The Porthole Fordson

Homemade cut-away tractor display puts grinder through its paces

By Richard Stout
Published on December 5, 2021
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by Richard Stout
Wes Rinner, Wayland, Iowa, gives the "porthole Fordson" a close examination.

As a youth attending the Iowa State Fair in the late 1940s and early ’50s, I was fascinated by the sectionalized (or cut-away) tractors displayed in tents by various companies. Some looked as if someone had just drawn a knife through the tractor, end to end, and laid over the top half, with the moving parts slowly turning over.

In later years, after reworking three or four Fordson tractors with various aftermarket attachments on them, it got to be too much like being a mechanic, and it was a hassle to find useable parts. Why not use some of those junk parts? There was practically enough broken, rusted-out and worn-out parts for another Fordson. So, why not put together a cut-away Fordson?

white fordson tractro with red wheels with holes cut away in the sides to view…

I started out with the block. A fellow must have wanted to see how the casting looked inside the block, so he pounded a hole on the valve side. It had stuck pistons, so he torched off the rods and kept the crankshaft. I set the block on some 4x6s, got a short piece of pipe that just fit inside the bore, got the sledge and took them out dry. Never saw a block quiver like that one did when I pounded it. Believe I used three pistons, and when the rust came off, they were pretty worn out.
Someone must have had trouble getting the belt pulley out of the rear housing, or did not want to take off the rear wheel to get it out, so part of the belt pulley hole was broken. There were 40-60 rifle and shotgun projectiles in the radiator core I used. I used a rusted-out gas tank and rounded out the holes.
One rear wheel was rusted out, so I just cut out that section. I even found a broken manifold to cut to show the vaporizer coil. The only good piece of the tractor I cut up was the dash to show the steering sector. The rest of the cut parts were already broken.

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