Last year in December, I bought a D-14 to fix up. The engine was worn out, had numerous oil leaks, no breaks, and 3rd gear would not stay in enough to pull itself on level ground.
Yesterday the tractor was finally ready to test run. Off I went, in 3rd gear, up the hill - down the hill, fast - slow and everything in between. It works great. Back in March, I spent about 2 weeks working on the transmission. After removing the shifter mechanism, A strange thing I noticed was the 3rd gear collar/coupling had some wear, but not any worse than 2nd gear. This was odd, because 2nd gear worked fine, and 3rd gear did not work at all. It was clear that 3rd was not being fully engaged. Of course it is impossible to determine exactly how deep the gears are being engaged when everthing is assembled.
I designed, and machined a set of "measuring jigs" that can be bolted to the shifter mechanism, or to the gear box. Using micrometers and these measuring jigs, I was able to determine exactly how deep the engagement (mine was .121" short of being fully engaged).
After obtaining these measurments, and with the use of a lathe and milling machine, I was then able to make some new parts from o1 tool steel.
My wife still asks, "what are you going to do with that tractor?" They just don't get it.
Trent Williams, Henderson, KY