MacAR Posted July 25 Posted July 25 A few days ago, a cousin called me asking if I'd be interested in three old Farmall tractors... of course I am! Long story short, I got a wide and narrow front 400 LP and a single front 450 LP for under scrap price. He unloaded them for me on Wednesday, and I set to work. I decided that the single front 450 (last photo) would be the best one to start on, as it had nearly new looking oil and appears to be only lightly stuck. The others are stuck hard, and had about five gallons of water in the oil pans, so they will be the parts donors. Today, I drug the single front up by the shop and started to work on it. The engine is locked up, so I set it soaking with a bit of help on the crank pulley: It was also stuck in 1st gear, but a bit of Kroil and a long bar got it back in neutral. I'm sure I'll have a lot of questions as I go along, but for now my focus is on getting the engine moving. At that point, I'll start going through everything else little by little and hopefully have a running, driving tractor by this time next year. 12 Quote
MacAR Posted July 26 Author Posted July 26 A question while I'm thinking of it this morning. This 450 has power steering, but as it will be a narrow front, I'm thinking of removing it. I've already robbed the steering rods from a non-ps 400, so that's taken care of. But what about the hydraulic lines? Can they just be plugged? Or will I have to change the safety valve with the one from the non-ps tractor? Quote
DT Fan Posted July 26 Posted July 26 8 minutes ago, Chester5732 said: I think you will want the power steering. X-2!!! 2 Quote
MacAR Posted July 26 Author Posted July 26 I mean, y'all are probably right; my original thought was that making the swap would give me one less thing to go through. Power steering is nice, I was just thinking of all the BS I've been through on my other 450 with it. But maybe for now I'll just leave it as-is. A little update. I managed to get 5th gear to slide, but no joy on the remaining three. Sucked all the cheap penetrating oil out of #3 and #4 and replaced with Kroil... might not help but worth a shot, and I already had it. Also removed the remaining two battery box bolts that were stuck in the deck after taking the rotten box off. Hoping that we can get the one off the wide front 400 off without damaging it as well. I'll probably start on dismantling the other two while I wait for the 450 to break loose. 3 Quote
IH Blood 1206 Posted July 28 Posted July 28 Awesome haul of LP tractors. Its a shame they were stuck that bad. Good luck! 1 Quote
DT Fan Posted July 28 Posted July 28 Mac, that's exactly the kind of deal the rest of us are jealous we didn't fall into! I don't need ANYMORE projects but would have jumped at that! 1 Quote
MacAR Posted July 28 Author Posted July 28 I didn't need anymore projects either, DT... but I really hated to see them go to the crusher. And, I've been wanting a NF 450 to go with my WF 450 for some time now. I also have been casually looking for a center section to replace the broken one on my WF 450, and unless I'm mistaken I can sub one of these in pretty easy once I start breaking them down. I'm still leaning heavily to removing the power steering from this tractor, and I have a good standard drawbar on the other NF 400 that's going on this one as well. As much as I'd like the Fast Hitch, I use a drawbar a lot more so it would better suit my needs I think. Especially for things like mowing/baling hay and pulling the disk/harrow/etc. 1 Quote
MacAR Posted July 29 Author Posted July 29 A little bit of an update today: I managed to rock 2nd and 3rd about 1/2 way, and I think 5th is all the way with 4th only about 1/2 way as well. I make it a point to walk by it every afternoon and just jiggle/move things, so maybe that's helping the back half. Still no movement on the front half, but I'm thinking that's going to take much longer. Oh, and back to the power steering for just a moment: did we ever decide whether or not that it could simply be deleted or if the priority valve had to come off too? I'm thinking that @snoshoe and I may have talked about this quite a while back on a different thread, but I can't find it now. Anywho, if anybody wants to chime in I'd appreciate it. Again, not saying I'm going to remove it but just wanting to keep options open if the PS motor is bad. Quote
TomH Posted July 29 Posted July 29 25 minutes ago, MacAR said: A little bit of an update today: I managed to rock 2nd and 3rd about 1/2 way, and I think 5th is all the way with 4th only about 1/2 way as well. I make it a point to walk by it every afternoon and just jiggle/move things, so maybe that's helping the back half. Still no movement on the front half, but I'm thinking that's going to take much longer. Oh, and back to the power steering for just a moment: did we ever decide whether or not that it could simply be deleted or if the priority valve had to come off too? I'm thinking that @snoshoe and I may have talked about this quite a while back on a different thread, but I can't find it now. Anywho, if anybody wants to chime in I'd appreciate it. Again, not saying I'm going to remove it but just wanting to keep options open if the PS motor is bad. I'm thinking that you plumb the high pressure into the return to keep it off high pressure continuously, Then use a shaft to replace the PS unit. 1 Quote
snoshoe Posted July 29 Posted July 29 You should be able to just plug the orifice in the end of the spool. That will make it think steering is satisfied and send all oil to auxiliaries. I would rather see it swapped for the non steering block especially if this is a working one. 1 Quote
MacAR Posted July 29 Author Posted July 29 Thanks fellas. It will be a working machine, and I do have the other block, so might as well do it "right" vs. half-azzed. My original thought was to do as Sno said, but then got to second guessing myself and thought about a bypass line like Tom described. As I said, a long way from needing it yet, but I'm wanting to document some of these silly thoughts I have where I can go back and find them later rather than ask the same question a half dozen times... my wife says I do that enough as it is! Quote
MacAR Posted July 31 Author Posted July 31 Just a little update this morning. I tinkered around a bit last night and got the shift lever to go into all the gears solidly. A big win I think! I also pried on the flywheel just a bit, and to it to move maybe 1/8", but since it went right back I'm thinking it's just flexing rather than actually moving. Talked to an old friend of mine who deals with a lot of hit/miss engines and he's given me some good ideas for unsticking this one. May try one or two of them this weekend, just have to see. Quote
