1952 JD model AR

Cecil Stults · Jan 30, 2012

Continue from my first post I was originally calling it an AF because I was going on what my neighbor told me. He found the tractor but no longer has the energy to play with them .
What I brought home was a model AR Three tires were flat but all 3 still held air. I have one wheel that will need a new tire.
Luckily a neighbor had a KUBota tractor and helped me load it up.

Supposedly the tractor had only been used to run a pump for irrigation.
The back tires have excellent lugs still left so it does look as if it has not been driven too much.

Got it home and first thing I notice is the flywheel an cover is 1/2 full of mud. Took the cover off and water, mud and cock roaches fell on the ground. It has rained a few days earlier.

Then I saw where the starter was. At the bottom of the mud.
I crawled under all that and removed the starter. NOT an easy job. All things rusted.

Starter drive was packed solid full of REAL mud. Inside the armature even had mud.
Cleaned it up as best I could and it looks kind of bad.
I luckily found a guy with some JD salvage and he had a used starter so
I now have a good rebuilt starter.

Next was the carb. I took it off and couldn't get the bowl off. I monkeyed around and broke the casting so the big nut at the bottom of the bowl has the end of the top part of the carb.

My salvage guy wouldn't let go of any of his carbs.
he said there are rebulilders out there that can mine.

I assume it is possible to braze or silver solder a threaded end back on the carb that will
allow me to use this carb or should I just give up and go find another carb.?
Any tips here would be appreciated.

So i have a starter but I need a carb. I am so anxious to hear this behemoth come alive.

good news is that I have turned the engine all the way around. Not locked.

One more scary thing.
Water in the bottom of the engine and followed by the oil. The oil was very thick I thought I was into the gear box at first.
A lot of water.

The actual gear box in the back was solid water. No oil on the top to seal off the water from the gears. I assume it condensated or leaked in rain water enough to displace all the oil out. I do see where it looked like oil has leaked out the axles.

I have NEVER seen this much water in the bottom of an old tractor.

MIKE R · Jan 30, 2012

Cecil Stults said:
I assume it is possible to braze or silver solder a threaded end back on the carb that will
allow me to use this carb or should I just give up and go find another carb.?

You can probably get a new carburetor for it from Stiener Tractor Parts. If you can't find another carburetor you can solder it or Braze it but you will have to be careful not to mess up the inside, or the float could not work correctly.

From what you posted it sounds like the tractor is in decent shape. With water in the oil pan and transmission I would think that there could possibly be a crack in the casting or some gaskets are gone.

Did you check the radiator to make sure the water/antifreeze isn't low or have traces of oil in it, which could mean it needs a new head gasket possibly or there is a crack in the head.

What oil do you plan on putting in the engine? I run 30 weight in my Case even though it is recommended by the dealer 67 years ago to run 30 weight in hot weather.

Do you have any plans to restore the tractor or photos to share with us?

Cecil Stults · Jan 30, 2012

Mike,
thanks for the reply.

I do have a couple of pics. right after unloading it. I will have to get if off the camera.

I am going to restore it. Not full scale new paint an all. Just getting it useable. May paint it later if it proves to be a good one.

My old neighbor that helped me wants "us" to enter it in the local yocal tractor pulls they have in east Texas.
If there is enough tractor left I may do that.

Radiator. I have not checked it very closely.
While I was under the tractor draining oils I discovered the big water valve at the bottom of the tractor to drain the water from the engine.

I thought to myself "What a great idea they had. A quick dump of the radiator water. How handy..

I then gave the big handle a tug and the whole valve and pipe broke off in my hand. the threads at the top end of the pipe coming out of the bottom of the engine broke off up in the casting.

The good news is that the water has already been drained.

Also grabbing the fan blade I have about 1/2 inch of play where it freely rocks back and forth (in the direction that it turns) like there is some slop
in the splines of the driveshaft coming from the engine. The belt and generator turn the same 1/2 inch because the slop is somewhere in that shaft. Is this slop BAD?

I am an International Harvester kind of guy. This is my first DEERE.

MIKE R · Jan 30, 2012

Cecil Stults said:
I am going to restore it. Not full scale new paint an all. Just getting it useable. May paint it later if it proves to be a good one.

My old neighbor that helped me wants "us" to enter it in the local yocal tractor pulls they have in east Texas.
If there is enough tractor left I may do that.

You are only planning on doing a mechanical restoration and leaving it in its work clothes.

Cecil Stults said:
Also grabbing the fan blade I have about 1/2 inch of play where it freely rocks back and forth (in the direction that it turns) like there is some slop
in the splines of the driveshaft coming from the engine. The belt and generator turn the same 1/2 inch because the slop is somewhere in that shaft. Is this slop BAD?

