[Farmall] (no subject)

[olmstead at ridgenet.net]

It was fun having a tractor buddy (Rob) come over and admire my
collection.  Hope to see his H with 3-pt. and loader soon..

Fired up the '36 O-12 yesterday and drove it around a bit, and decided
that it was time to drain the transaxle.  I squirted many gallons of diesl
fuel in there about a month ago, and have been driving it to clean up the
innards.  Fluid has been oozing out of the axle ends and the brake
housing, so things must have gotten pretty well mixed up.  For the most
part, the plan worked.  The solvent reduced the viscosity of the lube from
molassas in winter to about 30-wt, so it drained quickly.  Too quickly, as
it turned out, but that's what absorbent granules are for...

What came out was very dark, but didn't have much water in it.  After the
front plug quit dripping much, I removed the rear plug, which drains a low
spot under the bull gears.  Nothing came out, so I gave it a poke with a
screwdriver.  Still nothing, so gave it a 'finger wave'.  That got it
flowing, but revealed that the bottom of the transaxle has about 3/4" of
sludge.  Felt like coffee grounds.  Very thick.  No way it is going to
come out just with solvent, so I guess I'll have to open the transaxle and
carve away with a putty knife.  No sense pouring nice clean GL-1 on top of
dirt.  And since I managed to fill one brake housing with lube, maybe I'll
change the brake shaft seals while I'm at it.

The tractor runs quite well, but it still has a bunch of engine oil leaks
that I haven't managed to stop.  Always something to tinker with.

-Karl