Tractor Question

RBnSC · Feb 23, 2012

Some tractors sit for many years before someone comes along and fixes them. What is the longest that one has set that you have personally been involved with?
The diesel engine in my 4000 ford the PO said it had been sitting for 15 years. I bought a Cub a couple of years ago that the original tires with the tips still on them sold it to a friend and he got it running.This same friend bought
an 8n that the owner had been dead for thirty years and still had 3 original tires.
Ron

Vito · Feb 23, 2012

30 years.

Vito

Greg K · Feb 23, 2012

My old 10-20 sat out for who knows how many years. I bought it about 7 years ago with a stuck motor, after soaking it for 2 weeks it freeed up and has ran. i need to dedicate more time to it since it will only run for a few minutes and the slowly bog itself down and die.

Ultradog MN · Feb 23, 2012

My Ford 3000. Built in 1975 and never run.

James Williams · Feb 23, 2012

My F12 had been sitting long enough that the rear tires had disolved and only the beads were left,A tree of about 12 inches in diameter was growing up through it,People were actually laughing when I pased them and my BIL which was with me was ashamed.The rims were rusted in half and were floping in the air as I was driving,When I got it home I was the laughing stock of the neighbor hood and my wife was speaking in some unkown tongue

F14-15 yrs locked up
F20--10 yrs locked up
F30- 20 yrs locked up
15-30-2 yrs
2- Hs-several years locked up
1939 H-2 yrs locked up
John Deere B--20 yrs completely dismantled stored under a tree
Several other IH tractors that came from a scraper

jimmy

El Toro · Feb 23, 2012

This Cub sat for over 20 years, but it was sheltered along with the plow and disk harrow.
The tires were flat, but had good tread and held air when blown up. The Cub was never used during the Winter and the radiator & block were drained in the Fall. Engine started easily. Hal

Dean Olson · Feb 23, 2012

Pd $500 for a 53 Farmall Super C with fast hitch. Locked up but had sat in the shed for 22 years after the PO passed. Bought it from his grandson. Started the soaking process and on the 3rd day I rocked it loose. Serviced it all and it started right up.

mb58 · Feb 23, 2012

My JD 50 sat for 18 years in one spot before I rescued it. Yes, it had a tree grown up around the rear axle. Trees love tractors just like humans do.

Mark-Mi · Feb 23, 2012

What's the story on that.

jackinok · Feb 23, 2012

I bought a wd once that the owner bought,brought it home,parked it,got sick and never started again.It never farmed one season.Believe it or not,that was the worst tractor i ever owned bar none.Not because there was anything wrong with a wd,i had two at the time and they were good reliable tractors.That one simply had every gasket leaking,brakes were froze up,engine was locked,tires rotted off,gas tank rusted bad,just about every thing you can imagine.I actualy got it running one day and gave it away i was so tired of patching on it.Sure was a pretty thing though,i guess i could have taken it to a tractor show,drug it off the trailer and shown it off.As long as you didnt try to run it that is.Ive rebuilt them over the years that when i started were nothing more than a frame, but that single one was the worst ,bar none, to keep operating i ever owned.That was in the early eighties so it must have sat in that dirt floored shed for close to forty years.Ive fixed them up and given them away several times to churches and things to keep their grounds up,but i never was so glad to get rid of a tractor in all my life!The last i saw it it was setting in a pasture broke down.I think some guys finaly bought it and hauled it to mexico.

donjr · Feb 23, 2012

Is that your Cub, Hal?

El Toro · Feb 23, 2012

I bought it and sold it. Hal

Ken Macfarlane · Feb 23, 2012

Not a tractor but my father had an 1971 MGB-GT that went down with electrical problems in 1978 or so. I took the plugs out and filled the cylinders with ATF in 1994 or so and tried to break it loose a few times that year.

We sold it in 2010 and the fellow said it wasn't stuck anymore when he tried it. So 32 years? The new owner took my father and I for a drive in Fall 2011.

Rustyone · Feb 23, 2012

found a MM UB that sat since 1968. The shed is falling down on top of it and the guy wants $5,000 for it! couldn't get to it to see if it was stuck and he didn't care that is what he wanted for it. That was 3 years ago and he still has it.

hd6gtom · Feb 23, 2012

I bought a 1020 mccormick deering on full steel
that set in a shed since 1961. The fellow was plowing with it and it got to running rough so he parked it. It was not stuck, with a little carb work it ran fine.

Ultradog MN · Feb 23, 2012

Back in the mid 70s Ford donated a bunch of tractors to VoTechs around the country - "for the advancement of education."
After sitting in the corner of shops for many years they usually got auctioned off as excess. Some were molested by a hundred learning hands, some were like a time capsule and had never been opened or run.
Both my 3000 and 4000 are built out of these.

Bevan · Feb 23, 2012

I fixed up a AC "WC" that had been sitting for 20 years in pieces. The only things together were the engine on the frame. A project started but never finished. The engine "had" been rebuilt but it was frozen from no lube. We literally panned for bolts in the shop until I assembled the whole thing. Now she gets pulled out for parades.

davediehl@hotmail.com · Feb 23, 2012

My 51 JD B was sitting 24 years at the time I bought it. I replaced the carb, cleaned the fuel system and changed all of the fluids. Fired it up and it ran, but not to what I desired. After rebuilding literally everything, its like new and runs better than ever. $4300 in parts alone. Some new but old stock (manifold, gears, gaskets) but everything was ready to work by the time it was painted.

JBMac · Feb 23, 2012

Would that be the same engine that my mid "80s 3910 has?

Ultradog MN · Feb 23, 2012

The two tractors on the trailer are 175 ci.
The finished tractor is a 201 ci.
I think yours would be a 192ci
A few trifling differences between my older and your newer tractor but all three engines are direct bolt up swaps.

barnE · Feb 23, 2012

12 or 14 years. Farmall A. My Bad. It had antifreeze in the oil and I parked it with cyls full of oil but got stuck anyway. Burned brake fluid in cylinders for couple days and used big bar on flywheel before anything happened. Piston come up with sleeve attached. Few more days work. Bout 10 years now still running. Keep it inside. Dave

SweetFeet · Feb 24, 2012

The guy we bought our Regular from said it had sat in that spot for over 37 years. That is a dead Honeysuckle that had grown over the tractor. Engine was stuck, but amazingly the wheels would turn so it could be winched onto trailer - which was tricky as the tractor rear was about as wide as the trailer. They tied it down REAL securely after loading - we drove REALLY SLOW on the way home.

Mike M · Feb 24, 2012

My FFA high school class had one of those too.

Mike M · Feb 24, 2012

I've fixed up lots of them that have set for a long time. I have never had any firmed up time frames though. I am kinda surprised most seem to of had a definate time line for there's ?

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