Here’s the full build thread, fix the link as TH-cam won’t allow outside links... www dot redpowermagazine dot com/forums/topic/144442-fordson-f-“project-x”/
Thanks. I was ships Engineer for years, we had three 12v149’s in the generator room. They were my babies and they made serious noise, then we’d load them all past the red 😎
I came in at the tail end of goodness in the late 90s as a gen tech. Boy I miss the response of a nice 2 stroker when ya whack it with full load. All the 4 stroke stuff now is disappointing as dpfs and emissions stuff is starting to creep in. There's still a few places around here in the 845 that have old Ma Bell Delco gennies. When Ma Bell was folded up in the early 80s ,they put out a word that fire departments could have the gen sets if they picked em up. So yeah, there's still a few places around that have em in service but I'm sure that's not gonna last forever. One of our town leaf collection trucks has a Detroit, it's an early 80s international.
During WWII my Dad farmed in SW Wisc. New machinery was impossible to get, but he managed to get his hands on an old Fordson with a bad engine. We had a guy in our neighborhood that could build anything. Had it not been for "Tinker Weber" farming would have collapsed during those years. And it Wasn't long before my Dad's Fordson had a straight eight Buick engine in it. It had two fans due to how low the engine sat in the frame. It also had electric start, cigarette lighter, radio, and a bunch of power. Dad said it had worm drive in the differential that got very hot and would burn the inside of his legs after awhile.
That’s a great story. I wonder if there are any pictures or if it’s even still around? I bet it got scrapped long ago though...? Would be a cool piece with lots of history.
@@craigalston2208 6v53 Detroit and I’ve got a machine shop where I made all the adapters and driveline parts. There’s a full build thread over on red power magazine dot com. Fordson project “x” in the build/project forum area.
@@FlatBroke612 thanks . Interesting thing about the v6 engines is that they all have the same outside dimensions . But the internal parts ,oil pan and heads don't interchange . Must be nice to have your own machine shop . Finding a good shop in my area will cost 💰 lol .
Thank you! We’re thinking of putting a rusty tin can over it to look more like an old generator. Edit. The oil filter is shiny because we buffed the paint off so it rusts also. We’re down with the rusty look!
Thank you! We had a great time putting it together. This tractor was in real bad shape and would have likely ended up as yard art otherwise. It sure gets some looks at shows now!
Blood sweat and beers can produce 👌 😎 amazing results . Excellent fun 👍 .Can you swap the cogs in the gearbox like in lawnmower racing ????? Reverse them so she'll blow your hat off when she's singing ?? Just a daught thought .....
@@christopherhampson265 to answer your question, no. At least not easily... it’s using the stock transmission and worm drive. That being said, it would go 6mph with the stock engine and will now tickle 18mph. I don’t think you want to be on a Fordson F at much more than 18mph.... this is coming from a retired race car driver...
You sir are as brave as the first jet plane test pilot, phew! unlocked the 9n/8n/ TOA 20 the steering gear is so frai, The other thing that is really dangerous from my point of view,being a UK resident,is that you are driving on the wrong side of the hiway!
It’s not really a fairway... we’ve got a 1927 fairway with the W&K wheels, but this has the extension rims to the inside and they’re just a regular wheel cut in half with the spokes cut off. The front wheels were homemade by someone long before we acquired it and are locking ring style rims likely from a forklift. Perhaps it had rubber at one time but it’s history from that time is unknown. There must have been a width constraint to put the extension to the inside, it’s awful tight for the driver between them. Our best guess is that it was possibly industrial or airport use? The worm wheel shows lots of wear also so she spent her timing driving/pulling. It never had a belt pulley as the PTO gear showed no wear.
Henry would not turn in his grave,he be out checking the conversion, Even his spirited hand shake could make you rich,but look out for his company and offspring,they would'nt like it!
Had it kicking around and someone had cut the original loop off the top of the shifter. This tractor was a mess of farmer repairs when we started. Had an automotive steering box butched onto it also. Original engine was frozen so bad it’s nearly in two pieces...
Thanks. We’ve got a ‘27 fairway which was owned by Sir Harry Oakes, who died under “suspicious circumstances” in Cuba I think? Burned in his hotel bed or something. The tractor was used on one of the golf courses he owned...
I had the MT41 24v starter on my Cat 3406B with a series/parallel switch. The starter went, and I took all that 24v crap off and bought a MT39 gear drive starter 12v that takes half the cranking amps (so equal to the 24v) is half the weight (the MT41 is a beast) and instead of running 4 size 31 batteries, I run 3- size 31 batteries with the unused 4th now for my generator (it is a motorhome now). It works well and I won't ever use a 24v starter again.
