Twin City Small Tractors. "On a WHIM"

[Duey C]

It's nice when your gut says...Yes, go! Go. Go buy them!
On an actual "whim" due to this site, I accidentally fell in touch with a fellow and brought home a nice Twin City 17-28.
He talked about a 28 Twin City 17-28 and about a 21-32. I'll be back. All on a whim!
When talking with my son, he said 21-32 dad. He's correct. Gotta have it. I'll be back.
But we both agreed on our way home that mother would rather see a runner come into the yard as the first of two. I'll be back.
Unloading a 3 or 4 pull babbling 17-28, 11:00 at night on naked steel with metal ramps? Not good. I didn't like it. For good reason.
I'll say this, for a crappy situation with a ramp going astray, it went really good. He eased his left front end down to Terra Firma with hardly a notice. I've never pulled so hard on a parking brake lever before. That parking brake worked so darned good that night.
Not so since. Everything's a hill here in this yard.
Squirrely old tractor, nervous operator and 20 years not running his brother due to life in the way... Tried to look cool on the test drive.
I'll be back for the 21-32. True.
What a joy! New 3 or 4 pull tractor exactly as promised, great runner! Hah! I CAN still crank a 17-28!
I sent a pic to my phone buddy's and the text read "does it? like a watch.". What's the first question someone will ask?
Too many good things to say about the man that had it.
Had a wonderful day at a show to find the fellow and his other tractor. Those 27-44's are absolute monsters! Cool.
Wonderful show! Needed to get there for WAY too long! Great main street and buildings etc etc.
Needed to see a (deceased) gas engine friend there. I'm often thinking about you.
My addiction to old engines and tractors has been in limbo for 20 years. I've supplemented it with model T Fords. That helps!
I needed this. Feels mighty good making big noise out here in the woods.
Pics when I get it sorted.

 

[Russ Hamm]

Re: Twin City "small" Tractors. "On a WHIM..."

Pictures.

 

[Duey C]

Re: Twin City "small" Tractors. "On a WHIM..."

Hehehe! You guys are as bad as the model T guys and I can't blame you!
Over at the mtfca site. "We need pictures."
Our old toys are just too darned cool NOT to share. The Devil's in the details and that is important.
OK, hold on. I'm looking for the "manage attachments" and my edit panel. Bingo.
Use the "go advanced" button Duane...
I'll sort the carb issue! I'll steal the Wheeler/Shebler off the 26038, to make certain it's ready to go (haha!) and put it on the 26068 so I can run the crap out of him!
Hah! Light duty crap for sure.
Second pic is my "Twin" Boys.

 

[Duey C]

Re: Twin City "small" Tractors. "On a WHIM..."

Did those pics turn out OK? On this old Linux system, they look a bit small.

Craig here: how about now?...…..

 

[Jeff Blaney]

Re: Twin City "small" Tractors. "On a WHIM..."

That's a straight little tractor. Nice!

 

[Russ Hamm]

Re: Twin City "small" Tractors. "On a WHIM..."

Thanks for the pictures, actually, pictures help lots of us with examples. Looks like you have a couple of nice additions.

 

[ajs2744TC]

Re: Twin City "small" Tractors. "On a WHIM..."

Lookin good......

 

[Russ Hamm]

Re: Twin City "small" Tractors. "On a WHIM..."

I found out about the benefit of removing the belt pulleys for field work this summer, plowed just a little too wet several weeks ago with the FTA and was throwing chunks of furrow forward, had to quit.
On the 17-28 I was just pulling another tractor out of the field and the pulley on it was throwing dirt off the lugs.
I will be removing the pulleys for field work here on.:O

 

[Duey C]

Re: Twin City "small" Tractors. "On a WHIM..."

Hahaha! That's pretty funny Russ! I'd like to see that once. Once prob'ly.
Betwixt the Twins, I have one half of one belt Pulley...
Well, the new Tractor has that cover on the shaft so I can't put a pulley on anyhow. Wink wink. : - )
The 21-32 has a WHOLE pulley that will come with! Yay!
Thank you guys. : - )
I'm awfully glad I tried the Wheeler carb off the "old" tractor on the "new" tractor.

Painful lessons learned these last few years about letting machinery sit for extended periods. Gas, Diesel and other things.
Especially here in the woods. No airflow to dry things out. Have a 29 IH speedster truck sitting in the woods. ALL brake shoes are rusted to the drums.
I turned my old sweetheart 17-28 into a Lenoir compressionless engine. Feeling dumb. Strange tho as the rings and pistons are originals...

