I attended an auction in the spring of 2001 where several antique tractors were sold. Included among them was a Minneapolis-Moline RTU. I had no intention of buying a tractor at this auction, but when I saw the R, I thought I could bid if it went low. I never did get a bid in but it was at that point I decided I wanted to find an R for a project.
Purchased 16 May, 2002
I advertised on-line for either an RTU or an RTE and received several replies for tractors within a reasonable distance from my home. Each one of the tractors I looked at was a good candidate for a restoration project, but I didn't see one that really looked like the tractor for me. When winter approached, my energy turned towards winter recreation activities and my R search was suspended.
In February, a gentleman from Iowa sent me an e-mail stating he had an RTU in his shed he wanted to sell. He sent some pictures and and it looked like a good tractor to take a look at. In April, a buddy and I took a trip over to see it and I Iiked what I saw. The tractor was indeed a good project tractor and the price was right.
The tractor had been sitting idle for about 15 years but appeared to be in pretty good shape. A straight pipe had replaced the muffler and a hole was cut into the sheet metal for the new exhaust. The owner had found a replacement hood which was in excellent shape. He also had a belt pulley and the original owners manual. The optional ZK (or ZKA - both are referred to in the owners manual) hydraulic pump was was included as well. There were no hydraulic cylinders, however.
None of my other projects had good tires on them, so it was an added bonus that this tractor has good tires. The engine had been stuck, but the owner was able to free it up without any trouble. I drove home that day and decided a couple of weeks later to buy it.
My neighbor offered to store the tractor for me and he also spent a day helping me haul it to its new home. We've torn into the engine to get an idea of what work needs to be done. We found two valves that were stuck and a third valve had broken at some point. As soon as I get some replacement parts, I will be able to get her running again. I will post more of the project as work progresses.
Tractors