I like tractors not only for a hobby but since I live out on a farm I find owning some tractors is useful. I know I'm not alone, others like tractors also so post up some of yours. This is my 1954 Allis Chalmers WD45. I've owned this tractor for over 20 years and used it to do such tasks as working and seeding our CRP acres. I've pulled our 14 foot disk over many acres with it and it's a gutsy little tractor. I find it doesn't run out of power when pulling the disk but when the going gets tough it runs out of traction and will start spinning out, that could be why I see old pictures of these old Allis's with duel wheels on them. Pulling the 3 bottom snap couple plow that I bought at the same farm auction as the tractor reminds me of the days when we used to plow a lot of acres with out 4020 John Deere pulling the 5 bottom semi-mounted plow with the breaker bar that was like adding another bottom so it pulled like a 6 bottom. No matter how many weights we added to the front of the 4020 it would rear up when the pulling got tough with the front end pointing toward the sky and steering with the brakes. I left the WD45 over at our other place while I had my hip replaced and even though I had a bucket over the exhaust moisture got down into the engine and seized it. Once I got to where I could get around I hauled the WD45 home on my O/T 1972 Ford flatbed truck then all that winter I sprayed PB Blaster into the cylinders one week and Fluid Film into them the next week then I rocked the tractor back and forth 100 times in high gear each week. By spring I had the engine free and running great, the cold start video was filmed after that. I went on my first tractor ride last summer driving my friend's 1941 M Farmall. He knew that I'd never been on an organized tractor ride so he thought I should give them a try. I had a lot of fun ant took a video of that also, I enjoy videos. He asked me the other day if I was looking forward to another tractor ride this summer. Cold startup on a winter day. The WD45 has always started great as long as you shut off the gas and let it run out of gas when you shut it down. If you don't do that and don't start the tractor for a couple of weeks it won't run on the old gas that has been sitting in the carburetor. My first tractor ride, that's my friend in front of me in the video on another one of his Oliver tractors. I always shut the fuel off when I shut the WD45 down so it will start good, fuel seems to get old fast sitting in it's carburetor.
My Dad had a WD when I was little I always wanted to ride on the "shelf" in front of the radiator. Dad never let me do that. That toolbox on the fender was a perfect seat for us little kids though. Years later after I bought my WD45 my kids rode on the toolbox.
You're not alone on owning a tractor and not a farm. I know people that live in town that own tractors just for the joy of driving them around and working on them. My maternal Grandpa was a Ford man. Owned a sum total of 2 Ford tractors his whole life. I think his first was a 9N and his last was a Golden Jubilee. Before that he farmed 160 acres with horses. He like to tell the story of when he got his first tractor and was out plowing when he hit a bumblebee nest. The bees were trying to sting the tractor and he revelled in telling us that he was yelling, "sting you son of a bitch, sting!" We have a 9N Ford. When we got it I received an education on not having live power as that was the first tractor we owned that didn't have live power. I was mowing with a bush hog mower, I pushed in the clutch to stop and the mower's momentum just kept pushing the tractor. I had to brake hard to keep from going through a fence! The engine in the 9N is currently blown. We had the good fortune to buy one for a decent price that had been overhauled by a Ford mechanic at an auction about 120 miles away from home. We had driven my Brother's O/T Ford Escort to the sale so my Brother and I proceeded to load the Ford engine in the back of the Escort. We headed down the road with the nose of that poor little car pointing to the sky. It was a car that I bought off of a guy that had been caught for drunk driving and hadn't driven in the 4 years since that and it sat in the yard behind his house. I bought it cheap, the engine was stuck so my brother ant I got it unstuck and he drove that car for years.
We did the same thing! When I was a kid, Pop rebuilt the WD45 and put a D-17 piston kit in it. I believe it was 1/8" bigger. The governor on those things is snappy anyway, but it was really snappy after that! When you'd drop the plow it would hit on the governor and dance the front wheels until it finally settled down. You'd have to steer it with the brakes most of the time after that. Fun tractor! My brother has it now.
My old standby 8N. I have a much newer and larger non-antiquated friendly tractor with a FEL too but still find use for this incredibly versatile relic. Sent from my SM-G950U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I have an Oliver OC3 with a Ware Loader, loader was made in Ware Mass, not far from me in Ct. I love this thing!
We currently own my Father in laws "53 Ford NAA that only has 250hrs on it! My mother in law gave it to us for our wedding gift a few years back. She needs some work on the carb and a few other small things from sitting for over 20years, but it is a nice little tractor. Larry
Grew up on a farm and always had old Farmall iron... from As to a drawbar W-9. I would love to have another W-9 or W-6 to restore and play with. I currently have a Ferguson TO-20 that is almost mechanically finished. I bought it as a basket case and work on it occasionally. I'm not sure what I need it for, but everyone should have at least one antique tractor.
