escottpeterson
New User
I"m a newbie to the forum here with a question about my 1978 IH 284 gas tractor.
Earlier this winter I couldn"t get it started, but today I got it started after finding a bad wire between the coil and points. This meant the tractor sat in a cold shed (northern Minnesota) for a few months. But when I started it today and tried to back up it was like the wheels were locked -- it wouldn"t move. I tried going forward and the same thing. Eventually it budged backwards, but sounded like something was really, really tight. For what it is worth it was about 28 degrees when I started it.
I thought maybe there was water in the hy-trans fluid so drained it. The 284 takes about 3.4 gallons and I got pretty near that out. The fluid wasn"t that lovely color of new fluid, but it wasn"t milky or sludgy either. I didn"t see any real noticeable water. I filled it back with new fluid (happened to come straight from the store so warm - if that means anything) and presto: worked like a charm. Backed right up, and feeling proud I went out and started plowing the quarter mile drive with the grader attachment. Got most of the drive done (about 15-20 minutes) when it seemed like there was a loss of power and eventually the tractor stopped and I had the same thing I had experienced earlier. I couldn"t go forward, or rather I would go forward in a jump and start (like a 16 year old driver trying to work a clutch on a car - a bit of a jump,stop,stall). It also seemed at one point that one tire was trying to turn while the other was fixed -- which caused the tractor to lurch to the left. For what it is worth it was now about 8 degrees temp with a wicked wind.
When I shut the tractor off for a few minutes and then started it up again I was able to go forward normally for about 50 yards, and then the same thing happened. I let it sit for a few minutes and then was able to get it back to the shed about 150 yards away relatively normally ... though it seemed like there wasn"t a lot of power.
There are a few other (maybe not random) things I noticed. One, the brakes suddenly seem to be not working great. Everything else seems normal. Hydraulics worked fine. It wasn"t hard to get the stick shift into gear. I had the rear tires changed (by a shop) before this happened. One rim had rusted through and had to be replaced. I ran the tractor once briefly before it stopped starting this fall, so I don"t know if there was any relationship between tire changing and this most recent problem (seems really weird to me that there would be).
I am befuddled. Any ideas?
Thanks
ep
Earlier this winter I couldn"t get it started, but today I got it started after finding a bad wire between the coil and points. This meant the tractor sat in a cold shed (northern Minnesota) for a few months. But when I started it today and tried to back up it was like the wheels were locked -- it wouldn"t move. I tried going forward and the same thing. Eventually it budged backwards, but sounded like something was really, really tight. For what it is worth it was about 28 degrees when I started it.
I thought maybe there was water in the hy-trans fluid so drained it. The 284 takes about 3.4 gallons and I got pretty near that out. The fluid wasn"t that lovely color of new fluid, but it wasn"t milky or sludgy either. I didn"t see any real noticeable water. I filled it back with new fluid (happened to come straight from the store so warm - if that means anything) and presto: worked like a charm. Backed right up, and feeling proud I went out and started plowing the quarter mile drive with the grader attachment. Got most of the drive done (about 15-20 minutes) when it seemed like there was a loss of power and eventually the tractor stopped and I had the same thing I had experienced earlier. I couldn"t go forward, or rather I would go forward in a jump and start (like a 16 year old driver trying to work a clutch on a car - a bit of a jump,stop,stall). It also seemed at one point that one tire was trying to turn while the other was fixed -- which caused the tractor to lurch to the left. For what it is worth it was now about 8 degrees temp with a wicked wind.
When I shut the tractor off for a few minutes and then started it up again I was able to go forward normally for about 50 yards, and then the same thing happened. I let it sit for a few minutes and then was able to get it back to the shed about 150 yards away relatively normally ... though it seemed like there wasn"t a lot of power.
There are a few other (maybe not random) things I noticed. One, the brakes suddenly seem to be not working great. Everything else seems normal. Hydraulics worked fine. It wasn"t hard to get the stick shift into gear. I had the rear tires changed (by a shop) before this happened. One rim had rusted through and had to be replaced. I ran the tractor once briefly before it stopped starting this fall, so I don"t know if there was any relationship between tire changing and this most recent problem (seems really weird to me that there would be).
I am befuddled. Any ideas?
Thanks
ep