1942 Oliver 60 Standard - Radiator, Generator and Tach Updates, and New Side Panels (Again)

Radiator hoses showed up at my door so I spent the morning finishing up the radiator mounts for the new aluminum radiator.

1948 Oliver 60 "Standard" Tractor - New Acquisition

"Um, didn't you JUST TWO WEEKS AGO pick up an Oliver 60 Standard tractor?!"

Maybe..... but I did sell four tractors recently. Getting two new ones is a fair trade I think, and this tractor is fully restored. And you'll have to admit, my other 60 is at the complete opposite end of the restoration spectrum from this one.

New Gas Cap for 1931 John Deere Model E 1-1/2hp Engine

John Deere model E engines have a special oil fill cap and gas cap. The two caps are identical and are basically a 3/4" pipe thread plug with a spade type handle instead of a square drive end. Below is what an original JD cap looks like (photo taken from Flywheel Supply website).

1942 Oliver 60 Standard - Transmission Shifter: The Definition of Wallered-Out

"Well there's your problem. The parts are just wallered-out." This is the normal progression of fit between two tractor parts that rub against each other for decades on end in a farming environment. These first two photos are the offending shift tower and shift lever. Light should not be showing through the shift tower like it does. The wear is also shown in other photos below. It's quite impressive.

1942 Oliver 60 Standard Generator, Radiator Shroud, Broken Bolts, Oil Filter, and Misc

This morning I thought I'd try to hook up the Motorcraft alternator that is on the tractor, just to see if it makes power. There are four connections, marked Bat, Fld, Sta, and Gnd. I did some checking online and it seems that if I hook the Sta terminal to the Bat terminal, then put 12 volts to the Fld terminal, I should be able to read something around 14.5 volts from the Bat terminal. I did just that, started the tractor, and read right around 15 volts. Cool, the alternator works. The next step was to semi-permanently run wiring to the Ammeter and battery.

1931 John Deere Model E 1-1/2 HP Hit and Miss Engine Acquisition

Another new addition to the clutter followed me home last night. As the title states, it's a hit-n-miss engine. Right at the moment though, it's only a "miss" engine, as the magneto is kaput. I'll tell the story of the acquisition at the end. Here are some beauty shots.

It's Amazing What A Little Paint Can Do

My John Deere BN came adorned with some primer paint on the grill and a couple other spots from someone long ago starting a restoration but then moving out of state and abandoning the project. The brown paint makes the tractor look unsightly. The lichen growing on the thing in this photo doesn't help.

Four Tractors and a Mower Leave The Roost

I can fully appreciate the fact that I have acquired too many tractors. But you know what? I can also thin the herd from time to tome. The biggest problem is that I then have to deal with Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace flakes. You know the ones. They shoot a message asking, "Is it still available?", even though I've said in my ads that I won't respond to that inquiry. One guy asked that question and I didn't respond. He then pushed the subject and said, "Why won't you answer me?".... I then had to ask him if he had any questions, and that I said in the ad that I won't respond to "is it available". He came back with a very nasty remark and nothing else. I don't know why people like that get to me but they do. I think some folks are just plain mean, but I digress.

Ok, so I need to thin the tractor herd. Which ones can I most easily live without? Part of that is pretty simple. The Ford 9N and the Farmall C. The Ferguson TO-20 and TO-35 are next in line.

April 2, 2025 I put those four on FB Marketplace. Six days later, the 9N was the first to go. I just didn't have any attachment to it, so it was easy to watch it leave.

1942 Oliver 60 Standard - Miscellaneous Little Tasks

I'm sure I've said this before, but anytime someone gets a new project tractor, there are a myriad of piddly little things that need attention. For me, I start working on one thing, then something else catches my eye and I start on that too. At some point the several little things finally get done. Today was one of those days. I started by removing the beginnings of a home-built 3-point hitch the previous owner started. A lot of work went into the project up to this point but I don't see myself finishing it, so off it came. These first two photos show the thing still attached to the tractor, and the seat bracket bolted to the top of it. That's a 3" tall block of aluminum that was used for the main body, so the seat is sitting three inches higher than it should be.

