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Glenn in Penna. has the basics right, but since you’re writing a book I thought you might need a bit more detail, so I’d like to put in my two cents’ worth. Many of these points are “variations on a theme,” i.e., different operators do things differently (or, different tractors have slightly different features). Example: The early Fordson Model Fs have an array of trembler coils (or “buzz boxes”). They are contained in a steel box on the right side of the tractor (as you face the radiator). These coils are sealed wooden boxes with electrical contacts on the bottom and sides, and a set of contact points on top that vibrate and provide stepped-up current to the spark plug -- there is one for each of the four cylinders. Back to the point: Some farmers took these wooden coil boxes out and brought them inside the house at the end of the day, as they believed that dampness from being left outdoors would have an adverse effect on their performance (perhaps rightly so). So, the first thing these gents would do would be to install the buzz coils into their coil box. (I can send you a photo of this setup if you’d like, or you can go to eBay and do a search for Fordson Coil Box – there’s usually one up for auction.) You then turn the starting crank very slowly and listen to the coils: As the magnets installed on the engine’s flywheel pass over another stationary magnet, they generate a small amount of electrical current that is sent via a primitive distributor cap to the coils, one at a time. When each individual coil receives this current, the points on top begin to vibrate and make a buzzing noise. Each one has a slightly different pitch. Once you have heard the buzz coils make their four-note chorus, you put the cover on the steel box and fasten the clips on the sides. Since you’re right there, bend down and check the oil. About a foot off the ground, on the side of the engine, there are two brass petcocks – one above the other. Open the bottom one very slightly. A drop of oil should begin to ooze out. If not, close the bottom petcock. You need to add oil. Open the top petcock and then pour oil in the filler at the front of the engine. Look back to the top petcock. When oil begins to drip out of the top one, the engine has enough oil. Close the top petcock and put the oilcan away. The next thing you do is turn on the fuel supply. Fordson Model Fs were designed to run on kerosene. This fuel, while economical in those days, is not sufficiently volatile (its combustion point is too high), so the tractor has a small cast-iron tank for the more volatile (and expensive) gasoline on the left side of the tractor, just in front of the dashboard. The tank holds about half a gallon, and the words “FOR STARTING ONLY” are cast in large letters into its side. There is a petcock on the bottom that allows you select either gasoline or kerosene. After turning the petcock to the “gasoline” position, you go around to the back of the tractor and make sure the transmission is in neutral. Now retard the spark by turning the control lever on the dashboard (beneath and to the right of the steering wheel) counterclockwise (if you don’t, the engine is more prone to backfiring and, with the starting crank in your hands, you could easily sprain a thumb, break your wrist, or receive a similar injury when the crank is flung *violently* in the direction opposite that which you are trying to turn it.) Next you pull the choke all the way back. The choke control is a thin rod bent into a ring on the end. It’s located to the right of the spark advance lever on the dashboard, at the far right, and extends through the dashboard to the carburetor. Now make sure the throttle is set just so. (Usually it’s where it was before the engine was shut down the last time, and that’s good enough for starting.) The throttle control is a lever on the right side of the steering column – it looks somewhat like a turn-signal lever on today’s cars, but on the opposite side. It should be pulled down an inch or so from the top. You will need to adjust it when the engine starts. You now are ready to get serious about starting the tractor... Go around to the front and grasp the starting crank’s handle in the palm of your hand. Do not wrap your thumb around it – remember, if the engine backfires, the crank is going to instantly fly a half-turn or so in the opposite direction, and you don’t want your thumb in the way when this happens. Turn the crank clockwise while pushing in, until you feel it engage the engine’s crank nut. Now begin turning the engine over. It’s not a race or a speed contest, so don’t worry about spinning the crank as fast as you can – you’ll just tire yourself out when/if the engine doesn’t start right away. Crank some more. Keep cranking. Sooner or later, the engine will fire on a cylinder or two, but this usually is not enough to get the engine going, and you will have the crank torn from your hand once or twice. Go around to the left side of the tractor and adjust the choke a bit (push the lever forward, toward the radiator), which will add a bit of air to the mixture going into the engine. Crank some more. If you’ve lived a good life and said your prayers, and are at all in the good graces of the Almighty, the engine will roar to life with a belch of smoke and perhaps a short burst of flame out the exhaust pipe (which, it should be noted, has no muffler – it’s just a pipe with a 90-degree bend in it). Quickly go to the back of the tractor and fiddle with the choke and throttle control to keep it going. Don’t push the choke all the way forward for a few seconds – let it warm up a bit first. Adjust the spark control lever by turning it clockwise a bit. Don’t turn it too far, or the engine will start to misfire. If the engine doesn’t start after prolonged cranking, first make sure there’s enough gasoline in the starting tank. It may sound elementary, but you’d be surprised how many have made that mistake (this writer included, in his salad days). If that’s not the problem, advance the spark just a little. Still no luck? Check your buzz-coils. They may need to have their gaps adjusted. Check the spark plugs; perhaps they’re fouled. If so, clean them & check their gaps. Check all wiring connections, too. Usually it’s something simple which keeps the engine from starting. Once the engine has been running smoothly (more or less) for a few minutes on gasoline, go to the right side and open the valve on the sediment bulb (a kind of petcock) on the