# Massey Harris Pony Restoration



## Duck89 (May 11, 2020)

Hello! I am a new user to the forum and I look forward to learning a lot of information on here. 

After the recent passing of my grandfather, I rescued his Massey Harris Pony (and his Bush Hog T-63) from going to the scrap pile. It was a tractor he had his entire life and I remember seeing him on it many times as a child. I also believe it was his fathers tractor, so needless to say, it has been in my family a VERY long time.

I believe this tractor has NOT been ran in approximately 6-7 years. My grandfather always took care of this tractor and kept it indoors. I was not sure what I wanted to do with this tractor at first, but I am leaning towards the restoration route. I say that because I know that it does need some work and has never had anything done to it (to the best of my knowledge) other than just regular maintenance/fluids. When we went to pull the tractor out of the garage, we needed to pull it out from the rear. While doing so, it feels as though something is binding up inside of the tractor. The tractor was in neutral and the parking brake was not engaged. One it was out of the barn, the tractor WILL roll forward with ease and does not have that 'binding' feeling. As a result, I believe I will probably need to be cracked open. (I will obviously research more before I do this). I also believe the tractor has many leaks that will need to be repaired, hence the reason I am leaning towards the restoration route. 

Here are a few of my concerns: I have never restored a tractor before. Given the age of this tractor, I fear that once I dive into a restoration, I may have trouble finding parts, etc. Assuming I do not need to replace a LOT of parts, how readily available are most parts, bearings, etc, for this tractor? Also, I am not sure if I want to go with a 'professional' high gloss paint job. Does anyone do spray can paint jobs on any restorations? If so, how to they look? I plan on using this tractor quite often for food plots for hunting and am not interested in having a show quality piece, but rather a mechanically sound and clean unit. 

I appreciate any information and thoughts anyone can give me on this! 

I will attempt to post some pictures ASAP.

Thank you!
Martin


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## Duck89 (May 11, 2020)

Well apparently the photos taken with my iPhone are not able to be uploaded here. I will have to take more pictures with a digital camera tomorrow but this is my pony.


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## The 203 (Apr 27, 2020)

A diamond in the rough. Pretty cool just as the paint has aged.
Some MF have great parts availableity. I'm not sure on the pony.
Enjoy the journey. That tractor should not have ever been considered for the scrap yard.


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## Hoodoo Valley (Nov 14, 2006)

Welcome to the forum Martin! That's a great story on the tractor, and what meaningful restoration. Sure hope you keep us posted all the way. I've seen restorations where they used flat paint, to give the paint that "used" machine look. Might work for you here, instead of the high gloss. Take s look at salvage units at tractor house for an idea of parts tractors,and maybe eBay for parts as well. I'd bet that you'll be able to get it up to snuff.


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## sonnydaze (Jan 2, 2020)

Duck89 said:


> Hello! I am a new user to the forum and I look forward to learning a lot of information on here.
> 
> After the recent passing of my grandfather, I rescued his Massey Harris Pony (and his Bush Hog T-63) from going to the scrap pile. It was a tractor he had his entire life and I remember seeing him on it many times as a child. I also believe it was his fathers tractor, so needless to say, it has been in my family a VERY long time.
> 
> ...


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## JLSteiner (Aug 6, 2017)

Duck89 said:


> Well apparently the photos taken with my iPhone are not able to be uploaded here. I will have to take more pictures with a digital camera tomorrow but this is my pony.
> View attachment 56555


That is BEAUTIFUL tractor compared to most that age. I think you can find most of the parts you would need. When we were in the Massey Ferguson business before my dad died we had farmers who had tractors like this one, I remember one in particular that after a tune up, I could adjust the idle setting on the carb till it would run slow enough to count the fan blades. These were wonderful tractors, not powerful but wonderful to drive and work with.


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## sonnydaze (Jan 2, 2020)

Looks like you have a great restoration project and will have a tractor to cherish once work is completed. As you disassemble the tractor find a way to organize and label parts....take pictures especially of wiring connections. I've found good color matches in spray cans at *Tractor Supply* but don't know if they have Massey Harris colors or not. Their red paint was a perfect match on some repair work I did on an IH3588 but it faded to pink in a little over a year. Maybe I should have top coated it with a clear enamel. Make sure to mask off any tags you don't want covered by paint. You can find a Massey Harris Pony decal set here:

https://tractordecal.net/epages/d40...59-5a2a-4d54-8558-26c994d7e70f/Products/MH115

*Steiner Tractor Parts* specializes in new parts for old tractors and has how-to videos online. They list 774 products for Massey Harris tractors.

https://antique-tractor-parts.stein...831152395&w=massey harris&af=br1:masseyharris


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