| Home | Projects | Gallery | Events | Contacts | Links | |||
|
Repair
and restoration of the Friends of the South African Air Force Museum – Pretoria Branch
The tractor project was
begun in April 2002. The
tractor had originally been purchased by the Air Force to cut the runway grass.
The Farmall models were initially introduced by the McCormack-Deering of
International Harvester in 1924. The Farmall 100 at the
museum is one of approx 15 000 manufactured between 1954 and 1956. This model
features a seat offset from the engine, allowing the driver to look directly at
the ground under the tractor. This feature was known as ‘Culti-vision’ .
Compensating wheel weights are used to ensure proper balance. This model was powered
by the U-2 power unit (the same basic unit used on the Farmall A and B models)
with a capacity of approx 1800 cc. This unit is equipped to run on petrol (for
startup) and the to switch over to distillate or kerosene for normal operation.
Top speed is in the region of 15
kph. The tractor is equipped with a governor that has full control of the
throttle at engine speeds between 1000 and
1800 rpm. The standard colour for
the Farmall range was red with silver bands on the wheel rims, however, the
Museum tractor is painted high visibility yellow as is the norm for vehicles
working on active runways. When we received it we
found that the head had been removed and the tractor had been parked in the
open, resulting in the pistons rusting in the cylinders. We were forced to
strip the motor down and replace the piston sleeves. The starter ring gear had
to be built up and machined. The cylinder head was refurbished and the engine
was reassembled and rewired. The original 6 volt system was replaced with a 12
volt system. Problems in obtaining spares for the mechanical
starter solenoid prompted our decision to replace this with an
electrical unit. The tractor was painted
high visibility yellow. As the
working expectations for the tractor was to be light towing and static display
on Museum open days, the Touch-Control and associated hydraulics were not
refurbished. The project was completed at the end of 2003. Feel free to click on any of the thumbnails below to view a larger image.
| ||||||||||||
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
|
Copyright 2006 |