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Radiator - tough shape

SweetFeet

SweetFeet

Well-known Member
Radiator that came on our 1931 regular. In all the junkyards we have been in over the years, we have NEVER seen such a tough looking core. It is just falling apart (and yet the rest of our tractor looked pretty good upon dismantling...for instance the head was not all rusted).

Two things:

1. My husband is curious as to your ideas regarding why/what would cause it to deteriorate so badly (fins are so rotten, I can drag my pinkie finger across them and they just crumble).

2. We just thought their attempt to "fix" it was interesting. Rubber pushed into the hole at the front/bottom and the wood shim shoved into the top of the damaged tube inside the top.

We did buy a different used core to put in the Regular... but I think it would be kind of fun to use this one, because it looks like crud. Anyway, we were just curious what you all thought.
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a96068.jpg
 
rabbit,
We won't actually use this one, we bought a used one off an F20 that looks to be in good shape (will buy a new one if we have too - but wanted to keep the look of an older used one if possible).
 
Didn't radiators used to be (or maybe still are) cleaned with an acid wash? Maybe they didn't get the acid washed off good (or cleaned a few too many times)... We'll probably never really know for sure on this one... Looks like it is in too bad of shape to be reliable. I wouldn't use it.
 
No way would I use that radiator! Even if I were only going to show the tractor. Wouldn't want it to spring a leak at a show and pee on someone. I think I would just hang it on the wall in the shop.
 
It would be cool if you could actually use this radiator,..but,...imagine all the crud that would go into your engine block which would cause even more problems.Not a pretty thought.
I suggest you frame it and call it wall art.
 
I wouldn't use that one to make any 'shine. Maye some were manufactured in that batch out of a defective metal. Or acid rain?
 
Insides looks kinda "normal" for one like that of that age. Outsides looks like the war time John Deeres I've seen where the middle fins were made of steel due to brass & copper shortages.
Time for a new core.
 
The "patch" with a pices of wood will work Good if they used dry wood, it will swell up with the water in the rad. and seal off the leak, Lots of old time ways to fix the old machine
 
LeoinMI,

No, we won't use it... have a different core. I just thought it would look kind of cool because it looks like heck.
 
ShadetreeRet,
Nope, husband is not planning to use it (I just thought it would look cool). And no, we don't want our tractor piddling on somebody at a show. LOL.

It will probably end up as a focal point in a rust garden up by our house (if I am ambitious this summer). Will put it back into the extra housing and maybe put some rocks around the base and plant some Hen & Chicks or something around it.
 
rusted nuts,
That is what my husband said too... that their "fix" probably worked just fine because the wood swells when wet.
 
Bill K,
The guy we bought the Regular from thought it was steel fins too. But from what is left of them, they do not seem to hold a magnet - unless it is because they are so rusty.
 

From the looks of the inside, looks like someone used a lot of hard water in it. The outside looks like my air conditioner condenser coil for the house after my dogs use it for a fire hydrant.
 
In the Farmall Regular manual it tells how two make an anti-freeze solution with calcium chloride, I wonder if this radiator was a victim?
 
J. Wondergem,

Seems like all our water around here is very hard. Lots of iron and lots of lime.
 
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