Thought you guys might like to see the tractor I've been talking about. This is what I found in the tractor barn at the New Hampshire Farm Museum last year.

As you can see, the engine was still in the tractor, but the head was off, and the hood and hood support were off, and the gas tank had been removed, but the rest of the tractor looked pretty good, although the color was all wrong.

The wheels and tires look brand new! I brought the engine home and took it apart, it looks to me like this thing was used for maybe 3 or 4 years and then it just sat! There's not much wear in the engine, not even much of a carbon ring at the top of the cylinders!

The little thing I'm holding in my hand is the "roto-cap" that slides over the end of the exhaust valve. Nothing holds it there except the pressure of the valve spring, so when the valve got sticky and the engine was turned over, the valve stayed open and the roto cap thingy fell out and jammed up the works! It couldn't get into the crankcase though, so it was just stuck in the valve area.

I've taken a pic of the valves and you can see what a job it is to adjust the clearances. Good thing I've got a drone to help me when things like this happen, because Jenny won't do it!! (This is my good friend Lonny.) It takes 3 thin wrenches and the feeler gage to do this job, and I'm one or two hands short! You've got to hold the tappet so it doesn't rotate, hold the feeler gage, adjust the barrel in the tappet, and then tighten down the locknut, all at the same time!! (And there ain't much room to swing a wrench in there neither!)

Anyway, I finally got the gasket set ($122.00!) and this afternoon Lonny's coming over to hold the engine while I torque the head bolts, and the engine will be ready to reinstall, but I'm still waiting for a new clutch plate. The one that was in there had about half of the friction material fall out over the years. As soon as the new one gets here we'll reinstall the engine and then see if it'll fire up.

I also included a coupla pics of the Fordsons the museum has, especially for you, Rob!!

Timmy

Chat Dateline: October 20, 2009

Rob: hello tractor man
Tim: Whadja think of them Fordsons, Rob?
Meg: He thinks they was BIG
Rob: which fordsons Tim
Tim: Din't you get my pictures?
Meg: Timmy needs to resize afore he re-sends. Use Irfanview to smaller 'em
Tim: Sent some pics of the "G" too.
Rob: lemme check my email agin
Rob: I think I know what happened...I don’t have your gmail address so it automagically went to the trash Tim and I must not have realized it was from you before I trashed the trash
Tim: Not much news on the tractor front. I'm still waitin' for the clutch disk to come in.
Meg: Them clutch disks is mighty slow.
Tim: It ain't the disk that's slow, Maggot! (Sheesh! Girls!!)
Meg: I was surprised by the one pic you sent, Timmy...looked like they had welded a bunch of garden trowels to a wheel, expected the 'tools' to be more sophisticated lookin.
Tim: We had one of them old rusty Fordsons on the farm, just like the rusty one in my pics except it had rubber tires on the front.

Chat Dateline: October 13, 2009

Tim: No tractor repor' tonight!
Nan: why not, Timmy?
Rob: crap, and you call that last one a repor?
Tim: I din't do nothin' to it! Weather's been nice, and colors are fantastic this year, so I hadda do a lot of ridin' on my bike!
Meg: Yeah...hadda
Joy: My Granddaughter has been sending us some pic from Mass. The colors look fantastic
Nan: ever been in the NE in the fall?
Joy: Yep, every year
Nan: every year?
Meg: NE-Nebraska
Nan: lol, got me on that one
Joy: Our colors are pretty but I've always heard of the falls in the East
Nan: I meant northeast, dang you all
Meg: Well...say what you mean
Tim: Well, this is about the best one I kin remember!
Tim: I kin send you all some pics! ('Course, they're all gonna be polluted by my motorsickles bein' in 'em!)
Nan: don't bother, Timmy, I'll pick up Joy and we'll be there to see first hand next year
Tim: Good idea, and I'll have it all arranged for ya to drive the "G" when ya get here!
Nan: You better have the G ready for me, Timmy
Tim: I'm still waitin' for the clutch disk, then it's only a matter of days before I got it together and runnin'.

