McCormick-Deering 10-20 Runs!!!!!! pics video

Finally!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! As many of you know, we have been working on two McCormick-Deering 10-20 that were my Grandfather's. They probably sat in the fence row for 50 years. First we tackled the 1927 on rubber. New rims, new rubber, new fenders, new pistons, new sleeves, new valve guide tubes, crank turned, rebuilt governor, rebuilt mag and carb, new radiator, new bearings and all new felts. Almost every part offered by The Fordson House. Lots of body work.

The motor man drove 2 1/2 hours to help us set the timing and get it started. We couldn't get it to fire by cranking it so we gave it a tug and it started on the 1st rotation of the wheel. The next issue is that the clutch wouldn't disengage. Brand to lining that just wouldn't release. We held the brake to slip the clutch and try and wear it down but that didn't help either. We drove it around for about and hour. We killed the engined and hand crank started it about 5 times. After another round of carb setting changes and getting the mag setting correct so we could kill the motor, we couldn't hand start it but we didn't spend a lot of time at it since we went after the clutch.

Here is one video, hopefully the other displays too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOl4gEp2VY4

After about 4 hours we got the new clutch out and put an older one back in, confirmed that we have clutch and quit for the night. Monday we will button up the clutch and clean up the tractor.

I'm sure I will have to play with the settings to find that sweet spot in the timing and the throttle to get it to start easy. The motor many insisted that the timing be set to fire just past TDC so that the motor would fire on the way down when starting. He said that this setting would never produce a kickback. This seems a bit different than the other information out there but the motor ran very smooth when we had it going.

the motor fired very strong. Spectators could definitely feel the compression standing 15-20ft away. We were all excited just driving it around. A big thanks to everyone on this board for all of the great information regarding these tractors. I think when I posted the serials numbers, someone abroad gave me the year of each tractor in about 20 minutes.

I will post more pictures next week of the tractor with all of the decals and cleaned up. Maybe a better video of it running but here are a couple that I took.

This summer, both tractors will be in a show at Roseville, IA. I will also take them back to the farm and take a photo of them in the same spot that they came from! A true before and after.

Dave


Motor starting video

Looks better than new. Great job. Hal

This link is the longer running video
Driving video

Great job on the restoration process!
Keep those McDeerings going!! I have a 10-20
sitting in the pole barn aching to get out and
get started. We got it a few years back for $100[describes condition]. It is a 1930. Everytime I see one at a show, I go nuts. I have 3 other tractors that I run, but we need to get this 'ol girl going. We had trouble getting it to fire.
Being greenhorns, we weren't sure of the the settings. Your tractor looks nice. It's special when it stays in the family. Keep up the good work! Jim Z.

Dave, You did a very nice job on your 10-20. It runs good too. I subscribed to your YouTube channel also.

Andy

The bottom picture, Is that what it looked like after you got done pulling it around the place through the mud?

Nice work. Nice clean garage!

