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Happened upon a Twin-20


MarksA-C

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So last week the boss was gone from work, so I was far from motivated to look busy while my machine was running.  While chatting on Facebook I got a notification from a friend and this Twin Twenty popped up for sale in Iowa.  Long story short it was a STEAL and I bugged the guy and game him my number and a deal was set.  That Wednesday I left work early and cannonballed 5 hours to Vinton, IA and picked this bad boy up.  Its been sitting for 10-15 years but the engine turns over and has compression.  As seen the tractor has a front hitch for moving aircraft since it was used at the Eastern Iowa Airport and was retired from service in the 90's, which might explain why it was Flight Custom aircraft tires on the front!  It has a deck as well, 3 point, rear PTO, its all decked out.

The real kicker... its Serial #32

The guy who I got it from bought it from a scrapper friend of his.  The plan apparently was to put a Chevy V6 in this thing. :o
Luckily he got bored of the idea and sold it instead of destroying this rare machine!

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That was a good outcome from boredom! Looks great, glad the unthinkable didn't happen. Congratulations! dOd

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Great buy and its a good thing that it didn't get that V6 put in it! Pretty neat that it was used at an airport... just tells you what these machines are made of. 

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The upper steering shaft is rusted in place pretty bad.  Heat, WD-40 and persistence got it to break free.  I also pulled the spark plugs out and wasn't overly thrilled.  Engine spins over easily until a certain spot so I believe a valve is stuck.  Cylinders are full with oil and I cracked the head bolts free so later I'll pull the heads and see the overall condition of the cylinders and valves.  I also have to figure out the mess of wiring.  What Simplicity is comparative to this model? I'll need to look up a wiring diagram.

Mark-

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It's better looking than in the ad!!  The airplane hitch puts the deal out of this universe!! Congrats on the find!

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What engine is in her?....might be able to backtrack what the Simplicity match up is from there

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Probably would be a 9020 or 4040 - but I am an AC guy, so may be wrong.  (wrong a lot of times)!

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I have seen three different fender/seat decal configurations for these tractors. Two like yours where the decals are blue.  Josh had his remanufactured in black & two other tractors which are yet another style which are black & smaller located farther rearward on the fenders.

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Here is a picture of a redone model that was at the Portage WI Garden Tractor Days a few years back.

 

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Its going to be a bit of a project for sure.  Wiring needs work, and one cylinder had quite a bit of junk in it. 
Next weekend my friend and I are going to tear into it some and he swears we can have it running in a few hours.
Id be more than happy to have him prove me wrong!

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12 minutes ago, Chris727 said:

You've got your work cut out for you. Is that a head bolt broken off in the jug? 

Luckily no, just some of the crub got into the hole.  All bolts came out smooth

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  • 2 months later...

with help from a friend we've been working on getting all the valves freed up, doing it the cheating way but of the three valves that were stock two of them are free moving and ready to go while one is still being a little stubborn.  Trying our hardest to not have to pull the engine.

The cylinders themselves look to be in really good shape and all the dirt and crud washed out of both cylinders.

The wiring on the tractor is pretty much a joke at this point, everything has been modified by somebody...

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9 hours ago, PhanDad said:

I see some love there.

 

And big ambition. ...Best of luck.

There will be a huge satisfaction on this project. 

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