1942 Oliver 60 Standard - Zenith Carburetor Cleaning

Yesterday I delved into the carburetor. In the title, I didn't say "carburetor rebuild" because I didn't buy any new parts for the project. I reused everything except the gasket between the two main halves. Usually a carburetor rebuild has new gaskets, new needle and seat, and maybe one or two other items.

The carburetor is not what came on the tractor. Oh, no, we can't be so fortunate to have the proper Marvel Schebler TSX-49. In fact, the more I work on this tractor, the more I think it was a parts tractor for someone's other Standard refurb. The tractor has wiring for lights, but there are no lights or brackets. The belt pulley is missing. The carburetor and linkage is wrong. There's no generator and an alternator that has never been hooked up is in its place. And the biggie, the radiator, radiator shell, and side panels are all missing. But in all fairness, this tractor was in this condition 30 or more years ago, when it was "only" a 50 year old tractor and probably not so desirable. Ok, so maybe it's still not that desirable but I'm sure it is more so now that it is 83 years old.

Whatever the case may be, I work with what I have. This Zenith carburetor, from what the all-knowing interweb says, is for a Towmotor Forklift with a Continental F-140 or F-162 flathead engine. Um, ok.

1942 Oliver 60 "Standard" Tractor - New Acquisition

I've actually pared down my hoard of tractors by three, so you know what that means. Buy more. Not really. I mean, it is always fun to look but my desire to thin the herd wasn't so I could buy more. It just so happened that we decided to get an Oliver tractor recently because we take care of a "church grandson" once a week named Oliver. It just seemed appropriate. This is one of the few times I've had an objective while looking for a tractor. Most of the tractors I buy just appear on my radar and I get tempted.

Here's the path I took to acquire an Oliver. Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace were the two places I looked but Craigslist seems to have dropped off the face of the earth in terms of number of tractors for sale, so it was mainly FB that I looked. And I also talked to a couple of guys in my tractor club. One guy, Fred, has probably 10 or more Olivers but wasn't interested in selling. The other guy, Bob, happened to know of one. He had given an Oliver 60 Standard to his brother Jim, and Jim happens to go to the same church we do. One problem, the tractor was missing the grill and engine side panels, and they are difficult and/or expensive to come by, so that prospect wasn't too promising.

I'd like to briefly explain what a "Standard" tractor is. Most tractors used to plant and cultivate crops were called "row crop" tractors, and they usually had a tricycle front end, which was two tires close together in front, then an adjustable rear track width so farmers could plant/cultivate/harvest a variety of crop's row spacings. Tractors that were used for things like orchards didn't need adjustable wheel width so companies made fixed-track-width tractors that were low to the ground and stable on hilly terrain. These were called "Standard" tractors usually, and this is what the Oliver 60 is that Jim has.

Enter FB Marketplace. Some guy put up an ad that showed seven fully restored tractors, with a very generic title (Antique Tractors For Sale), and very minimal wording saying they were $4500 each, or offer. One of the tractors happened to be another Oliver 60 Standard (same as Jim's). I then happened to run across the same group of tractors on Craigslist with two separate listings, both just as cryptic as FB, with one asking $3500 or offer each and the other asking $4500 or offer each. To make matters more confusing, at some point the FB ad price was lowered from $4500 to $3900 (meaning in my mind that all tractors were $3900 or less). I finally caved and called the guy. I said I was confused by all the different pricing, so asked what he wanted for the Oliver. He said it was the nicest of the lot, so he wanted $4500. So he advertises a group of tractors for as low as $3500 each but then wants $4500 for this one. That put a damper on things pretty fast. I was willing to pay $3200 for the tractor but he said $4200 was his lowest. Maybe the tractor is worth that to someone, but not me, especially with no concrete evidence of what was done during the restoration beyond a nice paint job and new tires.