Chat Dateline: October 6, 2009

Nan: got my tractor ready to go yet, Timmy?
Tim: Got the gaskets and clutch disk in, but ain't got 'em installed yet.
Nan: well, hurry up
Tim: Cleaned the carburetor and distributor this week.
Nan: I’m rearing to come out there and ride it
Harry: what kinda tractor u got Nan??
Nan: I don't, Timmy does
Tim: Allis-Chalmers G model! Has the engine in the rear!
Harry: oh… an ol' timer then
Tim: ‘48, the first year they were made.
Nan: have you ever heard of any other brand of tractor with a motor in the rear?
Tim: We had one on the farm in Indiana before Dad died!
Harry: what u gonna do with that?? or is it just for grins and giggles?? lol
Nan: wow, I started driving one in ‘50
Tim: It belongs to the New Hampshire Farm Museum.
Nan: didn't know we bought new or near new
Nan: but it sure ran good and looked good
Harry: oh ya u tol us about that when u were here in Ne.
Tim: Someone donated it to them, but the engine was apart.
Harry: think it'll ever run again?? lol
Tim: It's in great shape otherwise, but some dolt painted it YELLOW! It's sposta be orange!
Harry: I'm sure u had a good time findin parts and gaskets for it.
Nan: well, fix that, Timmy, cain’t have no yeller ACs
Harry: he musta been color blind. lol
Tim: I got the engine fixed. Just need to put the head back on and get it into the tractor.
Tim: We got an original Allis-Chalmers dealer nearby.
Nan: you're kidding, still selling ACs? do they still make em?
Tim: It should be ready to start up in about a week.
Tim: Next year's project is to get it back to orange!
Nan: good for you, Timmy, putting it back to orange! That AC dealer still doing business?
Tim: The dealer's got a couple of used A-C's, but they ain't in the tractor biz anymore!
Tim: Lotsa A-C's in the area, so he's still perty busy!
Tim: I ain't seen any "G's" around, but he tells me there are some!
Harry: I see an occasional AC at the local tractor shows.
Nan: do they still make ACs, Timmy?
Tim: A-C is still in business, but they don't make tractors anymore.
Nan: I'd love to have a G, but don't want to drive it back here from NH!
Tim: The new orange tractor is a Kubota!!
Nan: what do they make?
Harry: is Kubota from the AC line Tim?? or they just use the same color??
Tim: Just the same color. Guess they figgerd if A-C wasn't usin' it no more...
Harry: Sorry Rob didn’t' hear u sneak in the door. lol
Meg: Who let 'that guy' in?
Tim: Got here just before all of us leave!!
Nan: let him have his say, guys then we can go home
Tim: Enjoy yerself!!
Rob: ok I’m done, looks like I didn’t miss much tonight
Nan: what do you expect? fireworks?
Tim: Ya missed the "Tractor Report!"
Nan: well, he won't have to stay long then
Rob: and the tractor video too
Tim: No video---yet!
Rob: send me the chat Meg
Rob: need tractor report need tractor report
Tim: Get the chat! It's all in there!!
Meg: I'll do it Rob, but ya din't miss alot...But it does include the tractor repor

Chat Dateline: September 29, 2009

Tim: tractor update!
Nan: ok on tractor update, bring it on
Rob: yeah tractor tractor
Nan: hurry before we fall asleep, you know how we old folks are
Rob: he never can keep his mind on anything important
Tim: Got it back from the shop, reinstalled and set the valves, and cleaned the carburetor this morning...
Rob: ok Tim
Tim: Still waiting for the gasket set and clutch disk though, so I can't get it back onto the tractor yet.
Rob: are you going to get a video of first crank Tim
Tim: I'll try. I'm takin' some pics as I go along, and it wouldn't be much of a trick to get a video of the first crank.
Tim: I'm planning to put all of 'em in a blog, if Meg's blog link works!
Nan: okay, on the video of the first crank!
Meg: Well, get to bloggin! Yer first entry should be the dedication page...where you thank yer baby sister for directin you to the site.
Tim has left the room.
Meg: Dang...Timmy's cat done booted him from the room
Joy: thought maybe he went to check on his tractor
Tim has entered the room.
Tim: Why'd y'all throw me out? Think it's time fer me to go watch the Red Sox lose another game too.
Meg: Alright Timmy...happy tractorin

