Soundguy & Shop geek: Good day, gentlemen! I recently purchased a '63 Ford 4000 here in the SE area of VA, and in playing around with it, decided to do a little research and history hunt with it, and in doing so, I happened across this site/forum and notes >>> and think I may have tripped across a thread of the previous owner (Shop geek), generated as he performed partial restoration on a turn-around tractor - pretty cool!
Anywho, in getting to my core questions, my quest to learn more about this specific tractor and start my dive into manufacture numbers, model numbers, serial numbers, etc, I learned that this tractors' Model and Serial numbers match up exactly with data I found through 'tractordata.com' and on 'oldfordtractors.com,' i.e. Model number 41201 and Serial number 57339 both match up to everything that points to a '63 4000... HOWEVER, in looking over more numbers, the numbers/lettering on the lower right side of the engine block has raised some questions.
That information reads "EAE 6015-D," which, according to 'oldfordtractors.com,' leads me to believe that the first three letters 'EAE' indicates this tractor has a 134 cu. inch/~36hp 4cyl gas engine, not the 172 cu. inch 55-horse engine that these tractors rolled out with. I looked carefully, and the raised lettering very clearly reads 'EAE' (not 'EAF'). As well, another tidbit that I learned as I looked at the documented tractor dimensions was that the wheelbase (assuming that my measurement of front wheel hub center to back wheel hub center is correct???) on this one measures roughly 75 inches.....which doesn't quite match up to the ~84 inches documented for a 4000...
Further digging indicates this engine block number tells me it could actually be a 134 cu.inch block from a '53-'57 ??? model tractor....everything I've found about the '60-'64 year models tells me that number should be either a 'B9NN' or a 'C0NN' number....and I've found nothing at this point that might indicate what the '-D' suffix means on my engine block......
Is there a chance that the engine in this "4000" could have been swapped out years ago <<<not so much a question as to whether it "could have been," but more a question along the lines of
could a 134 cu. inch engine be bolted up in place of a 172 cu. inch engine and used in a 4000 tractor???>>> ....I don't have any further engine dimension data to go by that I can verify.... OR, is it possible that I might have a tractor that has had the clutch housing/transmission installed from a 4000 model into a 2000 model (thereby transferring along inaccurate 4000 model & serial numbers???)....and thereby supporting a 2000 model 75-inch wheelbase measurement??? This tractor has a 4-forward 1-reverse gearbox/tranny installed...
I had also wondered if maybe, as new model year manufacturing continued using previous model year parts, that possibly the block number was something to not be concerned about, but, with the bore-stroke dimensions on the 134 cu. inch being 3.4375 x 3.60 inches, compared to the 172 cu. inches' 3.90 x 3.60, it's starting to seem as though this block is anything but a 134 cubic inch with ~36hp, and not the more powerful 172 cu. inch ~55hp engine that the '63 4000 rolled out with, nor any real way for me to verify otherwise...
LOTS of questions now that just aren't adding up to any logical, conclusive answers....
Do you have any other thoughts to offer on this one, or ideas that I can check to potentially conclude one way or the other what I really have here???
Thanks.
have fun with the machine.
fords are my favorite of all the old tractors.
I especially like the 53-64 years.. and of those the 55-64 rowcrops. I've beat on the older ones 39-52 N series, and have some experience on the 65-81 models covering the 000/x600 series.
I play with other colors too.. red, persian orange, flambeau red, and even them hi dollar snooty green and yellow things. Most of my 'other' tractors are from the mid 40's up to 50. with, again.. the fords i like in the mid 50's to mid 60's.
post back if you hit a snag.
love to see the pics too.
ps.. welcome to the forum..