It was back to searching. But the 60 owned by Jim was still in the back of my mind and old Oliver tractors are few and far between, so I finally called Jim and asked if his was for sale. Yes, it could be, he said. He lived only 20 minutes away so it was time for a little trip across town to go look. When we arrived and saw the thing, it looked pretty pathetic. Not only the grill and side panels were gone, but the whole radiator shell and original radiator were also missing (and a too-wide Jeep or Toyota radiator was cobbled in).

Are you ready for a photo? Yes, this is the face only a mother (or I) could love. A diamond in the rough, you might say.

1923 Dain Hay Press Flat Belt Pulley Fabrication

A friend in my tractor club has a 100-year-old Dain hay press that makes bales of straw or hay. It's got a John Deere Model E 3hp hit-and-miss engine to run the press. A four-inch-wide flat belt drives the press. One minor problem is, the 5-inch-diameter belt pulley on the engine is too small, so the press runs very slowly.

1950 John Deere BN Front Grill Repair

The ol' BN had a bit of a run-in with an immovable object at some point in its past, creating a hole in the mesh screen behind the left grill sheet metal.

1943 Dodge Weapon Carrier New Brake/Tail/Turn/Hazard Lights

This was way more of an ordeal than it should have been. I ordered a cheap turn signal switch and an LED brake light package to install on the ol' beast. Brake lights and turn signals would be a welcome addition that the truck currently doesn't have. Here's the first turn signal switch I bought from Amazon. Notice it says LED right in the title.

1943 Dodge WC51 Rebuilding Brake Wheel Cylinders

The ending photo in the Master Cylinder Repair blog kinda hinted that diving into brake wheel cylinder repair was a chore that needed to jump to the top of the Dodge's to-do list. Here's the photo again:

John Deere Clamshell Headlight AA3075R Refurbish

I was at a tractor show and swap meet yesterday and happened upon a vintage John Deere headlight mounted to a support. It looks like what is on my BN but the headlight assembly will also work on my JD LA, which is missing one headlight. I asked the vendor what he wanted for it and he said, "How about five bucks?" Um, yeah, I'll take that off your hands for $5. People on eBay are asking $30 for rusted out hulks of these things with missing parts, and $50 or more for one in this shape. Someone else is asking $150 for two of these headlamps and supports on eBay.

Dump Trailer Winch Mount Fabrication

For several years now I've been using a Come-Along to drag old relics of tractors into my dump trailer. It gets old real fast, so I decided a couple of months ago that I need a winch. The one big downside of buying a winch is the task of fabricating a mounting location on the trailer for the winch. My first attempt was less than stellar. I thought I could weld a 1/4" steel plate to the top rail and bolt the winch to the plate. Sounds easy enough, so that's what I did.

1943 Dodge WC51 Windshield Wiper Arm Repair

This will be a short posting. The driver's side wiper blade came off its arm when I was washing the truck several days ago. I took a look at things today and found that a small bracket on the end of the arm has rusted through. No problem, I can fix it. Yes, I'm cheap. Or maybe I don't want to take the time to try and find and order a replacement, pay an exorbitant amount for shipping, then have to wait a week or two for it to show up. But mostly it's that I just like the challenge.

1943 Dodge WC51 Charging System

So, the blog I did a couple days ago regarding brakes mentioned that brakes are usually a problem on old vehicles that will need serious attention. Another very normal problem is the charging system. This truck has a 12 volt generator and regulator. I think it came from the factory with a 6 volt system but somewhere along the way it was converted. At least it still has a generator. I don't like it when people put in one of them new-fangled alternators in old vehicles, but I digress.

