Antique Tractor Blog

1952 Ferguson TO-30

09/23/2022 by ST Leave a Comment

I bought my 1952 Ferguson TO-30 from a “collector” back in 1995. As I used it it became clear this machine was held together by just enough silicone sealer to allow it to run. Oil mixed with the water, and the rear seal was basically the seal carrier pumped full of silicone sealer. It became clear the lower cylinder seals were shot, as was just about every seal in the engine.

At that point I was able to locate a new short block in Iowa. I drove to Des Moines and picked up the short block. A local expert rebuilt the head, with new valves, new rocker shaft and bushings, and even pinned a crack. With the rebuilt head and new short block it was a new engine! When reassembling it I put in a new clutch plate and pressure plate.

Since then the Ferguson TO-30 has run great. I’ve repainted the sheet metal and put new headlights on it. It has mowed a lot of fields and smoothed a lot of rock roads. The Continental Z129 is a great engine. I’ve rebuilt the carb and added electronic ignition. I’ve had two 9Ns and they cannot touch the Ferguson for power and reliability!

Larry Snyder of Mountain View, Arkansas

If you would like to submit a story with photo(s) about an experience with your tractor, interesting facts about its history, or a restoration project, please go to Tractor Story Submissions. If your story is picked to appear on the blog you will receive a FREE Steiner hat. Some stories will also go on to be published in our quarterly magazine. We look forward to hearing your story!

Allis Chalmers WD and Things Dear to Me

09/21/2022 by ST Leave a Comment

This picture means a lot to me because it includes several things that are dear to me.

The Allis Chalmers WD is a reminder of my Dad who received this tractor brand new on April 16, 1953, according to the weathered and grease-stained owner’s manual in my possession.

Our new pup, Cindy, a golden retriever with whom I plan to spend some of my golden years.

A big, steep hill, that my Mom had dubbed Old Smokey when she first saw it in 1955 or so, part of the farm on which my Dad toiled to make a living for his family, a hill that has been in the center of my family’s farm for 150 years, now seeded to native prairie and returned to nature as my mother had always wished but never came to see.

A clutch of evergreen trees that my wife and I had planted on the side of that hill when we moved to the farm some 35 years later.

The pasture where I first drove the Allis while my Dad walked the fence in Spring preparing a place for the heifers to call home that summer. Dad pointed the tractor parallel to the fence, put the gear-shift lever in first, set the throttle at a low idle, and snapped the hand clutch into gear. He walked the fence cutting last year’s weeds from the rusty but otherwise, smooth wire, replaced a few insulators, and tightened that wire as I white-knuckled the steering wheel in my 6-year-old hands. Allis crawled forward along the fence with the fencing trailer, the cut-off box of an otherwise discarded pickup, in tow. Suddenly, Allis and I lurched forward and lunged down a short but steep slope just to the left of and outside the frame of this picture. Allis had popped out of gear and we were now free-wheeling down the slope! I hung on to the steering wheel for dear precious young life not knowing how to apply the brakes and being at least a foot too short to reach them. After an interminable run, I suddenly pitched forward toward the steering wheel. Both front tires had plunged into the dead furrow at the bottom of that slope and the tractor and I came to a sudden rest…almost! For there was just enough forward momentum to push the wheels up out of that trench setting the tractor careening forward again. Allis and I briefly resumed our wild flight until the back tires settled gently in the same dead furrow and we truly did stop. The entire harrowing ordeal had lasted less than twenty seconds and covered less than a hundred feet. I imagine our speed topped out at about 6 miles per hour. It was the wildest, most death-defying ride of my life!

Curtis Olson
Webster, Minnesota
Tractor Photo Contest Winner

1951 Ford 8N

09/16/2022 by ST Leave a Comment

I have always liked tractors. When I was still very little, I would sit on all the tractors I could at the fair or a parade. Then, for my 13th birthday, we found a 1951 8N Ford not far from our house. After looking it over with my folks and Papa giving it the okay, I got it! The tractor didn’t need any major work done to it, just the cosmetic things. It was in its “work clothes” so Dad said I should get it cleaned up. I did and I have it “standing tall”. After clearing away grease, grime, oil, and dirt I gave it a good waxing.

