[i:f715a59749]TL;DR: Old Junk, badly abused - Mower Deck 3-point and driveshaft setup questions.[/i:f715a59749]
Hi folks.
I'm a new member, and fairly new to tractors, but I've been around mechanical stuff a long time.
I have a few questions about my neighbor's tractor since I've been the one to fix it lately, I seem to be the one who needs to ask the questions.
We've got 33 acres, mostly wooded, which we manage with a Case 255 with a loader, a Case 310c dozer, and the usual motley collection of junk.
Our neighbor has over 100, mostly wooded, but at least 8 of which are pasture, which he lets my wife use for grazing, because he likes to watch the horses, and because it's just a weekend house for him and he's in the city most of the time, and prefers to avoid paying someone to clear them a few times a year.
In return for the neighbor's generosity, I help him out with things from time to time.
A couple of years ago, my wife and I watched an older gentleman and his wife haul a shiny-looking Ford 9N tractor over to the neighbor's place and unload it. We have no idea what he paid for the thing, but it was immediately clear to us that it had been drug out of a field somewhere, wirebrushed, spray-bombed, and dropped off.
All of the sheet metal was dented and pitted under the new paint. The tires were old. The steering wheel was wrapped with electrical tape. It had Chinese Tractor-Supply lights that never worked. The freshly painted grille looked like it was fresh from a demolition derby. It came complete with a newly painted at-least-20-year-old Tractor-Supply 5' mower deck that looked like it had been sent to the junkyard, crushed, then pulled out and unfolded, like a piece of paper pulled from a wastebasket. Cracks and wear-through were amateurishly welded, with most of the weld sticking to only one side of any given joint.
The wife told my wife it was "completely restored."
I've been keeping this beast running for the past couple of years, mostly because I'm the only one who uses it 90% of the time, and it's easier than trying to attach the misbegotten deck to my own tractor. I've actually got it running well, but the actual questions are coming soon...
The mower deck on this machine is made of Swiss cheese, but has a new-looking gearbox on it, and a new driveshaft.
The driveshaft would always hit the edge of the deck if you lifted it too high, which should not have been a problem, if it weren't for the fact that the 9N 3-point has "draft control," but does not have "height control."
I knew nothing about what these two things were, only that when you set the height, the deck would wander, often creeping upward until it was suddenly banging against its driveshaft. It was annoying, but, hey, it wasn't my machine, and who was I to complain?
Anyway, I'd been trying to mow one pasture for the past month, between shifts at work and installing water and electric in our own barn, and kept encountering mechanical problems (carb cruddy again, timing waaay retarded, discovered cobbled-together exhaust pipe was neatly dinged in on the invisible underside to the point it was nearly closed off, starter failure) that kept preventing me from using it.
(Anyone remember "Green Acres" and the Hoyt-Clagwell tractor that Mr. Haney sold Oliver Douglas...?)
So, last week, I finally had the whole thing sorted out, I got to mowing the now-3-foot-tall grass, and, after half an hour I heard a Very Bad Noise and looked back to see the driveshaft flailing around.
After some disassembly and some internet research, I discovered there was a thing called an overriding clutch and that it had disintegrated. A quick trip to T-S and I had a shiny new one. The driveshaft did not want to telescope, and upon pulling what remained of the plastic outer safety sleeves off of it, I discovered it was bent, and had been for some time (invisible inside the sleeves).
I was able to pound the segments of the driveshaft into the correct positions to mate it up and ran the mower to see if it would work. In spite of the 3-point lever being Down, the deck went Up, and I tried to get it to release and drop back without success (on the 9N, the 3-point will only work with the PTO engaged, so there was no way to raise or lower it unless the driveshaft was spinning).
As you are anticipating, the driveshaft snapped in two before the deck decided to lower itself, so now we had a new problem.
So, the Questions:
On a Ford 9N, with Draft Control only, using the machine for rotary mowing, is it worth it (or even possible) to get a "Zane Thang" or similar device to regulate the hitch height consistently?
The driveshaft connection to the deck is a 1-3/8" shear-bolt type (with a non-shear bolt installed by the "restorer," of course).
Is there a distinct benefit to using a slip clutch as well?
What if I want to use the deck behind my Case 255? I like my own tractor and don't want to abuse the gearbox, and that deck takes a lot of abuse on our severely rocky ground.
Is there any way to rig this thing so that the deck can be raised a decent amount without hitting the shaft, or is that just not geometrically possible?
What about the rigid top link vs chain question? As it stands, I can't imagine how this thing could reach up and whack me, but I'd rather not find out by experience.
The hydraulic oil is more white than it is any other color. Water, obviously. It's all got to go, right?
Does it sound like I need to go into the pump and valves and just clean it all up?
I really don't want to, but I'm one of those guys who hates leaving something half-fixed, and have no idea how the hitch is supposed to work in practice, so I can't tell if it's working correctly now.
Anyone know of a good replacement for the Marvel-Schebler updraft carburetor? It works, but it's kinda medieval, and it just seems like I could get a much more tractable tractor with better mixture control.
My neighbor is beginning to express concern about throwing any more money at this beast, and I don't blame him (He doesn't know how much I spent because I don't tell him. He lets us use his land and I'm not asking him for money).
Are we completely barking up the wrong tree here, and is getting this combination to function and be of practical use just a misguided pipe dream (with him holding the pipe and me holding the match)?
I don't want to drop a few hundred bucks on a shaft and clutch and find that it was pointless when the next thing fails, but I'd sure like to finish that pasture.
