Getting (back) a FarmAll Cub

mark02tj · Sep 3, 2014

I may be getting my Grandpa's old Cub sometime soon. Here's the story... My mom was born on a small "farm" (21 acres) in West Virginia back in the 30's. While my grandparents were still living there my Grandpa bought a FarmAll Cub. I don't know if he bought it new or used or what year it is. I think it's an early 50's model. All I remember is that he always had it. As a kid, I was allowed to play on it but never drive it. Actually, I don't have any firm memories of even seeing my Grandpa on it - it seemed like he always used it right before we visited so I never really saw it in action. By the time I was hanging out at the farm (mid-late 70's, early 80's) he was only using it for mowing the meadow with a sickle bar. After my grandparents got up in age, they moved to town. My parents bought 6 of the 21 acres and a neighbor bought the rest. Our six acres included the house, shed, etc. Shortly after they moved out (around '82 or so), I made a trip down there and got the old Cub running again. I put in new points, plugs, condenser, wires and rebuilt the carb. I had a blast driving it around the property while at the same time feeling a bit "bad" as I had never been allowed to drive it up until that time. Fortunately Grandpa approved! :thumbsup: Since no one was living at the property, things started to disappear, including the tractor. One of the neighbors took it for "safekeeping". We never had much contact with him over the years and I pretty much wrote off the tractor at that point. My life had changed (married, house in the city, etc.) and I didn't have any place to store or use the tractor. My parents did hear from the neighbor from time to time with offers to buy the remaining acreage but they always declined.

Fast forward to now... someone burned what was left of the house down a few years ago on Halloween (no it wasn't the neighbor! :laughing

. My parents are getting up in age and no longer able to even drive any more. Earlier in the summer my dad called the neighbor and asked him if he wanted to buy the property. He said yes, they agreed on the price, and then out of the blue, the neighbor asks Dad if he wants the old Cub!! Of course, I said yes!!! So, I'm going into WV next week to take care of the sale of the land and take a look at the tractor to see if it's worth bringing home. I don't know if it's been stored inside a barn or out in a field. Hopefully if it was outside he at least put a coffee can over the exhaust. I do know that it hasn't been driven as I took the carb with me when I left it back in the 80's.

So, here are my questions....

Where is the dataplate located on these old Cubs? I'd like to find it so I can figure out the year, etc.

Are parts still available somewhere? Can I still get ignition and carb parts?

I'd imagine that it's still a 6v system. Is there any way to tell for sure? If it is 6v, how involved of a process is it to convert to 12v or should I even do that?

If the engine is locked, is it even worth bringing home and trying to get going again? With gas, borrowing/renting a trailer, wear and tear on the truck, etc., I figure it's going to be $300-500 to get it back home. (The neighbor said that his son would trailer it from there to here for a yet to be agreed upon price. I will most likely take him up on it.)

I'd imagine the tires are pretty much dry-rotted at this point. What's a set of tires going to set me back for this tractor?

As far as using it around here, this will mostly be a nostalgia project. I have a Deere 3520 that can do all I need done around here. If the sickle bar still works, I might use that from time to time to mow along my road/ditch. But other than that, the only reason to bring this home is that it was Grandpa's tractor. And it's not like I don't already have 586 projects already in the queue!! :laughing:

Oh, and as an added bonus, the neighbor also hauled the old hay rake out of the hollar many years ago. That may be come a piece of yard art at our place now! :laughing:

THANKS for any advice you might be able to give me.

flusher · Sep 3, 2014

Serial #--located on right side of the steering gear housing.
Parts are readily available. Check the Web, eBay. I'm rebuilding a 1948 Cub now.

Also check FarmallCub.com website for parts info.

Changing from 6V to 12V is not difficult. The 6V starter will work on 12V.

Rear tires-new pair $600-700. Fronts-new $150-200. Check eBay for tire costs-new and used.

Stuck engine--I'd walk away from it. There are plenty of running Cubs on eBay in the $2K range.
My Cub was not running when I bought it--low compression on 3 of 4 cylinders. So I'm doing a complete engine rebuild now. Installed pistons today. Normally I wouldn't buy a non-running tractor. But I collect high crop tractors with bull gear rear axles and the Cub is one of the classics. I bought it from a neighbor who delivered it to my shop.

Good luck.

mfreund · Sep 3, 2014

Bring it home. Condition does not matter. If it is too far gone you can always get rid of it later. You will never have the chance to get it again.

DJ54 · Sep 4, 2014

Heck yes bring it home..!! Even if the block is cracked, if you're not in a big hurry, you will come across one for the right price, just have to be patient. A buddy of mine found a NOS Cub block, and got it for the unbelievable price of $50. The guy just tired of walking around it.

Hopefully it has been kept inside, or exhaust covered. If the engine will turn over, you're way ahead of the game.

mark02tj · Sep 4, 2014

I'm 99% sure I'll bring it home, regardless of condition. As mfruend said, I'll never get the chance again to get it. Even if I have to buy a parts tractor to get it going again, it's THIS Cub that I want, not just any Cub.

THANKS for the replies and pointing me to resources for other parts and advice. After I get back from WV next week, I will post pics.

mfreund · Sep 4, 2014

I can't wait to see it!

Soundguy · Sep 4, 2014

mid 66 cubs went 12v. so if it is the older round nosed cub it is 6v.

if you wanted it to look stock, you can get a 66.5+ 12v genny and hae it be a stealth conversion

mark02tj · Oct 13, 2014

Well, I got 'er home! :thumbsup: And she's in pretty sad shape but I think she's still restorable. I had talked to the guy that had kept it all these years and he warned me that the front tires were in really bad shape. I figured the rears were going to be in bad shape as well, so I lucked into getting a set of all 4 tires mounted on wheels for $140 on CL. When I talked to him the day before my trip he said that he'd pulled the tractor out of the weeds and that one of the rear tires decided to separate from the wheel so I took my "new" tires with me to pick it up.

