Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines

Good looking tractor, Nick. Sounds like a fun day at the auction.

A good looking Farmall for sure Nick. You're lucky to have so many great examples close to you.......must have been a good dealer or two in the area.

This hopped on the trailer and made the trip home from the auction... oops... 

Nice one, Nick. Is that an E4A magneto I see on it?

Steel wheels look like the ones on my McCormick Deering 10-20. If you do make road bands for it, please tell me how you went about it, as I need some myself.

Nick,
Those steel wheels are quite valuable here in Amish country!
Things still follow me home from shows and auctions, but i quit bringing my trailer or the Box truck!
crazydoug

The Amish were there and bidding on a lot of old equipment on steel. They bought one of the 3 threshers/seperators, my friend ended up with a wooden one in decent shape for $300. They were also very interested in the lever operated drag saw that I bought.

I gave $650 for the F-12, and I know I would have to pay more than that for just the wheels. Front steel alone can bring $500-600. The block had been welded up (from not draining the water), but looks to be a very old repair and doesn't show any signs of leaking after the repair.  A running F-12 in this area on rubber is very common and only worth $400-600 so if I end up having to buy a parts F-12 I won't be out much.

I went to the auction in my car, so I was sure to win one of the tractors 

Ah. You're lucky to be able to roll your own, so to speak.

Wow Nick!

I might have to get one of these. I had no idea they were so affordable.

I love the saw. And I wonder how it would do cutting on Mesquite. 🤠

The F-14 (red with saw) was even cheaper at $550. I almost had it for $250, but the auctioneer dragged the bidding out so long that someone else finally jumped in. There was about 30 cords of oak in the barn that had been cut with the saw in the past 2 years.

I prefer pre 1940 tractors so I don't have to keep up with batteries, and am trying to convert most of them over to steel wheels as tire prices are ridiculous... I have 5 tractors at home and not one of them needs a battery.

Running F-12's on rubber can easily be bought for $300-500 around here, but they are a fairly small tractor. You can find a running H Farmall (with starter) for about $500... I have my great-grandpa's 1940 H that he bought and farmed with in the early 50's. A little bigger for plowing days and faster for parades (16.4 mph), etc. You can come get my F-14 after I steal the saw off it and drive that back to Texas at a whopping 4 miles per hour    My F-20's max speed is 3.8 mph. What you really need is an 8N or 9N Ford, nice and low to the ground and very comfortable to drive, but they'll bring $1500-2000 right now.

Common tractor prices are down right now, and cheaper than a lot of our toy steam engines. The prices seem to go up and down based on what people remember "grandpa" having or what they grew up with.

Why not remove the steel lugs and bolt on rubber strips?

Because I like lugs and still want to use them most of the time without spending half the day bolting them back on    I don't need traction when I am using the bands.

Road bands are an original option and much quicker to put on and take off and I like the look of them far better than rubber.

Diameter also doesn't change as much as you'd think as the lugs rarely go too far into the ground.

I took the lugs off my B Allis since I use it so much in my yard and used skid loader track for tread so I didn't have to bolt on rubber lugs. The rubber is fairly thick, but the tractor seems to sit low in the rear now.

Road bands also give a smoother ride on pavement than rubber lugs or rubber tread wrapped around a wheel. Not something I really care about though as I drive them with lugs most often.