The Wheeler was FULLY asleep! Dopey me, I plopped it on the higher mounted governor throttle and expected it to go. It made me look dumb today and wouldn't say a word but the workout was good! I'm learning patience always!
The new tractor is a factory Vaporizer model so the carb mount is higher up but with minor tweaks the fuel line worked great. A sweaty Betty kind of manifold.
Gently pulled the needles. Nice and clean downstairs. Also needed to figure out which one was GAS and which one IDLE. Gently gave them a bench grinder wire wheel cleanup on the head of the needle to see.
IF I had followed the book to the letter, it would've popped off even nicer. Book says open the needles 3-4 turns from closed and go from there on your new tractor.
Woke up the Wheeler-Shebler! Try again tomorrow if it ain't raining for proof. Then it'll be ready for the older Twin.

Thanks Craig! That's a bit better! I should've just let the site re-size for me.

Next is to check the drilled oil passageways in the block and then the rpm's. Seems like ten or so over 1075. ; - )

 

[Duey C]

Re: Twin City "small" Tractors. "On a WHIM..."

Two questions:
How excited do you get about ANOTHER old tractor or two coming to your yard?
Be honest as you dare to be.
Sheesh I've just had one transplanted here.

Like asking what oil is correct for a model T Ford (Oy Vay! BIG mis take!):
What spark plugs are your favorites for your twin cam engines?

I'm jumping up and down and pottying my pants (on the insides) to the thoughts of more TC small tractors coming this way and cannot think.
My wife asked me after I babbled about a troubled neighbor young man; why are you doing this? I held my left fore-finger still in front of me whilst I rotated my right fore-finger around it so I could concentrate enough to get my babble finished.
I'm so darned amped up about tractors again, I'm about to burst.
You? Or just me?

Valid spark plug question in this brain. I saw on a TC thread a few days ago the mention of spark plugs and did I write anything down? Nope.
Went searching but...
Sometimes I tell myself: Just ask that question.

 

[Russ Hamm]

Re: Twin City "small" Tractors. "On a WHIM..."

Well Duey, although I REALLY enjoy old iron I can honestly say iv'e never been "moved" in the same way or had "movement" similar. I have had a time or two when I stayed out in the shed too long flirtin with accident, I have decided after all these years that the best laxative for me in the winter is a pair of coveralls and wander out to the furthest location on my property from the house. Works every time.
Your Twin City tractors look complete and pretty straight, I especially like the earlier 21-32, where mine is a later model I can see just by the one picture some of the design changes they made.
I have been using motorcraft/ ac/ any brand of spark plugs other than champion which I have had some trouble with. Im pretty convinced by now that most of my champion problems were due
to weak spark or cold plugs because other collectors don't have much of a problem with them, seems like. From now on a professionally rebuilt magneto is most important as im getting older
and cranking never was that fun anyway.

 

[Duey C]

Re: Twin City "small" Tractors. "On a WHIM..."

Ya Russ, I was a Champ hater for many years too but should try the 20-30 year old W-14 (cold) plugs from the Grey Twin in the Rusty Twin just to see if he'd be happier with them as he isn't pleased with the Auto 3076's.
The mag is good and hot (found out with my hand in the wrong spot)...
Wait a minute. That's RELAXaxative right Russ? Hahaha! Uh huh! Sometimes the most peaceful moments a man can find is far far away from the house. That's when we are right. Pun fully intended.
Ahhh, winter. 20 below, no wind, the moon near bright as day and the snow crunches so loudly here in the woods! Oh. I see you're from Kansas. Hehehe!
Ya, I've been real lucky to find sweet ol' boys to fix on. I'm itching to get the 21-32 here plus the 53rd from the very end Universal MTA. Holler if you need any pics. Design changes are very interesting!
Proud papa again. Show prep is gonna get in the way the next couple weekends then the show so I'm just gonna have to turn into Job again and be patient.
My son is also itchin' hard to get back up north to visit the 3 Monsters!

Hey. How do you fellas keep the points cover on the Bosch mags from "clocking" when adjusting the timing? I have to go looking for a mag ground tab that's rusted off in Rusty's mag. Any thoughts?

I adjusted the fan shaft tonight. I wanted the wiggle gone so I did a real quicky job, carefully removing the fan (new core some inches away!) and removing the shaft assy.
Bearings sound and feel real good just almost snug. The pics are for the one guy that hasn't yet done it. Don't remember doing it on the Grey Twin...
I'll see if I can manage to post pics. Edit: This site works great!
1. I screwdrivered the nut down, turned more and ready for a cotter. Ain't gonna crank on it.
2. Bent cotter half way in.
3. All set. Yes, the lower half is pinched down against the nut. : - )

 

[Duey C]

Re: Twin City "small" Tractors. "On a WHIM..."

Sorry to post again.
Hmmm. The TSX-704 seemed awfully rich on the Rusty Twin with air cleaner.
The Wheeler seemed awfully lean without air cleaner until I opened it up for the Rusty. Ran great on the Grey back then with an air cleaner.
I was reading threads last night and ran across air cleaners being half plugged up at 90 years old.
Worth revisiting.