“Maintenance, maintenance, maintenance”, Papa has reminded me of this countless times; good stewardship. Not long after getting the Ford, I was blessed with a Ford-Ferguson 2 bottom plow. I later used it to plow with our local tractor club (the Chariton River Valley Antique Power Association) for their annual plow day. In May 2022 we purchased a rear blade from a gentleman from our church! I have had the 8N at several tractor shows and am hoping to have it in a tractor ride soon!

This photo was taken when I came home from hauling our trash cans about 1/4 of a mile up the level B road we live on. It was muddy that day!

Billy Vaughn-Corbin
Lucas, Iowa
Tractor Photo Contest Winner

1952 John Deere B

09/15/2022 by ST Leave a Comment

My father brought the 1952 John Deere B tractor home in 1952 to use on his 400-acre family farm. He had all the attachments also. After he passed away I stored it in a barn.

Last year my grandson, Cayden wanted to restore the tractor as his senior project. With the help of my son, Chad, they started by sanding the tractor and buying a few new parts from Steiner Tractor Parts. After about six months of restoration, Cayden took the tractor to school for his presentation.

He is planning to drive it in parades and take it to tractor shows. It is a tractor that can be passed down to the next generations. I am proud that he restored it and has an interest in preserving tractors for future generations.

Ellen May Brand
Edinburgh, Indiana

1941 Farmall Pulling Canon in Parade

09/13/2022 by ST Leave a Comment

My wife April has wanted a Farmall H for about 5 or 6 years now, and I was not sure what we would do with one. Just the same, she had several of her farm friends keeping their eyes open for one, but they are not that easy to come by here in the Northeast.

Recently, a local collector sold his entire collection at auction and we were lucky enough to get this beauty!! I must admit to being fully onboard with this new “hobby” and am having a blast learning how to maintain and continue the restoration of our 1941 Farmall H!

As part of our town’s Fourth of July celebration this year we used our H to tow the town’s vintage 1862 cannon in the parade!

Mark Brown
Sutton, Massachusetts

October Birthdays and Anniversaries

09/05/2022 by ST Leave a Comment

Birthdays

1st – Derrick Brown – Shipping Team

9th – Tiffany Gueli – Shipping Team

12th – Sean Barnhart – Customer Service Team

18th – Ted Turnwald – Tech Team

19th – Nichole Fink – Shipping Team

28th – Rebecca Thomas – Marketing Team

30th – MJ Crawford – Customer Service Team Supervisor

Anniversaries

4th – Deidrie Hunt – 1 year – Customer Service Team

4th – Inesha Williams – 1 year – Returns Team

11th – Todd Ruby – 1 year – Shipping Team

12th – Sean Barnhart – 1 year – Customer Service Team

18th – Kristin Woods – 12 years – Customer Service Team

18th – Matt Pilliod – 1 year – Accounting Team

23rd – Rachel Allen – 16 years – Customer Service Team Supervisor

Featured Tractor – 1978 Allis Chalmers 185

09/01/2022 by ST Leave a Comment

I have always been fond of Allis-Chalmers tractors, my father and grandparents on both sides of my family farmed row crops, hay, tobacco, and cattle and ran Allis-Chalmers tractors. Tractors small in size like the CA used for plowing tobacco, all the way up to the 7045 used to work ground and pull the drill.

I have always wanted an Allis of my own and happened to find this 1978 model 185 sitting in a barn, not being used. I knew it would be a good addition to my cow/calf operation, and after a few years of talks with the owner, I was happy to be able to purchase it. The 185 is a well-suited tractor used for all hay production work, grinding feed, pulling fertilizer buggies, moving feeders, and sitting out hay bales in the winter. It is well made and useful size tractor for my operation.

