The Fordson Tractor Pages Forum

Hi guys,

This afternoon I was driving my Super (live drive with 590e). When I wanted to shift up from 2 High to 3 High, I noticed the gearlever was stuck...
The high/lowlever works fine, just like the clutch.
I tried several things like stop the engine and restart her...but nothing helped. Luckily this happened half a mile from my home.

After reading this post I am afraid I have to take out the gearbox.. I really look up against taking it out.

What are the things I can do, before taking the gearbox out? Removing the gearlever? Removing the pulley and check if the retaining nut has come loose?

Hope you can help me, guys.

Sorry to hear this Pacal,

Hope you can fix here from the outside.
If not, you will learn a lot more the next winter.

Pascal
The Major gearbox is actually very easy to strip and rebuild.
The harder part, and it's not hard, just requires a bit of work, is removing the gearbox from the tractor.
Lets us know what you find.
We're here to help.
Kiwi Kev

Thank you, guys! Thank for being there with advices!

I hope to do some work next Thursday. First I will remove the gearlever.
I'll keep you updated.

Hi guys,

Yesterday I removed the main gear lever and the round plate next to the clutch.
Hereby some pictures. Gear lever was in High.
















I could really found something strange, but maybe that has something to do, that I don't really know what to
look for.
The only strange thing was, that with a little magnet, I found some metal sludge.



Any ideas?

Hi pascal,

I have rebuild my gearbox also and if I look at yours I cannot see something strange on first sight. Can you slide the gears by hand in the gearbox? Does the part between the gearlever and selector plate on the side (don't really know how to write in english) moves the way it should?
I should drain the oil and see if there are parts of bearings come with it.

Let us know your findings and good luck with it.

Hi Arno,

Thank you for your advice!
I drained the rest of the oil out this morning, and guess whaat I found..





Does anybody has an idea what this is? I have put a key next to it, to give to an idea how big it is.
Is it a bearing?
What should I do?

First guess would be a piece of a bearing cage. The first part of a bearing to fail before the balls, or rollers, start bumping into each other and dropping out. Mind you this is only an educated guess. Dandy Dave!

Pascal
I think it's all pointing to one thing. You are going to have to pull the gearbox apart.
It's not that hard to do. I used a trolley jack and an endless chain to get the gearbox off, when I did mine.
Once it's on the floor or bench, it's easy. Just remember to lay everything out in order as you take it apart.
Keep us posted.
Kiwi Kev

Hi guys,
Thank you for your reactions!

Kev,
I know you are right. I kind of had to get used to the idea
At first I didn't like the idea of doing another big job at my tractor (590e last year), but now I carefully start to look forward to it.
I hope to do the job somewhere in March.

It will be my first split. Any advices?
Do I have to split her at the clutch? Can I just inbolt the gearbox and take it out? What the approx. weight of the gearbox?

I'll keep you posted.

Pascal wrote:
It will be my first split. Any advices?
Do I have to split her at the clutch? Can I just inbolt the gearbox and take it out? What the approx. weight of the gearbox.

Pascal
I would split her between the engine and gearbox. Roll the engine and front axle out of the way.
Then split her between the gearbox and the rear transmission.
You will want to strip the whole gearbox, and do whatever needs doing, as you won't want to have to do her again, just because you didn't do the rear seal, or the clutch plate etc.
The weight of the gearbox is quite heavy, I'd be guessing at say 4-500 kg?
Good luck, and ask any questions you want.
Kiwi Kev

Hi guys,

Thanks for the advices!
Last Saturday I tried to put the round plate back on the gearbox, so I could try if the problem of the stuck gear lever was solved.
A meccanic who happens to be there too noticed this...



Probably the reason why the gear lever was stuck.
I removed it and tried to put the round plate on.

Unfortunately when I got the plate on, the gear lever was stuck in neutral. I guess I did something wrong?
Do you have any advices?

The meccanic explained that a vertical axle prevented that both horizontal axles could move at the same time.
After removing the metal splinter, I could move the upper (the right one on the picture) horinzontal axle, but not the other one.
Is that okay?

