Ford YT18h WorkHorse

well I finaly found my workhorse tractor! I was able to get a ford yt18h from 1992 for 120$ without the engine, luckly i had rebuilt a engine over the winter a briggs 20hp oppy, This replacement engine is 2 hp more and 100cc's larger that the original kohler. the transaxle is a Eaton 850 with a charge pump and a filter the trans can put out 800 pound feet of torque at 20hp and has a high price if it breaks so hopefully that doesnt happen. i will post photos in the morning so be ready!

Can't wait!  I hope the image server behaves so we can see them!

These are photos after I had gotten the tractor, the seat pan weighs about 50 pounds and when I got it the pan wasn’t on.

Very nice.  Looks to be in really good shape too!

Yah it’s realy great the only rust is where the battery is otherwise all the bearings and everything looks like it was assembled yesterday,


This is the rear axle it has a 2 gallon hydro resivour and the 5 gallon fuel tank is quite literally the engine seat pan.






This is the engine I rebuilt I’ll get a video of it running soon!

Nice rig you have there! I always really liked the hood styling on those tractors, pretty cool looking.

Nice tractor! Is the hydro hand operated or a foot pedal? I like that shiny oppy

the hydro is foot operated and it has an interesting way to put it into neutral, its a choke cable that goes down to the bypass valve, so theroreticly i can put as much rpm as i want into the input.

here is the pully diagram, there is a double stack pully in the center because the engine is lower than the trans

I recommend watching this the video series on this build if you haven't already.  He did a pretty good job.  Good luck on your build.

ok thanks i will!

just a small update, but ive had some major issues with my opposed briggs the piston rod cap for the bottom cylinder came loose and destroyed the inside sending bits of metal everywhere and destroying both cylinders. becuase of that ive upgraded to a kohler V-twin.

so far ive noticed 3 things that are different, i have "full pressure lubrication". that will greatly benifit the lubrication of the engine (poor lubrication probobly killed the briggs). i have an oil filter (the briggs didnt have this). and a ton of wiring becuase of the amount of switches, ampmeter, electric pto, etc. (as seen below)

video of it running to come soon!

This looks like a good time to brush up on your electrical skills.  I like how you have a Kohler stuffed in there now.

The Kohler is definitely stuffed in it I had to bend the steering arm in 3 places to get it to fit, and had to switch the side that the drain plug was on.

Here is the new engine running! https://youtu.be/vuVaNjY185A

Sounds great!

Nice... sounds good too.

I need help, does anyone know what kind of hitch this is? -new Holland and Mesick's have nothing for it either.

IDK, but what do you want a drawbar?

im just trying to find out what it is bc i have lots of 3 point attatchments (mower, blade, scrapper, etc). im looking to see if i would need to adapt it to a sleeve hitch or i would be able to put on a 3 point kit

Well if you can dream it, you can build it.  It kinda looks there's two mounts there for lower link arms.

update on the ford, im going to be taking it apart and future proofing it for anything i can throw at it. going to take the seat pan, steering colum and panel off so its going to be pretty bare bones for me to work on. i am going to be looking into either new tires or chains, i will be getting a new seat (due to the condition of the current one) and i plan on repainting the ford as well. photos to come tommorow

Yeah stripping it down to the bare chassis and working your way up from there is a good plan.  That's how Mud Rat sits.

im also going on messicks and newhollands part websites to look for flaws and ways of adjusting the frame and trans height

on my ford the frame is adjustable to im going to try and see what i can do with it.