# Farmall A



## mckishen1 (Mar 7, 2006)

In my travels the last few days I came across a good running Farmall A.
I am pretty much new to these but have been looking for a small tractor to have around the yard. Not so much for any farm use but just for general work.
Something bigger than a garden tractor in other words. The one I looked at has had a hydraulic rear hitch added, apparently has only crank start, but yet has a battery and charging system? I hadn't gone to look at that machine, but the same guy had several for sale. The fact that it ran so well and pretty much needed nothing but maybe some cleaning and paint to make it 100% got my attention. It's an offset or cultivator style machine, which I really don't need, but like I said it runs great, it started dead cold, with just a bump of the crank. The tires are real good and everything seems in order. The grille has a few dings and dents, but I guess that's expected for a machine that old.
He's asking $1350 for it, it belonged to a relative who passed away and by the looks of his place, he only runs green tractors. It also comes with two attachments, a cultivator and plow. Here's a pic of it. 
Any opinions? I am most concerned about the price, it seems too cheap for a complete machine that runs well.
I ran it around the yard a bit and all seemed fine. The motor sounds real good and it looks pretty well maintained mechanically. It's got a new muffler, new tune up, and from what I can gather it wasn't used all that much. It's been sitting in a garage for most of it's more recent history at least. I went there looking for more of a modern utility tractor but this caught my eye for some reason. Can these serve as a basic tractor or are they more purpose built as a cultivator tractor?

<img src="http://i28.tinypic.com/2d9d92.jpg">


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## Morgan (Oct 26, 2006)

My dad bought a Super C Farmall with 10 pieces of equipment for $1500.00 and it runs great. He bought his about 5 years ago. I would buy it if it runs good and you need it. These old tractors are very versatile if you can find the attachments for them. My dads is a two point hitch system however you can buy a converstion kit at TSC to convert it over to a three point hitch.


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## Live Oak (Dec 22, 2003)

That is not a bad looking tractor. It has been sitting in a shed somewhere collecting a lot of dust and bird poop but a date with the pressure washer, a good quality paint job, and decal kit you will have a NICE looking and very durable tractor for show or work. The Farmall A is a VERY popular tractor with tobacco farmers in my area and they typically go for between $1500 for that crappier looking examples to near $4,000 for the restored types. They make good small garden tractors as well but cannot do a lot of the jobs more modern compact tractors can do but for that price I think you have a pretty good deal on your hands. Below is a link to some pricing of these models:


http://www.tractorhouse.com/listing...L&mdl=A&guid=4DE13CDC2C094069A195691D21516553


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## wass (Jan 3, 2007)

Around here 1500 would be top dollar. Makes a difference if it is a Super A and/or has hydraulics, a water pump and a starter. The ones with everything will bring in excess of 4ooo, while the plain A's would be lucky to bring 1000. I've got an old plain but painted A with a mower and couldn't get 2000. Decided to keep it around! Make sure the heavy wheel is on the left!!


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## wass (Jan 3, 2007)

Sorry, heavy wheel on the right!


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## mckishen1 (Mar 7, 2006)

I only looked at it real quick and snapped a few shots of it, when I was there, I wasn't even considering it, but after thinking about it awhile, I thought maybe it could serve me for what I need here. 
Mostly just to pull a mower and maybe a small grader box for my driveway. Nothing really heavy. I've been making due with a garden tractor but it just barely pulls the grader and won't push any snow on the dirt drive. I could fabricate a plow or retro fit something pretty easy. 

When I was there, he started it with a crank handle, but it's got a generator and battery and the lights are intact. Looking at the pics I took though it looks to have a starter on the right side of the bellhousing up top? Maybe the battery was just down from sitting. Either way, even if the starter and battery were bad, that's not a big deal to fix. My main concern is not having to rebuild every last inch of the thing just to use it. I looked at a few slightly larger tractors and most didn't even run or needed extensive work just to be able to use them. I like the size of this thing, and how simple it is. 

Any idea on what these weight? I would need to consider what type of trailer I would need to haul it home, its too far to drive it home, about 50 miles or so.