Pascal
My work computer has a very dark screen, so will look again when I get home.
Those plates are 'tricky' to put back on.
Kiwi Kev

Pascal
As I said on my prevoius post, that side plate can be tricky to get back on correctly.
If you go back to your post of Jan 14 photo 3. The 2x half circle arms needs to fit over the 2x vertical surfaces of the gears,photo 7, and the 2x knuckles need to fit around the moveable extension of the gear lever. You will probably need to move/slide the arms to suit location of the surfaces/knuckles.

If the tractor is already in your shed, and looking at your post of Jan 15 photo 1, I would'nt be looking any further. I'd be pulling it apart. That peice looks like a bearing cage, so it needs to come apart. If the bearing rollers are still in the bearing? it will only be a matter of time before they come out, and if no damage has been done already, it could happen any time.

Can't see what the red circle damage is, but you will see more once gearbox is stripped. With that 590e engine in there, you can't take any risks with a dodgy gearbox.

Just think of it as another learning curve. The best way to learn is to do it.
Kiwi Kev

I agree with Kiwi Kev. Pull it apart. Be safe now, and not sorry later on. Dandy Dave!

Hi guys,

Thank you for your help! I really appreciate it.
I will take it apart within the next few months. It's indeed better to be safe than sorry.
First I have to do some jobs within our house...and I am waiting for some higher temperatures.
In the meanwhile I am thinking how to remove the frontend, since a jack under an alu sump isn't a great idea.
Perhaps I can borrow a loader to take the front off and I can make a frame to support the back of the frontend? Anybody any ideas?

Is putting out the gearbox out of the "gearbox house" and pulling the gearbox apart something that can be done on the floor of a barn?
My tractor is standing in an open barn.

I had just the same problem with my gear stick. Before loosing gears the stick started to rotate.

The gear lever housing was removed and I removed the washers under the plug on left side of gear lever, then i placed the lever so that that the plug tip came deeper in the grove. (without washers) After that it worked perfectly.

Hi Kev,

Last Saturday I was doing some preparations for the split.
I was wondering why you recommend to split the tractor in 3 parts? Isn't it possible to just split the tractor
at the clutch house? Or am I mistaken?

Pascal wrote:
I was wondering why you recommend to split the tractor in 3 parts? Isn't it possible to just split the tractor
at the clutch house?

Obviously you will need to split the tractor at the clutch housing, as just about everything comes out the front of the gearbox.
You need to split her between the gearbox and the rear transmission as the seal for the shaft is accessed from the back. It also allows you to easily scrape/clean any sludge from the rear transmission.
Hope this helps.
Kiwi Kev

Hi Kev,

Thank you for your reply. I am planning to start the job in March.
I'll keep you updated!

Hi guys,

For the last one and a half days I have made some preperations for the split up of my tractor.



I tried to remove this part (see picture below). That didn't worked out like I hoped: the oil of the rear axle run out..
Luckily I could collect it all in barrels. I though this part was separated fron the rear axle....but this saves me work in a later stadium.
Any idea's how to remove this part? I tried to remove the round part at the front, but it was pretty stuck.



This is what I collected from the part on the picture above till now. Anyone an idea of what the broken parts could be?

Pascal,

This part is the PTO gearbox. In the front it has oil from the main gearbox and on the other side the rear end. I guess you had to use a lot of barrels.
You have to remove the pto shaft and in your case also the raised pto. Than you can remove the pto box. It's heavy. You need to shake it a bit. When you have it out, do renew the double seal in it. It prevents oil from the gearbox going into the rear end.

The pieces look like the cage of a failed roller bearing. Either you have a failed bearing, or someone did not clean the case out well from an earlier repair. Dandy Dave!

Hi guys,

Thank you for your help!
I took the PTO shaft out today and managed to take off the PTO gearbox.

This frame supports the engine, together with the front axle. I had to get the frame because of the alu sump.



With some help I split up the tractor this afternoon.



Next weekend I'll try to get the gearbox out. What's the easiest way? Leave the gearbox housing to the rear axle and
try to get the gearbox out? Or remove the gearbox housing with the gearbox in, lay them on the ground and than try to get
the gearbox out?