Farmall A with Woods L306 A final drive servicing

Greetings All
I have a question regarding final drive servicing with the mower and associated bracketry installed. I have had the tractor and mower set up 2 years and only use the tractor for mowing my 2 acre yard. It was a great investment and makes cutting the grass a pleasure. I recently figured out while doing the spring service that the square drive plugs to check the servicing are blocked by the mower arms. So long story short I have never checked it and only recently after closely reading the service manual did I figure out that it needed checked. Upon inspection of the final drive pans and area no leaks were noted. Am I safe or do I need to pull the mower and mower arms? I intend to pull the mower and arms after the mowing season and drill a hole in each arm like Woods should have done when they built it. Any advice or inputs are appreciated. Thanks

I have a Farmall 140 with a L306A belly mower like you have on your Farmall A. I did exactly what you are proposing for checking the final drive fluid level and to add fluid if needed. As I recall, I obtained some plastic material about 1/4" thick or slightly less and located the three mounting holes that the Woods frame is mounted on the tractor. I clamped the plastic sheet piece to the Woods frame and drilled the mounting holes from those in the frame which are coordinated to those on the tractor. After getting those three mounting holes in the plastic I bolted it to the tractor where the frame installs. I then located the center of the square head plug on the plastic you are wanting to obtain access too for checking fluid level. It was very easy to locate through the clear flat plastic sheet material. I marked the center location and and after removing the plastic from the tractor drilled a center index hole for where I wanted the cutout made in the Woods mounting piece. As I recall, the same template worked for both the left hand and right hand sides for my tractor. I then took the transfer template and the Woods piece to a machine shop and had them drill or machine a hole in each side of the Woods frame from the location provided on the plastic sheet piece which was coordinated to the tractor. I believe the hole diameter was something like 1/8" to 3/16" or so larger then the outside dimension of the plug for clearance and any variation between the two sides of the tractor which are cast components. The machine shop can then bolt the plastic template you provide to the Woods mounting frame to locate the exact center location where the check hole is to be provided in the Woods frame which I believe is 1/2" thick steel.
You are certainly correct in that Woods should have provided access to check the tractor's final drive fluid level as having to remove and reinstall that mounting frame to verify fluid level is certainly no picnic and requires extra individuals to dismount and re-motor the frame work and mower back on the tractor. Checking final drive fluid level is certainly a simply and easily performed task following this revision to the Woods welded mower attachment frame. HTH and can be clearly understood, Hal.

Did you get it fixed??

Rich, I think you are talking about my Farmall 140 ignition issue we talked about on the phone and not this thread on the Woods mower final drive access check/fill plug. If so, I did get a new coil at O'Reilly and put it in this morning and mowed for a couple of hours and it never repeated the engine issue I was experiencing the last few times I mowed. I felt the new coil when putting the tractor away and it was nowhere near as hot as the one I removed from the tractor before mowing this morning when I used it earlier in the week. Until something else repeats I am fairly confident it was just the coil issue. The new 12 volt coil with internal resistance was a little over $25. The 140 was acting like a 58 Chevy I had years ago that had a coil issue after running a while and under a little load like going uphill so this is only my second coil issue I have experienced, Hal.

Coils almost never go bad but when they do they work for a while then start miss firing so good chance you got it.