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My new 1969 140 H1

9K views 56 replies 6 participants last post by  Mudrig150 
#1 ·
So I've been searching for 4 whole years for a 140, and after getting the offer to pick this one up, I just HAD to jump on it. We got it on Friday, just before another buyer came on Sunday to pick it up. We ended up bringing it home, along with a set of 212 side panels and a 300 carcass. We of course forgot our straps and had only one to strap down: The 140s hood, 212 side panels, 300 fenders, 140 fuel tank, 140, and the 300. We managed to get home safely and nothing was lost.

The 140 needs a new back tire, a motor, a new steering column, battery tray, and all the electrical. The hood is just sitting on the frame for now, but planning to have it mounted in the future. Luckily for me it sat in the original owner's sunroom after the motor went out but after 15 or so years of sitting in there he had to sell it, after which it sat outside under a tree, exposed to the sun. Luckily we got it only shortly after. The 140 is pretty much mint, having only faded paint, and a little bit of rust. All the dash components are either in bad shape or missing so everything's getting replaced. The paint IS original, just faded from sitting under a glass roof, and the rust is just from the battery and the little bit of sitting outside it did. The hood only has one crack on the front and a tiny chunk missing, and headlight panel has been impaled, but the rubber ring and wiring is still there. Other than that, this thing is completely unmolested.

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The 300 is donating its H1.5 (there's 2 handles but only one set of front lines; there was a diverter valve), its steering, some of its hydro linkage parts, and the hydraulic caps. There isn't much other than that, but I am selling the mint dash on it.
 

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#2 ·
Great that you got it. A few pictures of my 1970 140 H3.

Noel.
 

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#3 ·
That's like right in between my 140 and Norm, my brother's normal 1974 140 H3, in terms of condition. Too bad norm's seat broke the front bolts off. My seat seems to be fairing a tiny bit better but not for long, the rust is beginning to pile up. When I install the suspension seat that'll help a lot. Be sure to check to see if your 140 seat bolts are breaking off or cracking, adding a plate to help support it helps a lot, since the stresses of the bolts moving independently instead of as one assembly is what causes them and the bottom holes to crack and/or snap off.
 
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#5 ·
I need the entire wiring harness and I'd like a rear pto. I'm thinking on just putting an 11 horse briggs in this thing.
 
#6 · (Edited by Moderator)
I need the entire wiring harness and I'd like a rear pto. I'm thinking on just putting an 11 horse briggs in this thing.
Didn't end up buying this. They wanted $210 for it and it had an engine fire.Hood was melted and gone,wiring harness was burnt to a crisp,no back tires, engine is seized. Prolly the only salvageable stuff was the rear PTO, hydraulics, the seat pan. Not worth my time and aggravation right now. I've got way to many irons in the fire right now. If it's still there in a couple months maybe I will return and get it.
 
#7 ·
So I took the steering column out of the 140 by just unbolting it then disassembling it from the bottom, then knocking the shaft out from the top. I tried putting the 300 column in but apparently the pittman arm nut is larger and it won't fit through the small hole in the column. I'm just saying screw and I'm just going to put a bearing and spacer in to replace the inside bolt and put the column in.
Because I can't currently fix the steering, I tried to take the H1 out to put the H2 in but that was a no go, the lines are all stuck together and I couldn't unscrew the bolts because the lines just wanted to twist with the bolts. The one line I found is nice and bent up from the PO trying to literally steal everything, wiring, hydraulics, engine, etc.
I then decided that, since i can't do anything i wanted to, I was just going to clean the tractor off. I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that the paint isn't faded, it's just got this white film of what I assume to be tree sap on it. This thing cleaned up nice, save for the hood, which has been repainted because all the paint's missing off the front.
 
#8 ·
Deere used two different size steering boxes on the 120/140 and yours has the smaller of the two as you found out.
 
#9 ·
Deere used two different size steering boxes on the 120/140 and yours has the smaller of the two as you found out.
The box itself is the same size, the stud is different size. Sigh, guess I'll just get the 317 going then work on the 140.
 
#10 ·
So I've mainly been working on the 317 as of late. Kinda wanna start working on One eyed larry after finding out the M18 was a lemon and needs to be rebuilt. Time for some wiring, a motor, and a fix for the steering.
 
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#11 ·
So I think the 140 is finally going to get a motor after being a parts tractor for almost 22 years. I'm going to transplant the K241 from my 210 into it, and I'm thinking of just cutting off the hydraulic system so I can run it without them, especially with the H2 swap got stuck halfway done. How should I connect the 2 hydraulic ports together to run the tractor without hydraulics?
 
