If you folks remember, I bought a 961 at auction in late May.
Here's the thread about that tractor. There are links to the actual auction and pictures.
forums.yesterdaystractors.com
So, to finish the story.............I tore the engine completely down. The pistons and sleeves were like new. None of the bearings showed any wear except number four rod which was scored badly. I had the crank ground and it cleaned up at .010 under. So far, so good. Then I found the rod had to be resized as it was out of round from the hammering of the scored rod journal. I was going to grind the valves,, but decided I'd better get the head checked for flatness and cracks. Guess what. Both were bad. #3 was cracked in the middle of the combustion chamber and the exhaust valve was burned bad. (In my original post, I said the head gasket was blown between 3 & 4. Actually, it was between 2 & 3.) I found a good uncracked head for $350. I had it surface ground and had the shop go ahead and grind the valves as he already had it in his shop. It turned out that my cracked head had new valves and guides and the "new" head needed new valve guides. He just swapped them and it turned out that the #3 exhaust valve on my cracked head had a big chunk out of it. He used a good one from the "new" head and every thing was ready to go. (It has good oil pressure - 60+ cold and will hold about 35 idling hot. Suits me. )
I put the engine back on the transmission, side rails, and the front "what ever you call it" that the pedestal is hooked to. We discussed the lower thrust bearing for the pedestal in the original post and I decided now was the time to check into that. Guess what? The bearing was as good as new. I greased it up good and buttoned up the front end. Oh yeah, I packed the wheel bearings as it was handy at the time.
Next came the hood and stuff. I replace the fuel gauge with an ammeter as I like to see what the alternator is doing. This one has been converted to 12 volt with a Delco 10SI. I'm ok with that as I'm not into the high end collecting stuff.
Soooo....... I'm into this tractor for $3089.97. I'm satisfied. It's a unique tractor as a row crop with a narrow front end. It was quite a tractor when new. It has the "live" PTO, five speed transmission, power steering with a remote hydraulic hookup. It has been repainted and it looks like they stripped the sheet metal. The paint job isn't good, but it isn't that bad either. Guessing from it's fading, it was done years ago. Oh yeah, the back tires are in really good shape with good tread and little to no cracking.
But.......I'm wondering who overhauled this thing the last time. It seems obvious to me that they put in new pistons and sleeves, bearings, valve guides and valves. All with a bad rod journal and I'm guessing with a cracked head. They may have worked on the three point system as it will hold up the three bottom plow more or less indefinitely. That is unusual.
As I mentioned in the original post, I have a copy of the check that was used to buy the tractor, but can't read the name on it. I'm trying to track down the owner and have couple of leads, but so far, I haven't found him.
Oh yeah, the icing on the cake ------- it has a full set of pie/segment rear wheel weights. They seem to be asking about $750 for these. I'm in the process of cleaning up and painting the rusty ones now - one a day. I also have an extra set of "center sprockets" and a friend has a full set of the special bolts that are needed to fasten them to the rear hubs.
Nuff for now.
Here's the thread about that tractor. There are links to the actual auction and pictures.
961 Questions by a new guy
Hi - I'm new here, but not new to old Ford tractors. I worked at a Ford Tractor Dealership in the mid-seventies. I guess that shows my age. I always got the 39 to 65 year of tractors as all the other guys liked working on the new big stuff. I was the go-to guy on the SOS's also. Anyway, I...

So, to finish the story.............I tore the engine completely down. The pistons and sleeves were like new. None of the bearings showed any wear except number four rod which was scored badly. I had the crank ground and it cleaned up at .010 under. So far, so good. Then I found the rod had to be resized as it was out of round from the hammering of the scored rod journal. I was going to grind the valves,, but decided I'd better get the head checked for flatness and cracks. Guess what. Both were bad. #3 was cracked in the middle of the combustion chamber and the exhaust valve was burned bad. (In my original post, I said the head gasket was blown between 3 & 4. Actually, it was between 2 & 3.) I found a good uncracked head for $350. I had it surface ground and had the shop go ahead and grind the valves as he already had it in his shop. It turned out that my cracked head had new valves and guides and the "new" head needed new valve guides. He just swapped them and it turned out that the #3 exhaust valve on my cracked head had a big chunk out of it. He used a good one from the "new" head and every thing was ready to go. (It has good oil pressure - 60+ cold and will hold about 35 idling hot. Suits me. )
I put the engine back on the transmission, side rails, and the front "what ever you call it" that the pedestal is hooked to. We discussed the lower thrust bearing for the pedestal in the original post and I decided now was the time to check into that. Guess what? The bearing was as good as new. I greased it up good and buttoned up the front end. Oh yeah, I packed the wheel bearings as it was handy at the time.
Next came the hood and stuff. I replace the fuel gauge with an ammeter as I like to see what the alternator is doing. This one has been converted to 12 volt with a Delco 10SI. I'm ok with that as I'm not into the high end collecting stuff.
Soooo....... I'm into this tractor for $3089.97. I'm satisfied. It's a unique tractor as a row crop with a narrow front end. It was quite a tractor when new. It has the "live" PTO, five speed transmission, power steering with a remote hydraulic hookup. It has been repainted and it looks like they stripped the sheet metal. The paint job isn't good, but it isn't that bad either. Guessing from it's fading, it was done years ago. Oh yeah, the back tires are in really good shape with good tread and little to no cracking.
But.......I'm wondering who overhauled this thing the last time. It seems obvious to me that they put in new pistons and sleeves, bearings, valve guides and valves. All with a bad rod journal and I'm guessing with a cracked head. They may have worked on the three point system as it will hold up the three bottom plow more or less indefinitely. That is unusual.
As I mentioned in the original post, I have a copy of the check that was used to buy the tractor, but can't read the name on it. I'm trying to track down the owner and have couple of leads, but so far, I haven't found him.
Oh yeah, the icing on the cake ------- it has a full set of pie/segment rear wheel weights. They seem to be asking about $750 for these. I'm in the process of cleaning up and painting the rusty ones now - one a day. I also have an extra set of "center sprockets" and a friend has a full set of the special bolts that are needed to fasten them to the rear hubs.
Nuff for now.