I would think that it is not bad but it is also not good. You could have worn bevel gears or poor gear lash. I am not sure what the allowable play would be on it. I believe on this tractor the gear lash is set by shims between the governor housing and the fan shaft where they bolt together.

Do you have any repair manuals for the tractor? If not I would recommend getting a operator manual and a repair manual.

bcp · Jan 30, 2012

Cecil Stults said:
Supposedly the tractor had only been used to run a pump for irrigation.
....
I have NEVER seen this much water in the bottom of an old tractor.

He was supposed to put only the PUMP in the pond, not the TRACTOR AND PUMP!

Bruce

Ken · Jan 31, 2012

bcp said:
He was supposed to put only the PUMP in the pond, not the TRACTOR AND PUMP!

Bruce

It does read like it never floated when the water came up.
Had a 40 Model JD and cluster gear shed its teeth so bought a junker tractor that had been under water. what wasn't a ball of rust had cracked in the freezing weather. also the cluster gear was with teeth missing.
Maybe look it over very careful then add up the cost of seals bearings and broken parts.
Tires sitting flat be careful the side walls are not cracked.
ken

MIKE R · Jan 31, 2012

Ken said:
Tires sitting flat be careful the side walls are not cracked.
ken

If they are cracked put tubes in them. I put tubes in any old tire where the rim could have a little hole or leak. Usually leaks around the valve stem.

Cecil Stults · Feb 13, 2012

Folks,
Continuing my saga of my JD model AR.

The starter was packed full of mud an water so I found a used one and rebuilt it with brushes and bushings.
I broke the carb. Forcing bowl nut off no knowing what I was doing.
So I bought a rebuilt one off of the "net". The core charge for my old carb was equal to the price of a rebuilt carb. That tells you something..

I drained the waters out of all the reservoirs (engine, rear axle).
I poured diesel oil thru the engine crankcase two or three times to flush it out. Cranked the engine with diesel in the crankcase once.

then I put fresh oil and a new filter in it.

So I was ready to see if it would come alive..
I had cleaned up the points also.

I cranked it without plugs until I saw the oil pressure come up.
It was amazing the volume of air that was coming out of the spark plug holes while cranking it...

Keep in mind.
I have never owned a Deere and never heard one run.

So I put the plugs back in and filled the new carb. with gas.

I hit the starter and it cranked without ever hitting (firing).
It was putting out a white smoke out the stack. I assume that was fuel air vapor.
I realized I had not power to the coil. I hot wired 12v over to the coil.

I hit the starter again and it starts intermittently firing. It gets better and better as I crank. Having to stop and charge the battery ever so often. Each time it hits the whole
tractor shudders. I can feel the hits in my legs standing on the deck.
Went thru 3 or 4 sessions of cranking with it almost running on it's own but not quite.

I finally was checking the plugs which were wet from gas and the oil I had squirted in the cyls. to slick them up. I squired some aersol carb cleaner in both cyls.

This time it started hitting and kept on running. All kind of smoke and crap coming out of the exhaust but it was getting better by the minute.

It finally was settling down into a constant run and sounding very good. It was
certainly poppin' I thought to myself that is why they are called poppin' Johnnies.

I was letting it just run right off of an idle. The big behemouth was waking up.
It really was stumbling when I tried to gave it more throttle.

And then - - - the second cylinder started to come alive. It coughed a time or two clearing it's throat.
And then there were two.. the engine smoothed out and quieted down.
and I realized THAT is what a 2 cylinder John Deere is supposed to sound like.

My old neighbor that helped me bring the tractor home was sitting there grinning ear to ear as was I...

The tractor had not been run in 20 years according to the previous owner.
But that day the clock was reset..

It sounds good running but I still have a lot of things to do on it.
I already have scraped the lichens (moss) of the tires that you see in the picture...

I love big iorn...

flusher · Feb 13, 2012

Looks like a real find. You'll have a ball restoring that beauty.

My next purchase for restoration is going to be a JD A, B or H (gotta have some kind of JD tractor in my collection

). Hope to make a deal in the next month or so. That will give me a total of 6 vintage tractors in the collection (1964 MF135 diesel deluxe, 1951 Minneapolis Moline BF, 1951 Farmall Super A, 1948 Farmall Cub, 1945 Oliver 60 row crop). The MF135, Super A and Oliver 60 are running now. The BF is being reassembled following a complete engine rebuild. The Cub block is heading to the engine shop for a complete rebuild in the next few weeks.

Good luck with your project.