#12 ·
Motor is out of the 210 and into the 140. Just have to take the flywheel screen and PTO off, then take my other steering column and combine it with the column from the 210. Larry's getting new life after 22 years of being a parts tractor!
 
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#13 ·
Here's a more detailed explanation:

After I got home from school, I "persuaded" my brother to order my remote oil filter, then I went straight up our farm. I got started unhooking the wiring, and found that my no-spark issue is definitely in the coil-key switch connector. I popped the two halves apart and it was like a blizzard of corrosion. I'm just going to swap the coil from my K321 because I don't even know if this one works.

My brother came up and worked on something for a bit, I got the motor mount unbolted and the manual PTO linkage unhooked, ready to take the engine out, but I changed my mind when I saw that the motor mount was wedged in there good. I decided to just unbolt the whole engine from the mount and lift it out separately. Also, the one motor mount both broke off the frame and the ears broke off the mount itself.

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This is what was left of it.

I got everything on the engine itself unbolted, got the manual PTO engagement arm and mule drive off, cables disconnected, and the wiring apart. We had a fun time getting the front right bolt out, especially with a linkage in the way. It took 5 hours to get everything ready to come out.

Me and my brother were pretty annoyed at that point, and we harnessed that energy to muscle the engine out of the tractor and into the 140 frame.

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#14 ·
So I got the motor's flywheel screen off. 3 screws came out fine, my brother stripped the last one. Ended up just breaking the screen off. Just have to remove the oil drain and get her bolted down.
 

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#15 ·
Got the drain petcock off and the motor bolted down. Removed the excess AQS shrouds and test fit the hood. Larry's starting to shape up!
 

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#16 ·
After struggling for a while I managed to get the H1 valve out. Luckily I've learned that if the line is turning with the nut it's usually stuck to the valve fitting, not the nut.
I need to partially disassemble the H2 valve to get the 90 degree fitting in, so I can put it in with only slight extra bending on the stock lines needed. The hole I need to drill should be easy, I just need to find a drill bit to fit and drill everything out.
 

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#17 ·
H2 is almost done, just have to tighten up the lines.

We went and picked up a bunch of parts, fenders, a frame, and a 43 blade.
 
#18 ·
Almost ready to run. Got oil and hydro fluid in the tractor, I got the hydraulic lines all tightened up and a temporary steering box in. Just need to find my solenoid and get the fuel tank in.

I do still need a real -30000 steering box.
 
#19 ·
So I got it all together. I fixed the steering column (forgot the top steering box bearing) I got my H2 handles in, and I got everything it needs to run.

It has no spark.

After looking into it, I think the Battery and coil wires are swapped. Would this cause me to get a flash of power at the coil and does anybody have a wiring diagram for the key switch?
 
#21 ·
Is that diagram backwards? I've seen a lot of diagrams with the Battery and Ignition terminal on the key switch swapped. It's not helping for this. Even worse is that the actual key switch is completely unlabeled. It's all a big help...
 
#22 ·
Redid some of my wiring and swapped my coil, I then had spark across the points, albeit very sloppy and orange, and turned out my points set themselves to .032. Adjusted them and now the spark is nice and strong, and jumps across the points and not outward.

I put the coil wire to a separate switch and put direct power to the coil, and after realizing I forgot to put the points wire on, and after putting the wire on, I have good spark now.

Put gas in the tractor and after turning the tractor over a bit I have a tiny line of fuel across the cylinder. Guessing carb issue, but it could also be something that has to do with it being a K321 carb, so I'll sort that out.

Gotta fix the axle seal and get fluid in the transmission before getting this tractor running.

Ironic, really. The 140 we got running with a motor, is now sitting without one, the 140 that had a motor and didn't run still doesn't run, and the 140 that had no motor when we got it is almost ready to run.
 
#23 ·
Fenders off, old seat swapped, adjustable seat parts lubed. I was tired of the old seat swallowing bolts and tools into the upholstery.
 
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#24 ·
Should I pull the trigger on this? Matches the bent up front and even has green overspray on it.

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#25 ·
If it fits and isn't too expensive, I would.
 
#26 · (Edited by Moderator)
If it fits and isn't too expensive, I would.
It's off a 69.

I think it's about 39$. If I do buy it, I don't think I'll enough left to buy the ATF I need to fill the transmission.
 
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