[AT] A Good Tractor Evening

[Dean Vinson]

Good story, Steve.  It’s been a long time since I’ve made the effort and gotten my hands dirty on a job like that,  but your description makes me want to go tinker with something.   Especially the part where you’re victorious at the end of the story.  :)

 

I do have a couple of long-simmering things I could mess with.   The JD 620 has a wire disconnected from the coil, been like that for years and the tractor runs fine and I haven’t noticed anything not working, but obviously the wire is there for some purpose so it’s on my list of stuff to get around to at some point.   And I need to take the Super M clutch pedal off and have a bushing inserted to rebuild the out-of-round hole where the pedal rotates about the shaft.   The local Case/IH dealer put a new shaft in for me several months ago while the tractor was in their shop for another issue anyway, and that fixed a lot but not all of the side-to-side play in the clutch pedal.   Either of those would presumably be pretty straightforward tasks, well suited to patient application of basic investigation and simple tools and without requiring much serious mechanic skill.

 

The Ford 3600 also just popped up with another issue, this time with the two-stage clutch.   I just recently got the tractor back from the shop after it had developed a fuel line leak, and it runs like a top, but after some hours of heavy brush-hogging last Saturday it now won’t let me engage the PTO.   With the two-stage clutch you push partway down to shift the transmission and all the way down to engage the PTO, and it’s always worked fine before, but now when I push the clutch all the way in I can’t engage the PTO… it just grinds.   I don’t have a good mental picture of exactly how a two-stage clutch works but I assume something stuck together while I was doing all that mowing the other day, or maybe got worn to the point where it needs readjustment or replacement, but either way I think the diagnosis and repair would be beyond my “simple tools and without much serious skill” rule.   So it’ll be back to the shop for this little beast.

 

As a workaround in the meantime I can still use the PTO if I just shut the engine off before engaging it and then start back up, and I did that once already, but as I think about it I suspect it’s not a good idea for regular use.   Starting the engine with the PTO engaged and a brush hog attached to the PTO would mean the starter and ring gear have to overcome the inertia of the mower blades, correct?   The tractor starts almost instantly upon cranking it, but still, seems like I’d be asking for trouble if I use that procedure very much.

 

Dean Vinson

Saint Paris, Ohio

 

 

From: AT <at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com> On Behalf Of STEVE ALLEN
Sent: Wednesday, July 19, 2023 4:03 PM
To: at at lists.antique-tractor.com
Subject: [AT] A Good Tractor Evening

 

The list seems slow, so I thought I share a quick note that might be of some interest.  It is about my '49 JD A, the one that needs a new flywheel.

 

For some years, it has also needed attention to the gear shift stick, which developed the unfortunate habit of coming up out of engagement with the transmission.  It is held in place by two snap rings, one below and one above the ball that allows it to move.  My older son, in his younger years, used to sit on the seat and "drive" the tractor, pulling with all his might on that stick.  At some point in the process, he must have pulled it so hard that the lower snap ring came out of its groove (I suspect it made it all the way to the bottom of the sump because I've never seen or heard evidence of the ring ending up in the gears).

 

Anywho, I finally gathered the necessary brain cells together to get on the Deere website and order 3 of those snap rings.  Yes, I said three even though the project only needs two.  It would be me all over to ruin one or lose it, so I wanted a bit of redundancy.  Deere does still have them for about $3.50 each.  I might have been able to source them elsewhere, but why go through the hassle of making sure they are the correct size when Mother Deere has already gone to that trouble?  (Side note:  the parts guy I talked to when I picked them up at my local dealer told me that 2-cyl parts are getting pretty scarce though they get a lot of traffic in them and even occasionally work on one in their shop.)

 

I had, years back, bought a spare stick with some of the other parts from Sharps, so, armed with more parts than I needed, I unbolted the stick assembly from the top of the transmission and brought it into the shop for rejuvenation.  Once I had it on the bench, I had to learn that the parts would come off only from the top:  the ball at the base of the stick was too large to permit the pivot ball and collar, the retaining spring, the washers, and the cover to slide off the bottom end.  I was inhibited by not having a pair of the proper snap ring pliers.  Nevertheless, I got two new snap rings on with all the parts in the right order between them.  (Well, I did need to start over at one point because I started in the wrong order, but my heads was upside down.)  I also used the wire wheel on the rusty base of the shift pattern housing and all four cap screws and washers used to hold the whole shebang in place.

 

So, with the rebuilt stick (just how hard can if be to rebuild a stick, anyway??) in hand, it was back to the shed.  The problem was getting the four cap screws back in their holes.  When I had removed them, I could push the stick complete;y out of the way, and I had no need to grasp them after removing them:  I could just let them fall out of the housing when I removed it.  But keeping them in the socket as I started them in their holes proved to be a pain.  As I was struggling, my son--who was responsible for the whole mess anyway--came home from work, and I sent him back to the shop for the longest pair of needle-nose pliers he could find.  They were *just* long enough to do the job, and so i was able to tighten all the cap screws, keeping the assembly in place.   

 

Running it through all the positions, it seemed to be up to snuff, so we won't have to hold the stick down when we shift anymore.

 

Now, to find the time to get the cotton-pickin' flywheel changed.  Got to have my son around.  He works throwing cases and building pallets for a beer distributor, so he can pick up that flywheel; it would be rather an over-match for my back anymore.  But we're one step close to having TWO operational As!

 

Then, it'll be time to put the new manifold on the '47 B--that's a job i do not look forward to.  I am sure we can get the old manifold off; I am NOT sure we can get the old studs out of the head with out much tearing of hair and gnashing of teeth.

 

Obviously, a type of snap ring pliers must exist which are made for rings that have no holes in the ends, just beveled ends.  I have many older tools inhereted from my father, but none seem to fit the bill.  Do any of you know what I am looking for?

 

But it was a Good Tractor Evening yesterday despite the hassles, and I hope I didn't bore anyone.

 

Sweatingly,

The "original" Steve Allen

'47 B, '49 A, '51 A, all in Mid-MO

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