[Farmall] Difficult F14

[Greg Hass]

I had thought about replying earlier but felt what I had to say was not 
relevant, especially with a tractor as old as an F14.  However, the recent 
posts suggest that maybe there could be something relevant, especially 
knowing that the head had been redone.

A couple of years ago, my brother bought a used IH-2400 loader tractor 
approximately 35-40 years old because my dad had owned one which he bought 
new back then that had since been traded.  Soon after he got the tractor he 
discovered that when driving it down the road in road-gear, it would start 
missing at exactly 1/2 mile.  If you did not stop it would actually 
stall.  We took things one thing at a time:  plugs, points, distributor 
cap, plug wires, fix alternator which wasn't charging, repair broken spring 
on fuel pump, adjust valves, clean and adjust carburetor, etc.   After each 
step, we would test-run it down the road and at exactly 1/2 mile it would 
again start to miss and then stall.  We then hired an independent mechanic 
to take a look and he even put a 1-gal. lawn mower tank above the hood to 
eliminate the possibility of a fuel delivery problem.  He also checked 
everything we had done and confirmed that it was done right, and still we 
had the exact same result.  He then said he would have to take a day or so 
to think about it before giving it another try.   The next day, while at 
the auto parts store getting parts for another job, he happened to run into 
a mechanic from our local IH dealer and mentioned our problem to him.  It 
just so happened the mechanic owned a tractor just like my brother's and 
said that those engines had tight valves and would not run without a lead 
additive added to the fuel.  We had never had a problem with my dad's 
tractor, but back then we had leaded fuel.  The mechanic came back with 
some lead additive and dumped it in the 1-gal. tank, and took it for 
another test run.  Lo and behold, the tractor ran perfectly!  (We later 
calculated the amount of additive he put in the 1-gal. tank was 
approximately 4 times what it called for.)  Since that time the tractor has 
run perfectly except when my brother has forgotten the additive and then it 
will start acting up within minutes of filling the tank.  I don't know if 
this is relevant in your case, but possibly whoever did the head got things 
too tight.  I sure don't see what harm it would do to try some lead 
additive, or maybe I should be politically correct and say "lead 
substitute".  Hope this is of some value.

Greg Hass
Bad Axe, MI