FINISHED - 641 Restoration with lots of pics

Finally finished up my 641 last week. Been a year and a half in the making, after arriving in the garage for a simple 12V conversion and a front crank seal change out. Next thing you know it's all apart, and now all restored. Thank you to the many folks here that have helped me out and put up with all of my questions.

Here are some pics.

Well, here's the starting point:







Definitely could have found a better example to start with. Tin was all junk, mismatched rear tires, junk rims, smokey engine with no compression. Only things it had going for it was that it had a Sherman combo tranny and that it was cheap.

Now for the walk-around. Note that the castings got all sweaty from coming out of the air-conditioned garage. Made for not-so-great pics, but oh well.

Couple of detail shots:

WOW!

Double Wow ! Very nice. Could you give me a ballpark number as to what it cost? I have a 9N and am looking to do the same thing to. It needs to have the PTO repair, and while I am at it, I might as we'll go over the whole machine and give it a facelift, trying to figure how much to budget for the project.

Fantastic restoration. Something that pretty I'd almost be afraid
to take it out and use it. Maybe build an addition on the house,
so it could have it's own private display room. LOL


:>)

Great job. I think the mostly red 641 makes for a real eye catcher. Glad to see that you put the correct style fenders back on.

So the big question, what was the cost of the restoration. Did you do
all the work your self? Subing out work adds a bunch to restoration.
Tractor looks sweet by the way. If I had that it would never be used.

Great looking 641.

Obviously you have put in the time, and the workmanship shows.

I KNOW that you have the time in the pie weights as I have done several sets. Doing it right is an enormous task

Congratulations on a job well done.

FWIW, it may just be the photo but the vertical exhaust looks closer to the hood than normal. I see that you've wrapped it with insulation to protect the paint. I have a 961 with a similar vertical exhaust, and the spacing is enough that the paint is not damaged even when working the engine hard.

Ever consider a horizontal exhaust? I have horizontal exhausts on all of my tractors, vintage Ford or otherwise, because I consistently drive near and beneath trees when mowing and vertical exhausts are prone to damage.

Dean

Gotcha!

I see a 12V generator from an industrial unit.

Did you use a 12V fuel gage and sending unit from a diesel?

Dean

Thanks everyone for the kind words.

Dean,

Yeah, I did consider horizontal exhaust, but wanted to go vertical because I wanted the sound from what I remember of running my Dad's 860 when I was younger. Also, I hate getting blasted with exhaust when hooking up stuff to the 3pt. That particular pipe was the common aftermarket vertical kit, which was a mistake because it is too close to the tin, and I didn't realize that there was such an animal as the original cast elbow until I already had it bought this and installed. If I would do it over again I'd get the cast piece and get a pipe bent custom. I won't be working it in the trees, so clearance shouldn't be an issue.

Running a Ford passenger car 12V generator with the 12V rubber rain boot from Carpenter. It's the "stealth" conversion, and yes, running the proper 12V diesel repop level sender in the repop fuel tank. Everything works like Henry built it that way, which was my goal.

With a critical eye, there are still many little things that I think are "wrong" with it and would like to redo, but at this point I'm personally out of gas to keep going. Perhaps in a few months I will go back and revisit a few of the little points. But in the mean time, I'll be running it a bit out back. Not hard work, just some light grading and using a boom pole to move around the chicken coops.

One thing that really does bother me about it is those darn 11.2s out back. They just don't look right. I know it helps the gearing and all, and I got a ridiculous deal on them, but I just wish I would have spent the cash and did a pair of 12.4s. Live and learn.

Anyway, I'm ready to go run it now. Enough talking and pictures.

Thanks,
Kevin

To the folks asking about how much this cost. Basically it's more than it's worth. I'm in the restoration for about $4500-ish in parts, not counting the original cost of the tractor.

I did everything myself minus the machine work on the block, crankshaft, and cylinder heads, and Tony Jacobs helped me out machining the output shaft of the Sherman. And surfacing the flywheel. To run down what was done, this tractor has:

1) A 100% complete engine rebuild. New sleeves/pistons, etc.

2) A 100% rebuilt Sherman High/Low combo transmission. Trust me this is not a cheap date.

3) New clutch/pressure plate/throwout bearing. Machined flywheel.

4) A rebuilt hydraulic system, including the pump.

