bale wagon troubles

I have a new to me New Holland Super 1048 with a 361 Ford engine. It has been running okay but just recently it's like the governor is kicking in at random rpms. You can push the gas all you want and it doesn't do anything. You will be driving down the road in third gear and it will roar to life and accelerate and then go flat and you can push the gas all you want and it doesn't accelerate. It doesn't die either but it doesn't rev. I don't have much experience with this set up. I have taken the cap off the distributor and lubricated the vacuum advance and made sure it's free - but this can't be a vacuum advance issue. It's way worse than that - it's like something is holding it back. This is basically a ford f600 from the mid 70's engine. Any suggestions on what to check? Any help would be appreciated.

I had a chevy pickup where the throttle linkage rubbed a hole in the insulation in the wire to power the coil. Sometimes acted like that in different throttle positions.

just fixed a kawasaki mule that would do just as you described . the problem was in the throttle linkage. a small arm in the linkage was binding (it had a bushing that had gotten rusty from sitting) Hard to explain but the whole linkage was spring loaded each direction and wherever it would bind is where the throttle would stay.In short, maybe look for linkage binding issues.....

Been years since I've worked on one of those, but seems the throttle plate was opened with a spring and the governor would over ride the spring to close it. If it's what I think, it's more of a rev limiter than a true governor.

Look at the throttle plate shaft, the linkage, see if there is anything in the way of it operating, mouse nests, dirt dobbers, trash...

May have to take the carb off and see if the throttle plate shaft is free to turn.

Like I say, been many years, I could be completely off.

the throttle plate was opened with a spring and the governor would over ride the spring to close it.

Click to expand...

Steve, you got that 100% correct.

To the O.P.... note the line to the distributor.... manifold vacuum is supplied through a small oriface (jet) in the carb to a governor valve in the carb, and onward though that line to the distributor.

When the engine over revs, a governor weight in the distributor blocks the flow of air into that line, causing vacuum to build up and act on a diaphragm that pulls the primary throttle shaft closed, and the little valve also "dumps" vacuum to the diaphragm that opens the secondaries so they close as well (IF open at the time).

Try this... disconnect the line from the diaphragm area on the RH side of the carb to the base of the distributor AT THE CARB and take it for a drive and see what happens. (To be clear, we are talking about the vacuum operated GOVERNOR line to the base of the distributor, NOT the vacuum advance line to the distributor.)

If it now works without the unnecessary governor action, it generally would indicate the governor area in the distributor base has gotten dirty and free air flow has been restricted, causing the unneeded governor action.

If it DOES NOT work any better, the problem is in the carburetor side of the vacuum operated governor system. We can address that, if needed, post back after the trial run with the line disconnected.

Do NOT continue to operate the machine with the governor line disconnected, as dust will be sucked into the carb governor mechanism, and on into the engine,

As a workaround, if it works with the line disconnected and you can get along without the overspeed governor or don't want to take the distributor apart for a good cleaning right now, install a hose barb in the carb, at the governor port and connect it to a clean, new in-line gas filter, leaving the other hose barb on the gas filter "open".

The gas filter will act as a mini air filter, allowing filtered air to pass freely into the governor area of the carb so the overspeed governor isn't activated.

As goofy as that all sounds, I've done exactly that on a number of old, dirty farm truck engines that were doing exactly what yours is doing.

Post back and let us know how the test run went.

Could be symptoms of a plugged gas filter as well. Engine would sputter and surge though. I think some of those Ford trucks in that era had a filter in the screw on canister below the pumps.

Well I tried removing the vacuum line from the right side of the carb that goes to the base of the distributor (not the vacuum advance). It didn't seem to have much impact. I'm thinking maybe the fuel filter now.