Farmall Super A Timing - Odd Problem

RTR

Well-known Member
Just got a Super A in this morning and the owner said he drove it on the trailer but yeah yeah we have all heard that one before. All it would do was fire off and sputter but never run.

Checked compression - 125 across the cyls. GOOD

Tried to time the magneto and noticed the rotary button wasn't turning like it should. Took magneto off and hand cranked the tractor over and the "notches" in the governor where the mag/distributor mounts were not turning either!!! We realized that if we pushed in on the notches that they turned then.

We have never seen this happen before. Shouldn't they turn all the time whether pushed in or not? This must be the issue. Before we take the front end off, just curious what you all think the issue is.
 

we went ahead and pulled the governor out. Found that about 1/3 of the teeth on the governor are GONE. The timing gear that it meshes with has just a few teeth chipped and marked but I noticed that it is slipping a little when hand cranking it. We are gonna pull the front cover to replace the timing gear too.
 
I have the gears if you need them. You will need to pull the steering sector so the front cover will move enough to replace the cam gear. You can try without removing the steering housing but i dont think the front cover will move enough to pull the cam gear but its worth a try. Just get all the dots lined up when you go back together. for timing as the mag fires on TDC when cranking.
 

Yep we went ahead and removed the radiator and we are about to remove the front steering bolster, axle, and all.

I'm worried about getting the crank pulley off. We haven't ever had to take any off but a couple times and I don't want to break it. If you have any tips, please advise.

We have a gear from a 140 engine we dismantled a couple months ago. I read on the Case/IH parts manual online where the Farmall 'A' gear is 66 teeth and the one on the 140 is 66 teeth. It sounds like it should work. (the info for the Super A wasn't on there so I looked up the 'A')
 
Don't worry about the crank pulley, just get the right tools to do the job and it'll be fine. You need a bearing splitter, some all-thread, a 1/4" or 3/8" steel plate, a short 1/2" bolt, and a 15-20 ton bottle jack. That will get it off. To draw the pulley back on, I use a 1 1/2" pipe coupling and a small steel plate with a hole for a short piece of 1/2" all thread and a nut.
 

we are trying to get it off today and don't have a bearing splitter. I found out that the local Advance Auto Parts will rent a harmonic balancer pulley and they said that should pull it. We need to invest in a good puller for these engines and Cub engines since we are always working on them. I guess this is the first time we've needed one that bad.
 
The metal pieces wont hurt anything as they wont pick up and go theu the screen on the pump and if some small ones make it the filter will stop them.
 
(quoted from post at 01:56:39 07/20/14) You dont need to remove the crank pulley the front cover will move enough to remove the cam gear.

Not that we can see. The cover is dangling. The crank pulley on it now is chipped off and the oil seal has leaked. Might as well fix it right. Tips on pulling the cam gear?
 
Pictures. Wonder what caused this and do you think there are other issues?

**Edit: Sorry but just got the pictures to load. They wouldn't over my phone
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Ok....so another edit since I posted the last post. I got the old crank pulley off using a jaw puller (not the best but worked in a pinch). Didn't break anything further but since it has a couple broken places we will put a good one on it from our parts tractors.

Once we got the cover off, we found that the gear on the crankshaft has been welded on to the crank!!! Someone has definitely "shammed" it up! Why on earth would you ever do that!!!! The teeth on the crankshaft gear do look ok. This is where we have stopped for the time being to sit down and reevaluate.
 
One of these pullers using a bottle jack or a hydraulic ram to press off the damper pulley. The
metal shop punched my holes for the all-thread. Hal
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Yes that gear is a press fit and with heat it will slide on and off so why weld it unless someone by mistake ground that journal also jusdt one of the funny things people do to an old tractor makes you wonder what they had in mind.
 

The gears on the crankshaft gear are all perfect......except for that gear being welded on! Also, I noticed where that weld on the gear to the crankshaft has broken loose.

What do you guys think the reason that the camshaft gear teeth are chipped and the governor teeth are SHEERED off? You think I should dig deeper and look at something else?
 
When one of the gear's fail will cause the other gears to fail. You need to look for all those gear teeth that are missing. I would also replace
the crankshaft. Hal
 
Any reasoning behind your decision to replace the crankshaft? We really didn't want to have to do that if it wasn't needed. Just trying to figure out what caused all of this and why the crank gear had been welded. Maybe the cam gear had just chipped a tooth or two and caused the governor to strip out?

Anyone else have doubts if we leave the crankshaft in?
 
If the rod and main journals look ok I would use it. I bought a Farmall A in 1975 with the moldboard plow. The engine was stuck and I installed a new sleeve kit. It also needed tires, rims, wiring, steering wheel,
fenders and paint. Hal
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