Brandon Chandler
Dixon, Kentucky
Tractor Photo Contest Winner

August $200 Gift Card Winner

08/18/2022 by RT Leave a Comment

The lucky winner of August’s $200 Steiner gift card is Tim Purves of Davisburg, Michigan. Tim has been a subscriber since August 2020 and his favorite tractor is his Case 530CK. Congratulations, Tim!

Farmall M-D

08/10/2022 by ST Leave a Comment

This is my Farmall M-D. It is the diesel version of the M. My great grandpa used to farm down in Minburn, Iowa with this tractor. It has over 9000 hours put on it and is in clean shape.

When he died it sat around the main farm for a while before coming up here to Southern Minnesota. Grandpa used to take me for rides all the time on this tractor. Once I was old enough to drive it, he would say go pull it out of the shed. Let’s go for a ride.

My grandma said to me one day, “what should we do about that tractor sitting out in the shed?” I said, “I don’t know”. “Well I think it should be yours.” The M-D is my baby. I always think that my great-grandpa would love to see me driving the tractor that he had. I take great care of it and always will. I am proud to say that it is mine now and hopefully great-grandpa is watching from heaven. Love you and miss you.

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa.

Ryan Brueck
Rochester, Minnesota

Chris Brady
Lebanon, Kentucky

1951 John Deere B

08/08/2022 by ST Leave a Comment

This is my 1951 John Deere B. I bought it in February 2022. After searching for over a year for an antique tractor to use on my family’s hobby farm I decided to post a “looking for ad” online. Within an hour a nearby farmer messaged me with some pictures and his phone number.

I contacted him and we got talking. It was an older restore he used on his farm to pull tobacco wagons into the barn. He bought it more so for his grandson but he lost interest in it so decided to sell it. After doing a test drive in the door yard we agreed on a price shook hands and it was mine.

This tractor is used on my family’s 7-acre hobby farm where we grow, corn, soybeans, and sunflowers for wildlife, and grow decorative corn and pumpkins we sell along the roadside in the Fall. This tractor fits in with the farm very well. My dad and I collect and restored two John Deere garden tractors, and we set all tractors up along the roadside with lights and flags on them for patriotic holidays. My goal is to fully restore this tractor someday and hand it down to my son.

Tony Voigt
Fox Lake, Wisconsin

September Birthdays and Anniversaries

08/05/2022 by ST Leave a Comment

Birthdays

1st – Deona Vorhies – Purchasing Team

19th – Kristin Woods – Customer Service Admin Team

26th – Chris Wright – Shipping Team

27th – Suzette Thomas – Marketing Team

28th – Todd Ruby – Shipping Team

Anniversaries

1st – MJ Crawford- 7 years – Customer Service Team Supervisor

3rd – Lisa Warren – 8 years – Customer Service Team

4th – Lynn McCormick – 4 years – Special Order Team

9th – Emily Rosser – 20 years – Purchasing Team

24th – Brandi Erickson – 13 years – Customer Service Admin Team

29th – Randy Fenner – 13 years – Retail Store Customer Service Team

Featured Photo – 1944 Farmall BN

08/02/2022 by ST Leave a Comment

Nothing makes a Grandpa happier than posing with his granddaughters on his 1944 Farmall BN.

Charlene Shumaker
Bellevue, Michigan
2022 Tractor Photo Contest Winner

1946 Farmall H

08/01/2022 by ST Leave a Comment

1946 Farmall H tractor owned by Chris Brady in Lebanon, Kentucky. I enjoy driving my tractor on country roads in Marion county. I plan on showing my tractor at an antique tractor show and driving my tractor in a parade at the local festival Marion County Country Ham Days in Lebanon, Kentucky the last weekend in September.

I did not restore it myself. I bought it after it had been restored. Not sure how many years ago it was restored. My dad and I have done a lot of work to my tractor.

