Wow!! When your son started to help with the water bracket, that brought memories of way back when I was his age and helped my Dad hold the wheel lugs and screw them on the wheel lug studs. that was many years ago. I still remember that time clearly. Then when I was in High School I rebuilt a Ford 289 V-8 with the help of my Dad.
That is so nice of you to let your son help you. It also sets up the next generation to be self sufficient, it also will help him when his bike breaks down he can fix it. Great job fathering.
Awesome job letting your son tighten some of the bolts - I can remember my dad having me help him 60 years ago and they are some of the best memories I have of my dad.
I’ve got a 47 model A and Have a lot of the same issues that you are going through so thanks for the video. Your lighthearted approach is also enjoyable 😂
Love seeing your son in there learning too. As someone who spent a lot of time wrenching on things with my dad and uncle when I was younger, he will appreciate it someday.
@@HumbleAcres That's for sure. We have a John Deere Model R right now taken completely apart to overhaul the engine. Got all the engine parts back but we are currently waiting for cooler weather to strip it down for paint before reassembling.
Can’t believe how much of a similar journey that we are going down right now, love watching you work through things on your A as I run into the same quirks and problems with a B I got from my grandpa. Lots of things to learn about these tractors and how to keep them happy
Great job on the head gasket replacement!! I have my 1952 John Deere A in pieces at the moment. Replacing governor bearings and going through the engine.
Good job little man, reminds me of my son in the garage at that age. Great life experience. Will always be something that needs to be fixed in the future.😊
With the state of the USA and the world, glad you have this one working as a back up to your current tractor. Great job and so happy to see your son working with you & you teaching him with such patience.
We had a model g down here in NZ. Was imported by government for agricultural use. Had no hydraulics but 6spped version. Ran on power kero. When my father bought it in 1962 for 52 pounds, 11 shillings (NZ$105) then it had a log book with extensive maintenance records. Had been rebuilt, few clutches etc but also 38,200 hrs. We owned it for 17 years. Only thing we had to do was clean magneto as we lived in very wet climate and one day it broke a tappet adjuster and I drove it home on one cylinder. Was a bitch to start if you stalled it hot. Never had a battery but sometimes we would jump start it with cables. Would out pull at 62hp diesel. First started driving it when I was eight years old. Obviously Dad would start it. Fond memories.
I'm so relieved to see the workshop turn up to make sure you wasn't slacking and doing the job right. Such a bright lad you guys must be really chuffed with him and not leaving the workshop manager, now she looks like she runs a tight ship so do as you are told 😊. Great channel young man Gary 🇬🇧🇬🇧
If you take the big round cover off the flywheel you can start it by spinning the flywheel by hand . You might try fixing the starter its not as hard as you might think. If your good enough to do the head gasket you can do the starter. Don't use the silicone gasket use the high tac type. Great to see your son helping , I remember over sixty years ago helping my dad when about your sons age. He will never forget it.
The problem with that is my flywheel has the starter gear on the outside so it might be a little sharp for the hands. I have attempted to fix the starter and it worked good for about five seconds and then it went back to how it is. Thanks for the advice!
Jordan that was fantastic enjoyed very much and your son helping could not be better the kids look great I love that tractor from the time you picked it up at grandma's with no front wheels on it to rebuilding the front end to now that was great family history.
Way back in my John Deere mechanic’n day I remember using lead washers under the head nut before torquing the nuts. The idea was to help seal any water/coolant from leaking past the nut!
Jon, great video with your son! My uncle who was a great mechanic let me help him overhaul John Deeres and I was doing them solo at 16 years of age. One thing I noticed when you're checking the valve lash for the valves, you need to turn the engine around so that the cylinder you are adjusting is on compression stroke because they're not all going to be the same point to adjust. Only the intake and exhaust clearances will be adjustable on each cylinder that is on it's compression stroke. You can take out spark plugs, turn engine until you feel compression, then adjust.
Very good teaching your son to use a wrench 🔧. Most parents avoid it . I live on farm and have great brothers and my dad to teach us how to work . We have a couple of john deeres. Thanks dan
A very unusual small engine to fit under there, and such a large tractor. You know that flip flops now come with steel cap toes.😂. Good job and good video Jordan, well done.
