Another Freebee

My Dad worked on and farmed with IH tractors all his life. He worked at a dealer in town for several years, as a mechanic and parts man. There wasn't a lot he didn't know - or couldn't figure out - on those old machines.

While the first tractor I actually operated by myself was a Ford, my first love is IH. When we bought this farm, the first tractor I bought was an IH 460. It was a nice machine, but was getting a little hard to get on and off, so I had to get something a little more suited to me. I WISH I could have kept it, but I needed to trade it on something newer.

I found an IH 454. It was a nifty little tractor, but just didn't have the power or weight I needed. I used it for a couple years, then sold it in favor of my Ford 4000.

Well - about 3 weeks ago, I got an e-mail from a friend. He had been on the lookout for an old "F" Series Farmall for me. I told him "cheap". At this point, my lovely wife interjected "Free, would be nice....". The e-mail stated that he had found an F-20 for me. It was "in pieces, and not complete", but it was mine if I wanted it. I - of course - turned him down....

RIGHT

Yesterday, I rode with him down to nearly Salina, Kansas, to pick it up, and another F-20 for him. He had already made the trip 2-3 times to get 4-5 other tractors from the same place. It was an enjoyable trip, even with getting up at 3:45 am, feeding sleepy goats, and milking cranky cows - even the CATS were still asleep.

We made it down there by about 9:30, got the trailer loaded, and headed back home by 11:15 or so. We stopped to unload his machine at his Dad's place, then came on to unload mine here.

I don't think Deb is REAL impressed....

I had showed her a couple of F-20's at the tractor show we went to a couple weeks ago, so she knew what to expect - or THOUGHT she did.

Here's what we unloaded from the trailer:







It don't look like much, does it?

All of the rest of it is over at my friends house - he has a tractor that he needs the rear end out of, and I need the front half. One of these days I'll need to get the rest of it over here so I can start work. For now, I need to get the tires on and get it so we can roll it around some.

The steering wheel is off a newer model - probably an "H" or "M", but there is another steering rod with a good wheel on it in the pile, I'll just need to change it.

This isn't a "work" tractor - I wanted this for tinkering and maybe a show machine - more of a "play" tractor.

All-in-all, it's a pretty good deal. I told Deb that it was the best tractor to have - it uses ZERO fuel....