No oil pressure 35 A

My 35 A ser. 416239 with the oil pump behind the flywheel had no oil pressure when I fired it up this spring. It did this years ago and it was a warped oil filter housing. That was fixed with a block of hardwood and a big hammer. This time that does not appear to be the problem. This is what I've done

1. Pulled the cover off the pump, cleaned and lapped the face by rubbing it on sandpaper on a plate of glass. Started with 80 and polished with 400 grit.

2. Packed it with grease, put it together with new gasket I made same thickness as the factory (I assume) gasket.

3. Ran tractor, no pressure.

4. Pulled crankcase cover, all lines are tight.

5. Removed pump, very light circular scratches from gear faces rubbing on newly polished face of pump so I assume the side clearance on the gears is not too loose. No oil in the suction side of pump.

6. Pulled pump out as far as drive gear would allow and checked/flushed suction tube through hole that mates with suction side of pump gasket was good.

7. Removed press relief valve in pump cover, cleaned and lapped seating surfaces with lapping compound. Someone had put a lock washer in with the shims to up the pressure.

Before I button this thing up and try it, is there anything else to look for? The suction tube side of the pump was dry of oil and there was no residual oil in the suction port, so it's not sucking oil for some reason. The pipe going from the pump to the sump is tight. Yes, there was enough oil in the crankcase. The crankcase did not have any junk in it. We've owned and used it since 1950 and it's been well cared for, but it is very worn. There was no rust, water or chunks of debris anywhere. I want to make sure it builds pressure this time because those bearings have already been run dry for a minute or so. Oh yes, I did cut out a little more relief in the cover gasket at the intake and discharge areas of the pump in case the gasket was restricting flow. That's the only glitch I can think of when I put it together the first time. Thanks. Jim

Possibly worn oil pump gears. I would jack up the right rear tire enough to submerge the pump in oil. Sounds like its lost prime or you have a leak somewhere like I did. My oil filter canister had holes in it on the back side where I couldn"t see it.

I never thought about jacking the right side up. The pump is oiled and put back together now but the flywheel isn't back on and the crankcase cover is still off so anything still goes. The suction side of the pump is dry of oil and the way it looks to me there's a 1/2" suction pipe between the pump suction port and the sump. The filter is on the pressure side? I can't experiment much because this thing has been run without oil pressure already. Thanks for the suggestion. Jim

Lost prime,common problem. Just add 3 quarts of oil to crankcase bringing oil level up to pump,should then pump. I"ve done this several times. Afterwards correct oil level.