Backstory:
My fiancé and I were discussing the need for a small tractor with her Dad one day, so we could bush hog and drag the driveway. We'd had this discussion several times (due to the 3 acre jungle that makes up the front part of our property and the driveway that could tear the bottom out of a Sherman Tank LOL) and figured in the next year we'd budget it in. Out of the blue her Dad says, "You can have Paw-Paw's old tractor out there in the shed, it's just like mine". We both lit up because while it's only a little Cub with a belly mower it's certainly more than adequate for our immediate needs and it's a collectible, classic. His is a newer model, a yellow and white Cub, not sure of the year. When we got a look at the one under a small shed roof out back in the woods it turned out to be an older, red Farmall Cub with the belly mower and tool bars, sitting on 3 very flat tires with one missing front wheel. So July 4th weekend 2015, we found the missing wheel behind his house, rolled it out using his Cub, then used a larger tractor with a front bucket to lift the rear end up and winch it onto a trailer. Managed to get it home in good shape, only breaking off one skid from the belly mower.
Here she sits on the trailer
Once I got a better look at it I realized, like everything else her Dad owns, it's been jury-rigged and the electrical was a complete mess. He was one of the best diesel mechanics with Canal Barge Co but he's terrible with electrical systems and he doesn't care for his own equipment worth a darn since he retired. So after some cleaning this is what I came up with.
Identifying the tractor was a bit of a job. All the stampings were easily identified as 1949, but the ID plate was completely worn off and had been painted over at some point. Originally I thought the serial number was partly 008, but someone pointed out that was the "1800" max RPM and the plate had been reinstalled upside down. Taking advice from a couple members, I removed the plate and was able to decipher faint stamping, rubbed it with a pencil and eraser until I was able to make out the serial number as 94459.
I couldn't get the starter to turn so I took it to a local electrical shop and had it rebuilt. Meanwhile decoding the condition of the tractor with members we figured out the generator had been thrown away, the coil and a ballast resistor had been added so they could run it on 12V, and the distributor was mounted upside down and timed wrong. I removed the manifold and valve cover and started working on unsticking the valves, spraying penetrating oil into the ports and spark plug holes and turning the motor, working the valves carefully. Eventually I turned the engine so all valves were closed again, sprayed diesel into the cylinders and left the plugs in a few days to let it soak. Finally they all worked loose. Once I got the starter back I was able to turn it under power and verify the valves were closing. Then I got the distributor turned around and static timed. Next step was to figure out the electrical and fuel systems.
. A friend who works in the A/C biz gave me about a 3' scrap of black iron pipe his plumber had on the truck.