Chris Brady
Lebanon, Kentucky

1941 Ford 9N

07/28/2022 by ST Leave a Comment

My tractor is a 1941 Ford 9N, six-volt system. I’ve done some repair work on it, front axle pivot pin, wheel bearings, left spindle, carb rebuild, a new gas tank, and right 3-point rocker lift arm.

I have three implements for her a Ferguson 14-inch double bottom plow, a Ferguson 5-foot pull behind the disc, and a John Deere back blade. Her name is Edna.

Joel Pfrang
Lake City, Michigan

Christmas in July – 3 Great Offers

07/26/2022 by ST Leave a Comment

Free Standard or Economy Ground Delivery on your retail order of $99* Enter Coupon code: XMASJULY
Introducing our 2022 tractor ornament! This year’s ornament is available now for $7.95 each (Reg. $9.95) Order MIS5932 now.
Also, get our 4-piece ornament collection for one special price! Our 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021 exclusive tractor ornaments are available to purchase at $25 per set (Reg. $32). Use or mention part number TREE0.

All 3 offers good July 26^th– August 1^st, 2022 11:59 pm EDT

* $99 minimum retail order, taxes and delivery not included in the total. Delivery by economy or standard ground in the continental US only. No truck freight. Cannot be used on special order items, gift cards, or sales with the exception of the ornament promotion.

Allis Chalmers WF45 Restoration

07/14/2022 by ST Leave a Comment

My Allis Chalmers WF45 is a custom-built restoration project. The tractor began life in 1949 as an Allis Chalmers WD. But by the time I received it around 2013, it was in really bad shape. All the sheet metal was missing, and the engine was locked up from water getting down the exhaust. The transmission and rear end were locked up as well due to the gear shift being removed and mice making a nest in the diff that locked up the ring and pinion. It was missing many other parts, governor, tires, original rims drawbar, starter, and distributor. It did come with a parts tractor with no motor and with bad rear rims that didn’t at all complete the other tractor. I paid $150 for both machines. When I got the tractor I had this crazy idea to lower it and make it a standard tread tractor. On my property is a 2-acre pasture field with many trees and I wanted something shorter to mow under the trees with. But I’m a die-hard Allis fan and the only tractor that really would work would be an IB or a WF and neither of those has a good three-point lift or live hydraulics or PTO. Both of those tractors are rather rare to find too and usually come with a $2,000 or more price tag. So I thought I could build one out of this WD cheaper.

It took a few years to get started on the tractor but in 2015 I started working on it and it took 2 years to fully finish it. I started by getting the transmission loose and lowering the tractor. I pulled the final drives (which was not easy as the break pins wouldn’t come out) and drilled new break pin holes and spun the final drives up one bolt. I then repaired the rims on the parts tractor, one of which I had to cut out 1/4 of it and replace with a new section. Then I mounted the smallest 28in tires I could find 11.2 x 28 in rims. I then leveled the tractor to start working on the front axle. I dropped the tricycle front pedestal, cut the end of the frame rails, and then began fabricating the front axle. Most of it is made from scratch but it is made to fit many Allis parts. I pulled the axle pieces out of the tricycle front and fabricated the wide front to fit these parts. The steering arms are off an Allis B and the drag link is off of a B. The steering box is off of a 1954 Chevy 2-ton truck. The steering wheel and the seat were lowered. I also had to make new fender brackets and decided to fabricate a full platform to resemble the wf and the U. And of course find many of the missing parts. After that was all done, I then started the engine. I couldn’t get the motor free so I did a full overhaul on the motor, new piston sleeve kit with overbore and got a 226cuin crank and new bearings, and refaced all the valves and seats. I decided to go to 226 cranks because by then I wanted to dub the tractor the WF45 and wanted to make it such. I thought about finding a WD45 block too but I had to move the oil filter to fit the steering box and that was much easier with the valve guide plate on the wd block. Ultimately the longer I worked on the tractor, the more it made me want to do it right and make the tractor look like it could be factory-made.