I'm not going to jump right on it, but it's in the top three to consider so far I guess, mainly since it runs so well. Even if it had only manual start, that wouldn't bother me much for as often as I'll use it. It does have a hydraulic pump, but its an add on to power a ram under the left side. It's rigged to power either the rear hitch arms or a belly attachment. 
I didn't bother to look at the attachments when I was there, but he said they were all in decent shape. The seller isn't actively trying to sell it, he had another machine that I was interested in but that turned out to be far to big. He seemed only really interested in green tractors and had acquired this from a deceased relative, he said he's been using it just to haul a wagon around the property. He's got it in a nice building, but from the looks of it its probably been stored in an old barn or chicken coop full of pigeons or something. 

A good steam cleaning and some paint would do wonders for, my goal however would be more for preservation than restoration when it comes to paint.


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## wass (Jan 3, 2007)

Half ton pickup truck should work.


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## mckishen1 (Mar 7, 2006)

I figured that I could pull it with just about any pickup, but my concern is whether or not it will span the ramps on my car trailer.
It looks a bit narrower than most cars. If the car trailer won't work, the next best thing I have is small flat bed I made out of an old pop up camper. It will fit on there, but I'm not sure about the weight. I'd guess the pop up camper trailer will hold about 1500 lbs or so but I wouldn't want to make too long of a trip with it on that just because of the small 12" tires.


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## wass (Jan 3, 2007)

I meant to drive or winch the A on the truck. They fit nicely and look pretty cool as a bonus! I've hauled Allis B's and Farmall A's on a 1/2 ton Chev, but a 3/4 works better> A little hill, ditch or short loading dock might help.:smoking:


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## mckishen1 (Mar 7, 2006)

I don't think it would fit? The wheel wells in the truck would suffer even if it cleared the bed sides. Either way, both of my pickups have fiberglass caps which are well sealed, so the trailer would be the only option. I have two more tractors to look at this weekend, I'm still not totally sold on the Farmall A, The offset design and lack of a more modern hitch are my main concerns. 
This one has some sort of hitch and a draw bar, but it's pretty basic.
I'm still hoping to find something newer for a good price, a front end loader would be nice, a diesel would be better but I'm not going into debt for a tractor that I may only use on occasion. A front end loader would suffice for snow removal around here. 

Is there anything to watch out for on these? If nothing else turns up, I plan to go give this one a more serious look.


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## mckishen1 (Mar 7, 2006)

I went back and took a better look at the Farmall A this afternoon, it has electric start and it does work fine, the guy said he used the crank just to show how easy it starts. The rear hitch is a drawbar with a two point lift which is manual lift with a spring assist. The hydraulic pump which is an add on item powers a lift ram to raise and lower belly attachments. 
It has a water pump, and an oil pump I guess since it also has an oil filter on the right side. It was ice cold on a rainy day and I showed up totally unexpected, I hit the switch gave it a bit of throttle and it started and idled right off with less than one full revolution of the motor. I pulled it outside and took a few better pics. He's firm on the price, I figured that if maybe I could get it a bit cheaper, that would make up my mind. I let it run for nearly an hour and ran it around the yard a bit and all seems good, no odd noises, everything seems fine, the only thing I didn't try is the add on hydraulics since I didn't have any attachments on it. He did let me hook it up to a pretty large wagon so I could get an idea of what it felt like pulling some weight, it pulled a full sized farm wagon with no trouble at all, although it was only loaded about halfway with aluminum irrigation pipe.
Here's a rear view, what type of attachments will work with this hitch? I don't suppose it would be all that hard to build a three point hitch for it though if I ever needed it. The box grader I have pulls from a draw bar, it's similar to those DR units they advertise on TV only bit larger and without the hydraulics. 
Do you think that this would drag a scraper blade, about 6' or so wide? 

My main concern is to have something to keep my driveway smooth and to be able to clear snow if the need arises. I've been getting by with a 4 wheeler and a garden tractor but it takes forever. I just don't want to buy something thats too small or under equipped, if I had more room, I'd probably have already bought it just because I think its a neat old machine, but I only have room to store one machine indoors right now here and don't really have the funds to just start collecting old tractors. If I pass on it, I'll pass the deal on if anyone is interested. I just want to look at a few more machines first. So far, everything else I've seen was pretty rough, needing far more work than I want to invest in anything right now.


