Newest Project - 1979 IH 682 Barn Find!!!

G

gitractorman

501 Club
Well, I've been away for a while, summer was just too busy, kids have had me way too busy this fall, and finally it's gotten cold so I can't "work/play" outside. So, I figured, time for another project. Check out what I've come up with:

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Found this pristine IH built 682 tractor that's been sitting in the original owner's barn for 20+ years, not being used. He used it for lawn mowing for a few years, but soon moved up to a bigger place, bought a compact diesel tractor for his lawn work, and parked this beauty. I figured, great, another KT17/8.5 engine that someone parked, but to my surprise, the engine is not locked up and there's great compression on both cylinders :{_}: !!!!! So far all I've found wrong is was a flat front tire (fixed now) and the carb and fuel system is gummed up pretty good. I'm pretty sure it had the original spark plugs in it, and the hour meter only shows about 160-hours..... I've had the carb soaking in acetone since yesterday and already the butterflies are freed up and the varnish is starting to disappear, and acetone flows through the fuel line. I figure a week or two soaking in acetone should clean her up pretty good. I can't wait to get this one back together to see how she runs. The paint is a bit faded, but I'm going to keep it all original, may just give it the WD-40 buff & shine...

Just checked the serial number (guess I should have done that first). It is actually a 1979, built in May of 79.

More to come....

Thanks,
Bill
 
Wow, you don't see any originals that nice anymore. A 1980 should have have the KT17 series 1 with the square air filter housing.
 
Wow!! Barn find?? Man, I'd love to take a look in that barn!! That is a beautiful tractor. There is no way I'd do anything other than what you are doing to it. Finding an original that nice is really rare. Great snag. Keep us posted!! :{_}:
 
Thanks. The paint is quite a bit worse up close than the picture looks, but it's still not bad. The top surfaces definitely have more wear than the sides. It's not really wear, but rather fading or "degrading" of the paint. Ironically, the paint really isn't scratched, just sun faded I guess.

The engine is a bit interesting to me. The air cleaner is round and has the KT17 Series II sticker on it, but I thought these had the Series I engine, however, everything looks original. The spark plugs even look to be original, with touches of black overspray on them, but none of the engine appears to ever being touched up with spray paint, so I'm thinking that the spark plugs are the originals. The hour meter on these tractors are absolute junk and it could be 160 hours, or 1160 hours, but the condition of things looks a lot more like 160 than 1160. The tractor is nearly spotless underneath. It definitely has been used to mow grass, but there's barely anything but a fine layer of dirt on things. Not a drop of oil anywhere, and none of the packed grass clippings like is typically caked everywhere underneath.

The owner was the son of another IH dealership owner near my father's place, and my dad knew him well. I know there's a repair on the mower deck that you can see in the photo, where the rear gauge wheel broke the deck and has been re-welded. Based on the age, I'm certain that the paint and decals on the tractor are original, as are the tires, seat, dash, and controls. The mower deck has been painted since the re-weld, but was done very nicely. Since the KT-17 engines were so prone to becoming KT8.5s, blowing one cylinder, I'm now wondering if the original engine was replaced at some point, especially since the owner would have had access to new engines if he wanted or needed.

Regardless, it's still a diamond in the rough. I'll hopefully get her back to running condition over the next few months.

Bill
 
gitractorman":2t4r2416 said:
. . .
The engine is a bit interesting to me. The air cleaner is round and has the KT17 Series II sticker on it, but I thought these had the Series I engine, however, everything looks original. The spark plugs even look to be original, with touches of black overspray on them, but none of the engine appears to ever being touched up with spray paint, so I'm thinking that the spark plugs are the originals. . . .
. . .
Since the KT-17 engines were so prone to becoming KT8.5s, blowing one cylinder, I'm now wondering if the original engine was replaced at some point, especially since the owner would have had access to new engines if he wanted or needed.
. . .
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Are the spec and serial number stickers still on the engine? If so, they are more reliable indicators than the air cleaner, which is more easily changed. Spec numbers 24299 and down are KT17. Spec numbers 24300 and up are Series II. In the serial number, the first 2 digits of 7 or 3 digits of 8 indicate the year. Numbers 95 through 99 are 1979. (I imagine you would know this, just didn't check it yet.)
 
