1937  FARMALL  F-30

Right: Mike the Proud Papa.
Cigars?

  Click to Check on Mike's Work (F-30 Audio)

 

A Restoration Story by Mike Evans       

                           

Exclusive!  F-30 Data Sheet courtesy of  Mr. Alan C. King, author of The International Harvester Tractor Data Book: 1906 to 1963.
 

The F-30 arrives at its new home.  This was Dad's last 'find'.  Little did he know at the time that this tractor really was home (almost).

Background on Finding & Restoring the F-30

My main interest is in the F-series. I had found our Regular and F-20 sitting just outside of Johnstown, Ohio as a pair just waiting for a home. From the moment I brought the F-20 back to life, I was addicted. Since then, we have found two more 20’s and a ‘29 regular on full steel, which I later sold to a friend of mine. By that time, Dad and I were searching for an F-30. This search would prove to be somewhat difficult because there are not that many 30’s in our area. Comparatively speaking, in round numbers, there were 150,000 F-20’s and only 30,000 F-30’s manufactured between 1932 and 1939. Since the 30 was the biggest Farmall at the time, they were mostly shipped out west. Dad and I both lacked interest in traveling out west due to lack of time on my part and the fact that it would have been too easy. We thought we should be able to find one in our area and what a prize it was!

After four years of dead-end leads and the infamous, "It ain’t for sale…I’ma gonna fix that up one of these days," we were starting to get a little discouraged. One day Dad came home with another lead, and we did the "pre-lead" ritual. The ritual consisted of trying to find the right combination of taking the checkbook or the trailer with us so we were not jinxed.

The F-30, "The Wide One", awaiting more restoration work.  The old gal likes her space.  Note the Twindraulics add-on.

Mt. Perry was our destination, and it made about one hour’s worth of drive time south of where we were located. Now that I think about it, I am writing this story on the day after Thanksgiving with rain/flurries and cold, bitter temperatures just like the day when we went to look at that tractor back in 2000. Anyhow, when we arrived (without the trailer but with the checkbook), my doubts as to what we might find came true. Most of the 30 was sitting outside with a partially gutted and cracked block, some nasty home-made loader frame, and an after-market Twindraulics pump that had enough angle iron and molten weld rod in it to make a small iron bridge. Under a heap of debris that was supposed to be a barn sat three of the four piston-and-rod assemblies, pushrods, carburetor, manifold, air filter, oil pump and oil pan.

You see, it used to be a barn because at some point it caught fire, destroying the side where this guy kept all the parts mentioned above, and melting them almost beyond recognition. I was on my hands and knees for what seemed like most of the morning searching for everything we had to work with. I found everything but one push rod and the engine head. I must have had a pretty disgusted look on my face because the owner started to apologize for the state of neglect and said that he was planning on building a pulling tractor but only got as far as having the head work done when the fire took place. "Well, where the hell is the head?" I remember asking. "Oh, it’s in the house along with the valves." Luckily, the valves and springs were not in the fire, but the rocker-arm assembly and valve cover were still missing. I returned to the mud pit and searched some more. I was just about to give up when I grabbed some piece of debris, and there was the valve cover with the rocker assembly and oil trays. All I could think of was how much work it will take to fix this thing up. This thing wouldn’t make a good parts tractor! Meanwhile, Dad and the owner agreed on a price, and a week later we returned to haul it all home.

The F-30's skeleton inside Mike's shop.

Well, where do you start on a project like this? First thing I thought was to get the block out and disassemble it the rest of the way so we could get the crack fixed. The fourth piston and rod were still in the block and rusted solid. I ended up beating it down and out with a chunk of wooden fence post and a sledgehammer. Surprisingly by this time we found enough evidence that this tractor showed little signs of wear. The drawbar holes were nice and round, the crank mains and journals were in great shape, and the transmission gears looked perfect. Well, during the course of the following spring the block was somewhere getting welded, and I started rounding up parts. Sadly, Dad died the first of May, and I was in no mood for a long time to mess with that tractor. During the course of finalizing all the loose ends Dad had with people, I stumbled across the guy welding on the block. He had it done and did a remarkable job on it. I asked what they agreed on price-wise and headed home. All of a sudden the desire to see this project through hit me so hard that I worked nonstop for ten months grinding, scraping, polishing, blasting and painting, until it was finally finished for our Club’s show in Utica, Ohio.

Right:  The F-30 sat abandoned for some time after Dad died.  Mike eventually tied up the loose ends and embarked on finishing the project.

Now this is where the story takes another interesting turn. This old gentleman, who is a friend of the family, took an interest in that 30 and asked where I got it. I told him that we found it down in Mt. Perry. I thought he was just being courteous, not knowing that he was researching the serial number. Well a couple of months passed, and I met up with him again at a later show.  He told me that the F-30 was purchased new in 1937 by the Pound farm, which is located just one mile north from where I have lived all my life! So when you restore an old piece of iron, don’t forget to trace its origins. The added information will make your project that much more meaningful.

The time spent restoring tractors with my dad was truly priceless. I am thankful that I completed our final project and hope that some day my son will continue this family tradition.

Before beginning a major restoration project, you should ask yourself, "What do I plan on doing with this tractor when I’m done?" Your answer will direct your budget for the project. For example, if the restored tractor will only go on and off a trailer to run in an occasional parade, you can take some shortcuts and concentrate on making it look good. On the other hand, if you plan on making a profit by reselling your tractor, you should be careful as your investment may exceed potential resale value. For the F-30, I planned on using it to plow and run a Separator. Because of the sentimental value, I had no plans to sell my tractor. Below are highlights of my restoration. Feel free to e-mail me with questions or for more detail on a particular topic.