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## chrpmaster (May 5, 2004)

It seems like a great little tractor for the money. Especially if it starts that easy and the generator, starter and electric works. Is your grader a pull behind or does it need hydrolics? If its a pull behind I don't think you can go wrong with this. Also if you use it a year and then upgrade to something else you are almost guarenteed of getting you money back. Those older tractors are tough, reliable and will pull bigger loads than you would expect if you look at the horsepower ratings. They are also easy to work on.

Let us know what you decide
Andy


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## mckishen1 (Mar 7, 2006)

My grader is a homemade copy of a DR, it's manual adjust with no hydraulics. 
I would like to be able to add a scraper blade or something to the rear, but so long as the manual lift is solid and stable, I guess I could make something work there. 
I don't have much concern about what it will pull, ground here is flat and my yard is mostly dry ground so there's no need for anything huge, and the fact that indoor storage is limited is also driving my search for something small. I started looking around when a neighbor bought a new JD compact 4x4, it's nice, but it don't have much power and it's light weight makes it hard to do any serious work. He bought it with a backhoe attachment too, but it's too small to do much real work anyhow. I also have a self powered pull behind rough cut mower, I've pulled that behind an ATV, but I can't let the grass get too high. I am sure the Farmall would do fine there. 
I looked at an older Bolens Iseki today too, thats a bit more money but does come with more, but that needs tires and some minor work. It's big advantage is that it's a diesel and has a loader. That would suit me better but I wasn't really out to spend that much on a tractor right now, but it does seem like a decent deal even if I have to spend another grand on tires and some odds and ends. My big concern there is parts availability since it's an older import. The Farmall parts can be had pretty easy from what I can see, even NAPA can get most items, if not TSC or several online sellers seem to pretty much cover the whole machine as far as parts.


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## jd3020 (Mar 19, 2008)

*farmall A*

These are great little tractors the price is dirt cheap for my area it appears in good shape a little cleaning and paint goes a long way it is elec start but not factory hydrullic but east to convertif your not looking to show piece it but work it, make a plate to extend under the grill( may have to notch the bottom of the grill, mount the hyd pump there with a shaft into where the crank goes 2 linesoff it 1 suction to a small tank you can mount to the front modt sq plate on the right and 1 to a control valve with a relief that goes back to the tank use a small snowplow angle cyl where the exhaust lift mounts and the cultivators work great. this will pull quite a bit if the tires are filled. Like a small harrow, wagons a corn binder,etc. The difference in the "A", super "A" 130 and 140 isnt great beyond hydrulics and slight power increases. Sheet metal changes dont make it work any better. lol lol these wer a huge improvement over the cub. I still have some and work them


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## mckishen1 (Mar 7, 2006)

I broke down and bought a 4 wheel drive a few weeks ago, the farmall is still for sale, the guy really hasn't had many bites on it. Everyone seems to want a manual start machine for some reason. He's got an add on Craigslist:
http://southjersey.craigslist.org/grd/564826102.html

It's a great running machine, just too old and not really suited for what I need. The 4x4 and front end loaded is better suited to my needs so if anyone is interested, as far as I know it's still for sale.


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## mckishen1 (Mar 7, 2006)

To those who PM messaged me, the seller still has this tractor for sale, I don't think he's actively trying to sell it but if you PM me with an email address I can forward you his info.


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## Andy Motteberg (Nov 2, 2007)

Nice tractor!!


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## CWD (Dec 31, 2008)

I have a 1946 Farmall A that I keep thinking of selling. I restored it about 10 years ago, converted it to 12 volts w/ alternator and put on a Woods L59 belly mower. I didn't use it at all last year since I picked up a Cub Lo-Boy 185 with the same belly mower. I'm not sure what to ask for it as the prices seem to have dropped along with the economy. I've been told the Cub is worth more but it doesn't have the power the A has. The Cub does have a live PTO and a clutch brake that makes it better suited for mowing but the A has a great sound!


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## kyleandhisA (Jun 22, 2011)

*First time A owner*

I just got a 47 A as a gift and am interested in some information if any one can help. The tractor came with a spring asist manual lift one bottom plow and a 6 ft international c tine cultivator I was wondering on a disc if one was made for the tractor and or what size disc will it pull safely i do not want to over work it just make some small half to one acre food plots it pulls the plow quite well and the drag is great for working in fertilizer but need a better option for cutting clots up and a disc would be great just dont know what size will work thanks alot


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