Nice. Yeah 24v can be a pain when you have 12v loads also giving uneven discharge rates. This starter was from a marine application and is one of two I have on hand. The other is going on a 6v53 in a square body Chevy and is 12v. As you know these big starters aren’t cheap. I bet your starter cost what I have in a gasket set and piston rings for this engine! I also have no other electrical loads and am using (to my surprise) two 350CCA lawn tractor batteries in series to start this. They have automotive posts, not lugs and do start it pretty well until it gets cold, then they just can’t spin it fast enough/long enough to fire.
@@Tchristman100 I’ve seen only one example online of a Detroit with an inertia starter but I’d love to find one. I’m looking for an air starter for another 6v53 project but even those are hard to find without giving up a first born!
@@FlatBroke612 Inertia starter is where you have a small flywheel that you spin up (like on some aircraft engines). What I'm talking about is a spring starter-relatively new and easy to use. You wind it about 30 turns, then release it and it starts!
We had a neighbor who pulled a 6 bottom plow with a Model 1900 Oliver with a Detroit and straight pipe. By the time he was sixty he couldn't hear himself fart
Anyone object to a little history? The Fordson, among the first gasoline fueled farm tractors, began sales in 1917. The majority of farming at that time was done with a man behind a plow and a couple draft animals. Mules, horses, oxen, etc. The invention of the gasoline tractor ended that. A tractor could plow ten times as much as a man behind mules. That ended the sharecropper/tenant farmer agricultural system. Many thousands of former sharecropper/tenant farmers were kicked off the land which belonged to major land owners. Unemployment soared in the southern USA. Concurrently, automotive, ag implement, and other major industries were quickly ramping up in the north along the Great Lakes and northeast states. This triggered the mass migration to northern jobs by African Americans and destitute white Americans alike. Now, those former employment seekers are once again of minimal use to heavy industry and are struggling to find middle class labor in the USA.
YES! They’re very hard to find for the 53 series but I have a machine shop and I’m pretty sure I can fit 71 series jakes on the 53 series heads. Those are much easier to find. I might have to experiment!
@@FlatBroke612 Sounds about right. Drove an old GMC tandem dump with a 6V-53 nd a 13-under. Top speed was around 60 at 2800. My eyeballs were swapping holes and my teeth and all fillings had been forgotten when I went into hi-range.
@@FlatBroke612 🤣 I can only imagine! Love that thing! Hope to see more! You need to have someone follow you! There's a guy out here that has a small block Chevy in an old ford N8. It's all painted up and chromed out. He drives it around and pulls his boat down the street to the launch ramp.
She darn near sent me off the back driving with one hand and filming with the other! There’s a speed run video posted on my channel. She goes 18mph up from the stock 6mph. It’s snakey shakey!
I've tried to order this item, but the only way is to put your C C number on the internet. NO WAY. I've tried to find a phone number, but they don't want to talk to anybody. Something is wrong. I also can't find anybody that has bought one.
I’d like to make some fenders to protect the driver when the wheel spoke fail... we’re thinking of making these fenders and some heavy duty wheels for pulling. I don’t care if I break it, I just don’t want to die/lose limbs.
Darn near! It’s a handful when you rack up! Here’s a speed run with no rubber. Too bad pops cut this video early cuz I was sideways with engine braking right after. She will go 18mph now up from 6mph originally. th-cam.com/video/RTE6hDtRC9U/w-d-xo.html
I’m not sure what would fail first... the transmission pretty beefy, it’s got an 11” Chevy clutch/pressure plate which won’t hold all the Detroit’s torque, the input shaft is made from three pieces but was prepped and TIG welded as 4140 with pre heating/post cooling... the bronze worm wheel or the wheel spokes themselves would be my guess for initial failure. We’re planning some fenders to protect the driver from a wheel failure before we put any traction or pull with it.
@@FlatBroke612 had them in hino buses in australia and a HD16 allis chalmers front end loader,they were high powered in 8 tonne vehicles,detroit rated them for towing 28 tons LOL N/A
Here’s the full build thread, fix the link as TH-cam won’t allow outside links...
www dot redpowermagazine dot com/forums/topic/144442-fordson-f-“project-x”/
Detroit powered scrapmobile (with no muffler or exhaust whatsoever) and a whole bunch 'o' beers. We could all wish to be as happy as this guy.
We all get to live a little once in a while friend.
Worked on detroit diesel gen sets, the speed which they start would startle every stand-by observer, love your tractor.