Gordo

Have VIVID memories of driving my grandfather's/father's 1929 10-20 on steel, from about 1941 to 1951, when my father got an H and just put the 10-20 in an old shed with a leaky roof. You guessed the rest. Nobody cared then, so it just turned into a piece of junk. Oh, how I wish I had saved it. It ran great after 22 years of use. I don't think any work was ever done on it.
It was a brute to ride on, with those lugs. Even on sod you could feel them jouncing your spine. On a gravel road, you had to run it about as slow as it would go, or else it would jounce the driver up and down and make all kinds of drumming noises through the fenders.
Ours seemed to steer hard--might have been something to do with steering gear adjustment.
It had low "skid rings" on the front wheels, so it did not turn easily in plowed ground when pulling a 7" double disk. No turning brakes, makes a lot of difference. An uncle's 10-20 with high "skid rings" turned quite a bit better in plowed ground. The load pulling right in the middle of the drawbar tended to keep the tractor going straight, and any attempt at a "high-speed turn" (second gear, 3+ mph) would result in a long slide forward, although it would eventually come around if you didn't hit the fence first. If you slowed it down and reduced the load, it would turn pretty well.
These engines are huge (about 280 cubic inches) for the relatively small amount of horsepower, but they have enormous amounts of torque. No kind of hard ground would stop it with 2 14s in second gear. It would not pull any kind of heavy load on sod or plowed ground in third gear, thanks to the power wasted by the steel wheels. On the belt, it ran a 22" thresher or a stationary ensilage chopper/blower with ease. Again, the torque was super. On high-speed engines, max. torque occurs at a much lower speed than max. hp, because the slower engine speed allows more time for fuel/air to enter the cylinders. I guess since the 10-20 had a max. governed rpm of 1000 rpm, it had plenty of time to breathe, and that may have had a lot to do with the great torque.
Anyone familiar with the IHC machines of the 30s will know that eventually, IHC put a variable governor on the tractors with this
type of engine (F-20, W-30, F-30, 10-20). The original governor, the one with the little quadrant and lever on the steering column, does no governing unless it is "wide open" (that's why they didn't call it "variable"). I used to be such a tractor nut that I would take this beast out to rake hay (we had an F-12 on rubber, but no, that wasn't big enough for this l'il runt--every kid wants to feel big, I guess). If you wanted to keep the noise down and run in 3rd gear, but throttled back for a safe speed on the old horse-drawn side-delivery, you found the engine slowing down going up hill, and speeding up going downhill. A variable governor would keep the speed fairly constant no matter what the setting. Several of the old aftermarket suppliers sold variable-governor kits to fit these tractors, and sometimes you see them at shows.
I've always wondered if the ball-bearing mains didn't have something to do with the power of the engines in this series. When you shut them down, they seemed to roll on a little longer than a more-conventional engine (and you could hear those bearings hum a little, too).
There were a number of good tractors available by the time IHC came out with the 15-30 and the 10-20, but I don't think there were any made any better than these IH machines. Everything enclosed, no chains to wear away, good seals, excellent materials, extremely simple adjustments, and so on, made for a sturdy and very long-lived machine that was easy to live with. There were 4 in our "extended family" (3 uncles who farmed, + my father), and some of these were in use up into the 1940s, although I think ours was the last, because we used it until about 1951 and the others had "graduated" to rubber-tired F-20's and M's.

Great job Dave!

Depending upon where the mag was set [you should start it impulse engaged and advanced just beyond "off"], your mechanic's timing advice sounds about right - TDC or just a little beyond ['late'] when starting so you keep your limbs intact. Then advance it once it's running.

You're still one [or more] step ahead of me, but I couldn't resist seeing if that 22-36 would talk to me a little today before I mount the water pump, radiator, and hoses, gas & water tanks, etc. A little gas down the priming cups and third crank had it come to life - for a few seconds anyway. Sounded pretty healthy for an empty carb; if it sounds as good as yours when I get gas lines to it and the carb all tuned, I will be happy.

Thanks for linking the great videos!

Your story reminds me of the 10-20 we had. It was bought in 1926 before I was born and used until 1950. It was on rubber since they couldn't
drive on the highway to reach some of the fields.
In 1950 we bought an H and a C. In 1951 my brother and I graduated from high school. Should've got out in 1950, but they went to the 12 year school and our class was the first to catch it. My brother joined the Air Force 3 days later and in 1953 I was drafted. I often think about the 10-20 we had. I think it may have been sold. It was always shedded. My dad had to give up farming and the dairy since he was getting up in years. Hal

Sure puts a smile on a person's face. I just had mine out yesterday to help my husband move a couple old trucks on the place. When we were done I couldn't help it I had to take the girl out for a short drive. Boy it sure felt good. She was to get a new paint job last month but my paint man went to the hospital. He's home now so we'll get that new paint on this month. Mine is a 15-30.

Hi Dave, I know this post is old but my family is restoring my grandpas 1924 10-20 and we are trying to find the dark charcoal gray color. We have tried DuPont 67625, came out a blueish gray. What color did you use for the primer and base coat? Thanks!

(quoted from post at 03:53:48 05/16/20) Hi Dave, I know this post is old but my family is restoring my grandpas 1924 10-20 and we are trying to find the dark charcoal gray color. We have tried DuPont 67625, came out a blueish gray. What color did you use for the primer and base coat? Thanks!

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I'm sure I ordered the paint from Fordson House. Sorry, I haven't looked around these forums for years. Good luck