Meangreen
Member
I posted about a month and a half ago about wondering if I had made my M too heavy and that's why it was struggling going up hill. AFter many suggestions on what to check and an interesting back and forth
on who could get the most power out of a M. For reference it's a 1950 Farmall M with mag, here's what I did:
1. I pulled the spark plugs and checked the gap
2. Checked the gap on the magneto
3. Retimed the magneto using the marks on the flywheel. Interesting note: the tractor must have last been timed prior to getting painted in that area. You could see brush stroked that lined up before I
re-timed and after they didn't line up. I restarted the tractor at this point and it had a deeper/throatier sound to it.
4. I pulled the governor off the tractor. Checked the weights and bearings which were all good. I cleaned everything thoroughly, replaced the spring and added bushings to the spring holes as they were
sightly egged. I then reset the internal stops according to the book. The high idle screw/bolt was 1/4 to 3/8 off of where it should have been according to the book.
5. I reset the carb settings and then reset them according to the book.
6. I replaced the sediment bowl, sort of. So I had a real cheap sediment bowl with a plastic bowl and wanted to go to one with a glass bowl. Bought a "redesigned" sediment bowl from Steiner and it was
junk. With the valve fully closed it leaked like crazy. So I cleaned the old one and put a new gasket in it and all is good again.
With all that being said my first test drive out going up one of the bigger hills in the area I was able to run like nobody's business in 5th all the way to the top. This is a hill they like to include in
a local tractor drive because it will put your tractor to the test going up or down. I ran another road with a lot of steep hills, also a tractor drive favorite, and never had to get out of 5th.
Thank you for your help! I posted this because many like to find out what happened plus maybe it will help someone else.
My original post
on who could get the most power out of a M. For reference it's a 1950 Farmall M with mag, here's what I did:
1. I pulled the spark plugs and checked the gap
2. Checked the gap on the magneto
3. Retimed the magneto using the marks on the flywheel. Interesting note: the tractor must have last been timed prior to getting painted in that area. You could see brush stroked that lined up before I
re-timed and after they didn't line up. I restarted the tractor at this point and it had a deeper/throatier sound to it.
4. I pulled the governor off the tractor. Checked the weights and bearings which were all good. I cleaned everything thoroughly, replaced the spring and added bushings to the spring holes as they were
sightly egged. I then reset the internal stops according to the book. The high idle screw/bolt was 1/4 to 3/8 off of where it should have been according to the book.
5. I reset the carb settings and then reset them according to the book.
6. I replaced the sediment bowl, sort of. So I had a real cheap sediment bowl with a plastic bowl and wanted to go to one with a glass bowl. Bought a "redesigned" sediment bowl from Steiner and it was
junk. With the valve fully closed it leaked like crazy. So I cleaned the old one and put a new gasket in it and all is good again.
With all that being said my first test drive out going up one of the bigger hills in the area I was able to run like nobody's business in 5th all the way to the top. This is a hill they like to include in
a local tractor drive because it will put your tractor to the test going up or down. I ran another road with a lot of steep hills, also a tractor drive favorite, and never had to get out of 5th.
Thank you for your help! I posted this because many like to find out what happened plus maybe it will help someone else.
My original post