Thanks. I was ships Engineer for years, we had three 12v149’s in the generator room. They were my babies and they made serious noise, then we’d load them all past the red 😎
I came in at the tail end of goodness in the late 90s as a gen tech.
Boy I miss the response of a nice 2 stroker when ya whack it with full load.
All the 4 stroke stuff now is disappointing as dpfs and emissions stuff is starting to creep in.
There's still a few places around here in the 845 that have old Ma Bell Delco gennies.
When Ma Bell was folded up in the early 80s ,they put out a word that fire departments could have the gen sets if they picked em up.
So yeah, there's still a few places around that have em in service but I'm sure that's not gonna last forever.
One of our town leaf collection trucks has a Detroit, it's an early 80s international.
During WWII my Dad farmed in SW Wisc. New machinery was impossible to get, but he managed to get his hands on an old Fordson with a bad engine. We had a guy in our neighborhood that could build anything. Had it not been for "Tinker Weber" farming would have collapsed during those years. And it Wasn't long before my Dad's Fordson had a straight eight Buick engine in it. It had two fans due to how low the engine sat in the frame. It also had electric start, cigarette lighter, radio, and a bunch of power. Dad said it had worm drive in the differential that got very hot and would burn the inside of his legs after awhile.
That’s a great story. I wonder if there are any pictures or if it’s even still around? I bet it got scrapped long ago though...? Would be a cool piece with lots of history.
@@FlatBroke612 which size Detroit Diesel engine did you use for your tractor and how did you make the transmission adapter plate ?
@@craigalston2208 6v53 Detroit and I’ve got a machine shop where I made all the adapters and driveline parts. There’s a full build thread over on red power magazine dot com. Fordson project “x” in the build/project forum area.
@@FlatBroke612 thanks . Interesting thing about the v6 engines is that they all have the same outside dimensions . But the internal parts ,oil pan and heads don't interchange . Must be nice to have your own machine shop . Finding a good shop in my area will cost 💰 lol .
For some reason seeing this made me think of the song “hot rod Lincoln”.
Absolutely love that. It as mad as a bucket of frogs. 🇬🇧
Absolutely beautiful machine, FYI paint the alternator brownish rust!!!
Thank you! We’re thinking of putting a rusty tin can over it to look more like an old generator.
Edit. The oil filter is shiny because we buffed the paint off so it rusts also. We’re down with the rusty look!
That tractor is the perfect detection of VIOLENCE and I love it
Two of my favorites! Tractors and Detroit's!
Again, I am so amazed at this great project and how great it came together along with supurb and professional fabircation skills that went into it.
Thank you! We had a great time putting it together. This tractor was in real bad shape and would have likely ended up as yard art otherwise. It sure gets some looks at shows now!
Blood sweat and beers can produce 👌 😎 amazing results . Excellent fun 👍 .Can you swap the cogs in the gearbox like in lawnmower racing ????? Reverse them so she'll blow your hat off when she's singing ?? Just a daught thought .....
daught should read thought sorry . I have had a couple of cool beverages. Cheers
Not daught I meant daft yeah daft !!! I should either stop typing or stop drinking....... so I shall torque to you another time
@@christopherhampson265 to answer your question, no. At least not easily... it’s using the stock transmission and worm drive. That being said, it would go 6mph with the stock engine and will now tickle 18mph. I don’t think you want to be on a Fordson F at much more than 18mph.... this is coming from a retired race car driver...
Love the beerholder and racing slicks!
Absolutely amazing! My hat's off to you guys.
The old DD's rev like a bat out of hell. I love it.
You sir are as brave as the first jet plane test pilot, phew! unlocked the 9n/8n/ TOA 20 the steering gear is so frai, The other thing that is really dangerous from my point of view,being a UK resident,is that you are driving on the wrong side of the hiway!
Now THAT'S a Fordson I'd walk up to see! Excellent, and that Jimmy 6 runs beautifully! And a Fairway to boot!
It’s not really a fairway... we’ve got a 1927 fairway with the W&K wheels, but this has the extension rims to the inside and they’re just a regular wheel cut in half with the spokes cut off. The front wheels were homemade by someone long before we acquired it and are locking ring style rims likely from a forklift. Perhaps it had rubber at one time but it’s history from that time is unknown. There must have been a width constraint to put the extension to the inside, it’s awful tight for the driver between them. Our best guess is that it was possibly industrial or airport use? The worm wheel shows lots of wear also so she spent her timing driving/pulling. It never had a belt pulley as the PTO gear showed no wear.
@@FlatBroke612 Thank you for that! Very cool.
Jesus christ what a cool conversion, i love it!
