..saw this F-20 Farmall at a show this last fall, thot you guys mite like to see it. This thing is show quality, runs a 289 Ford. Guy who built it drug it out of the woods up in Minnesota somewhere, it was solid rust. Anybody got any more pics of hot rod tractors?
Tractors, the original bearers of Big & Littles... Tractors evolved as and because they are "hot rods". Companies made them, sold them to Farmers who proceeded to accessorize or modify them to fit their personal farming needs, whether it was a wider or offset seat, a running board to stand on instead of sit so they could plow, or a different hitch arrangement, they were modified, hot rodded. The best part of the evolution is the manufacturers had the sense to do "field research" and find out how they were modified and incorporate the more common modifications in the next model change. I'm a "City Boy" but farming tractors have always fascinated me, and I finally got to drive one a couple decades ago, a 1932 John Deere, on a farm in Nebraska. No big deal? You were driving one before Kindergarten? Like I said, it's a thrill for a "City Boy".
That looks pretty cool. I found this one with a quick Google search. Also, here is the link to this guy's homepage, lots of other cool tractors. http://www.marvinbaumann.com/index.php
There's a guy right outside of town here that has a 427 Chevy powered tractor, I think it might be a Minneapolis Moline. And it's not built to be a show vehicle or anything like that, they use it all the time for farm duty. The motor was in a truck and the tractor didn't run so....
Saw this cool Ford 8-N with an Edelbrock equipped Flattie at the O.V.A.M in Georgetown, Ohio last year.
an SBC 8N is just wrong! My family farmed up until '85 (grandparents bought the farm in '34) and our newest piece of equipment was a '59 MM combine. All the tractors were MM except for a '29 Irish Fordson. Our rarest tractor is a '46 cab tractor, one of the first with a cab. We have them all to this day in grandma's barn. She's 96 now.
I think you will find that it actually has a 360FE engine in it. Very good looking machine though. Thanks for posting!
someone needs to run steering like than on thier deuce! that one with the chevy is sweet! I can picture some farmer taking it out on the road and as a car tries to get around him gunning it and pulling on the car! that would be fun.
guy here in town has a sbc in his tractor but the real good item he has is a big sand blaster with a 500 Cad powering it.
I met a guy in indiana that was making and selling adapters to put 8BA's in 8n tractor. It was pretty neat.
They actually have a pulling class for these tractors now, they are allowed a V-8 but it has to be hooked up to the original tractor transmission. Talk about parts flying when these things let loose.
I built engines for a couple of the Midwest pullers in the 1980's. One guy started with a small block Chevy in a '48 Framall and it just escalated from there. In the end both of them were running 4, 496 C.I. BBC's/ 2/4bbl tunnel rams with chassis capable of running 1/2/3/or 4 engines depending on the class. Quick release couplers and a tow truck mounted boom/wench allowed adding/subtracting engines in about 15 minutes. On average we'd pull in 3 classes with both tractors at any given event. Big fun, but like every other form of motorsports money and the fact both individuals had HUGE farms to operate put the experience in the "boy did we have fun back then" catagory. You think a AA/FD makes a lot of noise, Imagine what 6 500CI Chrysler Hemi's blown and on fuel sound like being unleashed to do more work in 10-20 seconds than half the farm tractors in Nebraska can do in an afternoon. BIG POWER!!!! Frank
i grew up on a farm so always kinda liked them then my uncle got into old tractors so i got to race his JD 730 D in a slow race...slowest person wins...you would be surprised at the things you can do to make it not stall but idel crazy slow...last year i raced i won by crossing the line last
What a waste of perfectly good hotrod engines. I guess I just don't get it. Farm living is not the life for me. Give me the city. The stores! No chores! (There's a song in that somewhere. )
Brings back some memories...I learned to drive on a Farmall Cub...as I got older I always wished I could make it into a street machine
For the guys who have never seen and /or been to a tractor pull yet. It is really something when you see/hear those multi engines perform. Common to see 2 or more big blocks, even hemi's ripping along. On the Dish network RFD TV 9409 you can research it & see when they start showing them again.
Been there, done that. Again I have to say, what a waste of perfectly good hotrod engines. Untold amounts of original Boss 429 parts have been wasted on and by that "sport"...a personal pet peeve of mine.
Look at the cool wishbones on an 8N pretty neat! Check out the rear mounting on them, very neat!! Also look at the steering, it has a drag link on both sides of the tractor and one goes forward and one back when you turn, just like Foose's P32. Now that would be a challenge to fit to your rod! Rex
A friend of mine has been running pulling tractors since he was about 15 years old. The latest engine he had built for it cost him $30K, he has some serious money in this thing. http://www.pullerzone.com/pullersmachine.asp?vehicleid=31 Pretty cool to watch; that thing is all over the track like an old altered coming out of the hole. The "Farm Stock" tractors pull the sled down the track at a crawl. Darren hooks onto the same sled and blasts down the track at about 30 mph, billowing black smoke and Turbo screaming...
I should of never looked at these as I have a extra 460,352 and a rebuilt 56 olds 324 on the stand,old tractors can be had cheap sometimes and I need to perish the thoughts I have in my mind about a hotrod tractor as I dont need any more projects. Jeff
A friend of ours and Rusty1's built a Farmall Super M in the early 70's with a 389 Pontiac in it. One time when he was coming off a side road onto a highway he got behind a semi truck that had also came onto the highway down the road and was still shifting gears. Everytime the driver would grab another gear he would move out just enough so the driver could see him in the side mirror. At about 60 mph he came out around the semi and passed him. Later on he said that was the only time he did that because Farmall never intended for that front end to go that fast. It was a wild ride. A few years back we helped restore it and got it running again. The throttle was a automatic shift lever from a 74' Grandville. My brother drove and I stood on the drawbar. At 35 mph on a gravel road was fast enough from where I was at!!!
BTW, I've been to the guy's place that owns the Chevy powered 8N at the start of this thread. I bought a v8- 60 off Ebay that he had for sale. He has got 3 more Ford tractors that he has modified. One is Chrysler small block powered , one has a 351 Ford v8 and his last creation is a turbine powered 8N. He is retired and has a well equipt machine shop next to his home. When I was there to pick up the v8 60 he was in the middle of putting a blown SBF in his F1 daily driver. Frank
I hate to have to make a tight turn with those SBC headers in that 8N. I am a frequent traveler on my 4 cyl. 9N crusin' the woods and visiting the neighbors and checkin' the temperature of the contents of the beer fridges in their barns. A cold beer while ridin' a tractor is a beautiful thang!
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