underside of the main fuel tank on the top of the tractor (this tank is oval in cross-section, and the earliest ones – 1918 through 1920 or so – were embossed “HENRY FORD & SON, DEARBORN, MICH. USA”. It contains the kerosene which the tractor will soon be burning as its primary fuel). Having done this, cross over to the gasoline (“starting”) tank on the other (left) side and turn the petcock’s selector valve to the “kerosene” position. This shifts the fuel being sent to the carburetor from gasoline to kerosene. If the engine is warm enough, the fuel is clean enough, the kerosene vaporizer is working correctly, etc. etc. etc., the tractor will continue to run. While you have been waiting for the tractor to warm up, you have not been standing idly by. You have been walking around the tractor, turning the grease cups a half-turn or so and squirting a bit of oil here and there to keep things well lubricated. (If a part wears out due to carelessness/poor maintenance, you lose doubly: replacement parts cost money you may not have, and vital tasks on the farm cannot be done until repairs are completed.) You’ve made sure there’s enough water in the radiator and also checked the water level in the air washer (a primitive air-filtration system) at the back of the engine, just in front of the dashboard. This keeps dust out of the air going into the engine’s fuel mixture. Now you are ready to set the tractor into motion. Go around to the back of the tractor and mount up. You’ll most likely clamber up over the rear axle. The stamped-steel seat is embossed with the Fordson logo and, spring-mounted, is not uncomfortable. The Fordson Model F is equipped with a wet-clutch system, which is bathed in the engine’s oil and is basically useless until the tractor has had a chance to warm up. Step down on the clutch pedal with your right foot. Grasp the gearshift (a stout rod bent into a loop on the end) on the left side of the tractor and try to shift the transmission into gear. If all you can do is produce a grinding noise, let the engine warm up some more. You can facilitate this by moving the throttle lever down a bit, but don’t overspeed the engine – 1000 rpm is all the engine is designed for. Once the engine is sufficiently warm and the transmission is in gear, let the clutch pedal up *slowly*. Voilà! You’re in motion! Adjust your speed by changing gears and/or adjusting the throttle. If you’re going to be plowing a field, you’ll most likely use second gear. (You have three forward gears plus one reverse.) Keep in mind, though, that the early Fordsons had no brakes – at all. To slow down, shift the transmission into a lower gear, and to stop, drive to a level place and shift into neutral. Once the day’s labors are done and you’ve unhooked whichever implement it is that you’ve been using (plow, mowing machine, hay rake or whatever) and left it in its shed, drive to where you’ll be keeping the tractor for the night. It’s now time to shut your tractor off. Since there is no key or ignition switch, the best way to shut it down is to close off the fuel supply. This accomplishes two things: first, the engine stops running (after a minute or two), and secondly (and more importantly), the carburetor is emptied of the kerosene in the lines, which means that the next time you go to start your tractor, gasoline will make it through the system more quickly and result in easier starting. Of note: If your tractor tends not to start easily, you’ll want to park it heading slightly downhill (be sure to chock the wheels so it doesn’t roll away). This nose-down position allows the magnets on the flywheel to be a little closer to the magneto and will give a stronger electrical current the next time you go to crank it. If the weather is going to be cold, you’ll need to drain the radiator so it doesn’t freeze up. This would not only ruin the radiator core, it would break the engine block. (Imagine how disappointed you’d be to come out in the morning and see a ragged chunk of cast iron laying on the ground next to your tractor.) Drain the air washer, too, for the same reason. (Remember: Antifreeze hadn’t been invented yet. You could make a primitive antifreeze by mixing methanol -- wood alcohol – with a bit of water and a small amount of glycerin.) Be sure to close them back up once they’re drained; you don’t want mice to take up residence inside. Other fine points about Fordsons: – They are notoriously hard to start in cold weather - the oil in the crankcase congeals, making it extremely difficult to turn the crank. If it has been very cold out, you can fill the radiator with hot water (many farmers would heat metal pails of water on their kitchen woodstoves) to pre-warm the engine a bit. The radiator takes 11 gallons of water, though, so be prepared to carry it. – If you let the clutch out too quickly, there is the possibility that the tractor will rear up, possibly overturning and crushing you in the process. There have been too many fatalities due to this happening. In my personal collection, I have a picture of a Fordson with the motto “PREPARE TO MEET THY GOD” painted crudely on the toolbox under the steering wheel. – On the back of the tractor there was a drawbar, designed to pull farm implements. Some tractors were equipped with a second (upper) drawbar, so that you could hook up a single-bottom plow or other such implement. It is extremely dangerous to hook a chain or rope (i.e., to pull a stump or rock) to this upper drawbar. If you do, you run the risk of the tractor rearing up on its rear wheels. – The all-steel wheels are not very good on ice. In fact, they will skitter about on a frost-covered plank in the morning.
That’s about it, I guess. As far as your questions about leaving a tractor running during the noon hour, I don’t believe that would happen. Most farmers would see that as an outright waste of precious money. If they climbed onto a tractor that was already running, they would just push down on the clutch pedal on the right, let up gently, and then adjust the throttle lever to modify their speed. As for the Fordson starting in the manner as the Model T Ford, that’s about right – many of the parts *are* interchangeable. The Model T, however, was equipped with an electric starter in (I think) 1926. The Fordson Model Fs are all crank-started.
Let me know if you have other questions; I’ll do my best to answer them. Kind regards,
Another Fordson operator in Maine
(third-generation operator of my family’s 1922 Fordson Model F)
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