Operating Temp of Farmall M

I bought this in the Spring, and am pretty new to tractors. (I"ve worked on lots of old stuff, but not tractors specifically)

The previous owner had installed an aftermarket temp gauge, which never moved off of the low peg (130 F) all summer. I never did any hard work w/ it, used the loader bucket to haul mulch and dirt, but the head never got too hot to the touch. I assumed a kink in the sensor lead he had coiled up under the hood.

I dumped the muddy fluid out, flushed it, and refilled w/ nice green coolant and distilled water yesterday. As I was playing around, and letting it warm up between water flushes, I verified that:

1 The sensor lead was not kinkked,
2 The sensor does climb when it gets warm,
3. The water was only getting up to 100 degrees F or so.

Water seemed to flow almost instantly, and the radiator warmed up as the head did.

So:

Is this too cool? Am I missing a thermostat, or is it stuck open (I now have nice clean coolant and other projects to work on, so would rather not open it up and check if this is "normal").

If it"s not normal, what temp (and size, is it bigger around than a car thermostat?) thermostat do I want. I got this tractor mainly to push snow with, and I"m in South Dakota, so I want reliable cold weather use.

What temp is too hot? (In case this is "normal" and I block air to the radiator to warm it up some, what should I shoot for)

Thanks,

Bob

Your tractor will run better, will burn less fuel and the accumulation of condensation/sludge in the engine will be minimized if the thermostat is working. A replacement IHC thermostat is about $20. However I’ve discovered the Auto Zone #800-180 ($4) fits and works fine.

Incidentally if you are running your tractor in very cold weather, a “winter front” to cover about 95% of the grille opening helps speed warmup and maintain proper engine temp. (Reason - There’s a bypass opening around the t’stat - it flows enough coolant that in very cold weather the engine will never fully warm up.) A winterfront doesn’t need to be fancy - an old poly feed bag wrapped over the grille and secured with a couple of bungees works fine.

Don’t worry about overheating the engine in cold weather. It’ll let you know (will begin steaming, spitting antifreeze etc.) long before you can cause any damage.

Happy snow pushing!

Thanks,

Bob

FWIW the AutoZone # is a 180 deg thermostat. I have "em in both of my Farmalls. I"ve found the tractors run better - especially in cold weather - than with the lower temperature t"stats.

First I've got to get a broken fitting off so that I can repair and pressurize the loader hydraulics to lift the bucket and put the tractor back in the shed. (I know how to do that, I'm just not looking forward to it).

Thanks again for all the help,

Bob 4knee