All,
Things are progressing on the TO-20. Unfortunately, work gets in the way of working on the tractor. Need to get her back together, as its going to get cold here pretty soon.
I am overhauling the draft control spring system. The yoke was stuck solid. After a number of days of soaking with various penetrating oils, I took the Map gas torch to it to get it warmed up. after it was hot, I sprayed some more penetrating oil and let it soak another day. Took the torch to it again, and carefully applied pressure in both directions, being careful not to damage the parts inside the lift cover. After it was good and hot (not red hot) it started to move. So I continued the back and forth motion and applied some more penetrating oil. Anyway, I got it off without damaging anything inside. Now the fun really began. The Ferguson has a two piece spring seat and tube, not like the ford one piece assembly. The spring and tube came right off, but the spring seat was rusted solidly to the shaft. More penetrating oil and application of heat with some light tapping with a hammer, and it started to move. Continued the process and it eventually came off. Then I could remove the spring plate. Lots of rust on all the parts. Its a good thing I do not presently plow with it, as the draft control was stuck solid and would not have worked! I ended up ordering one of the ford spring seats from this web site since the original Ferguson style was not available. Those parts arrived today. I did sand blast the original parts, and was even considering weld building up the rusted away parts then turning back to size on the lathe. For the price of the ford parts (fairly cheap)it saved me several hours of work. There is a definite difference between the ford part and the original Ferguson parts. The Ferguson spring seat was a close fit to the shaft, where as the ford part has lots of clearance. The only possible issue I can see with that is the spring could slip off center. However, the spring seat plate(?). That's the thin triangular part with the large lipped hole in middle, should keep the spring centered, so that should not be a problem.
So with all of that said, the felt washer/seal that goes under the spring seat, should it be soaked with oil/grease when I put it back together? Sorry for the long post to ask a probably stupid question. I'm thinking it should be soaked with a good heavy oil/grease (possibly corn head grease) so that it lubricates the shaft, keeps it from rusting, and also helps keep any water out of the lift system. I like the design of the Ferguson part better than the ford. With the two part seat/tube, and the close fit of the seat to the shaft, it should let any rain water that enters the tub drain out before it gets to the felt washer.
Well, that's enough for tonight, thanks for reading
Mitch
Things are progressing on the TO-20. Unfortunately, work gets in the way of working on the tractor. Need to get her back together, as its going to get cold here pretty soon.
I am overhauling the draft control spring system. The yoke was stuck solid. After a number of days of soaking with various penetrating oils, I took the Map gas torch to it to get it warmed up. after it was hot, I sprayed some more penetrating oil and let it soak another day. Took the torch to it again, and carefully applied pressure in both directions, being careful not to damage the parts inside the lift cover. After it was good and hot (not red hot) it started to move. So I continued the back and forth motion and applied some more penetrating oil. Anyway, I got it off without damaging anything inside. Now the fun really began. The Ferguson has a two piece spring seat and tube, not like the ford one piece assembly. The spring and tube came right off, but the spring seat was rusted solidly to the shaft. More penetrating oil and application of heat with some light tapping with a hammer, and it started to move. Continued the process and it eventually came off. Then I could remove the spring plate. Lots of rust on all the parts. Its a good thing I do not presently plow with it, as the draft control was stuck solid and would not have worked! I ended up ordering one of the ford spring seats from this web site since the original Ferguson style was not available. Those parts arrived today. I did sand blast the original parts, and was even considering weld building up the rusted away parts then turning back to size on the lathe. For the price of the ford parts (fairly cheap)it saved me several hours of work. There is a definite difference between the ford part and the original Ferguson parts. The Ferguson spring seat was a close fit to the shaft, where as the ford part has lots of clearance. The only possible issue I can see with that is the spring could slip off center. However, the spring seat plate(?). That's the thin triangular part with the large lipped hole in middle, should keep the spring centered, so that should not be a problem.
So with all of that said, the felt washer/seal that goes under the spring seat, should it be soaked with oil/grease when I put it back together? Sorry for the long post to ask a probably stupid question. I'm thinking it should be soaked with a good heavy oil/grease (possibly corn head grease) so that it lubricates the shaft, keeps it from rusting, and also helps keep any water out of the lift system. I like the design of the Ferguson part better than the ford. With the two part seat/tube, and the close fit of the seat to the shaft, it should let any rain water that enters the tub drain out before it gets to the felt washer.
Well, that's enough for tonight, thanks for reading
Mitch
