FEL - over tasking tractor

I was using the FEL of my '64 4000 Ford to expand my driveway by carving away part of the hill side.

My goal was take a scoop, drive up the hill to dump it in a place that was out of the way.

While on dry solid ground, and the tractor ran out of "oomph' getting up the hill with the loader bucket about 1/2 full of dirt. There was no choice but to back down and dump the load elsewhere. The hill I am climbing is a old logging road, it is well traveled and packed down; it does have about a 13 percent grade on two of its steepest inclines. Still, the tractor has climbed this hill before, albeit slowly, but I figured that was because of low gearing for power.

It seems to me that this climb, even with a load, should have been no problem at all for a 50 HP tractor. I want to get a box blade for driveway maintenance and I have drain ditch to maintain. I also intend to use the FEL bucket for clearing my driveway this winter. Now I have a concern if this tractor has enough power for the work I intend to do.

What is a reasonable expectation of a '64 4000 tractor? Was I asking too much of it to climb a hill with a load? Will I be over taxing it if I try to use a box blade for ditch maintenance and earth moving?

If there is something specific you would want to know regarding this request, if I can provide it, I will do my best to furnish it.

Thank you again for helping me, a tractor novice, with my questions.

What gear were you in? It should climb that hill without any problems.

In addition to JWA's question on which gear you were in, what transmission does it have, 4 speed, 5 speed or Select-O-Speed?

And what do you mean when you say that it ran out of "oomph"? Was the engine laboring and sounding like it was about to stall, or was the engine running fine but it just wasn't transferring any power to the wheels?

Thank you for the replies.

Hi JWA, it is a 4-speed and I was in first gear. It does not have front wheel drive. It was at full throttle.

It's not a terribly fast first gear either, a brisk walking speed. It's a tractor, I am not expecting it to run like a race car, but it does seems awfully slow, even at full throttle.

Yes Sean, that is the right way to describe it, thank you. It felt like it just ran out of power while climbing the hill.

When it got to the point where it would no longer climb the hill, the engine was still running but felt like it no longer had enough power to the wheels. I was able to shift into reverse ok and go backwards without issue, but it got to a point on the hill where it just would not go any further.

Unladen, the tractor will climb the hill, it labors a bit and acts like it does not want to do it, but it will do it, eventually.

It goes downhill like a bat outta hades! The brakes work, they have been thoroughly tested

dirtsmith,

If the rear wheels were not spinning from loss of traction, and the engine was still running at a high rate of speed, it seems to me that it would suggest that your clutch is slipping. I have a 1963 Ford 4000, 4 cylinder diesel that I have used to move dirt on pretty steep hills without any trouble other than occasionally losing traction on one or the other rear wheels.

Good luck with your project.

Tom in TN

A slipping clutch is the only thing that I could think of for those symptoms as well.

So I was thinking of my experience and relating it to a few of the responses. I have noticed that when the tractor meets some resistance, whether it be climbing a hill or trying to scoop something or just carrying a load, sometimes it bogs down and either the left or right wheel might spin, but that is only if I am on soft ground or a gravel road/driveway. That seems to lend credence to the 'bad clutch' theory. It really does struggle climbing up a hill, even on my driveway which does have a bit of grade to it in one section.

I found a video where a highly skilled woman demonstrates the steps involved in splitting a 4-speed gas tractor, like mine, in order to replace the clutch and associated parts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L1otR40AXA

For added fun, I will need to figure out how to separate the loader from the chassis too. I already took the sheet metal off for a different repair. That was an adventure in and of itself (while trying to work around the loader frame).

The work to split the tractor looks straight forward. Before I start tearing stuff apart, how can I be certain that I have fully described this problem to all of you accurately enough? Are there any tell-tale noises or sounds I should hear or smells or anything like that? Is there a test I can run, some job or task, that is something the tractor should be able to do without question where a bad clutch could cause it to fail the task?

For when it comes time to split it, what alternatives to an engine hoist are there? I will want something that will support the front and allow me to roll it away from the back, in order to access the clutch. I'll use jack stands to support the back.

I might as well get the practice in taking this all apart. My plan is to do all of this again in the Spring so I can restore it to its natural colors of blue and buff.

I would check clutch pedal free travel first, the clutch may just need adjusting.

I'll check the clutch pedal this afternoon. Since it is Voting Day, there is no Cub Scouts meeting tonight, that means I might have a few minutes to check out the tractor.

If I were on my tractor now, and I wanted to disengage the clutch, i would push down on the pedal, and the pedal will go almost all the way to the 'floor'. So, if I adjust the pedal to the correct amount of play and I don't notice any change in the motive power, or worse, less power, would that be an indicator of a worn-out clutch?

I am not familiar with the Ford 4000, so someone chime in if I am wrong. IF you end up splitting the tractor, for safety you have to brace the front of the tractor with wooden block wedges, or it may pivot on the center axle pin to one side or the other.