[AT] [Farmall] Super M Fan Belt -- and other fun stuff

Dean Vinson dean at vinsonfarm.net
Mon Sep 20 15:51:51 PDT 2010


Thanks, Dudley, Charlie, Cecil, Gary, Ken, John--I appreciate the good
questions and comments.  

> Not only are the pressures up there they are very uniform with less than 
> 3% spread.  Sounds to me like it was rebuilt by a good engine builder.

That's what I'm thinking.  I don't have any hard information on its history;
the guy I bought it from said he'd bought it several years ago from the guy
who'd restored it.  But from what I've seen so far it sure looks like
somebody went through it top to bottom and did a good job while they were at
it.  It's very clean and straight, down to new boots around the brake rods
where they enter the brake housings, no seeds or gunk in between the
radiator fins, new exhaust pipe, tight steering, clutch that just feels
right, easy starting, easy running at low idle, no oil drips in the rear end
or from the crankcase pan, etc.

> It might run on pump gas as long as the throttle wasn't wide open, the 
> carb wasn't too lean or the timing wasn't too early.

I haven't noticed any difficulty running on regular pump gas, although I
don't have more than an hour or two of running time on it since I bought it.
A small amount of that was wide open to clock the road speed, when the local
cops had put one of those radar-activated "Your Speed Is" signs next to a
nearby street.  (It's got a 27-mph road gear--see my post at
http://www.atis.net/forums/showthread.php?246-Hi-speed-road-gear about
that).  Runs good, sounds good (listen to it at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Enh8kQN9HwU).

It does tend to diesel if I shut it off with the ignition switch rather than
the fuel shutoff, which seems to support high compression.

> I guess someone should ask about the gauge used.  Is it possible 
> it was faulty?

Sure, but I'd be surprised if it's dramatically off.  It's the same gauge
that gave me the 115, 118, 90, and 105 psi readings on my '50 M a couple
years ago, and it's sat in its original packing inside a cabinet since then.

> If thie compression is really that high, you may have found the reason
> for the 12volt conversion.

Yep, that makes good sense.  In my original post about this I'd mentioned
being pleased that the hand-starting crank bearing isn't rusted frozen like
on other tractors I've owned, but when I read back over it I realized I'd
likely never be able to crank the thing over by hand anyway... :-)

> As Charlie has said, you may have a good puller there -

I suspect I'd run out of traction before power, alright.  I might actually
get to put that to the test very soon... the Old Timers Days show in nearby
Xenia is this weekend, and it's close enough I could drive the SM over there
on the side roads.  I'm hoping to find a dyno also.

Dean Vinson
Dayton, Ohio
www.vinsonfarm.net









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