It's alive! Now what?

For many of you, you've seen some of my random topics about my newly acquired 3000. As you've probably noticed, I'm new to the tractor scene and have been digging for advice.

Well I put a fresh battery in the old girl as well as some fresh gas and the sumbitch fired right up and runs great. No smoke, knocks, valvetrain clatter or anything. I'll change all the fluids and filters but should I just leave it as is and haul it to the farm and start mowing? I still have to address the front tires though. And a new seat...damn those are spendy! Also needs brakes but I'm not intimidated by that.

I was convinced that I'd have to put a new zenith on it and even contemplated electronic ignition. I'm not so sure of that now. The mower even works and I've greased all the zirks and so it's good to go. The power steering was dry but it came to life with some new fluid.

The only issue I have is that it almost got stuck in soft gravel due to not having the diff locked. I don't even know if I can lock the diff but in the whole scheme of things, I can live without a locking diff (any insight on that would be welcome).

So is she good to go or should I still swap the carb and contemplate the ignition upgrade?

Thanks guys, I really appreciate all the support and advice.
 

Nope, I don't have one of those.

Seems odd that they would make a tractor without one a locking diff.

I'm learning real fast a fella would upgrade to a tractor with more options. It'll still do what I need it to do though, which is mow.
 
I guess Ford assumed that anyone who bought a 2 or 3000 back in the day wanted a base model that was as
cheap as possible. Diff locks are nice to have, but not mandatory for everyone. Even the "high end" 6000
tractors, built during the same time period, did not have a diff lock.
 

Need to use the "seat of the pants" diffy lock...you simply apply the brake to the side that is spinning.... and the other side will mysteriously start pulling.... Its been done for years before the diffylock was available.

But that would mean that you need reasonable brakes... so you might pull the hubs and super clean all the fluid and grease off the shoes... and then adjust them to get a good pedal...
 
Yes.
Diff lock was optional on most 3000/4000
models - at least in the early years. It
may have become standard later.
It was not even available on the early
2000s. Sometime later the trumpet on the
2000s were changed from the early round
cross section to the square cross
section like the 3000s used and diff
lock became available as an option.
Does your tractor have the little lever
#18 in the diagram on it?
The first 3000 I owned did not have
parts
numbered from 1-16 in the diagram
posted by Bern. Interestingly enough, it
Did have parts numbered 18-23 and the
internal parts.
An odd delete halfway through the
building of the tractor.
It was during a search for those deleted
parts that I found a complete 8 speed
lpto transmission and rear end - with
diff lock and ended up replacing the
whole back half of the tractor.
 

Nah, no sign of any of those parts. I don't have the means to swap out the back half of the tractor and salvage tractor pats seem to be scarce in the KC area even if I did have the means.

I will do the "seat of the pants" diff lock. I have to remove the brake rod on the left side to straighten it. Previous owner clearly ran into something that got between the wheel and tractor and bent it pretty good. The brake on that side is worn out as a result. Only way to straighten it is to remove it and apply some heat or use a press. I will replace the shoes at the same time.
 
Are the tires loaded? When I added pie weighs to my 2000, tires hardy spun with spring tooth plow. Before that had lots of spins.
 

Previous owner said the tires were filled but I'm not so sure of that. It does have 5 weight rings on each rear though so it's plenty heavy.
 
So what were you attempting to do that it was spinning a tire with 5 weight rings on each rear wheel? I have a '73 4000 with the S-O-S transmission and no diffy lock and no weights, and I have started out from a dead stop in 5th gear in a muddy field many times and never spun a tire. 5th gear will pop the front wheels off the ground when starting with the brush hog raised in the back unless I have it at or near idle.
 

I was backing up in loose gravel and trying to back over a 6x6 block of wood. I figured I'd go right over it but alas...it just spun. So i had to dismount and move the block. Brakes arent stomg enough to stop the wheel and engage the other other wheel.
 
[i:654c4848f0]"I'm just trying to set my
expectations realistically with it."[/i:654c4848f0]


I've learned to not have real high
expectations on the brakes on these
tractors. Ford used the same type of
outboard, dry drum brakes from 1939 till
well into the 1980s. They are adequate
but just. The 4000s in that series had
internal, wet disc brakes that were much
(vastly?) superior.
 

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