[Farmall] let the buyer beware!

[John Hall]

  About a month ago a friend brought a newly acquired Super A over to have 
the carb rebuilt and the wheels moved in. He spotted a grease leak on the 
left side bull gear and told us to take care of it while we had it here. 
What should have taken hour or so turned into a huge project. It turns out 
the bull gear housing had been welded (pretty darn good I might add) to the 
transmission housing. After I finally sawed, ground, cut and chiseled it off 
we found the top portion of the mounting flange had been broken and repaired 
with brass. Also it had the dowels removed and the transmission had been 
drilled to 5/8 bolts (7/16 was standard). We knew the housing needed 
replacing, but so did all the components. The only useable item besides the 
studs for the drawbar was the brake drum. Anyway the owner talked the seller 
into giving him a "useable" bull gear. All it needed was the bearings 
replaced, the axles knurled, and new seals! I installed thread repair 
bushings in the transmission to allow us to go back to 7/16 studs like 
original. We decided to take off the shifter cover since a watery mess was 
running out of the transmission. First thing we noticed was the oil slinger 
was broke and pretty well ground up. Both shafts had a lot of play so we 
decided to put in new bearings. When we pulled off the pinion cap we found 
the bolt had backed out allowing for some unusual gear wear. Anyway we put 
the transmission back together and aside from some gear noise, it appears OK 
(we have an A that has been here since new and it had the pinion bolt back 
out on it 40 years ago---it's still noisy). While test driving, the tractor 
began starving for fuel. Turns out the tank was full of tar and the portion 
of the neck that locks the cap had been damaged. So we replaced the fuel 
tank.

Otherwise the tractor looks well cared for and runs great. It doesn't appear 
to be abused. The steering is VERY tight, none of the front cultivator bolts 
have been stripped and drilled oversize and there are no visible engine 
leaks. My point in telling all this is to serve as a reminder what you can 
get into next time you go tractor shopping.

John Hall