Back around 1950, the boys were mowing hay at Lake Tahoe when the motor started to overheat and steam. They tried to get back to the ranch house for water but did not make it.  They burned a hole through the cylinder wall and there she sat for a year or two.

The Ponderosa Museum took the tractor and put it under a big old tree for the kids to play on. She sat there for about 70 years and then was headed for the junkyard. My son, Bill Jr. saw it and knew his Dad had to have it out on the ranch. I think he paid $50.00 for it and sent it out to me in 2019.

I had rebuilt an F-12 before so this was not new to me.  However, I was 83 years old at that time and I sure had my hands full. Two years later, in late 2021 I had it all back together but was not strong enough to crank it! So step two was to install the Flex plate, starter, and then alternator and a small dashboard. Now WOW, just touch the pedal, and off she goes.

Bill Watson Sr.
Lamoille, Nevada

My name is Henry Lawson I am a 12-year-old boy and my dream of farming has been the only thing I’ve been wanting to do for about 2 years now. My dad has a Farmall M. He would go to the farm in Iowa with his brothers and parents, almost every month. He tells me about all the things they did.

My great-grandpa bought a Farmall M and farmed with it, he passed away in 2011. My dad bought the Farmall M from the family. Almost every summer we go to Iowa and ride our 756 and see family. A couple years ago we got the Farmall M transported over to California and let it sit in a shed. Over the past two months we’ve been working on it almost every other weekend, we’ve gone through problems like hooking up the battery wrong and not having enough gas but just recently we’ve got it running.

Henry Lawson
Sonoma, California

This tractor was originally built in 1962 by my dad (Burton Aymond).  It was later upgraded by me (Kirk Aymond) in the 1990s, and again by both of us just recently – an ongoing project apparently.

  Here’s a bit of history and specifics. Having grown up on a farm in central Louisiana my dad drove and owned tractors – Farmalls. That passion for farm equipment remained with him even after moving to New Orleans in the mid-1950s. During that decade my dad met and married my mom (Helena Dauzat) and developed fabrication skills while working in shipyards.

    By 1961 with my brother old enough to accompany my dad, and myself not yet in the picture, planning for the tractor began.  The objective was to buy as little as possible and fabricate everything else.  In actuality, the engine was likely the only item purchased which was a 10 horsepower Kohler K241.  The transmission and rear axle were taken out of a 1940s Crosley Sedan. The steering system was from a ’55 or ’56 GoggoMobil.

     Over the next year, the tractor was completed to its original version.  In the process, the rear axle was cut to a narrower width and welded back together without any machine tools.  Some of the features include belt tension-type clutch, Borg Warner T-92 Crosley transmission, chain drive transfer case, Spicer 11 Crosley rear axle, and rack and pinion steering – GoggoMobil.

 Around 1990 I did a number of upgrades which included: lengthening the frame 9 inches, addition of a power shaft, fabricated a heavier front axle, fabricated a new hood, added headlights, new wiring, gauges, new seat, upgraded brake system and fabricated new wheels to accommodate larger tires.

    Recent work yielded the addition of an alternator, automotive type steering box, modifications to the belt clutch, side fenders, and an access step for dad who is now 89.  I’m certain that there will be more upgrades in the coming years.

    A more recent addition to our tractor collection, a fair sized Massey used to work around the property, a 1953 Farmall Super A.  My dad farmed with a similar tractor during that time period which is why we chose to purchase and restore this particular model.  The restoration was a complete teardown and rebuild which took us about 18 months. All of the work was done by the two of us here at my home.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read about our tractor passions.

Burt and Kirk Aymond
Bush, Louisiana

7 years ago my Great Grandpa Melvin “Mole” Wilson passed at 100 years of age. He had 5 kids, 14 grandkids, 16 great-grandkids, and 5 great-great-grand kids at the time of his passing.

My grandpa and siblings asked me to take care of all the photos from my great grandparent’s house and some notable documents. I scanned roughly 600 that were put on a disk and made available for everyone!

In that were two things of all the logging, farming, and hunting pictures I found a picture of his Farmall 560, and of all things the receipt from when he purchased it 12/31/1962.

Well, this Farmall had been traded in for a compact Kubota to be used in his small garden in his retirement sometime around 1990. The tractor was long gone.

2 years ago a farm estate auction was posted for proxy bid due to covid restrictions 30 miles away, in that was a Farmall 560. The tractor was in bad shape, missing panels, and was 50′ in a chicken barn. That had collapsed right in front of the tractor… But it had all the options my grandpas did, I ended up buying it, sight unseen and the day I showed up to pick it up… the first thing I did was wipe off the serial number plate and sure enough, it was the same tractor!

Over the past couple of years, I have replaced, fixed, cleaned, farmed, and upgraded some more on the tractor, much of the parts sourced from STP.

Above are a few pics, a photo from my grandpa’s collection, the receipt, when I found the tractor, and where I have it today, this would not have been as possible to bring back to life without the availability of your parts.

Rob Gordon of Bucoda, Washington

The year was 1948 and I (John Glenn) was 7 years old growing up on my dad’s chicken farm. I was playing in the side yard when I spotted a shiny red tractor in the field. I ran in the house to ask my mom if I could go see the big red tractor, she said okay.

I ran across the field to a new 1948 M Farmall. The man introduced himself as Roy Rogers. He was rolling dories onto a stone boat that had surfaced after he plowed.

This tractor was the work horse of the 1200-acre gentleman’s estate. It pulled a self-contained baler (no power PTO), it ran the belt for the silo blower (we still have the belt) it pulled as I mentioned a stone boat, a hay rake (before adding hay) and a ground driven (with chains) manure spreader (before PTO driven spreaders) and a self-contained combine.

