Farmall H Startup Advice after 20 years of sitting

[BlackRaptor]

Hey Guys looking for some advice from the Farmall experts.

My Uncle gave me a Farmall H yesterday it has sat in his shed for 20 years, it was parked in the corner of the shed and hasn't been stated since. it was rebuild about 5 years before it was parked so it ran perfect than.

Upside is its been inside all this time so bolts all seem pretty easy to loosen vs sitting in a pasture for 20 years.


So I want to wake it back up i'm hoping i dont have to go into the motor and redo rings and bearing and such but if i do oh well.

The gas tank is a mess so that needs to be flushed and cleaned with a cleaner or pea rock and drive around in a bumpy field with an atv.

My biggest concerns is not damaging anything trying to turn it over after sitting so long.
Here is what i've done so far.

Removed plugs and dumped some very thin oil down the plug holes thats been sitting in there for about a day i figured it can soak past the rings. I was thinking about spraying PB Blaster down there as they might get around the rings better and leaves a nice film for startup lubrication.

I of course dropped the oil and man oh man was it nasty it wasn't even slick like oil. upside is it wasn't chunky or gunky it was just like watered down oil. after i drained it i dumped a qt of oil in and let if flush the pan out it ran clean. However i heard someone once say to dump kerosene down the oil fill to flush the motor out anyone have any thoughts on this?

Next i plan to pop the valve cover and check everything and dump some oil on all the dry parts up there.

Carb i'm sure if a nightmare so rebuilding that will be a given.

Radiator flush too.

Anyone think of anything i missed before i try to turn the old girl over after 20 years of slumber?

and i know the rule its not real without pictures so here are a few of the H and M. M i changed out from a non IH wide back to an IH narrow and had to replace the rear rim thanks to leaking fluid and rotting it out.

Thanks in advance for the help and advice.

Chad

 

[KYErik]

Putting oil down the plug holes was my main suggestion. While the valve cover is off, you might pry on each of the valves just a little bit to be sure they are each loose- otherwise you might bend a push rod if one happens to be a little stuck. You will likely need to disassemble the carb bowl and blow out the jets/passages with carb cleaners.

 

[jeff9366]

Some topics, such as yours, can be Googled productively:

start tractor after sitting years - Google Search

 

[DJ54]

I wouldn't worry too much about rebuilding the carb. As mentioned, a good cleaning should do the job, if it ran fine before. Do look at the main jet, and make sure it's not pitted, or distorted.

Of the 30 some tractors I've gone through over the years, only one needed a kit, and really only the main & seat, because a PO somewhere along the line ran the main in too far, and smooshed the end.

 

[crankshaft21]

What I would do, being that it has set that long. I would leave valve cover off and take all plugs out and then turn the engine by hand. Have someone watch the valves and make sure they are not stuck. This way maybe the rings will not break. Good luck with project.

 

[flusher]

What I would do, being that it has set that long. I would leave valve cover off and take all plugs out and then turn the engine by hand. Have someone watch the valves and make sure they are not stuck. This way maybe the rings will not break. Good luck with project.

2X :thumbsup:

I'd also check the oil pressure gauge to verify that it's working. Or tee another gauge into the line to be sure that the oil pump is working OK.

Good luck

 

[BlackRaptor]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I popped the valve cover checked everything poured oil over everything popped the plugs dumped a little more oil down the holes turned it over by hand a little put the cover back on but left the plugs out and pulled it in gear up to the pressure washer for a bath the oil pressure looked good when pulling the motor over. Gotta go to Napa tomorrow get another oil filter drop the temp oil that i used to work any gunk loose pulling it over. Upside carb looks good last time it was ran fuel was turned off so the lines and carb are pretty clean tank is a mess but that is easier to fix.
Thanks again.

 

[BlackRaptor]

 

[TheDevilYouLove]

That tractor is very straight and clean and the tires look great. Nice find!

 

[BlackRaptor]

Thanks, I got it running last night little rough but got it to idle pretty smooth. Tires where put on 2 weeks before it was parked uncle didn't even think they had a mile on them before parked. Tires have almost no cracks which for sitting for 20 years on a gravel floor in a shed is surprising. Case IH sold me the wrong filter it's a short not tall other than that should have it out pulling tree limbs around by the end of the week.