I recently sold two tractors, a 1949 Ferguson TO-20 and a 1950 John Deere BN. So what do I do? Why, I surf the net for tractors, of course. My eye came across several potential candidates, an Allis Chalmers B and WD, and a Case VAI (industrial). I went on vacation for a couple weeks so I couldn't act on anything. While on vacation (floating around Norway on a cruise ship), an ad popped up on FB Marketplace for a John Deere. The ad said, "John Deere H tractor has cracked head." Here's the one and only photo of it.
Once I clicked on the ad I noticed it wasn't an H, but was an HN with a single front wheel, and the guy selling it happens to be a tractor friend. Naturally I had to tell him I was interested in his tractor, but wouldn't be able to come by look at it until I returned home. He graciously held it for me.
I have a 6x12 dump trailer that I try to haul all my tractors in, and so far it's worked out quite well. I have had to swap wheels around some to make a tractor fit, but it's all part of the fun. Maybe.
Anyway, I said I had a 6 foot wide dump trailer and asked if the tractor would ft. He said it would. Cool. A few days after I got home from vacation, I showed up at his house and we got to loading the tractor. The magneto was off the tractor so I had to winch it onto the trailer. Well, we got the thing up the ramps until the rear tires were at the back of the trailer and noticed that the rear tailgate of the trailer has brackets that encroach into the 72" width to the point that we had to remove some hinge bolts and put soapy water on the tires so they would slide past the brackets. It did end up working though. These next two photos show the fit of the rear tires in the trailer.
When I got home, I figured I'd try to move the rear wheel hubs in so it would be easier to get the tractor out of the trailer. I hoped and prayed that this wouldn't be another ordeal like I had with moving the wheels/hubs in on my JD BN. That was a terrible undertaking that took a couple of days, heat and a cutting torch to get things moving. This job with the HN was a piece of cake though and in a half hour I had both wheels moved in 2-1/2 inches each. Neato.
Ok, here are some nicer photos of the tractor.
It's a few days later and I thought I should try and start the engine. I looked things over and happened to notice a large crack going from the front to the back of the engine block. I'm guessing this is the crack the ad was mentioning when it said, "cracked head." I should still be able to start the engine with that crack, as I didn't plan to run the engine very long with no water in it if it did start.
After many, many unsuccessful spins of the flywheel, I decided to go through the carburetor and clean the magneto points. Once that was done, the engine lit off with a lot of smoke. I think there's an exhaust and intake leak at the manifold. In any event, here is a short video of the engine lighting off for the first time in a number of years.
Obviously the tractor needs some pretty major help, but I got a good deal on it and it's such a cute little thing. I might have to hang on to this one a while. Famous last words.
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