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Question about shutting off an M

4

47M

Member
I grew up on a farm and we used a Super M (a 1953, I think) for years. My Dad did all the maintenance work on all of our machinery, I don't ever remember taking anything to town to get it repaired.

When shutting off the Super M, he always had it in gear and just as the engine was about to stop rotating, he'd let the clutch out so the tractor would "lurch" just a tiny bit. Not enough to move the tractor, just enough to feel it. He made sure my two brothers and I did the same thing when we'd shut it down and we did it without question.

I don't know why he always did that as the engine stopped. He's been gone for several years now so I can't ask him. Now that I've got my own M, I shut it down the same way he taught us, but I don't know if it's necessary to do this or if it was something his Super M needed that other tractors don't. I seem to remember that it was transmission related, but I could be wrong about that.

Do any of you do something similar when shutting your tractors down? If so, why do you need to do it?

Thanks in advance for any info.
 
The idle was set to fast and would diesel, letting the clutch out would load the engine and slow it down to stop.

It is a bad practice.
 
Thanks for the responses, but I don't think it was a dieseling problem on our Super M. (Though it was a response to a dieseling problem in a post on this forum that prompted me to ask this question.)

Our tractor wouldn't diesel, it would shut off normally without running on like it would if it was dieseling.

It was more of "let out the clutch just before the engine stops spinning so something gets lined up right, or doesn't jam up" or something like that.

Again, thanks for the responses.
 
May be that your dad thought the flywheel would stop in a different position at different times, thus putting the starter drive into the ring gear at various spot rather than same place. Just a thought.
 
I always turn the gas bowl valve off under the tank and let the M"s run till they die, then turn off switch an put in gear. It keeps the carb from gumming up. Buck
 
I always turn the gas bowl valve off under the tank and let the M's run till they die, then turn off switch an put in gear. It keeps the carb from gumming up. Buck
 
I also stop my MD with the clutch just before it is about to roll to a stop. The flywheel teeth are worn a bit in the usual place. By stopping it in a different place, the starter kicks in better and doesn't cause more wear in the same place. Been doing this for over 40 years and have not had to remove the ring gear or starter. Al
 
Thanks AJB-830 and Istra. That could very well be the reason why he did it. I'm sure it was to prevent something bad from happening the next time we used the tractor, and not something that was happening while we were shutting it down. I just can't remember for sure if it was starter-related or transmission-related, but the starter ring gear issue seems pretty likely to me.
 
anyone ever see a tractor run off they are seldom parked on level ground that was your dads way of knowing that tractor was in gear when he got off .if you ever have to try to run one down ,you will know why dad made you shut it down that way it was agood lesson if you still do it because dad did it that way
 
If he said "jamming up" it was definitely about the starter and ring gear.

They tend to wear out in one spot, and changing them is a pretty daunting job for a typical farmer even if he did have the time and a place to do it, and having it done is money that that could be better spent elsewhere. It normally didn't get fixed until the tractor wouldn't start at all.
 
As far as I am concerned leaving a tractor parked in gear is a bad habit. The reason is I remember catching my 5 year old climbing up on the H and pulled the switch on and pushed the starter button. I was 50 ft. away and when that tractor started I think I made the 50 ft. in 3 steps. After that every tractor gets the brake set and shut off in neutral. That boy is now 43 years old.

Bob
 
Ring gear on a 4 cylinder stops in one of 2 positions because of compression unless you ride the clutch at shut-down.
 
thank you teddy52 that makes sence to me now!------a thing I do is pull the starter and reach beck in there with a little l-head air grinder with a 2-3 inch wafer disk you can cut the mushroom end from the ring gear teeth --saves a taredown
 
We have 2 450s, 2 400s, 2 Super Ms, An N, and a pulling M in the family. Regardless of how the idle is set up sometimes when they are hot they may diesel a couple times and then possibly turn backwards. I shut them off in 5th gear all the time and if need be let the clutch out if need be to stop the engine. As far as setting the park brake and levaing them in neutral unless you in central Illinois I would never rely on a factory park brake ot hold an old Farmall still on a hill. In reagrd to how safe the practice is... I would suggest that it all comes down to the skill of the operator on these old tractors.
 
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