I can’t speak for other Farmall owners, but when surrounded by a certain tractor series for so long, I begin to get bored and want to explore other models. Having become quite familiar with H’s and M’s, I found myself becoming very interested in the 400’s and 450’s. 

As luck (or bad luck) would have it, Dad and I learned of a 400 for sale in the spring of 1997. We went to look at it on a weekday. It was a 400 alright, but the owner was, shall we say, “mechanically challenged.”  He was no farmer—just a rural person who used this tractor to mow his lot. The tractor obviously had a rough life of neglect and poor maintenance. All of the chrome was missing, save for one 400 emblem affixed to the faded sheet metal with screws. One of the faded hood pieces had a lengthy Bible verse hand painted on it. (I can’t remember the exact verse, but a fitting one would have been from the book of Mathew about “wailing and the gnashing of teeth!”) It had leaks everywhere, bolts were broken off in the frame, the gauges and lights were shot, and it was stored outside. It did have a fast hitch and power steering and it actually ran rather well when I drove it around. Despite the faded paint, it was painted like a 450 and it still looked good to me. Dad and I decided that we should have this tractor, if for no other reason than to rescue it from its current life. The man’s wife, who was arranging this deal, wanted way too much money for it. We talked the price down a good amount but she still would not budge from her minimum, which was still too much. She gave us a sob story about how they needed this money to put a new roof on their house. Well, we paid her the price knowing that although it was too much money, they were a needy household. Hopefully they made good use of the money.

We used the tractor for plowing and disking that spring. It looked good on our land with that white grill setting it apart from our other tractors. When fall came around, I moved our New Idea 2-row mounted picker-sheller off of the Super M and onto the 400. I was excited for harvest season knowing that the additional power, independent PTO, power steering and live hydraulics of the 400 would make things easier.  

The New Idea picker and sheller on the 400 in 1997. It was a good setup.

Harvest season went without incident, but shortly thereafter, the tractor blew the head gasket. When the head was removed from the engine, I couldn’t believe what I found. Besides horrific carbon buildup in the head and valve seats, the pistons could literally be shaken back and forth within the sleeves and you could see light past them. This made no sense! The tractor ran decently and had plenty of power to operate the sheller, which called for a minimum of 50 horsepower. Since I lacked the time, finances, facilities and the courage to undertake a major overhaul at that time, I decided just to get a new head gasket and slap it back together. Actually, I bought an entire gasket set and went about trying to stop the dozens of leaks on this machine. We also hand-lapped the valves before re-assembly.

We used the tractor again in the spring of 1998 for tillage operations. In the summer, I began the long and tedious job of painting this tractor. This by far was the most, foul, oily, disgusting and hard-to-clean tractor I ever dealt with. But the job was completed and did it ever look sharp! I had it painted it like a 450. I know this is considered a sin among tractor purists, but doggone it—that white-and-red paint scheme on the 450 is a beautiful thing. The final step to this cosmetic overhaul was to acquire the missing chrome pieces. Dad would accomplish this on a future trip to the huge annual tractor/parts show in Portland, Indiana.  

The 400's first paint job in 1998. Note the hydraulic outlets just below the fuel tank. Both the left and right outlets were bent down at this strange angle with no support brackets. My guess is that this bigger fuel tank is not original and the hydraulic lines were simply bent down to accomodate the larger tank. They have recently been replaced.

The 400’s first public outing was later that summer at the Utica, Ohio show. It looked very good in the lineup and I was proud to have it there. Day two of the show featured a stock tractor pull and I decided to enter the 400. I opened up the throttle and headed down the track. I was chugging along just fine and reached the 150-foot mark with no signs of tiring from the tractor’s loose power plant. Then suddenly, it just died. There I sat on the track, cranking the engine over and over to no avail, as many onlookers jeered and laughed. What an incredibly humiliating moment! I suddenly hated this tractor. It had to be pulled off the track and pulled onto the trailer for the trip home. Investigation back at the farm revealed the problem to be a chunk of silicon sealant that had been sucked into the carburetor’s main jet, which then cut off the fuel supply. Do not, do not, do not enhance a poor carburetor gasket with silicon sealant! This may seem obvious, but it was a hard lesson learned for me.  

The competed paint job in 1998. It was gorgeous on the exterior, but it was a worn-out piece of junk on the inside.

The tractor pull incident would not be the last time this tractor embarrassed me. A few years later, our family had our typical Farmall selections on display at the Hartford Fair. The last night of the Fair features a “rough truck” contest in which contestants drive beater trucks around a brutal obstacle course. The shortest time around the track wins. Needless to say, dozens of trucks fall apart on the track and need to be pulled away. This is one of many jobs our tractor club assists with at the fair. So a certain truck died and I took the 400 out to fetch it. As I reached the end of the track but still in view of the thousands of spectators, this accursed tractor died again. Keep in mind that it had worked all week, and even a year or two without any problems since the Utica incident. I could not get it started and here came the ensuing whoops and hollers of the amused people. Isn’t this a familiar feeling, I thought, as the humiliation and rage built within me. Now I really hated this tractor. Joe came out to rescue me with the 460, and I still had a dead truck in tow—what a sight. Back in the pits, I tore the carburetor apart and do you know what I found? Do not, do not, do not enhance a poor carburetor gasket with silicon sealant! I realized that it was not the tractor’s fault that its idiot owner used silicon on the carb, but why did it have to die right there at that precise moment? Since that night, I became gun-shy of this machine, believing that it was cursed and waiting for the next opportunity to make a fool out of me. To me it was an evil piece of junk with a pretty paint job. Never again would I operate it in public.

