The tractor did its first chore last night. I put the blade on and graded the driveway. It did a good job. The engine runs really good. I had some drippy leaks in my plumbing so i fixed most of those, trans works good. It was a good night.
The tractor did its first chore last night. I put the blade on and graded the driveway. It did a good job. The engine runs really good. I had some drippy leaks in my plumbing so i fixed most of those, trans works good. It was a good night.
I put the loader back on the tractor yesterday. That went pretty well. It did take a couple hours. It definitely wasnt designed for easy on/easy off like they are now. So now i just wait for the first big snow fall so i can go clear it. Its also going to get called into duty when the ground freezes, i have a couple trees to cut down in the yard. Its too soft out there right now though.
I do still have some tweaking to do on it for sure. Im not happy with the clutch adjustment, and i want to see if i can change the rear hitch to single action hydraulics. Right now you have down force, which is fine for grading dirt or gravel, but when its time to clear snow i would rather just have gravity pulling down so i dont dig too deep.
Im pretty sure my transmission is broke. Either that or the torque amplifier. I was clearing some snow off tthe driveway, everything was going well. I disengage the clutch to let the blade down, engage the clutch and it feels like the brakes are on hard. I put the trans in neutral and i can roll it easily by hand. I was able to drive it back in the barn, but it acted like it was pulling a 4 bottom plow the whole way in. This couldnt have come at a worse time because i had some jobs i wanted to get done using it before spring, and i cant take the time to check it out and fix it because i have my house tore apart for remodeling.
Bummer! Do all of the gears seem to work?
I found a deal on a torque amplifier on Craigslist so I drove down to Kentucky today with my wife and picked it up. They were a common problem so finding a good one is difficult. I know mine has problems because it hasn't worked since I bought it. It would drive okay but shifting it did nothing. I was going to leave it alone because I figured I could get by without it, working on it requires splitting the tractor, and a good used gearset costs about $600 on ebay. The current problem I have of the drag may not be in the torque amplifier, but I have to split the tractor anyway, and this unit was only $150, so I figured I better grab it. It was actually from an IH 504, but 95% of the internals are same so it should make a good parts donor.
When the trans broke back in january i was about one week into a pretty extensive remodel job on my house. I finally finished that up so this weekend i got the garage cleaned up so i could get the tractor moved back in. I charged the battery and started the tractor, and sprayed hydraulic fluid all over the barn. Blown steering hose. Even when the tractor is broke it feels compelled to break more. So i fixed the hose and dad came over with his loader tractor to help remove my loader and shove my tractor into the garage. Im ready to start splitting it. Again. Even though its been waiting almost a year im not sure how fast the repair is going to happen, because we have a baby due any day now.
Not too much to report this morning. I started tear down on the tractor to get it ready to split. I also pulled the top cover off the donor torque amplifier and everything looks good and spins smoothly so I am hopeful that it should have any hard parts i need in usable shape.
When you have a chance, post up some pictures of the inner workings of the tractor. The first ones were so dark it was difficult to see.
Love the thread. If I lived on a farm, I’d have a bunch of these. I rented a farmhouse years ago and there were 5 tractors on the property. Three were inside one of the out buildings where I parked my car. I would look at them every day and wish I could get them running. They were IH and Massey tractors from the 50s.
In reply to maj75 :
I looked back through this thread and youre right, its useless without pics. Usually when i start working in the garage i never think about taking pictures or logging whats going on.
Here is a shot of my mess of hydraulics that i added to make the hydraulic steering. The green valve is from the donor combine. It works together with the valve under the dash that the steering wheel is on. They use magic to decide where to send the hyd fluid as the steering wheel is moved. The black valve directly below that is an aftermarket piece called a priority valve. Its purpose is to make sure that if you are trying to multiple things with the tractor hydraulics (like run the steering and raise the loader at the same time) that the steering gets first dibs on the available pressure, then everything else gets the leftovers. Its a safety item to keep you from crashing.
I've been looking at CL for the past month or so at cheap tractors and I've not found a deal like you got.
I don't have a need (or the land) for a tractor yet, but I am thinking I may in the near future. I could get a cheap Ford 9N from my mother in laws cousin, but it has no bucket.