Thanks! It’s a blast.
Woah woah woah... what kind of iron f*ckery is going on..? I like it 👌🏼
Love that two stroke
Wow, that is totally awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
badass i love these kind of builds
Henry would not turn in his grave,he be out checking the conversion, Even his spirited hand shake could make you rich,but look out for his company and offspring,they would'nt like it!
Definitely 😎 cool
Love the look
Rear wheels set off the cool look 👍👍
that is great, a rat rod tractor, never would have thought of that
The Hurst shifter blew my mind.
Had it kicking around and someone had cut the original loop off the top of the shifter. This tractor was a mess of farmer repairs when we started. Had an automotive steering box butched onto it also. Original engine was frozen so bad it’s nearly in two pieces...
She’s a restomod a real beauty A ❤
Thanks. We’ve got some stock examples we wouldn’t mess with and we appreciate them but this tractor was junk and got a new life!
@@FlatBroke612 I love that whole GM in a ford thing very cool just don’t let it run away on you that would scare the bejesus out of me 🙏🏼👀
Should've been done that way to begin with. That is an awesome toy.
Job well done sir!
Cool machine you built!
Thanks! The build was a ton of fun and didn’t wreck any original parts that weren’t already damaged. For the most part it’s a “bolt in”!
I laughed when you said earplugs
Just as ford intended
Henry Sr. Is either spinning in his grave or wishing he had thought of it...
Now it’s really alive 👍🇦🇺
Awe you shut it down at the good part! ‘Nother...!
I almost fell off the back trying to film and drive with one hand! Here’s a speed run video though.
th-cam.com/video/RTE6hDtRC9U/w-d-xo.html
Bbbbad to the bone. American Quality
When people actually put pride in their work 🇺🇸 quality 👍🏻. Coming from America’s hat.
MARAVILLOSO SONIDO DESDE ARGENTINA
She's a unit! Would love to find a legit fairway at some point, don't have one in my collection yet!
Thanks. We’ve got a ‘27 fairway which was owned by Sir Harry Oakes, who died under “suspicious circumstances” in Cuba I think? Burned in his hotel bed or something. The tractor was used on one of the golf courses he owned...
@@FlatBroke612 that's awesome! Fantastic that you know the history, too often people just want the "thing" and don't preserve its history; very cool!
Better than your average Cummins. Make some noise!!
Other engines may make more power or have better fuel efficiency but they will NEVER BE A DETROIT 2 stroke! 😎
Super tractor!!!!
Sounds good
Thank you but it’s a Detroit. It has no choice but to sound good 😎
I had the MT41 24v starter on my Cat 3406B with a series/parallel switch. The starter went, and I took all that 24v crap off and bought a MT39 gear drive starter 12v that takes half the cranking amps (so equal to the 24v) is half the weight (the MT41 is a beast) and instead of running 4 size 31 batteries, I run 3- size 31 batteries with the unused 4th now for my generator (it is a motorhome now). It works well and I won't ever use a 24v starter again.
Nice. Yeah 24v can be a pain when you have 12v loads also giving uneven discharge rates. This starter was from a marine application and is one of two I have on hand. The other is going on a 6v53 in a square body Chevy and is 12v. As you know these big starters aren’t cheap. I bet your starter cost what I have in a gasket set and piston rings for this engine! I also have no other electrical loads and am using (to my surprise) two 350CCA lawn tractor batteries in series to start this. They have automotive posts, not lugs and do start it pretty well until it gets cold, then they just can’t spin it fast enough/long enough to fire.
@@FlatBroke612 Have you ever checked out a wind up spring starter? Then no electrical at all is needed.
@@Tchristman100 I’ve seen only one example online of a Detroit with an inertia starter but I’d love to find one. I’m looking for an air starter for another 6v53 project but even those are hard to find without giving up a first born!
@@FlatBroke612 Inertia starter is where you have a small flywheel that you spin up (like on some aircraft engines). What I'm talking about is a spring starter-relatively new and easy to use. You wind it about 30 turns, then release it and it starts!
Try and tow something with it, would love to hear it under some load!
I think
It will fold the wheels
Not many things sound better than a screaming Jimmy!
Don't get much sicker than that!
That’s cool
long gone I'm sure.
This is freaking AWESOME!!!!
I dunno man, an early big block Vette Is pretty sweet too...
@@FlatBroke612 absolutely, we all gotta love anything mechanical and American… right 😜
hi there nice job john
Thanks bud! It was almost more fun building it than driving the noisy bugger! Ahh who am I kidding, Detroit’s make music!
