Got Grandpa's H to my place. Couldn't get it started, though

Well, after a lot of planning and good advice from you guys I made the 300 mile trip to see if I could get my Grandpa's '52 H on the trailer and back to my place. I hoped to get it started (even if it took some work) in hopes to drive it off the trailer, but no luck.



After moving a 656 that didn't start out of the way, my dad and I started with the fuel tank. The fuel was pretty nasty and wouldn't flow so we took the sediment bowl completely out from the tank and let the old fuel drain. While we had that off we found that the cap of the sediment bowl was completely clogged. After working on that for a while we got it opened up and put some new fuel in the tank. We could get fuel to the carb, but not even a drop came out of the drain plug. We decided at that point to go ahead and load it up on the trailer and take it to my dad's place and work on it the next morning. We were able to easily pull it up onto the trailer and get it the 100 miles to his place.



The next morning we started by pressure washing a bunch of the crud off and then removed the carb. We opened it up and found that the needle valve at the float would stick and wasn't letting any fuel. We clean up the carb and installed a new needle valve cartridge. I was getting ready to put a new gasket on and realized the throat (is that the right term?) needed to come out of the carb body in order to install the gasket correctly. The throat had a square shape to it so I thought, maybe it threads in. I put an adjustable wrench on it and just started to turn on it and the throat broke. Knowing at that point that we wouldn't get it started, I cleaned up and pulled it home.




Now I have it here where I can work on it and have my first project... fix the carb. I'll probably put another thread out there asking for help with that

Thanks again for everyone advice. I'm sure I'll need more as I really dig into this machine.

The piece that broke is called the venturi. It's made of pot metal and they are, as you have found, pretty fragile. I'd ck w/ a parts yard for a carb you can get one out of. I'm not sure if Case/IH still has the venturi available, but if they do, I suspect its goldplated. You might also ck w/ some of the guys that rebuilc carbs. Someone may have one already out of the carb,saving you the risk of the next one breaking too. I think there are a lot of guys, including myself, who've learned that the hard way.
Keep plugging though.. you'll get it running and then the real fun begins.

Glad you got it home safely. Looks like one real happy camper in the tractor seat!

If it's been setting for a long time be careful turning over the engine. If you have a stuck or sticking valve in the cylinder head those push rods are very easy to bend. They are about the width of a pencil. I would be tempted to remove the valve cover and manually push down on the valves to make for sure none are stuck. Looks like a nice H and a fun project. Hopefully your kids will get a chance to help too. The feeling you get when you bring something back to life is one of the best. Good luck.

Looks like a really straight old tractor. That is one of those cool originals that you could take back to stock and leave it be.

Edit - And take the JD lawnmower seat off it!

Thanks, guys. It actually turns over just fine on the 6V battery.

I plan on replacing that seat soon, once I find a cheap replacement.