True beginner questions.

[Greasyman]

Hi. My friend just bought a very clean Farmall 300, made sometime in the mid-fifties.
We have some very basic questions, as I've never driven a tractor one foot, and his experience is limited to lawn and garden tractors.

The main problem he's having is the tractor pulls severly to the left. It is a wide front. Is it possible to adjust the wheel alignment? He says there seems to be no adjustment other than at the tie rods, so I suppose only toe in/out can be adjusted. I suppose with a tractor eyeballing it, or some sort of basic measurement is good enough, but what should it be - a bit in, rather than out, I'd think.

Also, is it possible to shift on the fly, like with a car, or do you need to come to a complete stop and then choose your gear? It is a five speed with a TA. I forgot what TA stands for, torque something. I guess it's a gear splitter of some sort.
Thanks for any help anyone can give me.

 

[RWolf]

Your basic "front-end" alignment is to use a tape measure and measure on the front edge of the tire and again on the back edge i.e. 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock. You would adjust for about a 1/8 to 1/4 inch shorter on the front verses the back. Make sure you use the same spot i.e. inside rim. Assuming you don't have a bent rim this will get you in the ball park.

On tractors "in general" you come to a complete stop before shifting gears. Tractors have such a great torque curve they can start out in any gear. You just need to be ready. Some tractors you can shift on the fly but it is very limited.

 

[yomax4]

This may be a dumb question as i too am new at this. Is it possible that one of your rear brake pedals is out of adjustment? My tractor has 2 rear brake pedals and if you dont step on them correctly the tractor will pull one way or the other. I thought if one of yours was hung up, It could cause it to pull.

??????????????
MM.

 

[Greasyman]

Thanks for the input. Just to make sure I'm clear, the 1/8 to 1/4 inch measurement should be at the leading and trailing edges of the inner rims, not at the leading and trailing edges of the tires. This of course would mean the measurement at the edges of the tires would be greater than 1/8 - 1/4.

It's possible the brake is hanging up, that's another thing we'll investigate - thanks.

 

[daTeacha]

The rear "steering" brakes also have individual locks on them on many of the older tractors. Look at the pedals for a notched lever that may be holding the brake in engagement. Also, while I am not familiar with that particular, some of the machinery of that vintage had inboard brakes, not out at the wheels where you would expect. The engine has enough torque and the brakes are poor enough (designed to facilitate turning, not as road brakes) that you could easily be driving around with the brakes on and not know it, especially since you are not familiar with tractors in general and that machine in particular.

I am pretty sure there will be someone chiming in here who has one of them to give all the information you need to know and some you haven't thought of yet. If you can change the title of your post to reflect the vintage and model of the machine you might get the attention of the right person(s) sooner.

Welcome to the greatest collection of tractor knowledge on the planet!

 

[Greasyman]

Thanks, Teach. I tried changing the title but can't. I am getting some great advice though. My friend insists that it can't be the brakes because the tractor will roll easily with the engine off and it in neutral, but I think he should check it out anyway if the alignment doesn't fix it.

I thought of another question. He wants to get a 6' brush hog, and I was wondering if the pto shaft size and spline number is standardized, or do you need to use adapters, or what the deal is. If adapters are needed, where would you get those and roughly how much would they cost?

 

[daTeacha]

Most any store that sells a bushhog will know if the PTO input is going to work with that machine. Adapters are available for anything that is not one of the standards. I can't give you diameter and spline count off the top of my head, but machines of the same size class tend to have the same output shaft measurements. The coupler/adapters can be found at stores like Tractor Supply, too.

Farmall was at some point owned by International Harvester, which in turn was/is owned by Case/New Holland. Find a Case dealer, prefereable some one who has been in business a while, near you and they should be able to get you started with any parts you might need and a whole lot of information.

 

[BobG_in_VA]

Farmall 300 has a 6 spline 1 3/8 PTO shaft....ie. the standard PTO shaft...The T/A stands fpr Torque Amplifier and will be fine on the "high" side but depending on how hard the usage was in the field the "low" side may be out....only trying it will tell. The 300 has dry disc brakes on each side of the trans, just behind where the brake pedals are...if it rolls easily when in neutral they are not stuck....do the brakes work otherwise??? 300 is a great tractor. Suggest you change all the fluids (engine oil, trans gear oil, hyd fluid, etc.) Good luck ... BobG in VA

 

[daTeacha]

A lot of those 50's tractors could be had with either a narrow or wide front. Sometimes the front ends could be changed from one type to the other after the tractor had been used a while, maybe by the owner. If this is the case with yours, the whole front axle might be mounted crooked, or maybe a bolt has sheared or something. Check the front axle for straightness and whether it is perpendicular to the long axis of the tractor. If it's mounted to pivot up and down as many were, check the pivot point for wear.

 

[Bird]

I tried changing the title but can't.

The title is one thing not even the moderators can edit or change.

 

[Greasyman]

Thanks again for everyone's help. I just got off the phone with my friend, and he said that the left front wheel is cambered to the outside. Is there a way to adjust this? We were thinking that the bolt the spindle pivots on might be eccentric, and you adjust camber by turning that.

I'm going over to his house today to "help" him, it should be fun, being a city boy all my life I've never had a chance to work on an old tractor before.

 

[RWolf]

Might have a worn out bushing/bearing. If you can lift the front end and check for looseness in all pivotal areas. I used the rim as a suggestion because not knowing what size/condition the tires are in may change the measurements. IMO for tractors it's not so much an exact measurement as you want a *slight* tow-in. Because a tractor generally doesn't exceed 20mph your not a critical and also your work is off road which will more forgiving.

Good luck.

 

[RalphVa]

To shift gears, you'll probably have to come to a stop. Sometimes, you can go up a gear or two on the run if you do it quickly enough or double clutch (pause with gear shift in neutral and blip the throttle). On old cars with non synchromesh 1st gears, I used to be able to double clutch and go down into first gear (don't have any with non-synchro 1st gear to do it on now). Didn't know about this as a kid when I was driving Farmalls and Cases and John Deeres.

Many race car drivers (and me, too) still double clutch when going down a gear. The idea is to rev the engine and transmission gears (in neutral) up to the speed they'll need to be when downshifting a gear. More recently, some race car drivers have taken to synching, e.g. hitting throttle when going down a gear to hopefully be at the right speed when releasing the clutch. Some new transmissions on Mercedes, and maybe others, have computers doing this automatically.

Ralph

 

[jjmarotz]

Also check the tire size, as mismatched fronts will make it pull one way or the other. This was the case with my 50's era Case 400 I had a couple yrs ago. And as others stated check the bearings as they will cause the same symptoms if worn or loose. JJ

 

[Soundguy]

I'd deffinately check spindle bushing and wheel bearings if there is a camber problem.

(toe will be adjusted by the draglinks..e tc )

soundguy