A few days back, someone posted something about a Case VAIW he had just acquired. Even though I'm a day late and a dollar short, I thought I'd post.I have a VAIW-3 (Single Rear Tires) on loan to me from the Commemorative Air Force for restoration. The VAIW-4 had dual rear tires. The rear fenders are solid cast iron, and for the -3 weigh 875lbs each. The -4 fenders are considerably heavier. The front grill is a plate of 1/4in or 3/8in steel with big holes drilled through it. It is bolted to the engine with C-channel. When I got this tractor, this plate had been bent roughly into a U shape by someone hitting something pretty dang hard. I was able to straighten it somewhat. I had to replace some bearings in the steering box, and will have to do something about the horrible automobile-style steering wheel welded to the steering column. I have a VA steering column and wheel, and will have to take parts from one and parts from the other because the bolt patterns are different. The VA column has two attach bolts; the VAIW column has three. You think these got messed up when that idiot rammed something and bent the front plate? That would have hurt! The engine is the stock VA series. The original one was cracked down the middle, and the sides of the water jacket had been patched. I was able to buy a buildable replacement in Iowa. I got very lucky in that the transmission is tight and all the teeth are factory perfect. The rear is tight, too. I was able to acquire a beat-up PTO unit and a replacement drive gear from an online auction site. I'll be installing that to drive a generator set for aircraft engine starting, or perhaps a preoil pump, or even a mower for grounds maintenance. It won't be stock, but it will be functional. There was some talk of paint. Mine had Flambeau Red as the bottom-most color, with a heavy coating of OD green. At one time, it was painted black. Yellow was the top coat. I'll be going with an industrial yellow, because it will be used on the ramp at the airport. The rear hitch is missing, so I'll have to fabricate something. A horrible bent piece of metal was crudely welded to the front plate as a tow hook. I'll be grinding that off to replace it with a pintle hitch. All the aircraft tow bars tend to have tow rings at this particular hangar. The back hitch will be a multipurpose pintle hitch with a ball hitch feature, so they can move the other kinds of tow bars and any trailers they have about the place. This tractor was acquired sight-unseen by a Commemorative Air Force member. It had been used by a farmer until it sank into the field. Those heavy fenders were a drawback in a farming application. Unfortunately, the person who bought it from the farmer died before it was delivered to the CAF. So, I will be dedicating the tractor in his memory. I need to strip more paint, rebuild the engine, rebuild the carb and totally rewire it. Other than that, its a very complete tractor.
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