6000 project

I've never worked on a 6000 before, so many things about this process are new to me. I really like the frame rail design to this chassis.
Pull radiator, slide engine out, then tranny. No bottle jacks or wedges needed to keep this thing from falling on the ground. In addition,
the frame rails serve as the perfect height workbench for tranny work. And, with the single front wheel, I'm not tripping over the front
axle. If I need to, I can still push the carcass around easily if I need to get it out of my way.

So the story on this thing when I bought it was that everything was working great, until it suddenly stopped moving. Evidently someone told
the former owner that the input shaft was stripped out, so that's why he parked it, 20 years ago. After pulling out the engine, the input
shaft looks fine, as does the TLC. Puzzled, I then start playing around with the traction disconnect lever. It does not couple in either
detent hole. Pushing the lever past the detent makes it couple with the rear axle, so something happened to the adjustment on the lever.

I intend to fully restore this thing, so at a minimum the tranny is going to be opened up and inspected.

My dad used to have one, the diesel engine ran great, but it would have been nice to have a regular transmission instead of the sos. I wonder if a regular gear type transmission from another Ford tractor could be swapped in.

It's been since we had the ford tractor dealership since I've seen one apart, cool you posted a photo of it disassembled.
I used to marvel at this model, because it was so different than the hundred and thousand series, and it had the 2 selector levers, where all other S-O-S models were single. That sure was a long time ago, early 70's was the last time I've even seen one of these 6000's. A customer had one and it was in for repair work.

I had a 6000 for a few years. Never had any transmission problems with it, but it had an appetite for crankshafts.
It was a really nice tractor for baling hay.

Would a 401 fit between those rails?

I couldn't say for sure without getting out a tape measure, however at this point I'm going to say that I doubt it.

The dimensions and bolt pattern of the transmission look very similar to a 5-speed out of say an 800 or 4-cylinder 4000. Assuming it would
bolt in, the big problem would be how to operate the shifter handle. The rear steering support structure is a big chunk of cast iron, and a
pretty big chunk of it would have to come out to make room for the shift lever.

That said, a 6000 without a SOS transmission is no longer a 6000 in my opinion.

The 6 cylinder diesel it had was a nice, smooth running engine, if only they had todays transmission technology back then. I had a lot of seat time on my dad's 6000, the shift cable was kind of finicky on occasion. My brother who worked for a Ford dealer, they called them death-o-matics.

Nice project Bern.
What will you do with it?
I don't remember reading that you do much farming but maybe you do?

I'm no farmer, but I have a friend about a mile down the road who makes a lot of local hay during the summer. I can see myself driving it over there next summer and maybe doing some raking with it. After that, I'll likely sell it. I have no intention of keeping the old beast.

A 363 Dorset Ford engine will fit.