Over the next few years, the tractor began to degrade rapidly as I seldom used it. The leaks came back and caused the paint to peel away from the engine, TA and axle castings. Bad knocking in the engine could be heard—probably from the pistons wanting to turn sideways. It developed a problem of not charging, but the alternator checked out OK and we could not find the problem. It would foul plugs on a regular basis and it was a good day if it ran on three cylinders. I knew it had problems and needed attention, but I didn’t care. I was too busy and did not want to spend the money to make it right.

By now it was 2003. The Fair was coming up and I made it clear that the 400 would not be going. Mike convinced me to take it, however, but I specified that it would be a static display only. It was not to be used for anything. It did sit idle all week until the parade on the last day. It actually did make it through the parade without incident—probably because I was not it driving it. Back at the farm after the trip home, however, a hydraulic hose for the rear cylinder ruptured and bathed the tractor, trailer and Fred with hydraulic oil. I was out of town when all this occurred. When I found out about it, it embarrassed me to own such a sad machine. I knew that it was time for me to either sell this tractor or make the financial commitment and give it the TLC it so badly needed for so long. I decided to fix it.

I was not sure how or when I would go about fixing this tractor, but the project has essentially evolved on its own unexpectedly. A few weeks after the Fair, I went to an auction and purchased a wide-front axle which I wanted to put on the 400. (Why was I buying something extra for the 400 when its basic life functions were shot?) The axle sat for a few weeks. Finally, at Mike’s prompting, we towed the 400 to the shop so that the axle project could begin. This would also be a good time to address some of the other problems. I intended to start slowly, just concentrating on the hydraulic hose and electrical problems. I guess as most projects go, once they are started, other problems are discovered and a simple job turns out to be a major undertaking. This job is no exception. What began as a front axle project turned out to be a complete overhaul of everything, save for the transmission and rear axels, which do not warrant attention at this time (knock on wood). When I say that everything has or will be overhauled, I mean it. It has four new tires, new brakes, new hoses, rebuilt hydraulic valves, a fresh radiator, gaskets, seals, o-rings, and especially a carburetor rebuild kit! I will stop there in the interest of space.  

The 400 in August of 2003 in the shop to have the wide-front axle installed. At the time this picture was taken, I had not yet made the decision to overhaul everything. It was soon gutted, however, and I spent the money quickly!

But I haven’t even talked about the engine yet—what a fright! As we tore into it, we found: antifreeze in the oil due to a leak in the block; severe sludge buildup in the block; timing gears out of time; severely scored sleeves; crankshaft main journals deeply grooved; loose valve guides; unsalvageable valves; loose pistons (mentioned earlier); and the oil pickup for the oil pump was stuck in the highest position, which most likely caused the damage to the crankshaft. In short, it seems that if something could be wrong with this tractor, it was wrong. It was a bomb just waiting to throw shrapnel, and it’s a wonder that it ran at all!

The tractor was split for the purpose of removing the engine. The sleeves needed to come out, and this turned out to be quite the challenge. A sleeve puller wouldn’t come close to moving the sleeves, so what we ultimately resorted to was turning the engine upside-down and pushing the sleeves out with a 12-ton press. The sleeves are very thin on the bottom with little surface area to grip. What we used as the push plate, which was a perfect match, was the top of a junk F-30 piston that we cut off. After the sleeves were out, the engine and head were both sent to a machine shop for cleaning, inspection and repairs. As for the cause of the loose pistons, this block had 4-1/8-inch sleeves in it and the pistons appear to be 4-inch. I ended up buying a complete engine overhaul kit with 4-1/8” sleeves (and pistons to match!), plus a used crankshaft in good condition.  

A fresh, clean engine in the reassembly stages. I put a 4-1/8-inch sleeve and piston kit in the 400's block, which gives it a 281-cubic inch displacement, just like a 450. The pistons are of the high-compression variety, and they fit snugly within the new sleeves--imagine that!

Engine reassembly went smoothly for the most part. We installed all of the internal parts and then painted the block before it was put back into the tractor. Head installation was somewhat of an adventure, however. While torquing one of the studs, the fine threads on the top stripped and the stud was thus ruined. Mike found and old F-20 stud of the same diameter and threaded it after cutting it length. While torquing this stud, it broke off in the block. (#@%&!) We had to remove the head in order to extract the broken stud. So there was a perfectly good head gasket wasted, because they are good for only one torquing, from what I understand. At Mike's prompting, I obtained all new head studs (and a new head gasket) before trying it again. Studs are still available through Case-IH, but I paid nearly 8 dollars each for them. Multiply that by 16 total studs, and it gets quite expensive.  However, I would recommend this over trying to fabricate your own, as I have learned.