I have a '41 9N. Use it mainly to clear snow from my 200' driveway. Also have used it to lift, carry...basically move big stuff, plowed the wife's garden a time or two. I also have a '66 Wheel Horse garden tractor my granfather bought new.
I am looking to buy an 8N (or 9N) soon. My wife's family sold Ford tractors in Smith Center Kansas for many years.
Looking like quite an assortment of tractors. I'll add the Massey with a Ford FE engine we bought at an auction a few years ago. The picture is the day we got it at an estate auction. the old guy that had owned it was great at fixing and building things. So far we haven't gotten around to doing much with it.
Well. Fired mine up and found out a freeze plug popped over winter. Decided to change em all. Good weekend project. ‘53 ford jubilee. Don’t laugh....Luckily I have the in laws ford diesel . Great tractor.
Great post. My dad has been collecting antique tractors since before it was a thing. We have over 150 now... almost 200 if you count the garden tractors. It's kind of out of hand at this point, but hey its fun
A lot of these "hobbies" can get to the point where they've turned into monsters! My best friend had 17 M Farmalls 25 years ago and at least one of each of the letter series of Farmalls from those years. Now I'm not even sure how many he has. He has bought them pretty steadily over the years. At my neighbors's auction he bought 21 tractors, 12 of them we brought over to my place that day. On top of that I'd bet he's up to somewhere around owning 250 cars and trucks not even counting any tractors. He just likes to buy them and bring them home and he won't sell anything. His wife or kids will have one heck of an auction when he dies. When his brother died about 26 years ago his wife was thinking about calling a junk man for all the stuff he owned. She asked me who to call and I told her that she should have an auction. That way people that want the stuff will come buy it and the junk men will be there to bid on the rest. After it was all over she commented that she didn't know that her husband was worth so much money. This video is some of the tractors he bought at my neighbor's sale that we brought over to my place that day because I live a lot closer to the sale site and he wanted to get them out of there as soon as possible. I drove his newly purchased MD Farmall home which I thoroughly enjoyed since I'd never driven a diesel M before but I remember playing on my Dad's diesel 400 Farmall before he traded it on a new 4020 John Deere in early spring of 1965.
I didn’t know we could talk Tractors here, kool. An Allis was mentioned here, well I got the WC that my dad bought off the Vaca family in Ventura Co. CA. It was the first WC sold in that county, has a 4 digit serial number. We hauled it to Oklahoma in 1957 and blazed a ranch with it for years. In set comfortably in our barn, now. Have about 20 other tractors of various makes and models, mostly MMs. Let me know if you guys need anything. Bones
... Just helped a buddy drag these two freebees out of a garage scheduled to be torn down ... ... The motor on the 9N won't turn over .... but the Jubilee fired right up with a new carb and fresh gas!
Wow! I don't know how you'd get so lucky as to get not only one but 2 free tractors!!! Nice! All of the tires look good and everything. Here are a couple of pictures of my WD45 and my 54 Chevy cabover years ago. I still own the tractor but the truck went down the road, I still wonder if I should have sold it.
I really like this new forum! I enjoy all things Old.. Its cool to see everyones stuff! I thought I'd post pics of my wifes 8N that I restored a few years back.
This is my yard tractor...1950 Farmall Cub... I just use it for moving stuff around the yard and to go get the mail....but most of the time I will just drive it around the yard, about one acre, the old thing can sit for a few months and every time will fire right up on the first crank..... Sent from my QTASUN1 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Most of these old tractors will still be running when we are gone. They are so basic and simple, just what is needed for them to run, not at all like that new stuff. I doubt many of the new tractors today will be running in 50 years, too much electronic garbage to go wrong and who will be making parts for them? A friend of mine exports a lot of these old tractors to other countries. He tells me that they've ruined the future export market in his business since all the new equipment is too complicated. I bought my 1940 M Farmall when the new riding mower I bought at Walmart blew up 2 weeks out of warranty. I was still fuming about the mower when I went to a farm estate auction and I figured it meant "M" for mow and it will be running long after I'm gone.
Not the best pic, but here's one of my 1955 IH 300 Utility. Full hydraulic up and down lift, I recently converted it to a Ford 3 point hitch from the IH Fast Hitch. The Fast Hitch was OK, but the mounting holes under the transmission stripped out leaving it useless. I've got to rebuild the pump, it leaks internally pushing the hydraulic oil into the engine when you use the lift a good bit. I'm running engine oil in the hydraulic system now so it doesn't thin out the engine oil, I just drain it and pour it back in the hydraulic tank and keep going. New pumps, if you can find them, are close to $2000, I only paid $1200 for the tractor 5 years ago! 100_0180 by Bobby Atkins, on Flickr
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