[Farmall] F-20 progress

[Karl Olmstead]

I bought a '36 F-20 a month and a half ago, not the same one I got from Bob 
Currie at Tulare.  I've been immersed in major kitchen remodeling, so it 
hasn't gotten much attention.  I did pull the carburetor off and finished 
rebuilding it last Thursday.  I had hoped to get the tractor running this 
past weekend, but kitchen cabinet installation took priority.

Sunday a tractor day, so I began the process of bringing the F-20 back to 
life.  When I'm trying to start a tractor that hasn't run for several years, 
I've developed a procedure which I think maximizes my chances of success, 
and minimizes the chance that I'll damage the tractor.  Here's the list:

Remove and rebuild carburetor and magneto.
Remove up and clean up the magneto drive disc (that perforated disc).
Clean the sediment bowl, and replace the fuel valve or fuel lines if 
necessary.
Run a tap down the spark plug holes.
Remove rocker arm cover and wash the rocker arms and valve springs with carb 
cleaner.  Blow dry with shop air.  Oil the valves and rocker arms.
Drain the crankcase.
Replace the crankcase drain plug and overfill the crankcase with diesel 
fuel.
Put the tractor in gear and tow it around for at least fifteen minutes. 
(spark plugs removed)
Immediately drain the crankcase and oil filter housing.
Pull the oil pan and de-sludge it.
Clean the oil pump inlet screen.
Run a tap through all the oil pan bolt holes.
Clean up pan bolts.
Install fresh oil pan gasket and oil pan.
Install fresh spark plugs and wires.
Install magneto and time it to the engine.
Install carburetor.
Replace rubber air couplings.
Change oil filter and filter housing gasket.
Fill crankcase with fresh oil.
Clean up air cleaner and fill bowl with oil.
Put fresh gas in tank.
Oil hand crank.
Replace any weak cooling hoses.
Flush cooling system and fill with coolant mixture.
Lubricate cooling fan bearings.
Change fan belts if necessary.

Hope it starts.
------------------------------

Needless to say, I didn't get it all done Sunday.  Maybe half, and I'm 
picking away at the rest of it little each night.  Got the magneto timed and 
mounted yesterday.  The old mag was still hot, but I used one of my rebuilt 
units; that way I know that the bearings are well lubricated.

Removing the magneto coupler disk loses the original ignition timing, but I 
don't worry about that; in my experience, old tractors often aren't timed 
correctly anyway.  I set the ignition timing one hole advanced from what the 
factory instructions recommend; I'll probably have to bump it up one more 
hole later on.  Engine has to run before I make that decision.

Rings looked reasonably good during the tow-around.  Badly worn rings result 
in huge plumes of diesel fuel being blown out the spark plug holes.  This 
engine did spit some diesel, but just a slight mist.  So I'm predicting that 
it may smoke a little, but not objectionably.  Based on past experience, if 
the engine spits a heavy cloud of diesel fuel out the spark plug holes, 
it'll smoke like crazy when actually run.  When I see that, I just park the 
tractor.  No sense wasting more time getting a 'smoker' running.  Too 
embarrassing (and annoying) to drive.

Re-tapping the spark plug holes may seem like a bad thing to do, because it 
can drop metallic chips down into the cylinders.  Since the very next step 
is to tow the tractor around in gear with the plugs removed, any debris 
should get blown out before it can do any significant damage.

If I manage to steal another tractor day next weekend, I should get the old 
girl running.  All I really have left is oil pan work and spark plug wires. 
Ordered new pan and rocker arm cover gaskets from Rice today.

Remodeling is nearly done on the house, and boy, am I glad!  I'd rather work 
on a greasy old tractor anytime.

-Karl