Tractor ???

Nice FF,that one looks good too.

Why thanks guys, I value your opinion even if it is just from a pic.

I agree, that is a fine looking old Ford. I have known a number of people that had them, they all thought more of their Jubilee than their wife & kids. lol

Oh BTW, I asked about buying a 9 inch auger bit from The Tractor Store and posted a link. Do you have any thoughts on that? It is less than half the cost quoted to me by Danuser , $139 picked up locally versus $299 plus shipping.

You go slow with that TS model & you'll be fine. My neighbor has one that I borrow & it works & has worn just fine for a few yrs now. Like I said--slow & steady gets the job done (we grow rocks here on the hill) --it ain't a race:)

Thanks Fred. That's about what I figured, but it doesn't hurt to ask someone with experience. BTW, I got curious & looked up Freetown. I see you are near Cortland, I was nearly killed there back around 1979-1980. Saved by divine intervention. Or some would say just good luck. Too long a story to get into here, now.

top top,just remember that with that IH fast hitch you can down pressure the hitch or any thing mounted on to the point of lifting the back end of the tractor. If you decide to use a moleboard plow the down pressure pin needs to be moved to its inactive spot,but you will want the pin in the right spot when pulling machinery or the hitch can hike to the top by lift of the machinery chasing you down a hill or you back up trying to push a wagon backwards & up comes the hitch.

windyhill4.2 wrote:top top,just remember that with that IH fast hitch you can down pressure the hitch or any thing mounted on to the point of lifting the back end of the tractor. If you decide to use a moleboard plow the down pressure pin needs to be moved to its inactive spot,but you will want the pin in the right spot when pulling machinery or the hitch can hike to the top by lift of the machinery chasing you down a hill or you back up trying to push a wagon backwards & up comes the hitch.

Now you're just messing with me. I had to go to google to figure out what a moleboard plow was, so I understand what you're saying. Of course I still don't know where to find the down pressure pin or where to stick it. But seriously, thanks for that. Little things that people take for granted because they have used these tractors all their lives, but I am clueless about can get you hurt. I'm no stranger to equipment, just never operated farm equipment other than loading/unloading it when I was a trucker.

Find the cylinder on the hitch & somewhere at the top you will find the pin,NOT the pin holding cylinder to the hitch. The down pressure pin comes out for plowing,even for best results when bush hogging so the mower can "float". If the down pressure pin is left in for mowing you could have the rear wheels spinning in the air when crossing a swale or ditch. There is an extra hole in the upper arm to put the pin in when down pressure is not needed/desired,when pin is installed for down pressure & the hydraulics are working as they should,you can lift the back of the tractor 1 side at a time for tire change,etc. Thinking, slowly,..... the down pressure pin may be at the bottom of the cylinder. If you were to moleboard plow you would also need to remove the lower arm "buckle pins"so the arms can flex & float with the plow,but normally you will want the lower arms to be solid. There is also a side swing pin that should normally be in,but for plowing,pull the pin so when the tractor is steered it is not steering the plow too,the plow should gradually follow the tractor. Side swing is optional when bush hogging.

windyhill4.2 wrote:Find the cylinder on the hitch & somewhere at the top you will find the pin,NOT the pin holding cylinder to the hitch. The down pressure pin comes out for plowing,even for best results when bush hogging so the mower can "float".

I wanted to thank you for that tidbit. My son made a 3 pt adapter & got the post hole digger mounted. I bought the nine inch bit from The Tractor Store and tried to bore some holes on the edge of the lane. The ground there is very compacted and it just wouldn't drill, then my son said it would not apply down pressure. I repeated what you said, he promptly found where to insert a pin and it drilled right through. On one of the holes he hit a concrete slab about a foot down and she even drilled through that, but only as deep as the tip.

This thing has some power too. After getting the digger mounted, he went down back and drilled a test hole. The bit hung up on something & instantly pulled the front wheels off the ground. Before he even had time to react it broke loose and returned to normal. I'm glad it didn't stay hung up, I don't think the pto has a reverse, so it would have been a job to get the bit out of the ground.