The Block - The F-series blocks are known for a weak spot on the left-hand side, above the hand-hole inspection covers. When one freezes, it is guaranteed to break in that spot. There are two ways to weld cast iron. One way is to start a fire big enough to place the piece in, and raise the temperature to almost red-hot.  At this point, the piece can bewelded on from start to finish. Once completed, the piece has to immediately return to the fire and slowly cool over several days to avoid cracking. The second option—cold welding—involves welding along the crack, creating one puddle of weld at a time. The piece should cool in between puddles of weld. Although time consuming, this method proves more practical for home restoration projects. Cold welding is considered structural strength when the crack can be welded on both sides. The F-30 was cold welded.

The F-30 was stripped down to bare metal for surface prep.

The Head - As mentioned in the background information, our F-30 had been worked on prior to our purchase. However, I opted to take the head to a machine shop to address some problems I saw with the prior work. The valves were ground down so far that the edges were razor-sharp. These are called margins. Razor-sharp margins will deteriorate rapidly. New margins were cut on all the valves. The valve guides were in excellent condition. The valve seats were reground to match the new margins. The oil return galley was replaced, and the entire head was magnafluxed to check for further cracks.

The head, valves and manifold are the most important aspects of a motor. If good air management is not maintained, the tractor motor will never run correctly. With that in mind, I resurfaced the manifold and the manifold surface of the head to ensure proper air management.

Pistons & Rods - F-series blocks used wet-sleeve construction. There are inherent difficulties in removing these sleeves from the block. One of my sleeves was destroyed beyond repair, requiring its removal and a replacement sleeve. The best way I have found to remove a wet sleeve is to turn the block upside down and use a piece of iron that spans the sleeve bore, and then pounding on it with a spud bar. Once the sleeve moves a half-inch or so, it should fall out. Since my piston and rod bearings were melted and beyond repair, I ordered used replacements from Alderson Tractor Parts in Iowa.

F-series motors were designed to burn kerosene where water temperatures approach the 300-degree mark. With temperatures that high, the motors were built somewhat sloppily in regards to specs. I had less concern for matched piston and sleeve sets for my own F-30 since my intended use was for limited demonstrations, not prolonged farm use.

After many months of work, the painting is progressing nicely.

Transmission - Thankfully, my transmission was in good shape. However, as with all F-series transmissions, the packing gland seals are often a source of troublesome leaks. From my research of the F-series, this seems to be a normal characteristic. Original owners’ manuals state that the transmission seals will leak some and should only be a concern if the leaks become excessive. I installed new packing glands to head off potential leaks.

My biggest problem during the restoration project involved the belt pulley shaft. After a thorough examination, I determined there was no way a seal could stop any oil leak due to the construction of the shaft and belt pulley splines. Therefore, a high-quality gasket sealant was used on the splines to minimize leakage.

Final Drives - Thankfully, I had no problems during the restoration with final drives. However, a common nuisance with the F-series involves the countershaft seals. When plowing with the right hand wheel leaning in the furrow, transmission fluid will flow to the right hand final drive. This can cause the final drive housing to overfill if your countershaft seals are worn. The overfill will leak out of the hub, creating a mess. When restoring any F-series tractor, special consideration should be made before replacing these seals, as they are quite expensive and labor-intensive.

Steering Bolster - With the F-series, the cultivator mounting casting typically cracks along the top-hand side. In my opinion, this is only a cosmetic concern due to the over-abundance of bolts that fasten the bolster to the frame rails. My particular bolster had a sheered-off woodruff key that allowed the steering to rotate 360 degrees. This prompted a complete disassembly of the bolster and bolster shaft. Although the task is not difficult, the parts are heavy and awkward to handle, so I recommend using two people. Once disassembled I decided to replace all seals and gaskets.

General – Spark-advance linkage and throttle linkage seems to vary among the F-series. As an example, I’ve seen as many as four different styles of throttle linkages. Very little information or photos are available to help duplicate the differing styles. I purchased some round stock and heated and formed my own linkages. Although probably not correct, they are functional.

Ask ten people how to paint a tractor and be prepared for fifteen different answers. I am not qualified to discuss painting, but I’ll share what I did on my F-30. For starters, metal cannot be clean enough. The more preparation you put in, the better your results will be. Having said that, this tractor was disassembled, down to the very last bolt. I was able to sandblast 90% of the parts. I also paid extra for a high-quality epoxy primer. Without a good base, you cannot get a good finish coat. I used TSC paint with a hardener/shiner additive. A good friend with experience using a paint gun shot the majority of the paint for me.

Too many things can go wrong with painting. For example, correct paint and paint mixture are no help if you use the paint gun incorrectly. The best paint gun and user will not help a poor quality paint mix. In my opinion, paints purchased today are probably better then the paint formulas of sixty years ago. Even when the paint results are perfect, you must dedicate yourself to keeping your tractor clean and covered during storage.

Last, but not least, the finishing touches of any restoration projects are the decals (not "stickers", as my wife often refers to them). I used the F-series photo archive book for my research on placement of decals. The less-expensive decal sets often closely resemble the original sets. I recommend spraying the area with a glass cleaner, such as Windex, then placing the decal over the wet area. This allows you to slide the decal around in order to get perfect alignment. It also helps you to spot air bubbles. Start with a wet rag, beginning in the center and pushing out to remove any air bubbles. Once the Windex dries, the decals are set.  --Mike

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