With the charging system inoperative, my usual first step is to check if the regulator is working, so I pulled it off the truck and opened it up. After a few minutes of looking things over, I spotted what looked like a broken wire. It was quite difficult to see, but yes, there it was. A broken wire barely thicker than a human hair. Ok, so maybe it is several times thicker, but it's still whisper thin. The photo below is the repair I did to it. I soldered in a larger solid strand wire to splice between the end of the broken wire and its terminal. The two photos below show the white wire I added. If you look close at the blow-up photo and squint real good, you can kinda maybe see the thin wire soldered onto the end of the bigger wire.

Yes, most people would have just gone out and bought a new regulator, but where's the challenge in that? (sticker shock: I just looked online and the cheapest one on eBay is $135, NAPA is $190-$240)

1943 Dodge WC51 Fuel Tank, Gauge and Sender

The fuel tank was out of this truck when I purchased it. The previous owner had the tank cleaned and the inside coated with a sealer, which was a good thing, as I then didn't need to mess with it at all. Just slap the tank in and hook it up. Or so I thought...

1943 Dodge WC51 Master Cylinder Repair and 2025 Tractor Show

Ah yes, brakes. One of those systems on an old vehicle that usually needs a lot of work. And this truck's brake system falls into that "usually" category. I figured I'd try the easy three-step fix first. You know, the Dead Dodge Garage (youtube) method.

Step 1 - see if brake pedal goes to the floor

Step 2 - fill the master cylinder with brake fluid

Step 3 - pump the brake pedal until something changes - hopefully the pedal starts to get firm

With this plan in mind, I'll dive right in. The first order of business is to get access to the master cylinder (MC). On virtually all modern vehicles, it's under the hood and in easy reach to allow for servicing. This truck? Nope. It's under an access panel in the cab floor. Fortunately the panel was held in with just "a few" bolts. Eight to be precise...

1950 John Deere BN Valve Adjustment

John Deere manages to make things difficult. Even the most basic task of adjusting the valves was way more difficult than it had to be. The carburetor float bowl is in the way of getting the valve cover off, so I had to drop the bowl. The large stem poking down in the photo is what the bowl nut threads onto. That stem is still in the way to get the valve cover out all the way but there was just barely enough room to do the job. I suppose since the carburetor on this tractor is not the correct one, it just might have been easier if the right carb was in place, but I doubt it. Most of these DLTX carburetors are very similar in construction.

1950 John Deere BN Brakes - Can You Say Scope Creep?

The brakes on this tractor did work but not very well. Neither brake pedal would spring back like they're supposed to after releasing the brake pedals. Also, the right hand brake was adjusted too tight and was dragging some, so my first order of business was to try and loosen the right side adjuster. It was stuck and did not want to budge one little iota. Ok, so let's pull the brake drum off and see what's going on. That was the first level of scope creep, removing the drum, and it was an hour-long endeavor but the drum is finally off. Come to find out though, that's the least of my worries.

1950 John Deere BN First Wash and 3Pt Hitch Repairs

It was time to break out the pressure washer and get the growth off the BN today. Here's an after shot.

1940s Blue Diamond Generator AKA Gas-O-Lectric Plant AKA Pioneer Gen-E-Motor

I'm not sure what the official name for this generator is, but I'll call it a Blue Diamond Generator since that is the name at the top of the tag. All three names in the title are on the tag in various places, so I guess folks can take their pick as to which one to use.

Seagull ST3601 Manual Wind Watch "Kit" from AliExpress

This is a first for me. I ordered parts from AliExpress to build a watch. I know everything is made in China, but I wanted to see what the quality was like for things that are so very cheap. I bought a Seagull ST3601 hand-wind movement with a swan neck regulator (cool!), a stainless steel case with sapphire crystal and mineral glass display back, a black dial, two sets of hands (black and white) so I could have an option if I didn't like one set, and a brown leather watch strap.

1950 John Deere BN - Narrowing Rear Wheel Width

This tractor's rear wheel width is 74 inches, outside to outside. My little dump trailer is 72 inches in width between the sides. The more astute may see a problem there. I measured the wheel width before I bought the tractor, so I knew what I was getting myself into, although this job ended up being a huge endeavor. As I mentioned in the first blog posting of this tractor, the previous owner graciously offered to deliver the tractor to me, so I didn't have to do this painful job away from home. That would have been horrible, now that I know what it took to get the job done.

