1959 Ford 641 Work Master questions

Rusty_S85

Member
I recently purchased this tractor and after some field work I took it back for the tractor lot to repair a overheating issue.

I know its a overheating issue because while working the temp gauge hovered just below 220*F and when it was just a hair under 230*F I stopped the tractor and shut it off to the sound of the radiator boiling over.

They worked on it and replaced the belt which was loose to the point that the fan could be turned by hand. I figured this was it but wanted them to give it a once over so I wouldnt have to drive back another 100 miles to the place where I bought it from to have it looked at again.

Now on to my questions I have.

1) What is the normal operating temperature of these tractors? I currently dont have the factory gauge it was replaced with a stewart warner gauge but I will be switching back to a reproduction one later on.

2) Where did the headlight switch mount at? I have a plug just above the throttle lever on the dashboard but I have another plug on the side of the fender facing aft. I think it would have went here not to interfer with the throttle lever.

3) What was the standard thermostat in these tractors when new? I figure 160* as most vehicles of the '50s used a 160* thermostat as standard and then offered a high temp 180* as optional. I will be pulling the thermostat later on to install the correct stock one if its not correct already.

Only other question I have pertains to tach/hour meter. Did the orignal ones have flags on the needle that said "1", "2", "3", and "4" to make it easy to see what RPM you are turning based off your gear? I saw a reproduction one from Dennis Carpenter but it didnt have these flags and I might have to replace mine if the cable isnt bad as it doesnt seem to work right. At idle it doesnt really move from rest but i I give it a little throttle it comes up just a hair but thats it.
 
I can't answer the headlight question as my 641 does not have the OEM switch. The proof meter has the gears on it, mine is an aftermarket. My engine temp runs around 170 if I am just piddling. Running the bush hog during summer when it is up in the 90's outside the engine will be right at 200. Today with outside temps in the low 70's while bush hogging very heavy stuff the engine ran about 180. If the temp gets much over 200 I clean debris off the radiator and it drops right back down.
 

So I basically need to find out how hard they were running the tractor to have it at 195 today. Cause it wasnt in the 100`s I think it was in the low 90`s today. Might be one of those things I will just need to pull the thermostat cause they wont do that if its not running hot. Since I am not paying for the correction for the overheating aspect if its a 180* thermostat and they work it hard and never goes over 195* then they have no reason to swap in a 160* again like I really want. I also really wanted them to replace the water pump as when the belt was loose the pump had lateral movement side to side telling me the pump will start leaking down the road if its anything like convential automobile pumps.
 

Ok thats where I thought it would mount. You are talking about on the verticle panel on the right side that is part of the right side hood panel. Mine has the headlights but no switch, I dont know if these tractors came with them but they werent wired in or what. I know I need to order the gauge illumination pod that snaps into the top of the dash above the steering column as mine is just a hole there and I need to install the headlight switch.

Only other thing I need to do is order the correct nose emblem for mine, currently it has a 1954 nose emblem, and I need to pick up from Dennis the fuel gauge gas cap as this one doesnt have a electric fuel gauge.
 
I guess they must have found something else wrong with the tractor as I did not get a call this morning that it was ready to be picked up. Fixing to call them up now and get a status update on it hopefully they didnt forget to call and caused me to waste a whole day.

~Update~

Well they forgot to call it was just the belt they changed out. They were idling it at a high RPM for half a day and hung around 180 to 195 degrees. Then when they brought it back down to an idle the temp quickly dropped. Didnt do that as it stayed at 230 and slowly climbed from there even at idle with the PTO disengaged.

So it appears that it should be resolved and should be a good work horse for what I need it for. Now just need to get a new gas cap preferably a quality one with a gauge built into it, and the headlight switch and associated wiring.
 
I have one new question that just arose while I was making some minor adjustments to the tractor to make things operate correctly.

The radius arm that goes from the side of the transmission to the front axle. I wanted to ask the bolt with the flat sided head on one and threaded on the other that goes through the radius arm and the front axle, should this bolt be tight? If so how tight?

I have play in the steering wheel and moving it in the area where it has play I can see my right tire turning slightly as the radius arm and axle flex where the bolt is loose. The left side is tight and it doesnt move at all.

Next question is how do you go about tightening it up? I used a crescent wrench on the flattened end of the bolt and used a large crescent on the nut but I could not get it to turn either way.
 

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