We had a neighbor who pulled a 6 bottom plow with a Model 1900 Oliver with a Detroit and straight pipe. By the time he was sixty he couldn't hear himself fart
WHAT?
Very cool!
Cold snack is shook
They settle down...
Anyone object to a little history? The Fordson, among the first gasoline fueled farm tractors, began sales in 1917. The majority of farming at that time was done with a man behind a plow and a couple draft animals. Mules, horses, oxen, etc. The invention of the gasoline tractor ended that. A tractor could plow ten times as much as a man behind mules. That ended the sharecropper/tenant farmer agricultural system. Many thousands of former sharecropper/tenant farmers were kicked off the land which belonged to major land owners. Unemployment soared in the southern USA. Concurrently, automotive, ag implement, and other major industries were quickly ramping up in the north along the Great Lakes and northeast states. This triggered the mass migration to northern jobs by African Americans and destitute white Americans alike. Now, those former employment seekers are once again of minimal use to heavy industry and are struggling to find middle class labor in the USA.
LOVE IT needs jakes though
YES! They’re very hard to find for the 53 series but I have a machine shop and I’m pretty sure I can fit 71 series jakes on the 53 series heads. Those are much easier to find. I might have to experiment!
Another gm engine in a ford!
Wonder if Henry would find the humour in it!
I want that tractor to pull my boat down to the river.
So no fillings in teeth I presume....
A 53 series at 2800 R's will do that.
@@lewiemcneely9143 she’s jacked to 3k no load EEEKKKKK!
@@FlatBroke612 Sounds about right. Drove an old GMC tandem dump with a 6V-53 nd a 13-under. Top speed was around 60 at 2800. My eyeballs were swapping holes and my teeth and all fillings had been forgotten when I went into hi-range.
I just don't think the alternator rope is period correct.............it should be hemp rope........
Good catch 🤣
Ford with Chevy power
Why did you cut the video short?
Couldn’t hang on and film. It accelerates prettt violently (for a Fordson) and almost sent me off the back when the video cut...
@@FlatBroke612 🤣 I can only imagine! Love that thing! Hope to see more! You need to have someone follow you!
There's a guy out here that has a small block Chevy in an old ford N8. It's all painted up and chromed out. He drives it around and pulls his boat down the street to the launch ramp.
That's a real cocktail tease. End the vidya just as a guy is feeding er the coal.
She darn near sent me off the back driving with one hand and filming with the other! There’s a speed run video posted on my channel. She goes 18mph up from the stock 6mph. It’s snakey shakey!
I've tried to order this item, but the only way is to put your C C number on the internet. NO WAY. I've tried to find a phone number, but they don't want to talk to anybody. Something is wrong. I also can't find anybody that has bought one.
Gotta watch those “wish dot com” scammers 🤣
Lets see it in the field
I’d like to make some fenders to protect the driver when the wheel spoke fail... we’re thinking of making these fenders and some heavy duty wheels for pulling. I don’t care if I break it, I just don’t want to die/lose limbs.
On today's episode of sketchy 💩 I've done!
What series is that engine? Sounds like a 53 or a 60 series
6v53
@@FlatBroke612 Thank you Sir. That's a great engine 👌✌️✌️
What happened you fall off?
LOL
Darn near! It’s a handful when you rack up! Here’s a speed run with no rubber. Too bad pops cut this video early cuz I was sideways with engine braking right after. She will go 18mph now up from 6mph originally.
th-cam.com/video/RTE6hDtRC9U/w-d-xo.html
Gettin a big head on that opened
Is this on pei?
Yep. Fuck O’Leary!
@@FlatBroke612 hell yeah nice to see stuff like this on pei hahaha
@@noahthompson1811 it’ll be at some of the shows this summer. You might see it in person. 👍🏻
Vid just cuts.
Almost tossed me off the back, was only holding on with one hand...
What a beast I love it thanks for sharing
What do you normally put in the radiator?
It had straight water in it and would be frozen now.
yeah cant see the original components liking 210hp
lool
I’m not sure what would fail first... the transmission pretty beefy, it’s got an 11” Chevy clutch/pressure plate which won’t hold all the Detroit’s torque, the input shaft is made from three pieces but was prepped and TIG welded as 4140 with pre heating/post cooling... the bronze worm wheel or the wheel spokes themselves would be my guess for initial failure. We’re planning some fenders to protect the driver from a wheel failure before we put any traction or pull with it.
@@FlatBroke612 had them in hino buses in australia and a HD16 allis chalmers front end loader,they were high powered in 8 tonne vehicles,detroit rated them for towing 28 tons LOL N/A