Not much of anything special here, just a glamour shot of the C175 four cylinder. There is a lot of cast iron there. In fact, like many other old tractors, there is no frame. The front end bolts to the engine, which bolts to the torque amplifier, which bolts to the transaxle, and thats it. Its just a driveline with a seat. Its built so heavily that the torque amplifier, which is roughly the size of a pickup truck transmission, took three stout men giving all they had to lift it into the back of the CRV.
I did not upgrade it to the one wire alternator, it came with that. I do like it. What i dont like is the super ugly spacers they used to make it work. But work it does, so im not worried about that for now.
T.J. said:I've been looking at CL for the past month or so at cheap tractors and I've not found a deal like you got.
I don't have a need (or the land) for a tractor yet, but I am thinking I may in the near future. I could get a cheap Ford 9N from my mother in laws cousin, but it has no bucket.
Your best bet might be to talk to a local farmer. They usually all know each other, and they know who has an old tractor that has been sitting in the back of the barn and not used in 15 years. Whwn good deals make it to CL its a race to get there before the flippers, and they always have cash and a trailer ready. I think the reason i was able to get this one was because they didnt have price listed, so the flippers didnt smell the blood in the water. That, or they were smarter than me.
This is a pic of the nicest one ive seen in the wild. It was at a tractor show in my area earlier this fall. I really do like the two tone paint and 50s styling.
I got the split done last night. It would have been a lot easier with a second person. Now i have to do whats called the "double split". The rear part gets split again to remove the torque amplifier.
There has been a bit of a slow down in progress. Not that im complaining. The newest member of the family is here.
Dude that’s awesome. Literally.
Very cool.
And now it is "double split". Torque amplifier removed from the transmission.
This is the inner workings of the torque amplifier. The rh side of the pic is the front or input side. The bellhousing is just out of frame. When the clutch in the center is engaged you have direct drive to the transmission. When the clutch is disengaged the planetary gearset kicks into action and reduces speed and increases torque by around 33 percent. It uses a one way roller clutch to make it all work. That turned out to be my problem. That one way clutch seized up.
This is the torque amplifier unit removed from the housing. The donor unit i bought months ago has the same part and it seems to be in good shape. Plus the clutch pack in the donor unit looks like brand new, so bonus. The throwout bearing on mine was shot and i think thats why the TA never worked before. The cluch wouldnt disengage. Now i just need to find some internal seals for the housing and I will be ready to start on assembly.
Ive been cleaning up the housing while waiting on some seals and stuff for reassembly. When I die, if God sees fit to punish me for the transgressions of my youth, i have a feeling i may be spending eternity scraping 60 year old asbestos gaskets.
Torque amplifier, it is a backwards overdrive unit!
Not sure how I missed this thread, but the International 350 is a favorite of mine. Probably because my father has a 350 High-Utility, which is a rare 1 year only model with different front kingpins and taller rear wheels to get it up in the air higher.
Not my fathers, but similar. They are a gawky-looking beast, less than 1000 produced. He has a hydraulic loader on the front with forks for logging. Torque amplifier on his broke years ago, and he never bothered to fix it for the same reason, they are troublesome and hard to find. Also, the steering on his has a ton of play because of the garbo steering box design. I recall him saying that there was a Farmall that the box could be swapped off that fixed the issue.
Absolutely a phenomenal tractor though. It can sit for years without being fired, toss a battery in it and 9 times out of 10 it'll light off in a single revolution. And I love the bark that the engine makes on these. Lots of childhood memories riding around on it.
Congratulations on your recent addition. Health and happiness for all!
Old tractors are cool. I have a 1950 Ferguson T 020. Nice shape, and I use it regularly around our property. Fun to work, and fairly easy to work on. Nice project you got there.
My neighbor up at the cabin has an old Farmall Cub, it has a mower and front blade. He told me that he would sell it for $1700, I was super excited to get it some day, then I started looking at prices on them. Turns out you can get a fully restored one for $2200, most don't come with any attachments though. Nice or not what ever I get will sit out in the woods until i need to pull something or grade the road.
Tractors rock!
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