In 1960 the 120’ barn with all the equipment burnt to the ground a total loss. The only piece of equipment to survive was the 1948 M. It was being used at the stable at the time.

In its last years as a working tractor it was used at the stable. (In picture) the stable had 29 stalls and was 250 feet long. We had to back into the stable with a spreader (no power steering, with a wide front end) down a narrow aisle to clean stalls once a day.

In the year 2000 the estate was sold to New York State as a State Park. The tractor stayed in the park (it had survived once again). The winter of 2018 I decided (Old Betsy) needed a new coat of paint. After nearly 72 years the tractor had no rust.

Thanks to Steiner’s catalog and their wonderful people on the phone, I was amazed that they had all the parts I needed for a 1948 Farmall. I also could not have achieved my goal of restoring this old work horse without my friend, as well as one of the best mechanics I have known, Dave Spahn. The tractor now is used for hayrides in the park.

Old Betsy got her name from a lovely woman who was a prominent member of The Friends of Knox Farm State Park. Unfortunately, she passed away before I finished this project. 

John A. Glenn of East Aurora, New York

Sometimes you need or want a break from the “usual” routine. Since farmers usually have good shops and like to repair or build equipment a restoration of a manure spreader seems like a “busman’s holiday” but Lar Voss and Eli Price of Colorado Hay enjoy making unique “works of art” usable again.
The spreader shown below looked like this when purchased at the auction. It was generally rusty but luckily not rusted through anywhere. Older spreaders tend to be rusted out on the bottom as previous owners fail to keep them clean after use. This one had other “issues” but was generally in excellent condition for a seventy year old machine.

The tires were not original and needed to be replaced and the machine did not work – at least as intended.
There were major issues with the chain drive cam and the operating levers were broken or in need of repair. But the pieces were included which is an important first step.

One of the handles had been welded but by a beginner or someone had borrowed a friend’s machine. This handle would be removed and fixed properly as part of the project.

The other handle had been broken off but was in the spreader. It is not the original handle but it is of the same type and size so will work once repaired. One can guess that this was the same welder.

But the major issue was that the cam which drives the chain feeder had been broken entirely off.
To remedy this problem, someone had driven a log splitting chisel into the drive mechanism to keep the chain engaged. This will turn out to be something that wasn’t easily seen in the initial inspection as it was covered by a fender.

Rebuilding the Cam
Luckily the original operator’s manual for this spreader still exists online so one can see approximately what the cam looked like when new. It is part of the wheel assembly and was made of cast iron.

Welding mild steel to the old cast iron hub can probably be done by the experts but a simpler and more lasting solution appeared to be to saw off the part that was broken and replace it with a new cam which is what was done.
The cam is the triangle fixture in the lower right corner of the diagram.

To hold the piece in the saw required machining a 2” rod down to 1.75” to insert in the hub and then the rod could be secured in the saw by a combination of various pieces of scrap metal.
Here is the piece in the saw and the cam after removed. The cardboard template was used as a pattern for the new cam and shows how much of the original material was missing. The pattern was made by friends who have the identical machine which I had restored a few years ago.

The new cam, cut out of mild steel, looked like this. We used a mag drill and broach to cut the hole and keyway. In the picture below one can see the cam and the lever which rides on the cam and indexes the drag chain to move the load to the reels for spreading. The second picture is the new cam in place with spacers to center on the roller.

With the cam repaired, Eli shortened and repaired the handles. We shortened them to make it less likely they would be broken off in the future.
Here are the handles after Eli shortened and repaired.

Painting:
Since the machine had no major rust damage, we did not have to make any repairs, other than straightening what was bent and repairing what was broken, so we cleaned the machine with a pressure washer three times and scraped some areas as needed. We then used Corroseal to convert the rust to a non-rusting barrier. ¹ It stops the rust and converts it to a hard black coating which is then primed and painted as seen below. It only converts rust so the original painted areas remained.

¹ Taken from the Corroseal website:  How does Corroseal Rust Converting Primer work? Corroseal Rust Converting Primer chemically changes the composition of rust on steel, turning the rust into a non rusting barrier layer, while at the same time, primes the steel surface ready for top coating.

New 7.50 x 16 R1 (tractor tread) tires were located on EBay and were mounted on the existing rims after they were painted. They are seen in the background.
After repairs and priming the machine was painted and decals applied.

Eli had to make a new pin for the wheel hub as seen above. It matches the original one on the other side. We added hardner (8:1) to the paint to lessen the chance of oxidation of the red paint and to add to the shine. Decals were found online and finished project is shown below.

Cost: These spreaders cost about $250 in 1950 and about $2,700 in today’s dollars which is close to the value of a restored spreader. To be paid for our time, we have to purchase the machine and parts for less than $1,000. If we can restore in 8-10 man hours (usually spread over a weekend) we can be paid for our time. This machine was about twice that in both cost and labor but we judged it worth it for a unique machine.

The finished project ready to work another 70 years. Hopefully the new owner will keep it shedded and clean.
And here it is with a 1950 IH C ready to work.

It may do the garden this afternoon.

Our previous project was restoring a Case T6 which is shown below.

Lar Voss of Johnstown, Colorado

• Eli Price is an auto/truck mechanic with twenty years’ experience and is Maintenance Manager for Colorado Hay LLC.
• Lar Voss is owner of Colorado Hay and farms 900 acres east of Loveland Colorado. He is owner broker of Western Land and Water LLC and was in the top twenty of nationwide land sales in 2019 in a contest sponsored by the Realtors Land Institute.