It wouldn't have been such a surprise if I hadn't already found out how heavy this tractor is. From a link I found, the operating weight is over 8,000 lbs, not including the loader & any implement on back. When it got stuck in the field my son used the Case 580 hoe to get it out. I have picked up two ton with that loader before, but it would not pick up the front end of this little tractor, yet the digger reared her right up.

The other issue we had was the pto drive shaft on the digger was too long. I was puzzled how that could happen, but after taking it apart I saw the shaft was twisted, I guess from using that 24 inch diameter bit. We cut off about 8 inches of the twisted shaft and it worked fine. I still have plenty of overlap on the slip shaft, so it should be fine.

I also called Danuser with questions about the post hole digger. They asked for the serial number, then sent me a manual and all new safety stickers for it at no cost. Seems like a very nice company to do business with.

Thanks for the update,its good to hear all is working out well with your tractor.

Windyhill, Fred, or whoever, I have another question. The loader on this little tractor has quit working. It did not seem very strong at first, but now it will not raise at all. The tilt cylinders & Fast Hitch cylinders seem to be ok, so I assume the hydraulic pump and pressure regulator is functioning ok. There are no hydraulic leaks that I can see. I was thinking maybe the control valve for that one function is causing it. Any ideas?

BTW, my son told me the torque amplifier has started to work. I don't think the previous owner had ever used it, maybe that valve was sticking from non use & us messing with it got it freed up. We haven't tried do move anything heavy, when we get the chance we will try to determine how well it is working.

Sounds like the hand control valve (the valve with the levers used to operate the loader) could be the problem. Can you lock the loader into place with that lever & lift the front end by tilting the bucket or does the loader "float".

Yes, the control valve was our first thought. One of my sons will look at it when he can. He troubleshoots & repairs a lot of hydraulics in his job. Just wanted to see if we should look elsewhere also. As for the loader locking in place, I don't know. If it quits raining tomorrow I will try to check it out. I know it would only gravity down, not power down, when I bought it and to me it seemed weak when lifting something.

The last time we used it was to use a small platform with a guard rail, sort of a homemade man basket, and lift someone up to work on something in lieu of him working from a ladder. In the middle of that job it quit working completely.

Thanks for the quick response.

Do the loader cylinders have 1 or 2 hoses to them,if only one they are only one way cylinders.

Yesterday I was able to spend a few minutes looking over the hydraulic system. The loader cylinders do have two lines, so I assume they are double action. The valve body is located on top of the transmission, the control levers are up on the console with mechanical linkage to the actual valves. Maybe the one set of linkage could be out of adjustment, causing the lever to bottom out before the actual valve attains full travel in one direction? Although that doesn't really make sense either since if it were biased towards the down side, causing the lift side to be weak at first and ultimately not work at all, the down side should have plenty of travel & exert down pressure on the double acting cylinders.

I could not see all of the linkage without tearing apart some of the sheet metal, something I will try to get done over the weekend. I'm wondering if there is an adjusting feature on the linkage that is moving? Maybe a jam nut has vibrated loose or a turnbuckle has stripped or is rotating because of vibration? Also the loader is connected to the valve body using quick connects, and all the female ends are on the tractor. That would make it easy to just switch them & see if the problem follows the loader or remains with the tractor side. I used to have an expensive set of oil filled pressure gauges which I could insert into the test ports and get actual pressure readings, but they were destroyed in the fire.

Ok, so the control valves are part of the tractor rather than a separate valve for the loader ? You mentioned the quick connect ends.... if they are not matching they never will work right,if the female end has a pointed relief "valve" in the middle then the male end needs to be pointed too,if ball shaped both need to be ball shaped.Hopefully you find that the problem is the quick connect fittings,it would be less expensive to replace them than to do any hydraulic system repairs. There is also the possibility that the tractors hydraulic filter needs changed,it is an internal filter located on the right side about the middle,thick plate that unbolts after parking the tractor sideways on a slope so you do not lose as much fluid.