I know im knew here and might catch some flak, but I was curious is anyone here knows much about a 1949 TD18? I looked up the serial number enough to know it’s a 49, gas start. Pretty unmolested and sitting under a covered barn for the last 20 or so years. The gentleman’s widow knows nothing about It. If I can get It, she only wants a couple hundred for It, but I have a few concerns.

I noticed something missing on the right side of the engine. Looks like something mounted at one point. I feel plenty of spring tension on steering levers and drive lever. Zero to very minimal rust. Nothing feels frozen on It. I have no way of knowing if the engine is frozen on It. There was a crank lever sitting on a track that I put in the front of the motor and crank, but It didn’t feel like anything moved.

What should I be looking for? Could I be opening a can of worms?

Try checking out www.redpowermagazine.com They have a forum also.

That would be the magneto that is missing. It has to be for a gas start diesel, they turn opposite of regular gas. If the transmission is in neutral it should turn by turning the fan blades. It looks very nice shape.

I believe it’s missing the magneto. How about the little TD-6 or 9 I see off to the side? That would be the right size for pulling your disk.... you might even ask the lady if the magneto is laying on a shelf somewhere. I’ve know many IH owners to have a spare head on hand as well, as many of the TD gas to diesel tractors were prone to cracked heads if not properly cooled down after a long day.
We all knew that ONE tractor wasn’t enough! LOL. JM

To quote the King of Obsolete...
I would love to have a TD18. My Uncle had one when I was a kid, they have a distinctive sound with the dual stacks. I have a TD6 & a TD9. For that price, jump on it. it's worth more than that for parts. Shouldn't be that hard to find a mag. Or look around, it may be laying there somewhere.
Like was said, Redpower construction forum is the place to find the experts.

One tractor is NEVER enough 😂

The one next to It is about the same size as my D2, and I’d like something bigger that doesn’t struggle as much as the D2 in the soft sand. The back half of my property is extremely soft sand.

So here’s the story... my dad sold our old D7 ripper to this gentleman about 25-30 years ago when I was a young kid. He’s always regretted It, so I thought I’d stop by his place and see if he still had It. Unfortunately It wasn’t, and his widow knew nothing about It. I happened to see this TD18 and noticed It was about the same size as our old D7, so that’s what made me interested. I didn’t happen to see anything laying around nearby, but I’ll look online and see if it’s possible to get a magneto. Im assuming there’s no way to see if the head is cracked?

I am still have a magneto F6 for this machine

I like the way you think 55! ONE tractor is never enough!!! Back in the day, we only had 3 tractors to farm with; one IH 544 being the primary workhorse. We wasted a lot of time swapping implements during the week, if not daily to get the tasks completed. When my brother retired from “active farming” he had a tractor for each implement owned. No more switching around. He would simply hop on a different tractor.
You came to the right place. We will all help you spend $ and acquire more iron....

It looks like a TD18-A series , The 18 had the exhaust on the same side as the intake ,the A series is newer updated heads . Exhaust on opposite side. Nice machine to run but no Johnson bar, but not a problem unless using dozer blade . I had an A series 30 some years ago, think I still have a new rear head for it.

No question about it, If I were in moving distance I would not even ask questions I would have that tractor.

I see an induction coil in one of the pics so I think that engine is fired off twelve volts and where the mag might go is merely a timer and distributer.

I had a lot of experience on a TD35 as a young person and limited experience on a TD18. The TD35 definitely had a mag but the TD18 I dont know. Both tractors had elec start although on the TD35 we always preset the mag. The TD18 we just started it.

We did have a second TD35 that had no battery so it was crank start. The engine turned over very softly and started easily.

The crank certainly should have either turned the engine or been hard locked. Maybe it wasn't engaged in the claw.