At the same time this major overhaul is taking place, I am also repainting this beast. Painting a tractor one time is bad enough. I can’t believe I’m painting it again—the second time in 5 years! I told myself I would never paint another tractor. Well, here I am again, but the process is much more manageable than in the past simply because of the access to better facilities. Mike has a great shop with a large compressor, air dryer, and sand blaster.  I am going to greater lengths to do the job right—and the only way to do it right is to strip the machine all the way down and deal with each part individually. After a trip through the parts cleaner tank, all parts that would not be damaged by sand were sand-blasted. Others were cleaned via a wire wheel on a hand-held grinder or a bench grinder. After cleaning, parts were sprayed with break cleaner and blow-dried before priming and painting.

I have really spent the money like never before to get the required parts. I am replacing mangled and worn-out items such as steel hydraulic lines, bolts, levers, etc., with genuine IH replacements. I am even getting a few extra things such as fenders and a belt pulley unit. A good source of parts and information that I highly recommend has been Steel Wheel Ranch in Everest, Kansas.

As of December 2003, the tractor is probably halfway to completion. I hope to have it ready to go for the 2004 Hartford Fair. It will be nice to finally sit in the seat someday without the fear of it croaking on me at a critical moment. 

I probably should not have said that.—Bill

After many months, it is finally time time bring this story to a close. Many arduous hours went into this project. The new engine first barked to life on March 6, 2004. It barely ran at first. I had the distributor positioned where I remembered it before the rebuild. Well, since the timing gears were now properly aligned, the ignition timing should certainly be different now. I figured this out when it refused to run. After rotating the distributor many degrees, the engine finally came to life. Success! It ran rather poorly until the valves were adjusted.

After reaching the milestone of having the tractor running again, the remainder of the painting and assembly seemed as minor tasks. The official completion date was June 6, 2004, which was marked by the installation of the new "400" emblems. I let my wife Jo-Ella have the honors, especially since I couldn't fit my hand between the generator and sheet metal. 

During the first week of August 2004, I began going over the tractor for final Fair preparations. The thing ran well when I last had it running in June. However, when I started it up, it immediately began roaring at what seemed in excess of 3,000 RPM. After angrily disassembling the carburetor, I discovered the slotted piece on the throttle plate shaft that engages the governor, which was a new plastic part in the rebuild kit, had simply broken. In addition to that, the machine mutilated its new tachometer drive cable. As I stepped back and looked at the 400, a thought occurred to me: This tractor still has demons. The movie "Christine" came to mind. This movie is about a car with supernatural powers that loves its owner and can repair itself. My 400 is the antithesis of that--it hates me and breaks itself. We have be calling it the "Anti-Christ-ine." 

The tractor's first public showing was at the Hartford Fair, August 8-14, 2004. On move-in day of the Fair, an incident occurred that reinforced the whole "Anti-Christ-ine" thing. When I sat on the seat to drive the tractor of the trailer, it wouldn't start. There was absolutely nothing at the ignition switch. "You have got to be kidding me," I thought to myself. We could find nothing wrong until we raised the seat and looked into the battery box. The ground cable had freed itself from the post. How do you explain that? But that's not the real kicker. The engine refused to started when I began cranking. Joe finally had to give me a pull with the W-9 to get it running. "This Fair is getting off to a fine start," I thought. When the 400 finally did start, it belched great quantities of blackened gasoline out of both the exhaust stack and carb intake. The hard-clean-fluid stained the paint in some places and removed some of the paint on the left side of the block. Mike and I frantically searched for rags to clean up the mess. Mike determined that the manifold and head had somehow filled with gasoline. He added that this is a dangerous condition and could have ruined the engine. Now how do you explain that, given that I had the fuel shut off during the trip? After the incident I said to Mike, "I'm telling ya, this tractor is alive and it hates me!" Mike replied, "I'm not one to believe it that kind of stuff, but I'm beginning to think you're right."

Perhaps the flooded manifold incident was a last-ditch effort of the demonic powers to either kill me or the tractor. The tractor gave me no further problems throughout the remainder of the Fair, even when it could have embarrassed me during pull-back services for the tractor pull and rough-truck contest. We also got the tractor belted to the Baker Test Fan for over an hour to help break-in the engine. It chugged right along and never choked once as it put out 55 HP. I also received several compliments throughout the week about how nice the tractor looked. It was a very good week at the Fair. -Bill

My wife Jo-Ella was even involved with this project as she installed the "400" emblems on June 6, 2004. This officially ended the restoration project. Aren't they beautiful?

Me driving the 400 in the Hartford Fair Parade, Aug 14, 2004.

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