wjohn Posted November 8, 2025 Posted November 8, 2025 I got to know a guy who had this tractor sitting in his shed and ended up making him an offer on it. The story is that he was in the middle of hay season and went to start it, and the starter got stuck engaged after the engine fired up. That lasted a couple of minutes before he could get it disconnected. He shut it back off and left it in the shed. Came back to it a couple of weeks later and the starter wouldn't turn it over. Pulled it out, did a quick check on the bench, and it spun fine. Put it back and and clunk, hard stop against flywheel. He had other tractors to use so this one has sat now for almost 10 years. When we dragged it out of the shed, with the gearshift in neutral but the clutch engaged, the rear tires were locked. Push the clutch in and the rear tires would roll. Eventually at some point the clutch didn't have to be pushed in and the rear tires would roll properly in neutral. I'm not sure if something was barely locked up in the trans/rear end just from sitting, or if it was in 2 gears at once, or what. Now it's my project. The loader would be really handy even though it's just a trip bucket. It has a Christmas tree valve and Lambert disk brakes which still worked somewhat as I unloaded it from my trailer. The engine won't budge with a hand crank on it, so it seems to be an issue from the clutch/flywheel forward. I will then pull the plugs and see if anything is in the cylinders, then check under the valve cover. If I'm lucky and that all looks good, I guess I'll look into the clutch housing area before dropping the oil pan? One of two things happened - either something came loose or broke off during the starter mishap, and it's lodged between the ring gear and clutch housing, or it was just a coincidence that the engine also happened to lock up shortly after the starter mishap. I'm certainly open to theories and voices of experience from the members here. If you have any thoughts or other things I should check, please chime in! I'm much more familiar with orange tractors. 4 Quote
wjohn Posted November 9, 2025 Author Posted November 9, 2025 The cautious optimism was short-lived. Pulled the plugs and the front 3 looked normal, but the 4th cylinder's plug was almost completely clean. Drained a little out of the oil pan and there is definitely coolant in the oil. Unfortunately that probably means this is a project I won't get to anytime soon. Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.