1961 Ford 641 Reverse Fork Reapair

IdahoClay

New User
Hi Everyone,

I'm new to the old tractor scene. I bought my tractor last summer to actually use around the property. Been a great tractor, very solid. But I can manage to break anything :twisted: Over the winter I got it stuck in the snow and I was popping the clutch and shift-en 1st /reverse, back and forth and yelling and hollering. After that day finding reverse was very hard, 1 in 100 tries it would go maybe. So this weekend I pulled her apart. Not an easy thing to do on gravel without any type of hoist system available to me. She actually came apart very smoothly, I was very surprised. Ends up the reverse fork broke one of its arms. Kind of a relief as I do not have to tear down the whole transmission. Was able to remove the reverse fork by just removing the shift plates. Then I was able to push on the reverse rod.
So now she will sit till I can find a replacement. Not an easy task I have found. The part is cast so I don't believe it can be a welded repair. I would love to hear some feedback on how to proceed from here. I can't find one so far, internet searches, ebay, and a want ad here. Crossing my fingers.

O-yea The bearing on my power steering seized too. Very sad story about that. But one problem at a time. She still works without the power steering assist.....
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Cast iron can be welded by someone with experience but a better bet might be brazing it. Cast iron is brittle (which is why you were able to break it, wouldn't have happened if it were the right kind of steel) and the differential heating and cooling of welding can just pop the weld right away from the cast but brazing is done at cooler temps and the entire casting gets hotter so the differential isn't as great. Brazing can be as strong as the original cast too.
 

I'm headed into town tomorrow and hit up the local fab shops and see what the have to say. I remember back in the day we would try to weld cast and all we where doing was chasing our cracks. By the time we finished we had a Frankenstein looking piece in front of us.

I never thought of brazing.

She is a good tractor and she deserves to run again. I've learned my lesson and will treat her a bit more nicely in the future
 
while it would be a hair labor intensive.. I bet you coul torch and grind fab that piece from some mild steel if you don't feel up to brazing it.

If it is cast iron, then maybee weld it with a cast rod, wire brush and grind clean, then braze over top of it. heat from brazing probably help it.
 
(quoted from post at 06:06:51 04/25/16) while it would be a hair labor intensive.. I bet you coul torch and grind fab that piece from some mild steel if you don't feel up to brazing it.

If it is cast iron, then maybee weld it with a cast rod, wire brush and grind clean, then braze over top of it. heat from brazing probably help it.

Don't forget the drill and tap. If I can not get a new/used one or this one repaired. I may have to make my own. Or pay someone as I don't have the proper tools to get it done. I can make one out of wood.......

I've been reading too that the brazing process should be allowed to cool very slowly in a sand medium for about a day on cast material.

I had a seller from this site said they had one but been almost 5 days and can not get a commitment from him. :( Not very many options for repair up here. Mostly mobile welders and I'm sure this is not there specialty.

I'll let you guys know how it ends though.
 
The current part number for that shift fork is 87614995, and they don't seem to be available in any salvage yards under that number, but the previous part number that was superseded by that latest one was C7NN7231D and tractor-part.com shows several salvage yards that claim to have one by that part number:

http://www.tractor-part.com/parts?Number=C7NN7231D

Also, partspring.com claims to have one of the new part numbers available in stock for $359.00:

http://www.partspring.com/catalog/product/view/id/1498383
 
Thanks Sean. That is some great info and web resource. Can't believe I never stumbled upon that site with all the searching I been doing.

Dang.....for $359 I would have one machined.

I got mine heliarc'd today, $35. Seems pretty solid. I put it in my vice and even hit it a bit with the hammer. The stick weld test we did on the back penetrated well too. The cast is good material.

I'll put her back together this week :lol: And shift her nicely and gently for the rest of my days.
 
What I meant to say was I got my TIG welded. Glad I got to say that before the bashing began about the Heliarc statement.
 
Ok I got the tractor back together. Reverse works now. However now it will not start :evil: This thing has never not started. Matter of fact it was starting during the repair. I tested the reverse gear before I fully assembled it. Then when I was done tractor fired right up as always and I was moving my truck to back the tractor out of the shop and the tractor died and unable to start her again.

So she had spark so I went to the carb and pulled the glass bowl and there was a million pieces of I'm guessing the o-ring seal. And now I can not get any gas out of the bottom carb drain. (I'm assuming the float section) as I was able to before.

I spray starter fluid in the air intake and she starts for a second. Plenty of suction air too.

So the o-ring debris probably got itself jammed up in my carbs tinny ports and cut off my gas supply. So looks like I'm pulling the carb out tomorrow. I'm guessing all the shaking around stirred up the crap in the glass bowl.

This Tractor Hates Me right now!!
 
No offense meant, but just want to make sure you don't overlook the simple things... it does have gas in the tank, right?
 
(quoted from post at 04:57:23 04/30/16) No offense meant, but just want to make sure you don't overlook the simple things... it does have gas in the tank, right?

LOL..No offense taken. I thought the same thing. Plenty of gas. I was reading the shop manual last night and there is a screen in the sediment bowl housing to the carb. With any luck all I need to do is clean that up and I should be able to get gas to the carb again.

If that doesn't work I'll buy the carb rebuild kit from this site and go that route.

I'm pretty sure what happened as I had time to think about it. When I started it to test the reverse gear while it was running I backed the nut off the sediment bowl a bit. I am betting it was enough to get the rubber o-ring to fall apart enough to plug the screen. When I pulled it completely off the o-ring was completely disintegrated inside the bowl.

Why I did this I have no idea......Better in the shop then out in the field though.
 
(quoted from post at 04:57:23 04/30/16) No offense meant, but just want to make sure you don't overlook the simple things... it does have gas in the tank, right?

Well Sean....I didn't have enough gas....as that was the problem. I figured this out after the fuel delivery system got a good cleaning. I slapped myself on the forehead had a good laugh and that about your reply. Now I need a gasket for the bowl. All I had today was some make a gasket and that worked for today but it looks like it is breaking down already.

At any rate she is working like a champ again. I got all my burn piles pushed together for a test run.

Here are a couple pics of the repaired TIG welded reverse fork.
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