1950 Farmall Tractor C model Revese Stuck

rbowden63

New User
I have an older 1950 Farmall C. It is has been parked for a couple years without driving. The battery is dead so I tried to pull start it yesterday with my truck. I had the shifter, I believe in 2nd gear and when cruising prob 15 miles an hour I released the clutch and it skidded and the right tire was going backwards. We stopped and made sure I wasn"t in reverse which I don"t think I was. I put it again in 2nd and it relaased causing the engine to attempt to start, but wouldn"t and this time the tires went in the correct direction. I tried it again a third time after stopping and it did the reverse gear thing again even though I wasn"t in reverse. Any ideas? Is my transmission broken? My youngest and his friend I am sure did some shifting playing tractor over the years, but they won"t admit it....any ideas anyone. Thanks.
 
Transmission is probably fine, tires spinning backwards when attempting to pull is pretty common.
If you try to pull start it, you should try in the highest gear reasonably possible.
If it has sat that long there are some things I would do before trying to start it.
Take the spark plugs out and pour the cylinders full of transmission fluid and let
it soak a few days to loosen up the rings. Put the plugs back in to keep junk out.
After a few days take the plugs out and roll it over to blow any remaining ATF out.
Drain the old gas and replace with new.
Make sure you have gas flowing to and through the carb by taking the plug out of the bottom.
Clean and re-gap the points.
Charge or replace the battery. If your C has a magneto it will start without the battery
but if it has a coil/distributor ignition, it still needs battery power to start.
Folks over on the Farmall board may have more specific information on that model.
Good luck! :)
 
LOL the only problem you have is between your ears and not understanding the way a diff. works. If you jack up most any rear wheel drive machine and spin one tire froward if in park or gear the other wheel will turn the opposite way and if it did not you would have a problem. 2nd gear is to low a gear to pull a tractor in to start it and 15 MPH if the engine did spin over would be way over the RPM limit of the engine and you could well throw A rod out the side of the block doing that. Top speed on that tractor wide open in 2nd gear might be 5 MPH so you got lucky that you did not brake parts
 
ditto what the others said.


one wheel the one that skidded.. was probably turning forward a bit when pulling.. with engine locked, the other wheel HAD to go backwards


i'd have puleld hte plug and oiled the cyls a bt prior to that.. but..
 
Thanks for your input. Another thing that was crazy was I went to jump start the tractor today and the red cable went to the POS and the black went to the NEG. Only prob is that the Red cable is hooked to the frame and the black is hooked to the starter. I beleive this tractor is a 6V system. I think the cables are reversed for some reason. Shouldn't the red be on the starter and black be on the frame? Someone painted them incorrectly I assume. Is it safe to hook my POS jumper cable to the starter and the NEG to the frame and try to start after I do the other things you said? Also, about the tires spinning backwards. After the fisrt run, the right tire wouldn't budge when the clutch was released. It just skidded. I am not mechanical, but just want my tractor to run again. I have been deployed to Afghanistan and haven't been donig proper maint the past year or two. Thanks for your time.
 
I don't know about Farmalls, but lots of 6V tractors are positive ground--the + terminal is connected to the frame/body.

Don't try to boost a 6V system with 12V. Bad things can happen to your voltage regulator if you do. (It is possible to put 12V onto your starter if you know what you're doing, though.)

-Paul
 
BTW, there's a Farmall forum here at ytmag.com. You might get more specific help there than in the Ford forum. Although I know the experts here are more than competent at answering general questions about old tractors.

-Paul
 
I went to jump start the tractor today
Don't jump start a 6 volt battery with a 12 volt battery.
The 6 volt battery can blow up in your face and cost you your eye sight or worse.
It is possible to jump the starter directly with a 12 volt battery, but you need
to make absolutely certain the tractor is in neutral so it doesn't run you over.
Still best to do the preliminary steps I outlined before.
Does you tractor have a magneto ignition system?
If not, you'll still need a good 6 volt battery for it to run.
 
Your farmall C is 6V positive ground. Nothing crazy or unusual about that. Next time you want to pull start your tractor, put it in 4th gear, get it rolling and let the clutch out, please be careful.
 
(quoted from post at 20:33:31 10/29/12) Thanks a million....I have some work to do. I hope I can save it.
You can save it, these old machines are nearly bullet proof.
Get a set of manuals. Here's a link to the I&T Service manual.
An operator's manual would be a good investment too.

Farmall C
 

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