My wife and I just acquired her dad"s old tractor. It"s been sitting in the barn for the last 28 or so years and we just don"t know where to start. I don"t know if we want to use the tractor for work, but i do know that we want it fixed up, looking fresh, and running. We don"t even know what model or year it is, can anybody help?? I"ll see if i can post some pictures. Thanks! i thought pics posted in this post but looks like i sent them to the identify section, wherever that is, lol... i added three pictures.

What you have there is a Farmall F-20 made by IH. You can locate the serial number on the left frame rail by the clutch housing, the serial number tag on the tool box or the engine number on the left side of the engine block stamped on a raised area. Just by the pictures you have a F-20 made between 1936 to 1939. You will find plenty of information about those tractors on this website. Have fun.

I see lights,Does it have electric start,Nice tractor

jimmy

Because of the electric lights could it be possible that this tractor also has electric starter? Armand

In the black and white picture, look right about where the brake pedals would be, and then at the same area in the top pic, it almost looks like a starter hanging there.

Duh, it's the generator.

You have a Farmall F-20 tractor, it looks very nice. To get the year, look under the fuel tank, on the toolbox is a tag with 4 rivets holding it on, read the serial number and post it and I can give you the year.

Good luck!!

Andy.

Thanks for all the info, that was quick! I got to looking a couple days ago and thought it was an F12, but F20 is great too. i took pictures of all the numbers i could find on the tractor so i"ll take a look at the ones you guys told me to look at and maybe i"ll post them so we can double check. This the beginning of a long hard road, i"m kindof excited. Does anybody have any opinions on what to start with? i guess i need to get this thing painted or back under a barn roof. We would never sell this thing (sentimental value), but how much are these tractors worth once restored? Thanks.

The last thing you would do is to paint it. Not the first. Is the engine free? Can you turn if over with a crank. If the engine is free it might not take a whole lot to get it running. Do you plan on tackling the mechanical work yourself if the engine needs opened up? If you have no mechanical knowhow you might want to look for someone to help you who knows his way around an engine. The guys on here can talk you through a lot so whichever way you decide to go it will be okay. The first thing you need to do is find a suitable place to work on it and then determine the conditon of the engine. As I say, if the engine is free it might not take much to get it running. If the engine seems to want to turn don't turn it too much in case you have some stuck valves. If engine is free I would pull the head and inspect the valves. Real good chance they are stuck after sitting that long. As far as what it is worth in restored condition it depends some on the quality of the restoration. In any case pretty nicely restored late model F-20's can be bought for $2000 to $2500. You will very likely end up with more money in the tractor than it will ever be worth. If it were my dad's tractor I wouldn't care what it was worth or what I spent on it as long as it was mine. I know. I have my dad's 1962 JD 4010 which I have well over $10,000 in and it is worth about $7000. It's really nice and it was my dad's so it is priceless to me. Good luck. Let us know if we can help.

thats kindof how we feel, doesn't really matter what its worth, just excited to have it. grandpa said he would go out every once ina while and crank the engine, so supposedly it's loose, but they forgot to bring the crank over, so I can't confirm yet. As far as work, i'd like to tackle most of it with my father in law, he grew up on a farm with tractors of this age. we'll see how it goes. help, yes, going to need lots of help, lol..

Very nice! I hope it goes well for you!