5) A rebuilt steering box, rebuilt front axle pivot (welded plates), rebuilt king pins and front hubs

6) Rebuilt rear axle

7) Four new wheels, four brand new tires, four new tubes

8 ) 12V "stealth" generator conversion, 100% new harnesses throughout the machine, all new gauges

9) Brand new repop fuel tank and level sender

10) Refurb of original pie weights, plus front weights

11) I have a Rest-O-Ride seat for it, but haven't restored it yet. As Dean is correct in staying, restoring a Rest-O-Ride is time consuming and expensive. Once we get the supply of rubber torsion springs figured out, I'll get that done and installed.

That all said, I think John Smith has said before that a proper restoration will require at least several hundred hours of labor. I do not doubt this claim one bit. So keep that in mind also if you are farming out the work. Then it really becomes "more than it's worth".

Hope that helps,
Kevin

Wow mister that is beautiful!!!! Would love to see her hang
out with my 881-D. Love the red hood. Problem is that now I
wanna redo my workin man 641-D. She's a little smoky so I
know she's a bigger project than my others.

Restoration of a vintage tractor is a labor of love. It is not a money making proposition.

That said, for many of us, it does result in the satisfaction of a job well done. Yours is a job VERY well done.

I wish that I had more time to devote to my stable of vintage Fords.

FWIW, I plan to retire (again) in a year or so. Maybe I can tackle the 4000 prior S-O-S and 192 when I do. My plans are to rebuild the S-O-S, install my VERY low hour, natural gas (high CR) 192 (converted to gasoline) and make it into a 60+ PTO HP, gas hogging, mowing machine. I've even reserved a set of duals for effect.

Dean

(quoted from post at 17:05:29 07/18/15)
9) Brand new repop fuel tank and level sender

Click to expand...

Beautiful job!!!!!

Just curious where you found a new fuel tank with the hole for the sender. I guess I'm behind times. I did not know those were available.

(quoted from post at 14:49:24 07/19/15) Restoration of a vintage tractor is a labor of love. It is not a money making proposition.

Click to expand...

So true, Dean. Thanks again for the kind words.

Your project sounds really neat!

Kevin

(quoted from post at 17:47:34 07/19/15)

(quoted from post at 17:05:29 07/18/15)
9) Brand new repop fuel tank and level sender

Click to expand...

Beautiful job!!!!!

Just curious where you found a new fuel tank with the hole for the sender. I guess I'm behind times. I did not know those were available.

Click to expand...

Thanks Larry.

I actually found that tank off of one of the eBay aftermarket parts resellers. The version with the level sender was new on the market as of about 6 months ago. It is not 100% correct to the x01-series tank, though. Where it differs is that it is the lower-capacity version, about 11 gallons if I recall correctly, as it does not have the part up front that kind of molds around the radiator. And does not have that diagonal split line up there, either. It looks more like the standard replacement tank on the market but with the level sender opening. For me, it was good enough.

Kevin

(quoted from post at 16:47:34 07/19/15)

(quoted from post at 17:05:29 07/18/15)
9) Brand new repop fuel tank and level sender

Click to expand...

Beautiful job!!!!!

Just curious where you found a new fuel tank with the hole for the sender. I guess I'm behind times. I did not know those were available.

Click to expand...

Larry, I bought mine from Reliable Aftermarket Parts in
Williamston, MI. They are local to me, but they have an eBay
store as well. Generally Tisco/A&I parts reseller I believe.
Link to one on eBay here.

(quoted from post at 20:53:09 07/19/15)

(quoted from post at 16:47:34 07/19/15)

(quoted from post at 17:05:29 07/18/15)
9) Brand new repop fuel tank and level sender

Click to expand...

Beautiful job!!!!!

Just curious where you found a new fuel tank with the hole for the sender. I guess I'm behind times. I did not know those were available.

Click to expand...

Larry, I bought mine from Reliable Aftermarket Parts in
Williamston, MI. They are local to me, but they have an eBay
store as well. Generally Tisco/A&I parts reseller I believe.
Link to one on eBay here.

Click to expand...

Yep, that's where I got mine. Nice part.

Kevin

Kevin, you do REALLY nice work!

(quoted from post at 12:54:07 07/20/15) Kevin, you do REALLY nice work!

Click to expand...

Thank you, John.

There are quite a few of your parts on this machine...

Kevin