I just completed this same process on my 1949 A. I had to replace the exhaust manifold, so I went ahead and removed the head and replaced the gasket. In my case, I removed the hood so I could clean the oilbath breather which as absolutely clogged with dirt dauber nests over the years. Adjusting the valves was a little tricky. Not an extremely difficult job. Parts were very heavy, but I also did the work by myself. She runs good as new now. Good job on the repair.
Great video, I appreciate the effort to get us video inside the action. I hope this works out for you in the long term. It shouldn't be much $ to have the head surfaced, and Peter at "Just a few acres" had a head gasket fail at 40 hours because he used copper seal on a gasket meant to go on bare(turns out the small thickness of the coating prevented adequate crush on the fire rings), but his motor is much higher compression than the popper. Hopefully, yours will work fine, but it highlights the dangers of making assumptions. I was surprised how thin the web between the cylinder and the cooling passage was. This is 40s stuff, not 60s, lol.
I grew up operating model G, 51 or 52, l hardly remember using the electric starter, generator quit, dad didn't have the money to get it repaired, took the starter off and cracked it by hand, fingers grabbing flywheel ring gears to hand start, that was about 60-65 years ago. Also pulled or used a belt to start, belt if I didn't someone to drive another tractor or truck. I replaced the generator with an alternator and voltage gage. Changes better when running at lower speeds. Did you use a straight edge check the head? That low spot might be a possible leak place. Next time time you'll remember to put head gasket on first. They were probably lead. The head bolts on model G are 208 ftlbs, but they are a larger bolt.
If it's any consolation those doggone things were temperamental when they were new. Still awesome to see people getting the old iron working again though.
Hi love the video of that John Deere A. One thing though is I had one with a water pump on it that I rebuilt and the local John Deere dealer told me if it had a water pump it was a 1952 model and said it was the only year they put water pumps on them. Not sure if he gave me accurate info or not . Had mne stolen and never did find it. Used it alot on the farm as it was the biggest tractor I had at the time. Love the old johnny poppers.
Ask some of the guys on the John Deere facebook page how to weld that bracket, you can weld cast iron, Nichol weld, but I don't know how! Sometimes, if you don't get the bolts with the led washers, it will leak from the bolt holes, because the bolts go right into the water jacket! Ha, Bud, that wouldn't feel so good on your toes!! you want to tighten the bolts evenly, I'm with you, I don't have help when working on machinery! Up on the fan shaft, right behind the pully, there is a plug, take that out and put a grease zek in it to keep it greased, poor design by JD! Put some oil in that little flap on the generator, I put a sock over the air stack to keep the bugs, bees, and mud doppers out! Good job on the repairs! And the second throttle leaver is for the front shutters, to raise the temp. you pull it back, if it's to hot, move it forward. It should run around 190-200
To weld cast iron is tricky it's an art. You have to heat it keep it hot, weld it and then keep it hot while letting it cool SLOWLY, honestly brazing would probably be just as good. My 49 never gets over 140, even with the shutters closed, they just don't really get hot with that huge rad unless they're being worked.
Nice tractor and very enjoyable video. It would have had a hard time cranking before you replaced the head gasket because it would have to hydraulic the water the old gasket had leaked by I would imagine. Kind regards, Sussex, UK
So back to the beginning. Steiner Tractor sells the Steering Wheel Starter Crank tool for $49. Buy an old used A steering wheel off of. eBay. And like my uncle Eddy used to do hang the extra steering wheel on the intake stack. Stays there for hand cranking. There should be a tool basket inside the frame rail under the oil bath air cleaner for the cranking tool, tool, oil can, rag, adjustible wrench.. I have a '51 A also with a No5 sickle mower . Great machines. Be safe, from Hillsboro, NH. 💚 Good job on the head gasket ,👍
It sounds like the starter would be helped by replacing battery cables and making sure that the ground connections are clean. Also it is very common to find little skinny 12volt cables in the place of the big fat six volt cables that should be there.
