You were EXTREMELY helpful!!

From what you have told me I think I can narrow it down to a 1920 through 1922. The tank did have the type stamped into it making it at oldest a 1920 and with the mushroom cap I'm thinking the newest it could be is a '22. Of coarse that's assuming all the older parts aren't off some other Fordson :) I plan on dismantling it and completely rebuilding it later on so I heard there is a casting date on the worm gear so until then I can be happy with narrowing it down this much. Thanks again, it would have taken me months to figure that all out on my own!
Mike

If you know who has those smooth front wheels and rear extensions I'd be interested in buying them in an effort to restore the tractor to its original purpose, otherwise, I'll probably just try to find lugs to bolt on the rear.

At this point the tractor is largely stripped down and I'm in the process of cleaning and rust removal. That might take a while.

Thanks again for all the info, its going into my tractor rebuild notebook for sure!

Mike

You got a wealth of information from Steve. He and his family have 20 or so Fordson F's, and they've probably forgotten more about these tractors than most of us will ever know. They were at the big show in Penn's Cave, PA, last fall and did an exhibition wherein they disassembled and reassembled a Fordson over the course of a day (Butch Howe gave the running narrative). ...Anyway, they're good folks to have helping you out.

Funny how these tractors make the rounds...

Back to the subject at hand: I looked through all the references I have and didn't come up with anything on canvas-covered wheels. When Steve mentioned golf courses, though, it made sense. Once the lugs were removed from a standard wheel, a bit of canvas would help keep the wheels from spinning in wet grass. Probably a home-made remedy that was economical for the owner at the time.

Don Clough is a Fordson enthusiast here in Maine and has a large collection of F's. A couple of years ago he was asked to do a special golf course tractor restoration for a celebrity; follow the link below to see some photographs of his project.

He custom-made the front wheels. Using an old pair of standard fronts that had rusted through the rim (he separated the rim from the hub & spokes to use them), he had a local steel fabricator roll the rims into a cylinder out of 3/16 or 1/8 steel plate, then welded a flange along the edge. A bit time-consuming, but those golf-course wheels are not easy to find. There was a pair here on YT a few months back; I think the seller wanted $200 for them, and the ad ran for a month, which leads me to believe that they didn't sell. They might still be out there...

For the rears he removed the cleats from a standard wheel. He custom-made the extensions using two halves of a rear wheel, with a strip cut out from the middle and welded back together. Again, these wheels were rusted through in places -- please don't use perfectly good wheels to cut down!!! :-)

Hope you find the info & link useful, or at least informative!

-- Maine Fordson

• Golf Course Fordson

Thanks so much for taking the time to look through your reference material for me. Everyone in this forum has been more helpful than I could have ever hoped for. And being my first tractor restoration I love getting all the help and advice I can get. Hopefully some day I can return the favor.

-Mike

I stopped by and visited with Don Clough this week, and asked him about the lugs on the golf course wheels he fabricated for Arnold Palmer's Fordson F.

You had mentioned that you have a metal lathe and could turn some if need be; as it turns out (pardon the pun) you don't need to...

According to Don, he used 1/2" stainless steel fine-thread bolts, one and one-half inches long, with self-locking nuts. He just drilled through the surface (or "tread") of the wheel (to see the pattern, look at the photos using the link in the posting above), poked the bolts through so that the nuts would be on the outer circumference, and torqued everything down.

That's it. Pretty simple, really, and just think of all the time you'll save (unless you like standing in front of the lathe, that is!)

Good luck with your project, and be sure to post some photos as you progress...

-- Maine Fordson