My wife’s Uncle Frank (thus its name ”Frank the Ford”) purchased a new 4cyl 2000, 5 speed, with 2 stage clutch to bale hay with in 1963. After several years, it sat outside to rust away until her father and I swapped a restored 600 for it. At that time it got many new parts and paint and served him well for many years. He would not let any family members but me operate the tractor at the point when he became unable to raise his leg high enough to operate the two-stage clutch pedal with his tiller attached. At 90 yrs. of age, he compelled us to buy the tractor and equipment. Some 5 years ago his daughter and I decided that Fall of 2019 was time for another restoration. He is no longer with us and we wanted to preserve it.
It now has an electronic ignition with a 12V re-wound generator (for authentic looks), new brake shoes, new gas gauge, new steering wheel, new two stage clutch, rebuilt hydraulic lift cylinder, new tires, belt, hoses, governor, and many other small parts. All except the generator and tires came from Steiner. It has a vertical exhaust as we split wood with it and for obvious reasons that works better than the under-slung original. We had the hood and fenders professionally cleaned up, painted and clear coated this time to preserve it better, while the rest of it got a good paint job with hardener. It is an excellent runner and very handy to use, however I don’t want to use it to perform some of the dirty jobs that we have used it for in the past.
The picture is in our back yard, before they picked the cotton a few weeks ago. It was very dry here in our part of Georgia this year so the cotton was not very tall. We displayed it in the “Cotton Gin” parade on Nov 2nd, 2019, having just put the hood and fenders on late in the evening of the night before. My wife and Grand Daughter operated it while I rode on our ’30 GP. The home made carrier on the back has a removable seat for the Grand Children to ride in.
Dan Bennett of Monroe, Georgia