I don’t know man, anything that turns over that slowly and still starts can’t hate you too bad haha! My dad had a 1952 AR with that crab adapter. He got tired of pulling off the steering wheel and just used a pipe wrench. Chewed the tool up pretty bad over the years but he got it started
I spent many years from about 9yrs thru high school plowing, disking, cultivating crops on that vary tractor. Good to hear it run. Be very careful with running that in your closed garage, I thought I heard a child in there with you, they will soak up carbon monoxide much easier than we adults.
That tractor doesn't need full throttle to start. Also clean your cable connections and make sure they are tight. These jd tractors love a good ground they pull a extreme amount of battery juice when cranking. Your starter is acting like its starving for juice. Clean up and tighten your connections youll be amazed the difference
To me the best way to do a manifold is have everything out of your way. Hood off, fanshaft off. Cut the nuts off and remove manifold and then work on getting the studs out of the head.
When torquing head bolts if you’d go to the spec then wait overnight you’d be able to get another 1/8 to 1/4 turn more to attain the 125 ft/lbs spec. The head gasket will squish over time.
Likely the generator needs synchronizing, Generator synchronization is the process of matching parameters such as voltage, frequency, phase angle, phase sequence, and waveform of alternator (generator) or other source with a healthy or running power system. This is done before the generator is reconnected to the power system. This is very common on generator systems.
I made a fitting to hand start my JD that uses the standard JD lug wrench rather then the steering wheel. Works great and and since my JD has a magneto, no battery is needed.
Nice video, but why do you open and close the compression relief cocks? They were for the old hand crank models so that you could easily turn the flywheels. It's not necessary on electric start tractors.
Scratch that, not synchronize, polarize is the proper term. Been 50 years since I had anything with a generator, had to put my thinking cap on. Here's a RU-vid video of the process used on a John Deere like yours. "How to polarize a generator - John Deere" Also, to test the generator you can hook a battery to both terminals, it should "motor" ie: run slow like an electric motor.
Was there a leak or a crack in the coolant pipe? I'm thinking that's what's causing the coolant to go into the other pipes. Which of course is not good.
MR HUMBLE ACRES YOU GOT TO DANDY HELPERS MY SON HELPED ME PUT A STARTER ON A OLD JOHN DEERE TODAY A 1949 HE HAS A BIRTHDAY THIS WEEK HE WILL BE 46 JUST SEEMS LIKE WAS THAT HE WAS AGE OF YOUR SON YESTERDAY TIME DOES FLY I JUST TURNED 76 ENJOY YOUR FAMILY MINE IS SCATTERED IN THE WIND IVAN FROM ILLINOIS.
Maybe the starter just needs cleaned? I had a bad cable connection on my Jubilee that caused a similar symptom. If you use a manual device to crank the engine, make certain it will disengage as soon as the engine tries to rotate it. In other words it should only be able to transfer power one way and kick-out or otherwise disengage as soon as power tries to run from the engine back to you Edit: Really enjoyed the video. At 1:23:45 there’s a pop/arc under the seat. I think that connection is at least part of the problem because that’s how I found the bad connection on my Jubilee. I hit the key and it shot sparks off the starter terminal but after cleaning it really good the slow cranking problem went away
@@HumbleAcres are you sure your ground cable is okay? on the agri machinery I work on faulty grounds are a usual problem with lazy starters, also worn starter motor brushes figure in there also ------ by the way a 17mm spanner substitutes for 11/16" under the metrinch system.
Check head and block for true flatness. They should be within .002 inch also Check for cracks the cracks might not be visible so Check with die penetrient method.
I watched this video to learn about the J D 2 lunger that I grew up listening to. Your video skills were great for that, I enjoyed and learned a lot. Please do me a favor, when drilling or using the wire wheel or sanding, put on some goggles. Your son was in a position to get debris in his eye which would be a shame. Thanks.
Don't cheap on repairs resurface the head have guides and seats checked and ground. Clutch pulley has a bearing in it on the outer end of the crankshaft that need to be greased. I just replaced mine
I've got my grandpa's 1959 JD 630 and if the battery is fresh off the charger and I leave the gas on for a few hours ahead of time, I can get it to start and run for 20 minutes. I really wish mechanics still worked on these. I'd gladly pay for someone to figure out what's wrong with it.
Just take them off. If you let the air out it's just going to make the repairs a lot harder. If your terminals are getting red and smoking most of the time the connections are bad or loose.