Thanks in advance for any thoughts you might have,
- Eric
Hi folks.
I'm a new member, and fairly new to tractors, but I've been around mechanical stuff a long time.
I have a few questions about my neighbor's tractor since I've been the one to fix it lately, I seem to be the one who needs to ask the questions.
We've got 33 acres, mostly wooded, which we manage with a Case 255 with a loader, a Case 310c dozer, and the usual motley collection of junk.
Our neighbor has over 100, mostly wooded, but at least 8 of which are pasture, which he lets my wife use for grazing, because he likes to watch the horses, and because it's just a weekend house for him and he's in the city most of the time, and prefers to avoid paying someone to clear them a few times a year.
In return for the neighbor's generosity, I help him out with things from time to time.
A couple of years ago, my wife and I watched an older gentleman and his wife haul a shiny-looking Ford 9N tractor over to the neighbor's place and unload it. We have no idea what he paid for the thing, but it was immediately clear to us that it had been drug out of a field somewhere, wirebrushed, spray-bombed, and dropped off.
All of the sheet metal was dented and pitted under the new paint. The tires were old. The steering wheel was wrapped with electrical tape. It had Chinese Tractor-Supply lights that never worked. The freshly painted grille looked like it was fresh from a demolition derby. It came complete with a newly painted at-least-20-year-old Tractor-Supply 5' mower deck that looked like it had been sent to the junkyard, crushed, then pulled out and unfolded, like a piece of paper pulled from a wastebasket. Cracks and wear-through were amateurishly welded, with most of the weld sticking to only one side of any given joint.
The wife told my wife it was "completely restored."
I've been keeping this beast running for the past couple of years, mostly because I'm the only one who uses it 90% of the time, and it's easier than trying to attach the misbegotten deck to my own tractor. I've actually got it running well, but the actual questions are coming soon...
The mower deck on this machine is made of Swiss cheese, but has a new-looking gearbox on it, and a new driveshaft.
The driveshaft would always hit the edge of the deck if you lifted it too high, which should not have been a problem, if it weren't for the fact that the 9N 3-point has "draft control," but does not have "height control."
I knew nothing about what these two things were, only that when you set the height, the deck would wander, often creeping upward until it was suddenly banging against its driveshaft. It was annoying, but, hey, it wasn't my machine, and who was I to complain?
Anyway, I'd been trying to mow one pasture for the past month, between shifts at work and installing water and electric in our own barn, and kept encountering mechanical problems (carb cruddy again, timing waaay retarded, discovered cobbled-together exhaust pipe was neatly dinged in on the invisible underside to the point it was nearly closed off, starter failure) that kept preventing me from using it.
(Anyone remember "Green Acres" and the Hoyt-Clagwell tractor that Mr. Haney sold Oliver Douglas...?)
So, last week, I finally had the whole thing sorted out, I got to mowing the now-3-foot-tall grass, and, after half an hour I heard a Very Bad Noise and looked back to see the driveshaft flailing around.
After some disassembly and some internet research, I discovered there was a thing called an overriding clutch and that it had disintegrated. A quick trip to T-S and I had a shiny new one. The driveshaft did not want to telescope, and upon pulling what remained of the plastic outer safety sleeves off of it, I discovered it was bent, and had been for some time (invisible inside the sleeves).
I was able to pound the segments of the driveshaft into the correct positions to mate it up and ran the mower to see if it would work. In spite of the 3-point lever being Down, the deck went Up, and I tried to get it to release and drop back without success (on the 9N, the 3-point will only work with the PTO engaged, so there was no way to raise or lower it unless the driveshaft was spinning).
As you are anticipating, the driveshaft snapped in two before the deck decided to lower itself, so now we had a new problem.
So, the Questions:
On a Ford 9N, with Draft Control only, using the machine for rotary mowing, is it worth it (or even possible) to get a "Zane Thang" or similar device to regulate the hitch height consistently?
The driveshaft connection to the deck is a 1-3/8" shear-bolt type (with a non-shear bolt installed by the "restorer," of course).
Is there a distinct benefit to using a slip clutch as well?
What if I want to use the deck behind my Case 255? I like my own tractor and don't want to abuse the gearbox, and that deck takes a lot of abuse on our severely rocky ground.
Is there any way to rig this thing so that the deck can be raised a decent amount without hitting the shaft, or is that just not geometrically possible?
What about the rigid top link vs chain question? As it stands, I can't imagine how this thing could reach up and whack me, but I'd rather not find out by experience.
The hydraulic oil is more white than it is any other color. Water, obviously. It's all got to go, right?
Does it sound like I need to go into the pump and valves and just clean it all up?
I really don't want to, but I'm one of those guys who hates leaving something half-fixed, and have no idea how the hitch is supposed to work in practice, so I can't tell if it's working correctly now.
Anyone know of a good replacement for the Marvel-Schebler updraft carburetor? It works, but it's kinda medieval, and it just seems like I could get a much more tractable tractor with better mixture control.
My neighbor is beginning to express concern about throwing any more money at this beast, and I don't blame him (He doesn't know how much I spent because I don't tell him. He lets us use his land and I'm not asking him for money).
Are we completely barking up the wrong tree here, and is getting this combination to function and be of practical use just a misguided pipe dream (with him holding the pipe and me holding the match)?
I don't want to drop a few hundred bucks on a shaft and clutch and find that it was pointless when the next thing fails, but I'd sure like to finish that pasture.
Thanks in advance for any thoughts you might have,
- Eric
