[AT] Still in the M business

Dean Vinson dean at vinsonfarm.net
Sat Jul 18 21:20:42 PDT 2009


Thanks, everyone.  It does feel good to have decided to keep the old girl
home.

Although Mattias, I'm sure you would give her a good home when you unpacked
her from the container... :-)

And Roy, thanks for your kind comments about my M.  I had to chuckle reading
that it's an inspiration... I guess it does look pretty good, as long as
you're not too critical about finishes and are standing a good distance
away.  Mostly it's just cleaned up and made complete again.  Over the last
few years I've scraped and wiped away a bunch of gunk, changed all the
fluids, cleaned a slimy brown mess out of the carburetor, replaced leaky oil
seals, put on a new muffler, replaced all the gauges, visited salvage yards
and eBay to find the fenders and the lightbar toolbox and the belt pulley
and a hydraulic valve that wasn't frozen and a Ball jar for the precleaner
and assorted control rods, patched the hole in the grille and rattle-can
spraypainted it, repainted the "Farmall" and "M" lettering by hand with a
bottle of white automotive touchup paint, made assorted stupid mistakes
trying to figure out the electrical system, replaced the wiring and light
bulbs, made a better (but still home-built) battery tray than what was in
there before, had new front tires mounted, etc.  Nothing serious
mechanically, and except for the fenders and tires no big expenses.  But
sure were a bunch of little ones.  I chalk it all up to entertainment and
therapy.  For comparison's sake, here's the tractor when I bought it three
years ago:
http://www.vinsonfarm.net/photos/M_20060829.jpg.

Does the seat on a W-4 have any adjustment capability?  On Hs and Ms you can
unbolt the whole thing from the deck, slide it forward or back a couple of
inches, and then bolt it back down using different holes in the seat base
(at least with the type of seat I've got).

As for your water pump, if it's like the M it's right at the front of the
engine, with the grease fittings accessible from the left side of the
tractor.  There are two fittings, one right above the other.  It's good to
grease them but don't overdo it, no more than two strokes of the grease gun,
to avoid pushing grease into the coolant.

(And if you haven't, go to someplace like http://www.binderbooks.com/ and
get an operator's manual and maybe parts and service manuals while you're at
it.  I've found them to be well worth the expense).

Good for you for walking before mowing... another very wise investment!

Dean Vinson
Dayton, Ohio
www.vinsonfarm.net








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