1968 Ford 4000 Tractor Projects

It had recently been purchased from an auction by a group of guys who rebuilt it. It needed the rebuild since it probably had been used for mowing road right-of-ways in a local county or municipality. The guys I bought it from were aircraft mechanics and they had rebuilt the engine and lift. There were issues with the front end, but since it came with a new Howse rotary mower, so I bought it anyway.

Well, time and many hours of use has proven that they did a great job on the engine and lift rebuilds. The engine is still strong but the lift is starting to show its age. I had to rebuild the front spindles and replace the front wheel bearings just after purchase. Once that was done only basic maintenance and repair have been done. Overall, it has performed very well over the years.

The tractor has been a great asset on our mini-farm. I purchased some old tractor attachments to use with it over the years. It has dug post holes, done many hours of mowing, landscaping, road scraping, plowing and etc. I am really glad to have it!

This is my brother Frank using the tractor recently to plow some food plots for the deer.

Here I have it loaded up ready to travel to the hunting club.

However, the old tractor is showing some signs of wear that must be addressed now. It stayed out in the weather most of the years I have owned it. That caused many of the issues it has now. Today it is kept under cover in my pole barn which has been much better for the tractor. Since I need the tractor so often, I have to put all other projects aside and fix the tractor.

Here I have listed a few of the issues I have had over the years.

1. Two new seats

2. New front tires and wheels

3. Sandblasted and painted rear wheels

4. New tires on the rear.

5. Replaced the fuel shutoff cable with a lawnmower throttle cable

6. Repaired numerous tire punctures both front and rear

7. Replaced the sockets on the lift arms

8. Rebuilt the injector pump

9. Replaced the PTO seal and bearing several times.

10. Replace a broken front spindle

11. Radiator rebuilt in the past 5 years.

12. Replaced the starter and battery about three times

13. Changed the engine oil many times

14. Changed the transmission oil a few times

I am sure I have left out many repairs I have done to keep the tractor going. But the point is that if you own a tractor, especially an older one, it will need work...if it does any work.

This is a list of known issues today. Some must be addressed to continue to use the tractor. But others have been waiting a long time on a reason to be done.

1. The lift will not raise implements all the way

2. The steering wheel is bent, rusting and falling apart

3. The entire instrument panel does not work

4. The brake/clutch shaft is badly worn and leaking oil

5. The brake pedals are badly worn

6. The blades on the mower need replacement

7. The light switch is frozen and the lights do not work

8. The fuel cutoff cable is broken

9. The foot steps are bent, broken or missing

10. The fuel tank is leaking

11. The PTO seal is leaking

12. The light switch is bad

I will document some of the repairs as separate entries since some of them took a lot of effort to accomplish. I am going to document these repairs since I had trouble finding information on the interweb detailing many of the tasks I need to do. Also because I cannot remember sometimes what I have already done and what is needed next. So it also helps me to document the tasks!