FINALLY! '41 A Progress

Whew, what a workout!

After days of trying to get the outer gear off of the top shaft on the '41 A transmission, I stopped at a friend's last night on my way in to work to borrow his oxy/acetylene setup. Came home this morning (through the remnants of a snowstorm), and couldn't wait until after I woke up this afternoon so I went at it.

After breaking two chisels, one puller, and bending a couple big screwdrivers, I finally got down to brass tacks and pounded one of my smaller crowbars down behind the gear. It took three sessions of heating/soaking/cooling to get that bugger to break free but finally it popped. Sure am thankful for all of the advice I have been receiving from everyone (and I think one of the most important tools to acquire next would be a setup like this. What a life saver.

Now on to taking out the top shaft and getting the input shaft out. Then hopefully after checking out the bearings, it will be on to reassembly stage. Slowly but surely, making progress.

One thing I have been toying with the last few days, however, is considering going to hand start instead of sticking with electric. I just am torn between the decision. Let's see if anyone can persuade me one way over the other.

Years ago we bought a torch outfit and a bolt bin 2 of the best things we ever bought. Can't hardly work on this old rusted up stuff without them.

I have a '44 (cast frame & steel tag) hand start and a '46 long hood. I find I have better luck starting the long hood with a crank than I do with the starter. It's mostly related to having better control of the choke & so I most always start it with a crank. What is the crank you ask? 40 years ago I welded one of the steering wheel hand crank stub shafts onto an old horse drawn mower lift lever & use that as the crank to this day. Needs to be in one certain position to use it comfortably so if you build one look into that before striking an arc! I found it was most comfy when the impulse trips at about 8 o'colck if you stand back & look at it's left side. A lot depends on your height.

The other thing is the long hood spent a lot of time under a 2 row picker when he was young & so he has the picker accessory compression releif extensions on it. Have had this tractor over 40 years & do not recall it ever starting without using them! Starter just goes urrrngh & stops unless I open "the hisser valves"!

We"ve got an old styled B. It has electric start, but the 6-volt batteries don"t make it a year before they need replacing. Tractor mostly sits, which doesn"t help. So, I quit getting batteries and hand start it. Usually pops right off after a couple of turns.