Yet Another M Project...

[Tired_Iron]

Picked up a 44 M a couple of Fridays ago that was set out to pasture. Essentially purchased it for the price of scrap after convincing Wifey that I had room for it in the tractor barn. Initial inspection revealed a complete and straight tractor (later found that the steering bearing retainer was missing) and that it was originally a distillate fueled tractor. One rear tire was still capable of holding air for a while, the other three tires are shot, but the other rear rim appears to still be usable. The front rims have some bends in them and might see about straightening them out for use later. I had a spare 12.4 - 38 tire to at least get it up on its back legs.

The engine is as stuck as stuck can get. About a quart of water came out of the oil pan and about a half of a quart came out of cylinder #3. Exhaust was left uncovered and couldn't get an answer how long it was left uncovered I compared the frame serial number to the engine serial number to see if they matched and they did not. Tried a few things that have worked in the past to get an engine un-stuck and none of them worked. After removal of the head, I saw why it was still stuck. The rim of the sleeve had separated from the rest of the sleeve. I almost think that the engine was hot-seized (ran out of coolant) and that was why it was locked up. I found a "vampire stake" that was jammed into the radiator drain. That will be another repair for a different day as my 3/8 NPT tap wouldn't start into the opening, so the stake was reinserted as it was found.

Since serial numbers already didn't match, I opted to replace the engine at this point and purchased a complete engine locally. Same year, higher serial number as luck would have it. Last Friday, I did the engine swap. Hooked up the fuel line, filled radiator with water and added fresh oil to the engine. After finding that there was a rust hole in the fuel tank the hard way, I managed to get the leak under control and contained, I had the replacement engine running in place and adjusted the clutch.

Also had a IHC toolbox on it, only the lid was left with enough "box" left to barely hold it to the frame rail. Might reconstruct it at a later point or just clean up and paint the lid as shop art.

A few photos of the project up to this point...

Left Side of tractor:

Front of tractor:

Cylinder #3 water sample:

Cylinder #3 Sleeve:

New engine hanging on frame, waiting for front bolster:

And a video of the first start: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4amFJYlJ9g

[Tired_Iron]

Figured I'd update this since I have made some good progress with it over the last few months. The engine was installed and front end put back on. Engine oil and oil filter was changed. Wooden stake was left in radiator at the time this video was taken. The engine currently has a 400 carburetor on it, will eventually get to overhauling the M carburetor and get it installed.

Currently, the radiator has been removed so the radiator drain threads could be repaired. It seems the drain pipe had rusted off and the wooden stake was the fix. Also found that the radiator mounting studs are half rusted away and relatively thin (too thin in my opinion). Been working at removing them with cycles of heat and penetrating oil. No movement yet, but not in a hurry to get them out. Rather not damage the radiator tank.

I found some good, like new front 6.00 x 16 tri-rib tires and tubes and a new to me rear tire that will get installed at some point soon as well.

Fuel tank has a hole rusted in it from under the front mount. Cut out the bad patch and welded in a replacement piece. Chased a few pin holes and got it to a non-leaking state and figured I would just line it and be done with it. Waiting for warmer weather to Red Kote the tank.

That's it for now, more to come when it warms up again.