1963 Ford 4000 Restoration

AGSC2021 · Dec 17, 2022

Hey Everybody,

Hoping to get some help with fixing up my 1963 Ford 4000 light industrial. Bought it a little over a year ago for $3600. Unit has a FEL and came with a 60" bushhog so I figured the price was right. It's also a diesel FWIW.

Was so excited to own my first tractor, I overlooked the glaring issue of missing pretty much all of the sheet metal. That's all I'd really like to say about that...

I've fixed most of the leaks, the rear lift hydraulics, and other minor things. But it needs to be completely rewired as it was a rats nest of wiring that I tore out and ran temporary wires to get everything tested and working. Without the sheet metal, everything is exposed and most of the electrical connects corrode pretty quickly.

I'd like to restore this beauty to its former glory, and am not really sure where to start. Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated. I'm in upstate SC if any nearby salvage yards are known, that'd be great.

AGSC

showcrop · Dec 17, 2022

I would like to have one of those. They made very few of them. Lack of sheet metal has little to do with corrosion. Just the humidity in the air does a good job at that. You can get reprop sheet metal from Dennis Carpenter. Here is one of mine:

The wiring is all original.

.

AGSC2021 · Dec 17, 2022

That looks fantastic! And thank you for the reference of Dennis Carpenter.

Point taken on the humidity, etc. Unfortunately I don't have to space to shelter it, so it sits exposed to the elements. That just compounds the issues.

I tried attaching a picture of her as she sits. There are some non-original components that are out of place. Does anyone have any feedback on the paint scheme? I've read this may have been a piece of equipment used by a highway department, hence the yellow color. The FEL may not be original. It obviously has some "custom" paint and decaling.

AGSC

showcrop · Dec 17, 2022

(quoted from post at 10:52:40 12/17/22) That looks fantastic! And thank you for the reference of Dennis Carpenter.

Point taken on the humidity, etc. Unfortunately I don't have to space to shelter it, so it sits exposed to the elements. That just compounds the issues.

I tried attaching a picture of her as she sits. There are some non-original components that are out of place. Does anyone have any feedback on the paint scheme? I've read this may have been a piece of equipment used by a highway department, hence the yellow color. The FEL may not be original. It obviously has some "custom" paint and decaling.

AGSC

The current color has little to do with the original color. The colors were changing at that time. Your "light industrial" could have had a red chassis, the same as the Ag models of 1961 but it may have been blue being a 1963 while the sheet metal would have been a pale yellow which Ford called "Buff". This of course was the time that Ford was transitioning to their "World" tractor line, and they became blue and white. The light industrial was one of the three types of the 4 cyl 4000 that Ford built, and they built nowhere near as many as the standard and the row crop. You will need to dig into unmolested parts of the tractor to find the original paint. A good place to look is underneath where the original paint may have been oily and not cleaned up before its first repaint.

47fivewindow · Dec 24, 2022

The great thing about a loader tractor is that with a tarp
it makes its own shed.

1963 Ford 4000 Restoration

AGSC2021

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showcrop

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AGSC2021

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showcrop

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47fivewindow

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