Chat Dateline: September 15, 2009

Meg: How's yer tractor doin, Tim?
Tim: Hadda take it to the shop today. Exhaust valve seats were beyond my fixin'.
Tim: Shouldn't bee to spendy to fix it though.
Meg: Did they give you a budget?
Rob: does it have inserts Tim
Meg: How often are they gonna start it up, onct it is fixed?
Tim: I think it has inserts. if not they said they'd just cut new seats,
Tim: I think they'll use it on weekends.
Tim: Wanna come drive it Nan?
Nan: sure do, Timmy!
Meg: Drive it to church, ya mean? Like the proverbial 'old lady'
Nan: when will it be ready?
Rob: does it have a milk box for Chloe Tim?
Tim: Well, start makin' yer plans! You got a place to stay!!
Nan: I'll have to bring pics on me on ours
Tim: I'm gonna put a milk box on it for Maggot to ride in!!
Nan: lol, a box for Meg to ride in on the tractor, will have to be about ten times the size of the one she originally rode in
Meg: Think it will hafta be biggern the last milk box I rode in.
Tim: I think they'll progly use it to pull a haywagon for hayrides.
Nan: and she's only five times as big
Rob: make sure the box is on the front so it don’t rear up
Nan: she just likes lots of room nowadays
Meg: Where was the original milk box?
Tim: That's where Dad put it!
Meg: On the front? Like a 'cow catcher' on a train?
Meg: Any pics of that?
Rob: so he could see her when the plow went over her
Nan: original box on front
Tim: Nah. Behind the front wheels, but in front of the operator.
Nan: don't you have a pic of you riding in it?
Meg: They say my dad mounted a milk box on tractor for baby Sissy to ride in, Joy.
Meg: Not that I kin recall, Nan.
Tim: I'm sure I got some pics of Meg ridin' in it somewhere.
Meg: Well, I'll need a copy of that.
Joy: Did he really mean for someone to run over her? lol
Tim: Nice pics of the Fordsons this week Rob!
Rob: well dad would never do that Joy
Joy: I didn't really think so
Tim: The museum’s got 2 Fordsons, still with the steel wheels!
Nan: nah, he just wanted his baby girl with him when he worked
Rob: but with the engine in back, you could see the dirt fly with whatever tool was in use
Tim: The engines in both of still turn over with the crank!
Rob: they better turn over with a crank, they had no starter
Tim: I could progly make 'em run! Dunno if I will though. I barely remember our Fordson.

Chat Dateline: September 8, 2009

Tim: So anyway, it looks like all I've got to do is just clean that tractor engine up real good and reassemble it, and it'll be readdy to run!
Tim: Also needs a new clutch disk. The old one has a chunk missin'.
Rob: the rings still spring past cyl?
Tim: Rings are fine, and so is the cylinder bore.
Rob: cyl-keep it simple hee hee
Meg: Tim's a-fixin a tractor like the one we had on the farm, Joy.
Tim: Inside of the engine looked great, but had about a half inch of sludge in the bottom of the oil pan.
Meg: For a museum.
Tim: Non-detergent oil, ya know?
Rob: right
Joy: I wondered if I missed something, when I started reading about tractor engine.
Rob: you gonna do a lil ploughing fore you take it back
Tim: Outside of the engine’s perty dirty, but it'll clean up.
Tim: No implements with the tractor, dangit!
Rob: too bad
Joy: Where did you get the tractor?
Rob: would really look great with the plow
Tim: Be perty neat if we could come up with some. Maybe I'll ask for donations if there's any old farmers around with 'em.
Tim: The tractor belongs to the NH Farm Museum, about 10 miles south of here.
Joy: k
Rob: Tim is just doing an overhaul on the eng
Tim: Someone donated it to 'em, but the engine was apart.
Joy: Sounds like a lot of dirty work
Rob: love Joy
Tim: It's a really unusual tractor, an Allis-Chalmers G model with the engine in the rear.
Joy: then the engine should purr like a kitten when he gets done
Tim: We had one like it on the farm in Indiana!
Rob: never purred when it was new, don't know. Actually it was a pretty quiet machine
Joy: Did the tractor in Ind get the love that this engine is getting
Rob: Nan loved it. Dad had her on it by prob 11
Tim: When I get it runnin' I'm gonna try to talk her into coming here to drive it!
Rob: hell drive it to Oregon for the break-in Tim
Meg: Yeah...it needs a long drive to break it in.
Tim: Good idea! Top speed is 7.5 MPH!! I'd get there about time the engine needed another overhaul!
Meg: No wonder dad let Nan drive the tractor, iffn it only did 7mph
Rob: hell that was twice as fast as his old fordson tractor, that was my baby
Meg: Hell...horses is fastern that
Tim: The museum has Two Fordsons!!
Rob: it was slightly better than the fat horse and skinny mule we had
Tim: Low first gear has a top speed of 1.5MPH!
Meg: Jest slightly, Rob.
Tim: Regular low is 2.5.
Rob: model T engine in a real bear of a tractor frame
Tim: Second gear is about 4.5
Tim: High - 7.5
Rob: think we used 2nd gear for plowing
Meg: Mebbe gas was cheaper than hay for the animals.
Rob: one 14" plow as I member
Tim: This engine is a 4 cylinder, only has 2 bearings for the crank!
Rob: husky crank huh
Tim: Yup! Hasta be with all that unsupported length!
Tim: Well, I gotta go help the Red Sox win their game. I'll keep you all informed on the tractor.
Rob: ok thanks for the tractor dope, tractor guy
Tim: I'm takin' pics as I go along, and a blog sounds like the way to go. I just don't know how to do one!
Meg: I'll send ya the 'link' to the Google blogs.
Tim: OK, that sounds good. See y'all next week. poof