Of course, none of this happened without pics to back it up!.....

Here are the old tires and wheels...

And a pic of me getting ready to hit the road back home...

And pics of the tractor (and the old hay rake that I drug home)...

From the data plate, I believe that she's a 1952...

Obviously I have my work cut out for me. The engine is seized and there is sheet metal that needs replaced. The hood and fuel tank are actually pretty solid so I think I can use them. There is a bird nest in the gas tank! :laughing: No gas cap and no radiator cap. The tractor rolled pretty easily on and off the trailer and we also were able to steer it. It did stay put and in gear on the trip home. I have the carb in my toolbox so it should be OK. I thought there was a draw bar on it at one point, but it's not there now. The condition of brakes and clutch are unknown at this point.

I don't have a picture of this, but I rubbed on the hood a bit with some ScotchBrite and a sanding sponge. Believe it or not, red paint actually showed up once the rust was removed!! :thumbsup:

The first order of business is that I want to get it somewhere that it can stay out of the weather. Then I will start spraying some penetrating fluid on most of the connection points to let it start working it's magic. I will most likely be using a mixture of acetone and ATF for this purpose. I'm going to try and get the sickle bar off first just to get it out of the way.

I also brought home a single bottom plow and the front blade for the tractor. The plow is in really good shape. The front blade is in decent shape but the top of the blade is rusted through in spots.

As this progresses (very slowly!!) I will be posting up here as well as a couple of the Cub specific boards. I do appreciate some of the earlier posters pointing me in that direction.

Soundguy · Oct 13, 2014

darn that ones rough!

flusher · Oct 13, 2014

Lotsa luck. My 1948 Cub wasn't running with I bought it ($1100), but engine spun OK. Just had really poor compression in all 4 cylinders. So I'm rebuilding the engine completely. Reassembling the engine now and hope to get it running on the bench soon.

You might check the front of the engine block. There's a ear on the block that the lower water hose runs through from the block to the front axle bolster that carries the radiator. That ear was completely broken off the block. I couldn't see the break because the front cover on the cast iron engine block held the that ear in place even though it was busted clean through. Had to use special welding rod (Super Missile rod) to reweld it with my stick welder. That slowed me down about three weeks while I came up to speed on welding cast iron.

Have fun and good luck.

Soundguy · Oct 14, 2014

for that one i'd even have brazed it. non structural..e tc.

Big Barn · Oct 14, 2014

Looks like you've got your work cut out for you! Cool project. We had two of those with the same sickle mower back in the 60's. Used them for trimming along the edges of drainage ditches.

Terry

flusher · Oct 14, 2014

Soundguy said:
for that one i'd even have brazed it. non structural..e tc.

Two bolts that hold the right side of the bolster to the block attach to that ear. It's a major part of the front end structure on the block. That ear is notorious for cracking or breaking completely if the right wheel of your Cub hits a pothole at high speed or smashes into a tree, for example. IH design dept really blew it on that piece of critical structure.

I've seen braze repairs done on that particular part and that probably is good enough. But I haven't brazed since grad school and am a lot better with my Hobart stick welder.

Soundguy · Oct 15, 2014

i agree. use the method you are better at.

CharlieKtractor · Dec 10, 2014

updates expected--w/pics

Duwop · Dec 10, 2014

My research says it is a 1952 model year

Buggs67 · Dec 10, 2014

I like it. And the hay rake. Worse case scenario you have some good lawn art or recycle. If you can get it to run ... it's your grandpa's tractor. Hard to beat that.

mark02tj · Dec 16, 2014

Duwop - as far as I know, you're right - 1952 according to the serial number. What year is yours?

No real updates at this point. Mostly I've been doing "research", primarily on FarmallCub.com. Great group of folks over there - almost as great as the folks here on TBN!! :thumbsup: I've found out that I'm pretty lucky as there are several active folks on that forum that are pretty close to me. Also found Hamilton Bob's place which is about 30 minutes from me. He deals mostly with Lo-Boys, but also has engines which will fit mine if I can't get mine unstuck. One of the forum members also has a "Barnyard Bash" at his place every spring. He's only about 30-40 minutes from me as well. All of the close members have offered to help in any way they can.

One of the things that I brought home with me was (what I thought was) a single bottom plow. The guy who was storing them had two of them there for me to take home. He wasn't there when I did the final loading, but his son was. I told his son to keep one of them as his Dad had another Cub he was selling. I told him that I thought that Dad's Cub would sell better if there were any implements included with it.

About a week after I got everything home, I found out that I only brought back one of what was a matched pair of "189" plows. There's a left and a right plow, but you only use one at a time! It's designed so that both are attached, but only one is in the ground at a time. When you get the end of the row, you swap which plow is engaged so that all of your furrows are turned in the same direction. Those old engineers were pretty sharp! Here's a YouTube of one in action. Not very exciting - the action starts at about 50 seconds, the "swap" around 1:54. The dad is holding the plow for me, so next time I go into WV for another reunion I have to take a trailer to bring home the other plow. :laughing:

Bugs67 - you're right about the yard art!! :laughing: But this in on the schedule to begin work in the spring, right after I do some tree planting. I'm bound and determined to get this old guy running again and hopefully do a frame-up restoration on it. Big job, but should be rewarding!

How's it look as yard art?