Newbie questions

Hello all,

On Saturday, I will take delivery of a 1941 Farmall B which I purchased yesterday for no reason other than I think it"s really neat.

It seems to run well so far, but will need a new paint job.

As far as the very basic mechanical/engine stuff, i.e. changing oil, type of oil to use, oil filter, carburetor, is there any place that"s a really good web site or book about what someone who has one of these tractors should be doing in terms of basic maintenance?

Any common problems I need to specifically look for? I have some concern that seals/gaskets might need replacement since they haven"t been touched in at least 20 years. If that"s the case, where"s the best place to get them?

Also, any general advice about this? I"ve never had any old vehicle or a tractor before...

Thanks very much for any and all advice!

Ross K
Nederland, Colorado

best bet is to pick up an owners/operators manual and maybe the i and T shop manual for your tractor. they sell them on this site. i have a 41 b.handy little tractor. if you are going to work it, weights make a world of difference. i have my rear tires loaded with calcium chloride and water, but cast iron weights are a good option too.

The first think I would look into is manuals for the tractor. At least an operator's manual and if you intend to do very much work on it you should get a service manual. A parts book helps a lot too to show you how things should go together. The operator's manual will tell, and show you about regular maintainance items such as oil changes, lubrication etc. Also put this site as a bookmark on your computer, lots of good advice here.

Congrats! You'll get the fever and want to buy more tractors.

Step 1: get a manual for your B. It's $30 on this site. Can get one on ebay too. It will help you know what to grease, lube, service and clean.

Parts: Also available on this site. I've gotten good stuff for my Farmalls and Allis' here. Any Case/IH dealer near you will also have or be able to get them. If you're in a small town, many auto parts stores will carry what you need to change fluids and stuff.

Leaks: Fix them when you see them and when they are bad enough to worry about.

If you don't already have them, buy a grease gun, oil can, and a can of PB Blaster. That'll get you well started.

And most of all, have fun!

Best thing I did when I was a 'newbie' was to buy a reprint of the operators manual. It will have complete list of what to lubricate and when and how often, when to replace, etc. My tractor was in shady enough shape that I also got the repair manual and parts book. There are several sources (including this site) just google around. Good luck!

Hi, Ross, and welcome aboard.

Good quesstions. Firts order of business is to get an Operator's Manual. They're sold on this site (there's a link over to the left) or at external_link. That will have all sorts of useful info, including as charts illustrating lube and maintenance points, as well as maintenance intervals. Good pointers, too, on safe operation. It will specify different motor oils but you have to remember that it was written almost 70 years ago and a lot has been done with oils since. The brand is up to you. As far as weight, straight 30 works just fine, multiweights no thinner than 10, like 10-30 or 10-40 (but NOT 5-30) are fine. Some people swear by the 15-40 oils formulated for use in diesels. It's your choice.

Run it for a while and get to know it. I have no idea what your experience on a wrench is, but if you go to make repairs (like seals, gaskets . . .) two other books come into play -- the Service Manual and the Parts Catalog. The former is for procedures on R&R of large segments and has a lot in it for specs. The latter has exploded views of the non-hardware items on the tractor and can be invaluable for figuring out how things are put together so you can take them apart. Anything gives you any sass, look at the books or come onto the board here and somebody will help you out.

Common items like oil filters and pan and valve cover gaskets, belts and so on can be had from any good NAPA or CarQuest. For other parts, you can go to a CaseIHNHFord dealer (it works better finding parts for these old tractors if they were an IH or CaseIH dealer before all the merging). Or a lot of times NAPA and CarQuest can cross bearing and seal numbers from the part number that you will supply from your parts catalog, calling it, of course, by its correct name. Clever, eh!

And just by way of bein' a nice guy, I'll share the newbie's tip about changin your oil filter. It's under the dome on the right side of your motor. The bolt head at the top is what you loosen to remove the dome to get to the filter. Don't get too overly gumptious removing or replacing that bolt as it is hollow. But the real hint is to look for the two gaskets. One is just a copper gasket (looks like a washer) that is under the head of the hollow bolt. If it's not there you should get one, it can be reused several times. But the tricky one is in the circular groove where the bottom of the filter dome rests and is a square o-ring. If it hasn't been changed in some time, it will look just like metal. It will seem to be as hard as metal. If you are looking at a groove that is anything less than about 3/16" deep it is in there hiding from you and needs to be gotten out, as a new gasket (which should be packaged with your new filter) will not seal if installed on top of this one. Use little scredriver, the tip of a knife blade or any other pointy thing to get it started and dig it out of there.

Go for it, operate it safely and sensibly, and let us know how you're making out.

Happy motoring!

The Owner's Manual will have all the information you are currently looking for. If you are an experienced mechanic, just not familiar with old tractors, you may find the Parts Catalog the most useful second manual. For a third, either the I&T service manual or the service manual from IH. Each has some advantages over the other. I lean towards the IH.

There is only one source for CaseIH authorized reprints of the original manuals. That is Binder Books. The Owner's Manual for your tractor is $22.

To get started, take a look on Rudi's Cub Manual server.
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Down near the bottom of the page is "Other International Harvester McCormick-Deering Farmall Tractors" with just a few Farmall A and B items. Most of the maintenance informaton in the Super A Owner's Manual will apply directly to your B.

Be sure to lubricate the fan hub as directed.

The most common problem...only lightly touched on below...is that one day you will go out and there will be, not one but two, Farmall tractors. They always seem to attract a mate. After that they increase more rapidly, along with parts and implements, tools, etc. You really need to start thinking about where to put the pole barn right now. If married, practicing your excuses now in front of a mirror until you can look truly sincere when you say them will save you a lot of trouble down the road. The tractors themselves are relatively trouble free.

Thanks for everyone"s excellent advice and well-wishes! This should be fun. For the record, I have NO experience working on engines. Most of the "handy" stuff I have done has been electrical.

Well, then you'll be right at home.

First Hammer Rule -- Hit with progressively bigger hammers until something breaks, then back down one size.

Second Hammer Rule -- If it can't be fixed with a hammer, you have an electrical problem.

Newbie, You took a good step by getting on this forum, lots of experience and good info. Dave H is right, tractors tend to multiply, so when you build that pole barn figure out how big it needs to be and go about 40% bigger or as big as you can afford. About the married part-teach your wife how to drive the B (the B is an easy tractor to add another seat on) Tractor Fever is more contagious than swine flu! My wife has asked me more than once after an auction "That was a nice tractor, why did you quit bidding?"

To Dave H You just told the story of my life.

It's a big club.