New owner of old Ford 1700 - questions

[tlj87]

I recently picked up a 1980 Ford 1700 2wd with nearly 3300 hours to mess around with. The sound of the 2-cyl diesel is unique! It seem to run and shift fine. Some questions:

1. The turnbuckles on the 3pt hitch arms have seen better days. Is there an aftermarket telescoping stabilizer arm that would fit?

2. Should there be a neutral safety swtich on this model? It will start in gear.

3. Steering wheel is broken at one of the spokes. I haven't seen any direct replacements available. Any alternatives or compatible wheels other besides salvage?

4. Steering is loose. Adjustments to take out free play?

5. Current seat is fine, but no suspension and the forward/aft adjustment is seized. Has anyone installed one of these or similar seats? If so, are there any mounting or fitment issues? https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Tractor...-7-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9tdGY&psc=1

6. Brakes either need adjusted or replaced. Pedal has to be all the way to floor board to do anything. It looks like the rod has some adjustments on the end. Anything else?

Thank you!

 

[woody]

The only question I can help with is #2 there is no safety switch

 

[JC-jetro]

1-There is certainly a Neutral clutch safety switch. Pic below is self explanatory while I was testing mine.
2- I replaced the steering from Ford 1700 to Kubota L175 on mine. It is very involved work. Ended up putting Kubota steering wheel on my Ford for steering column end configuration. I think I still have my old Ford steering wheel.
3- You can try the flop in the steering out but if the inner gears are worn out might not help.
4- Jack up the rear end and secure n jack stand, try to adjust brake if you can. If the lining is worn out then you need to replace the brake lining.
5- I have the original seat and can move forward and back ward. May be you can use the seat hardware and attache a seat to the base.

 

[tlj87]

1-There is certainly a Neutral clutch safety switch. Pic below is self explanatory while I was testing mine.
2- I replaced the steering from Ford 1700 to Kubota L175 on mine. It is very involved work. Ended up putting Kubota steering wheel on my Ford for steering column end configuration. I think I still have my old Ford steering wheel.
3- You can try the flop in the steering out but if the inner gears are worn out might not help.
4- Jack up the rear end and secure n jack stand, try to adjust brake if you can. If the lining is worn out then you need to replace the brake lining.
5- I have the original seat and can move forward and back ward. May be you can use the seat hardware and attache a seat to the base.

View attachment 809906

Thank you. For the steering, I see a new steering setup on eBay for a little under $500, from steering wheel down to the steering box. Any reason not to go with this and instead go the custom route you did with the Kubota steering?

 

[JC-jetro]

Thank you. For the steering, I see a new steering setup on eBay for a little under $500, from steering wheel down to the steering box. Any reason not to go with this and instead go the custom route you did with the Kubota steering?

I have tried to get my original re-built with some success for about a year. I keep getting the lower bearing damaged due to a break I had with my OEM. At that time the OEM was very expensive about Just under $900. I saw add on Ebay for L175 from Kumar Brothers, it just appeared it would fit. I marked their pictures and send them to them to give me dimensions of the L175. They did a great job sending me accurate info. I had to modify and it worked. Again, it was not easy. I ended up buying the steering column under $250 if remember it right. It was an Indian made Kubota knock off but casting looked pretty good. I later sent them my original ford 1700 column for a good core charge as they had access to broken part.
Overall, I put a lot of work in to it and ended up with brand new column for around $150 and it is working flawlessly in the last 3 years. $500 is a lot better price that I could secure then.
Most likely the tabs on sector shaft broke like mine did, I took the other side off and add outer race of a bearing as a spacer/adjustment. It worked ok but did not have good enough turning radius that frustrated me and ended up replacing the while steering column. I think on the later model they changed the sector shaft design without the tabs like Kubota L175.

 

[Paystar]

Welcome to the blue team! As for your steering wheel, 3 point parts and brakes, etc there are a LOT of aftermarket support for Fords. I get most of my resto parts from places like Steiners and Yesterday's Tractor.

As for that blue seat, I have one similar on my Ford 3000 and I love it. It's very comfy and has weight adjustment. I just did a long tractor ride/parade and I was comfortable all morning.
Not sure if the one you linked is from a different manufacturer but mine has a tag saying "made in Turkey"

 

[tlj87]

Welcome to the blue team! As for your steering wheel, 3 point parts and brakes, etc there are a LOT of aftermarket support for Fords. I get most of my resto parts from places like Steiners and Yesterday's Tractor.

As for that blue seat, I have one similar on my Ford 3000 and I love it. It's very comfy and has weight adjustment. I just did a long tractor ride/parade and I was comfortable all morning.
Not sure if the one you linked is from a different manufacturer but mine has a tag saying "made in Turkey"

Thanks! I had a Ford 3000 gas for years - great tractor. Only sold because I needed a 50 hp loader tractor.
I too had one of those aftermarket seats and liked it. I was just concerned that it would sit too high on the 1700. I ordered one, so we’ll see.

 

[Paystar]

Thanks! I had a Ford 3000 gas for years - great tractor. Only sold because I needed a 50 hp loader tractor.
I too had one of those aftermarket seats and liked it. I was just concerned that it would sit too high on the 1700. I ordered one, so we’ll see.

I'm not real familiar with the 1700 but it should be okay judging by the pics I saw of a 1700.
I've seen people put them on lawn tractors, LOL

 

[Btown]

Welcome to the blue team! As for your steering wheel, 3 point parts and brakes, etc there are a LOT of aftermarket support for Fords. I get most of my resto parts from places like Steiners and Yesterday's Tractor.

As for that blue seat, I have one similar on my Ford 3000 and I love it. It's very comfy and has weight adjustment. I just did a long tractor ride/parade and I was comfortable all morning.
Not sure if the one you linked is from a different manufacturer but mine has a tag saying "made in Turkey"

I tried one of those seats on my 1700 when I had it, it did not work for me. The 1700 platform is small and tight. I’m 6’4” and there wasn’t enough room for me to use the seat. My 1700 was manual steering so I’m jealous that some have power steering.

 

[tlj87]

Replaced the 3pt lift cylinder seal. Not much of anything was present!


Also replaced steering box/column with aftermarket unit from Kumar Brothers. The only issue was that I had to grind off the pins from the top of the tractor bell housing. The new unit did not have pin holes that lined up. Also had to rotate steering column 180 degrees so that the upper mounting for the throttle was in the correct position.