So ultimately my cheap standard tread tractor quickly became pretty expensive. It wound up costing me over $3500 to complete and tons of hours of labor. But I think it turned out really nice. We now use it actively on the farm. It bush-hogs the pasture each year and is the backup tractor for baling and many other tasks.

David Kasler
Ashville, Ohio

“Clara stays in the family”

07/12/2022 by ST Leave a Comment

This 1955 Ford 860 was used by my grandfather until he retired from farming in 1963. My father purchased the tractor from him so he could use it on his seven-acre farm. He also used the tractor to plow many gardens for friends and neighbors over the years.

The tractor was retired to the barn in the early nineties where it sat until this year. With the help of my son Evan, my nephew Nathan, and Steiner we were able to find all the parts we needed to get it running again. I decided to nickname the tractor “Clara” after Henry Ford’s wife. Today we are now using the tractor for enjoyment on the property it once farmed fifty-five years ago. My dream (after the pandemic) is to display its durability and share its history.

Gary Armstrong
Columbus, Ohio

Allis Chalmers WCs

07/08/2022 by ST Leave a Comment

This photo is our 1933 Allis Chalmers WC, serial number 14, It is the oldest known to exist at this time. Along with the 1948 Allis Chalmers WC, serial number 178202, it is the last WC made according to the serial number listings. The next tractor off the line was WD #1.

We have a few other unique pieces also. An Allis/Dodge M7 snow tractor in its Army uniform. We have 2 WC maintainers, an unstyled 1938 and a later styled one as well. We have an unstyled wide front WC. Also, another interesting piece is a Plymouth tractor. Thank you for your interest.

Fred & BJ Wilke
Hanover, Pennsylvania

June Customer Review Winner

07/07/2022 by ST Leave a Comment

My tractor is nothing special in the grand world of John Deere’s but it is certainly special to me.

It is a 1948 model M “standard” that was first acquired by my grandfather- Hobart Koontz. As my grandfather had quite a few two-cylinder tractors, most of them were well used while this one fell to the wayside. Over the years it had fallen into a state of disrepair and needed a little attention. My dad (Larry) brought it home when I was about 10 years old and that became my summer project. Together we made all of the necessary repairs and even added some shiny new green paint. For a short time, this one saw a few tractor shows and parades and then settled into a life of small gardening. My dad and I shared a passion for the “putt-putt” tractors and together we have owned models A, H, M, MT, 430, LA, and 1010.

As life happens too often, this little M once again fell into a state of disrepair. My son is now 15 and we have embarked on another journey to restore this little tractor to its former glory. Not nearly the same level as the original task my dad and I took on when I was 10, but still a worthy project for a father and son. I grew up in a very mechanically gifted family and this project will certainly afford me the opportunity to share this same knowledge and passion with my son.

Thanks for providing a great service to the “old tractor” hobby! And thanks for letting me share a little bit about this special little John Deere M.

Greg Koontz
Clemmons, North Carolina

Each month we randomly select one of our customer reviews to receive a $25 Steiner Tractor Parts gift card. This month’s winner was Greg Koontz. Congratulations Greg, and thank you for purchasing your tractor parts at Steiner.

July Featured Photo

07/06/2022 by RT Leave a Comment

“Our family always has a tractor day in October. Three generations of our family come together to share their love of old John Deere tractors and the great outdoors. We have fun driving the John Deere’s around the countryside and enjoy listening to the mechanical music of the old two-cylinder engines and appreciating the beautiful Fall colors of the trees. Of course, it would not be October without fresh sugar-cinnamon donuts and Apple Cider after the ride. The stars of the event are a 1953 John Deere 50 and a 1959 John Deere 530.”

Gary Field of Gaines, Michigan
2022 Tractor Photo Contest Winner