This first photo is of the left side. If you look closely at the nuts relative to the round opening, the nuts barely (if at all) have room to rotate, and there's a small lip that makes it so a socket can't get all the way onto the lug nuts. This may be a problem. [I later found out that this small inner lip is actually a register for the center splined hub to fit into - more on that later.]

1950 John Deere BN - Cleaning the Gas Tank, Fixing an Oil Leak, Repairing the Voltage Regulator, Finding and Fixing A Hydraulic Leak, and a New Ammeter

The gas tank on this tractor is filthy with rust and crud. It won't run more than a few minutes before the tank's outlet is silted over with junk, so it's time to take off the tank and do some deep cleaning. It's not as easy as it sounds though. The tank is bolted to the hood as a unit and the steering shaft also goes through the hood so the shaft has to come out. The steering wheel needs to come off to get the shaft out. A woodruff key is in the end of the steering shaft to key the shaft to the steering wheel. The woodruff key was so rusted in the shaft slot that I ended up shearing off the key with a hammer and cold chisel. Normally these woodruff keys slide out of their slots fairly easily.

Changing A Tire The Hard Way (and Replacing the PTO Shaft and Cut-Out Relay, and Fixing the Carburetor) - 1941 Ford 9N

The day I showed up to buy this 9N, the previous owner told me he was filling one of the rear tires with air on the tractor and the rim let go. As in, a section of the rim flange blew out. See it there? Kinda hard to miss. That was back 4-1/2 months ago. I figure it's time to tackle this little problem, as the tire obviously won't hold air the way it is and I can't move the tractor very easily.

When Will The Madness End - Several New Projects: Wisconsin, Briggs & Stratton and Other Engines

I have tractor projects coming out of my ears and what do I do? Buy two new projects (update - there are more, read to the end). Oh boy. At least they're small projects, and they were too cheap to pass up. Ten bucks for two Wisconsin single cylinder engines.

First Time Fiddling With The 1950 John Deere BN - First Issues: Water in Oil and Gas Tank, Corroded Magneto Points, Stuck Throttle Lever, Stuck Choke, Broken Carburetor (and Float Repair), and Stuck Clutch

My newly acquired tractor made it home yesterday afternoon. The person I got it from owns a tractor rental company and he kindly delivered the tractor to me on his mighty-nice roll-back hauler. It was a big rig to fit down my cramped driveway. As you may or may not have noticed, the Massey Harris Pony hasn't been unloaded from my dump trailer yet. I got that tractor a month ago, although Christmas goings-on were in there also.

1957 Greenerd 3 Ton Arbor Press No. 3

When glancing through random online Craigslist/FB Marketplace ads, I occasionally run across something I need. Yes, you read that right, "need." This time probably wasn't one of those times, but this new addition is something I've wanted. It's a Greenerd 3-ton arbor press. What's an arbor press, you say? When these things were invented over 100 years ago, they were used to press arbors into things, like pulleys or whatever. An arbor is just a round rod like an axle or spindle, and it gets pressed into something like a hub or pulley. Thus the name "arbor press." You can probably guess these presses are used for a multitude of jobs besides just arbors.

1950 John Deere BN "High Clearance" and State of the Collection

The tractor situation is pretty normal. A week goes by and Yet Another Tractor (YAT) shows up at my doorstep. Ok so this one isn't exactly here yet but I have paid for it and the place that has it will deliver it in a few days. Incoming is a 1950 John Deere BN. The "N" in BN signifies a narrow front, also called High Clearance because it sits a little higher than a normal John Deere B. JD accomplished that by putting on larger wheels/tires. The regular B had 38 inch wheels in the back and the BN got 42 inch wheels (although 38 inch wheels were an option). The BN also got a single front wheel rather than the normal tricycle front with two close-together wheels.