farmall bn 41/42 picture

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You tractor looks great! What brand paint did you use on it?

Three things to say in retrospect. I'm really very pleased with the outcome. The primer filled well, and sanded well. The Concept handled really well going on and the very few runs I got wet-sanded out very nicely with 2000 grit and polished back up in good shape. (Another local tractor guy has a thought about painting. "Runs don't rust," is his motto.)

I also had some problem with getting the color right on the Concept. I severely underestimated the amount of paint I'd need. The first batch I bought was their formula for 2150 and came out just right. When I went back, they mixed some more up to the same formula, and it came out too orange. Wound up having to scan a piece that I'd already painted and let the computer sort it out. The formula was quite a bit different between the two, but they wound up maching exactly. We'll see over time if they fade any differently.

Last thing I'd say is, as happy as I am with the outcome, it wouldn't be my first recommendation to most folks, only because it's so ungawdly expensive. I can't imagine I'll use it on any other tractor. This is the only tractor I've ever painted stem-to-stern, so I'm ot sure what else it would be, but I've no doubt there are other good paints out there that will produce a good, deep, durable finish. (Did I get a little carried away with my sentimental attachment to this particular tractor in choosing the Concept?? Probably so.)

The short version --

She worked as a cultivator and utility tractor into the eighties, when Grandpa gave up farming and started renting his ground out. It was the one tractor he kept after that.

The smarter of my uncles had it sent out to the local high school shop aroundt that time for some motor work and a paint job. It looked nice if one overlooked the "C" decals on the hood (they couldn't find "BN"s).

Grandpa died in '94. The not-so-smart of the uncles sold it one day without saying anything to any body, to a local vulture, who still has a field full of overpriced tractors, combines, haying equipment and implements, all rotting away.

On a whim in 2001, after I'd rebuilt the motor in my SuperC, I asked the smarter uncle if he knew what had become of the BN. He tracked it down, and I bought it. It had been sitting out in a field with the stack open . . . When we went to get it, we had to cut down a tree that had grown up in the meantime to get it out. Tires were all rotten, but the tubes would hold air enough to move her. The LF wheel etc., were laying in the grass where the vulture had left them when he found out a bearing set was going to cost him $16. Head was full of water, #1 and #3 were full of water and rusted tight. #3 came out sleeve and all so I had to cut the sleeve away to get my rod back. Couldn't tell you why, but the bottom end was good, very little water in the oil, so I was able to keep the crank and the rods. Tank and hood were in surprisingly good shape, probably thanks to the hight school paint. Only the grill needed to be replaced. Along with ALL seals and all but one bearing. (IT needs replacing, but I'm having a devil of a time getting it out.)

I've had every part on her out and back in. Painted stuff up in an order to let me reassemble. When I had her back together enough(five years after I started -- another story) to try to start her, she took off on the third pull of the crank.

About all that's left is to clean up and repaint the original rims and move the tires over to them, and paint up and mount the wheel weights.
Here she is just before I put the decals on.

The not-so-smart uncle went through a lot of twists and turns. In settling the estate he got grandpa's house and buildings and the front ten acres of the farm. He eventually lost them. He never was much of one for correspondence, so I haven' sent him pictures. The smarter uncle does have pictures and is dying to actually see it, but there's 900+ miles between his house and my garage!

The vulture . . . He was one of those fellas who made his living going around to farms and fixing other folks' equipment. He's been basically retired for a lot of years and got this idea of buying stuff up to resell when he had the chance. He's still there, and all his "stuff" is still falling to rot out in his field. It's value falls with each season of decay because it sits, mostly because he had a price in mind when he acquired each one and won't come down. Some of that stuff has been out there twenty-five years.

Take heart, Gerry, it can be done!

These pics are of my great-grandfather"s "47BN the day I brought it home, and one of my little brrother and I perched in the seat in 1963.

I haven"t got a post-rebuild photo sized for the web yet but will post one here shortly