B.B.

Losing your dad is tough, especially at your age! I've been down that road myself so I feel for you. As a matter of fact our stories sounds very similar. I grew up on the farm, and then went to college to find a different way of life. At 33 I lost my own father and was left with a mess in a lot of ways. I was lucky enough to inherit a good portion of the farm and I go there as often as I can. Mom still lives there so I have to take care of her especially in the winter as she still heats with wood. I have found the old saying true, you can take the boy off the farm but you can't take the farm out of the boy. Messing around with these old tractors just proves that and that has certainly proved true for me! Good luck with your big red tractors, I'll be watching to see your progress!

Sad thing is there's probably a few more still in there! I am going to try and bring my pressure washer with me next time I am up there, and wash everything down really well.

On Saturday I got a little bit of time to work on this. I was able to remove the tool box mount, those silly extra front lights, and got one of the dual adapters off. Those dual adapter bolts were tight! The other one is still on, and I may have to get the 3/4" impact gun after it. I also pulled the sheet metal off the left side to start to clean out the squirrel nest out of the engine compartment. I also spayed a lot of things with penetrating oil and hope that will soak in and help free some stuff up. I stopped by my cousin's house this weekend as well. He has worked a an IH dealer in the shop for probably 30 plus years. He knows these tractors inside and out. After our long conversation I am more confident that I can fix this thing. I am seriously contemplating on pulling the cab before I start to split the tractor. While I know it's not necessary it does making splitting the transmission out of this tractor much easier. Plus It would allow me to paint the frame while I have it off once I get the Clutch and TA fixed. I checked my AC system and it doesn't have any gas in it currently so there really isn't any reason for me not to pull the cab other than it ads a little more work to the project, but would also allow me to thoroughly clean and paint under it, etc. Decisions Decisions!

Thanks for the positive comments guys. I think any of us that are interested in old machinery can always see the diamond in the rough! I'll keep ya updated as I progress. Being that I am only going to get to work on it here and there it may take a while!

That's really the next thing I need. My buddy Ken Updike was able to send me an original parts manual. I also bought the Red Tractors 1958-2013 book from Ken, and have been reading it a little each night. It just makes me want more red tractors!

When looking at it we pulled the inspection cover. She's tight When I split it I'm going to try my angle iron trick and see if I can't get it loose. I'm tempted to pull the injectors and put some fuel and transmission fluid mixture in the cylinders and let that sit for a few weeks.

Yeah I know where big springs rd is

Farm is South of Salem IN, and I actually live in Evansville. I'd be happy to come fly sometime too! I've not flown at the Seymour field before.

Come over and help me work on it and maybe we'll get ya more interested in getting one!

It's really not in bad shape. When I went to get it the owner/farmer truly thought if we put some new batteries in it, it would run. I determined it was stuck and was able to buy it for half of what he was originally asking, so I'm in it really cheap. I would love to see it fully restored to it's former glory and it may get there one of these days, but for the time being I'd like to get it all working and all the bugs worked out, before making it pretty again. These 86 series range in price a great deal, and I was glad to finally find one I could afford.

Here's a few pictures of it in tit's as found status in the "fence row" in Northern IN. There really wasn't a fence there, but you know what I mean!

All, I grew up on a small farm in Southern Indiana, and own most of that farm today. I do not live there, but now rent the ground out for pasture ground for beef cattle. Dad always had beef cattle so that was a natural fit. Growing up, a dairy farmer neighbor had a IH 986 that he chopped with and did other jobs. I always loved that tractor and got to use it a few times to move hay etc for him. I've always wanted one. He also had a Ford 9030 so that was another bucket list tractor as well, but I bought a NH TV-140 a few years ago to use as a big loader tractor at the farm and really enjoy that tractor. As the story goes sometimes when kids grow up I moved away to college and stayed here about 2 hours from the farm. I now live in a sub-division but hope to retire to the farm one day. That said I am up there nearly every weekend especially in the winter, as mom still lives there although every winter she talks about moving to town. So.... with that said a couple weeks ago I found a 1977 IH1486 that was priced really well and brought it home. It needs a lot of TLC but is all there, and for what I paid I can throw some money at it to get it working. My plan for this tractor is to eventually buy a 15' batwing to help keep the farm/pastures mowed. I grew up working on tractors and have for several years had multiple Cub Cadets that have needed rebuilt/refurbed etc. I work as a social worker/therapist but am pretty mechanically inclined so I think I am up to the task of fixing this thing with a little assistance. I keep telling myself it's just a really big Cub Cadet! LOL From what I know about the tractor I bought it from it's second owner who used it mostly for irrigation until the clutch went out about 5-6 years ago. The TA also only worked in the high side. That farmer parked it in the fence row and left it sit for the last few years. Because it has sat unused it's had a few mouse nests in it and worse yet the motor is stuck. The cab also has all the typical rust for a tractor that has sat out. The hour meter and I think it's probably correct shows just over 7K hours. I know I will have to install a new clutch which means splitting the tractor. I have been looking at TA replacement and Leaman's looks like the best bet for me to send or take him the transmission and have him rebuild it. I am currently looking for someone closer to Southern IN to be able to replace the TA as I don't want to chance not getting it right when it takes so much work to replace. I am hopeful that when the tractor is split I can bolt a long piece of angle iron to the fly wheel to get the motor unstuck. I realize I may be in for an "in frame kit" for it. Dad had a C Allis years ago that stuck from sitting and we drug that tractor all over the farm and rocked and rocked and rocked trying to get it free. We finally split it, bolted the angle iron on and it came free very easily that way. I realize this isn't a C Allis Chalmers! But I can hope!!!! I need to buy a Service manual, and a few other books and am currently saving funds for the clutch, and TA repair. I will try and update this thread as I move along and please if you have any insight, advice, or wisdom on the subject please don't be shy. I know I'm in a little over my head here, but I've fixed worse, and this is a tractor I've always wanted so I don't really care if it does take 10 years! And Lastly I'm stoked to have a big red tractor and I can see myself collecting 86 series as I still want a 986, and wouldn't mind having a 1086 either! lol