Mudfly Posted July 31 Posted July 31 25 minutes ago, MacAR said: Just a little update this morning. I tinkered around a bit last night and got the shift lever to go into all the gears solidly. A big win I think! I also pried on the flywheel just a bit, and to it to move maybe 1/8", but since it went right back I'm thinking it's just flexing rather than actually moving. Talked to an old friend of mine who deals with a lot of hit/miss engines and he's given me some good ideas for unsticking this one. May try one or two of them this weekend, just have to see. If you are going to run it at some point, just bite the bullet now and pull the head. Yes you have to buy a head gasket and drain/replace coolant, but you will know what you have in the cylinders. You can clean out any rust and likely get a good idea if your rings are stuck or not. You can also take a look at your valves and send off/lap if needed. If you choose to not do that, I still am a fan of jacking up one rear tire, put it in 5th (direct), and put a lever and weight to keep torque on the wheel/tire and engine. The consistent pressure seems like it works well. Possibly reversing the direction of the torque every few days. 1 Quote
MacAR Posted August 1 Author Posted August 1 11 hours ago, Mudfly said: If you are going to run it at some point, just bite the bullet now and pull the head. Yes you have to buy a head gasket and drain/replace coolant, but you will know what you have in the cylinders. You can clean out any rust and likely get a good idea if your rings are stuck or not. You can also take a look at your valves and send off/lap if needed. If you choose to not do that, I still am a fan of jacking up one rear tire, put it in 5th (direct), and put a lever and weight to keep torque on the wheel/tire and engine. The consistent pressure seems like it works well. Possibly reversing the direction of the torque every few days. I appreciate the advice. This afternoon I put the frame rail back on and did just as you said. I need to find a good lever/weight combo to hang on it for a while. Thought also about running a chain/come-along from the wheel center to the frame rail and putting a bit of tension on it (not too much of course). Just a thought, don't know that it'll work but that's exactly how I broke my #10 drill loose that had been sitting for a long time. I know it's not terribly rusted because we borescoped it and it honestly looked decent, so I'm confident that it's just stuck from sitting. When it cools up some I plan on swapping the tires off of the better of the three to this one and I've decided I will also be swapping the narrow front as well. The single front is cool but really not my cup of tea; plus I have some good used 6.50-16 tires for it and the single front tire don't have a lot of life left in it. Once I do that, I want to roll it in the shop, pull the head, and clean the cylinders and head up and convert it to gasoline before I ever fire it up. 1 Quote
Chester5732 Posted August 1 Posted August 1 If you were closer I could help you out with all of the sheet metal to make it a gasser. 1 Quote
MacAR Posted August 2 Author Posted August 2 On 8/1/2026 at 7:09 AM, Chester5732 said: If you were closer I could help you out with all of the sheet metal to make it a gasser. Thanks, I wish I were! There's a good salvage yard about an hour from me, they said they had all the parts. Just waiting on them now to call me and tell me what it'll cost. 1 Quote
MacAR Posted August 2 Author Posted August 2 A small update today, not much in the way of progress. I removed the valve cover today to find just a bit of rust on the valve train, but absolutely none on the valves themselves. Hammer test showed that they all moved as well. Just for good measure, I gave them a good coating of motor oil to prevent any corrosion and put the cover back on. Also rigged a chain and come-along to the a rear tire after jacking it up and blocking it. Stuck it in road gear and cinched it down pretty tight. Going to let it set that way a few days, then pull it another tooth or two, rinse/lather/repeat as necessary until I can see movement. Quote
snoshoe Posted August 2 Posted August 2 Just a reminder Ta tractors will not turn backwards unless ta clutch is released. 1 Quote
MacAR Posted August 2 Author Posted August 2 14 minutes ago, snoshoe said: Just a reminder Ta tractors will not turn backwards unless ta clutch is released. As in, the TA has to be ahead for it to turn backwards, correct? Quote
snoshoe Posted August 2 Posted August 2 39 minutes ago, MacAR said: As in, the TA has to be ahead for it to turn backwards, correct? Wrong. I would latch the lever back. Take the tin cover off. And make sure the disc is free. Quote
MacAR Posted August 2 Author Posted August 2 Just now, snoshoe said: Wrong. I would latch the lever back. Take the tin cover off. And make sure the disc is free. Gotcha. I never can remember which way that goes! Quote
MacAR Posted August 9 Author Posted August 9 A bit more work on the 450 yesterday. We pulled the oil pan and looked up into the block. What cylinder walls I can see are absolutely beautiful! Just as shiny as the day they were put in, except for just a minuscule amount of rust on #4. After looking at that, I'm stumped as to why it's not come unstuck yet. We tried locking it into 5th speed and using the come-along on it; all that did was scoot the opposite tire backwards. Yesterday afternoon we tried pulling it in 5th and 4th, and all we accomplished was getting some smoke from the clutch housing. I currently have it out of gear, TA back, with a jack on the crank at #4 cylinder with the front wheel about two inches off the ground. Sprayed it down good from the bottom as well, thinking I'll let it sit that way a few days then come back with a propane torch and apply some gentle heat to all the cylinders to see if we can get something to move... if that doesn't work, it's either off with her head, or a stick of DuPont Red Cross in the clutch housing! 1 Quote
mmi Posted August 9 Posted August 9 Depending where piston stopped you may be better served with (reverse) rotation, + kats block heater......hens teeth Quote
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