do that.



Problem is, it didn't work. Those are 5/8" studs that bent trying to pull the arms. I was using a rosebud tip on a torch to heat the arm while we were pulling, and it didn't budge a millimeter. So, I said to heck with it, and left them on.



BillL
 

I have made some progress, here are some of the parts that are primed and ready for paint. I'm using Spray Max 2-part epoxy aerosol primer, it's like the 2-part primers you would shoot through a gun, but it's more convenient for me to use the spray cans. It's a bit expensive at around $18 a can, but it dries harder than the hinges of hell, and I know that it's gonna last longer than me. :)




If you ever wondered what a chrome wheel would look like, this should give you some idea. I sanded one of the wheel centers with 60 grit, and took a pic with it mounted to the axle. You can see I have the tractor "body" primered now, too.



I took the distributor apart and cleaned it up, made sure the advance mechanism was free, installed new points, condenser, and rotor and painted it. This pic shows what the advance mechanism looks like. It was nice and free and the springs looked good, so I didn't have to do anything to it. The two other pics are before/after of the dizzy restore.






Here is the steering box all tore apart. My original plan was to polish the cast aluminum and clear coat it, but I found a shiny aluminum paint that I may use instead. The box is getting new bushings, bearings and seals, and a new steering wheel.



Continued on next page.
BillL
 
I should have taken some before pictures of the pump to show ya'll how much grunge there was in it. So, imagine 60 years of dirt, old watery oil, and rust chunks laying in there. Here are pics of it all cleaned up. I painted the cover with the aluminum paint mentioned in the previous post to see how it looked. What do ya'll think? Please don't go hating on me because I'm not going to paint the tractor as original. All that gray is just too drab for me. I know the gray is low-maintenance, but I'm going to add some colors to mine.





OK, now it's confession time. :oops: When I first got the tractor, I went to a web site that had the serial number info to find out when it was built. I read the information incorrectly, and I've thought for almost 2 years that this was a '49.
Got to looking around and found out that I read the wrong column in the chart, and I really have a '51 Fergie. :? I ain't too smart sometimes.



Just in case you're wondering who the heck you're dealing with here, my wife says I need to put a pic of myself on this thread. I'm doing an experiment where I decided to let my beard grow without trimming for six months. I'm into month #4 now and gettin' kinda shaggy. I'll be more presentable on April Fool's day when I shave it off. :p Anyhow, here's me and my Mountain Feist, Sophie. She keeps the squirrels in the trees and the rats out of the shop.



I hope you're enjoying the thread as much as I'm enjoying typing it up for ya'.
BillL
 
No hate, it's going to be really nice.

I confess I am leaving the wheels red as painted by the previous owner. Just so happens I found the same rattlecan tractor paint that matches the red... and I figure the wheels will need frequent touch up, and it looks nice.

Good thing, the tire shop really scraped up the wheel when I replaced one bar tread tire. Ticked me off. Tire monkeys with crowbars and hammers.

The rest will remain the accurate gray though, in automotive paint ($$$!).

I am way lazy compared to you though...
 
Time for a 6-month update on my build.
I've been priming and painting lots of parts and installing them on the tractor. My wife paints for a hobby and helped select the colors. Tony will be happy, most of it is Rustoleum. :p
The gray is Valspar Massey Ferguson gray with some of the parts painted with Rustoleum 2X Gloss Dark Gray. The blue is Rustoleum 2X Gloss Brilliant Blue, and the red(dish) is Rustoleum Stops Rust Gloss Merlot. There are two different blacks, Rustoleum Gloss Black Appliance Epoxy, and Duplicolor Gloss Black Ceramic engine enamel. The steering box is Rustoleum High Performance Silver Aluminum, and the side covers are Krylon clear coat over a semi-polished finish.
When I restored my '68 Chevelle I bought lots of colors for different finishes and to duplicate plating, so I've used that on the nuts & bolts and smaller parts. I figured since I already had it I should use it. These include Eastwood Spray Gray, Zinc Phosphate, Clear Zinc, and Cast Blast.
I'll put some more pics up as I get it further together.
Some sub-assemblies----
BillL


mvphoto9847.jpg


mvphoto9848.jpg



mvphoto9850.jpg
 
Very cool looking. I'm looking forward to seeing pictures when totally done.

It's my dream to do something similar for my TO30, though I'm probably too lazy to do quite such a thorough job.
 
Looks like fun, Bill.

I like the polished aluminum dipstick/inspection covers on the rear end.

How'd you get that large knob on the gear shift? I have the small chrome one, which I think is original, but is not very convenient.
 
(quoted from post at 15:03:59 08/06/14) Looks like fun, Bill.

I like the polished aluminum dipstick/inspection covers on the rear end.

How'd you get that large knob on the gear shift? I have the small chrome one, which I think is original, but is not very convenient.

The 1951 that I've had for a while has the big black plastic knob, the other 1951 that I bought a while back has the small chrome knob. My parts book doesn't show a serial change or anything so maybe it goes back to who the supplier was that day. They used what they had on hand that day.
 
(quoted from post at 07:03:59 08/06/14)
How'd you get that large knob on the gear shift? I have the small chrome one, which I think is original, but is not very convenient.

It was on the tractor when I got it. I think it had been on there a long time, I was afraid that I couldn't get it off without scarring or breaking it, but 4 days of PB Blaster, aluminum jaws covered in rags in the vise and it finally came loose. 8)
BillL
 
(quoted from post at 13:06:14 08/06/14)
(quoted from post at 07:03:59 08/06/14)
How'd you get that large knob on the gear shift? I have the small chrome one, which I think is original, but is not very convenient.

It was on the tractor when I got it. I think it had been on there a long time, I was afraid that I couldn't get it off without scarring or breaking it, but 4 days of PB Blaster, aluminum jaws covered in rags in the vise and it finally came loose. 8)
BillL

Thanks, Bill. As Jason noted, there must have been a change sometime, that's not noted in the Parts Book.

FENA's tractor identification guide says the TO-20 had a chrome knob, and the TO-30 had the black rubber one, but it doesn't seem to be that cut and dried.

The parts sellers (including YT, Stei**r, etc.,) confuse matters further by listing the chrome knob only for the TE tractors, and the round black knob for both the TO-20 and TO-30.

I kind of wanted to switch from the chrome knob to the round black one, but I don't think it will fit.
 
I kind of wanted to switch from the chrome knob to the round black one, but I don't think it will fit.

The shift lever and knob are 3/8" fine thread, if that helps any.
BillL
 

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Back
Top