 

[Mark Schneider]

Re: Twin City "small" Tractors. "On a WHIM..."

The spark plug that works the best in my smoky 17-28 is the Champion W89D. Hard to find and not cheap. They work 10 times better than the W-14's as the extended electrodes are down in the fire and kept hot enough to keep most of the combustion residue burnt off. If one happens to foul it is very easy to clean and make serviceable again.

 

[Duey C]

Re: Twin City "small" Tractors. "On a WHIM..."

Ooh! I've seen that part number somewhere before Mark. Thank you!
Only the best for my Baby Twin boys... : - )

 

[Phil Johnson]

Re: Twin City "small" Tractors. "On a WHIM..."

Mine seem to like the Autolite 3077's but they are also hard to find now. Extended electrode type. I also have them in my Allis 20-35's

 

[Jon Nessel]

Re: Twin City "small" Tractors. "On a WHIM..."

The spark plug that works the best in my smoky 17-28 is the Champion W89D. Hard to find and not cheap. They work 10 times better than the W-14's as the extended electrodes are down in the fire and kept hot enough to keep most of the combustion residue burnt off. If one happens to foul it is very easy to clean and make serviceable again.

If memory serves me right, the W89D crosses over to the 3077 Autolite. They seem to work well in most of this old stuff we have. Phil is right about them getting harder to find. I bought out all 8 the last time I was at our local Napa. I haven't checked to see if they were able to bring any more in. I'm sure there still some out there somewhere.

 

[Russ Hamm]

Re: Twin City "small" Tractors. "On a WHIM..."

Ya Russ, I was a Champ hater for many years too but should try the 20-30 year old W-14 (cold) plugs from the Grey Twin in the Rusty Twin just to see if he'd be happier with them as he isn't pleased with the Auto 3076's.
The mag is good and hot (found out with my hand in the wrong spot)...
Wait a minute. That's RELAXaxative right Russ? Hahaha! Uh huh! Sometimes the most peaceful moments a man can find is far far away from the house. That's when we are right. Pun fully intended.
Ahhh, winter. 20 below, no wind, the moon near bright as day and the snow crunches so loudly here in the woods! Oh. I see you're from Kansas. Hehehe!
Ya, I've been real lucky to find sweet ol' boys to fix on. I'm itching to get the 21-32 here plus the 53rd from the very end Universal MTA. Holler if you need any pics. Design changes are very interesting!
Proud papa again. Show prep is gonna get in the way the next couple weekends then the show so I'm just gonna have to turn into Job again and be patient.
My son is also itchin' hard to get back up north to visit the 3 Monsters!

Hey. How do you fellas keep the points cover on the Bosch mags from "clocking" when adjusting the timing? I have to go looking for a mag ground tab that's rusted off in Rusty's mag. Any thoughts?

I adjusted the fan shaft tonight. I wanted the wiggle gone so I did a real quicky job, carefully removing the fan (new core some inches away!) and removing the shaft assy.
Bearings sound and feel real good just almost snug. The pics are for the one guy that hasn't yet done it. Don't remember doing it on the Grey Twin...
I'll see if I can manage to post pics. Edit: This site works great!
1. I screwdrivered the nut down, turned more and ready for a cotter. Ain't gonna crank on it.
2. Bent cotter half way in.
3. All set. Yes, the lower half is pinched down against the nut. : - )

Yes, we need MTA pics.
I have one located on steel that I think could be bought, needs a lot of work. It was getting a clutch years ago when winter came and they put it back together without installing the clutch. Since then the engine stuck.

 

[Molinegb]

Re: Twin City "small" Tractors. "On a WHIM..."

Same clutch as KTA or U. Always wanted a MT on steel.

 

[Duey C]

Re: Twin City "small" Tractors. "On a WHIM..."

Thank you guys.
Just got off the phone with my local NAPA. OK, I started typing at 5:10
Champ W89D is stock #589. Only comes in a pack of 8 for $7.69 each. They'll be here Friday. Works for me!
I'll have 4 spares. Cool. The poor guy didn't happen to recognize me til I laughed. (Oh hi Duane! Ya should've laughed 1st! he said). Hehehe.
My 37 MTA came to me with a rod bent the WRONG way. You know, the other direction. Sad state of affairs there. But the tractors were free so....
Lately, it's on a shorter repair list than for a long time. Then I buy more... Chicago Radiator, here I'll come. Well, you guys and Biewer's et al.

Before the fan shaft adjust last night, I made certain the shift rods and detent springs and areas had lube or grease and not dry. I've been reading a bunch here.
I HAVE to get the Grey Twin running. He was a little dry. :uhoh:
Funky, I spent weeks over on redpowermagazine forums combing for IH Diesel (gas start) system info. Got that sorted and on to the next piece (Grey Twin).
Love TC's and spent a bunch of time with an LP U MM. Ahhh. Tractors again.