[AT] A Good Tractor Evening

[Cecil Bearden]

Dean:  I think you can take the cover off under the bell housing and run 
the 3 bolts out on the clutch pressure plate toadjust the release of the 
PTO disc.  I would count the number of rounds and run each one out the 
same.  Be sure to tighten the locking nut on them...I probably have a 
manual on that clutch around here but I have moved and still moving my 
office into my home...
Cecil

On 7/20/2023 11:40 AM, Dean Vinson wrote:
>
> 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
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> AT mailing list
> AT at lists.antique-tractor.com
> http://lists.antique-tractor.com/listinfo.cgi/at-antique-tractor.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.antique-tractor.com/pipermail/at-antique-tractor.com/attachments/20230720/7f0e3ac9/attachment.htm>