Well, it gets more interesting. The Spec number is 24302, and 27 in the serial number indicates the engine is a 1997 Series II KT-17. That's a HUGE + in my book, and knowing the history, that's about the time that he purchased the compact diesel from my dad, so it may very well have sat all of this time. Should be interesting to get going!!
 
Nice find Bill!

Getting it where you want it shouldn't be much of a challenge for you. Keep us posted on the progress, it is always interesting to watch you work your magic.
 
12-15-14 Update. She Runs!!!!

I soaked the carburetor in acetone for about a week, then cleaned all the ports out with welding tip cleaners. Installed a new float and needle valve, then some new gaskets and put it all back together. Well, at that point I started looking over some other things and realized I needed new fuel lines, filter, and decided I should clean out the gas tank. After all of that, I still couldn't tell if the fuel pump was ok or not, so I soaked it with Sea Foam while the carb was soaking, and I was able to blow through it, so I figured it could not be too bad.

Tonight I put her all back together, changed the oil and installed some new NGK spark plugs and she fired right up. It smoked for a little while, but I'd been spraying Sea Foam in the spark plug holes every time I went into the garage, so I figured that would take a while to blow out. The carburetor seems to be working fine, and doesn't leak :{_}: :{_}: :{_}:

I do have one fuel leak, the shutoff valve under the gas tank, so I'll be picking up a new one of those.

Now that I know it runs I'll be moving on to the other little maintenance items and start some "cosmetic" work. I'm not going to paint it, but it needs a good rubbing out, need to find an IH emblem for the grill, and just fix a few little things here and there.

Unbelievable that something could sit for nearly 20 years and come right back to life, but I guess we see it all the time with these tractors. It still amazes me every time.
 
IH built about 35,000 of them between 1979 and April 1981. After that, Cub Cadet Corporation (MTD) also built red Cub Cadets along with Yellow/White ones for the first couple of years that they were producing tractors. It's nearly impossible to figure out how many red ones they produced as there was no differentiation in numbering between the red ones and yellow/white ones, however, between 1982 and 1985 CCC built 47,224 tractors, of which you could assume about half were red, so somewhere around 23,000 red CCC tractors were produced. Probably not even that many as they were actually trying to phase out the red color, so I'm guessing the red CCC tractors number below 20,000. However, it's good to note that there are some differences between the IH built and CCC built tractors. The IH built tractors had cast iron rear ends painted red, and IH and International badging on the tractor. The CCC built tractors had aluminum rear ends painted black, and no IH or International badging on the tractor graphics.
 
Thought I'd post a few pics of the latest progress. Today I was finally able to fix the fuel leak with a new shutoff valve and tank grommet. I also drained the hy-tran and installed a new hydro filter and rear diff gasket along with 6-quarts of new hy-tran. A couple of cosmetic things have been done, ordered and installed a new IH emblem for the grill, also ordered and installed a new/correct fuel cap with the gauge in it.

Also, I scrounged up an IH-42 blade that I had tucked away in storage because it didn't have skid shoes or a lift rod. Found some skid shoes online, and fabricated up a lift rod today, and had her out plowing a few inches of fluffy snow. She's running really good and seems to get better every time I fire her up. I was having to run the engine with the choke out about 1/4 way, but by the time I was done plowing I had pushed it in all the way and she was purring like a kitten. I've got some new footrest treads to install, but I'm going to wait until the temps in my garage get back up above freezing.

Anyway, here's a few pics with the blade. I tried to get the boys to come out and take a photo plowing, but it was only 7 degrees out and really windy so they looked at me like I was crazy. Yea, guess they're right.

Snow_Blade_Side_Small.jpg


Snow_Blade_Small.jpg



Later,
Bill
 
gitractorman":nex99cd4 said:
I tried to get the boys to come out and take a photo plowing, but it was only 7 degrees out and really windy so they looked at me like I was crazy. Yea, guess they're right.

Later,
Bill
Click to expand...

They probably didn't understand the smile on your face either. I know it was there.... :)
 
GI that is a beauty. You have joined the 'Red Cub club'.
Sorry about being late on the draw but enjoy.
Those fuel shut-offs must have been defective. I have an IH NOS shut-off on and it still leaks.
 
I've plowed with it twice now, both times it was just a few inches and it plowed easy. However, whenever I got a tire off the driveway the back tires just spun. I have a new set of chains and last night I started fabricating a weight bracket for the back. I don't have any wheel weights but I have a set of small suitcase weights, so I'm making a bracket for those. I should be able to put it together this weekend.
 
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