The Fordson Tractor Pages Forum

I just got done prepping everything for an evening of haying. The New Holland 273 was hooked up to the E1A Major and I headed for the field. I got everything running, made one pass around the field, stopping occasionally to adjust the baler. I stepped on the clutch, put the Major in gear, slowly let up the clutch, it started nudging forward when *POP!* She stopped. I tried all the gears in both ranges.. It's dead.

I did notice that I can feel the slightest pull with the clutch out, which tells me it could be a linkage. It won't allow me to put it in neutral, but it won't go anywhere in gear, either.

The PTO seems to still run.

Thoughts?

Joe

Does the shifter seem to be working correctly, can you feel positive gear changes with it, its possible that the shifter ball came out of the socket and the transmission is in neutral. its also possible that the center hub of the clutch disk for the transmission sheared the rivets off, is it a two stage clutch with live PTO?

Pat

That could lead to a can of worms. Like Pat say's, I would check to see if the forks and shifter have jumped and if it is locked in two gears at once. From there, the wheel drive clutch center if it is a live drive.... then into the transmission to look deeper. Dandy Dave!

This model is not live drive (I wish!). Do I have to split the tractor to get to check these links, or can I access them through a cover plate? I don't have a repair manual, so this site is my best hope for information.

Joe

Hello Joe
Are you sure you are getting full drive to the PTO? There may be no way of testing it in the circumstances you find yourself in. What I'm wondering is, has the clutch drive plate given up as Pat suggests, providing just enough thrust to turn the unloaded PTO shaft but not enough to move the tractor? The clutch is the one area with wearable, breakable components (gearbox and transmission pretty much bomb-proof, assuming oil levels are maintained), so it's highly likely that the problem lies in this area.
Best
Adrian

Put it in gear, let out the clutch and watch the pto shaft to see if it still turns.

Pat

Update!

Today, we pulled the tractor to the garage, drained the fluids and started removing covers. Once all the covers were removed, we started moving gears with the hopes of seeing what's binding. While looking through the side pulley hole, we finally saw the problem. A small piece of metal wedged tightly in the teeth of a gear.
http://s886.photobucket.com/user/Marvel ... sort=3&o=0
Once we removed the offending piece, we started the search to find where it came from. We spun every single gear very slowly and examined every tooth. Nothing. We looked at all the linkages and prongs... anything that might have a chunk missing. Nothing.

My only guess is somewhere in the past, a previous owner did some work on the gearbox and left the little present for someone else to find. The small dings on some of the gears seem to suggest it could have been floating and bouncing around for years and finally caught hold of something. I just happened to be the lucky recipient.

At any rate, we figure this is as good a time as any to replace the fluid. The dealer's closed for the weekend, so we'll finish the job on Monday. I'll give my final report after everything's filled and we run it through all the gears and PTO.

Joe

Great result, Joe. Excellent detective work.
Best
Adrian

the gear on the top left side of your picture drives the flat belt pulley, I have seen several of them come loose. your shrapnel could be part of the lock tab that locks the retaining nut for this gear.
Good work so far, luckily it looks like the gears survived!

Pat

Please ignore this post, Granny was tickling me and I messed up!

Pat

At least it was not a bit of anything hardened Joe - no wonder you couldn't move judging by how much it had deformed

I missed wishing you stateside wavers of the scar strangled spanner a happy Independence day on Friday, so hope you all had one which included some quality Fordson time

oehrick wrote:At least it was not a bit of anything hardened Joe - no wonder you couldn't move judging by how much it had deformed

You have no idea how relieved I was that it wasn't hardened. It could have done some real damage.

I missed wishing you stateside wavers of the scar strangled spanner a happy Independence day on Friday, so hope you all had one which included some quality Fordson time

Thanks! No Fordson time, as I still need fluids to fill the gearbox and nothing is open on holidays. Monday, however, I'll make up for lost time and finish up the job so I can continue baling.

Fordson tractor + New Holland baler = Sweet music!

Joe

Found where the metal chunk came from! It's a bearing... or at least it was. I was giving everything one last look before I put the old girl back together and filled her up with fluid when I saw something shiny at the bottom of the sump that I missed before. I pulled out an extendable magnet and pulled out a deformed bearing. I fished around and pulled out more. In all, I found 11 bearings that obviously came from somewhere. http://s886.photobucket.com/user/Marvel ... sort=3&o=0
While I was snooping around through the clutch lever port, my dad was poking around the belt pulley port. He found it! The rear bearing for the main drive shaft was completely gone... just little shards of the bearing keepers. How'd we miss that? Now we'll definitely have to split the tractor. Fortunately, I've a shop manual coming in the mail real soon. As soon as it arrives, it's go time.

Meanwhile, we've got hay on the ground that needs to be baled. We did some calling around and my uncle told us of an Allis Chalmers D14 that he's not using at the moment. (Hey, at least it's not green! ) All I have to do is come and get it. Road-trip! I hooked it up to the baler and finished my field. Next, mow and bale the neighbor's meadow.

...and wait for the mail.

Joe

oehrick wrote:At least it was not a bit of anything hardened Joe - no wonder you couldn't move judging by how much it had deformed

I missed wishing you stateside wavers of the scar strangled spanner a happy Independence day on Friday, so hope you all had one which included some quality Fordson time

I had some Fordson time York raking a neighbors driveway the morning of the 4th. It was raining so I was fitted with a Red, White and Blue Speedo. Dandy Dave!

Dandy Dave wrote:I had some Fordson time York raking a neighbors driveway the morning of the 4th. It was raining so I was fitted with a Red, White and Blue Speedo. Dandy Dave!

Joe

LOL.. Glad to hear that you found the problem bearing. Hope it is not as tough to fix as it looks. Check the other bearings while you are in there. Dandy Dave!

marveltone wrote:

Dandy Dave wrote:I had some Fordson time York raking a neighbors driveway the morning of the 4th. It was raining so I was fitted with a Red, White and Blue Speedo. Dandy Dave!

Joe

He had a picture of the red white and blue speedo up on the forum a year or 2 back, wasn't pretty then. some members haven't recovered from that episode yet. Please don't encourage him. .
Regards Robert

Ok... To be on the safe side, I want to replace all three bearings on the main shaft and lower shaft. We're gathering supplies to support and split the tractor very soon. I have the Repair Operations Guide as well as the I&T Shop Manual. The only problem is I have no idea what part numbers the bearings are or what generic bearings (if any) will suffice.

In short, what do I need and who carries them?

Anyone?

Joe

Just about all bearing manufacturers place their name and the part number on the bearing casing. Any good bearing supplier should be able to cross-reference and obtain the equivalent ones for you.

Pavel.

Okay, it's been a while since I've posted, but we've been busy. Time for an update.

We've managed to split the tractor and remove the transmission. Some previous repair had been put together using RTV silicone instead of a proper gasket, so we had to improvise a puller to get the plar\te off that holds the transmission assembly in place. Once that seal was broken things went pretty smoothly. Only one set of bearings were bad, so only one set was ordered. It was a Hoffmann R325L V3. I was able to find a FAG NU305E.M1.C3 on Amazon that should be a good fit. The shaft got a little galled where the bearing race had spun when things got locked up. We will run it very carefully on the machine lathe just enough to get the high points off and smooth it out. We're hoping to start reassembly this weekend.

Nice, sounds like you are moving in the right direction. Dandy Dave!