1953 Ford Golden Jubilee - Won't Run Properly

Hi all. I'm a first time poster, long time lurker and many of you have really helped me in the past without knowing it.

My grandfather had a 1953 Ford Jubilee and used it for years on his farm in Illinois. It was special to him so he took it with him to Florida when he retired. He passed away a couple years ago and left his tractor to my father. It has kind of become my personal project as I have a lot of special memories with this tractor and I am trying to restore it to its former glory. Last year I got it all cleaned up and mostly repainted. I redid all the electrical and replaced many gaskets that weren't holding grease or were worn out. I cleaned the transmission (as there was some serious gunk in there) and replaced all fluids. I replaced the radiator and the gas tank as well because both had corrosion. Unfortunately I live half a world away from the tractor as the tractor is in Alabama and I live in New Zealand. Therefore, the tractor sat for about a year until I came back to visit (now). I resumed work on it but there was an issue. When I left it a year ago, it was running pretty well. When I came back, it wouldn't start. I was a good boy and poured a bit of SAE 90 down each of the cylinders and let it sit, but it wouldn't start. So let me take you through what I have done to try to remedy that (many of these things needed to be done anyway):

1. Re-ran the fuel line and put an inline filter in place.
2. Replaced the worn fuel bowl assembly.
3. Replaced the spark plugs.
4. Rebuilt the distributor - New leads in correct firing order 1,2,4,3; New cap; New rotor; Cleaned distributor bowl; New condenser; New points with correct spacing
5. Tested pressure.
6. Correctly timed the engine.
7. Replaced battery and battery cables (corrosion).
8. Replaced starter solenoid/relay.
9. Made sure air filter and breather oil was clean.
10. Drained and replaced the fuel (used non-ethanol as always).
11. Last year I replaced all wiring including key switch and ingnition.

None of that was able to get the engine started. The next thing I looked at was the carb. Once I took it apart there were so many things wrong with it. The float valve was damaged, needles bent, holes plugged, gaskets missing. It was a wonder that it ran before. I bought an aftermarket M/S carb which looks identical to the Marvel Schebler that was on there except it is made of some sort of white metal instead of cast iron. I set the float and adjusted the needles to the recommended bench adjustments and gave it a go.

The engine started right up with a little choke but it started at maybe 50 RPMs. Yes you read that correctly. It was idling (barely) at like 50-75 RPMs with the throttle about a quarter inch open which is where I usually started it before. It was weird because it wasn't fast enough to cut out the starter which is somewhere around 275 RPMs. Well I kept opening throttle and it would sort of stumble up to higher RPMs and smooth out. To get it to 450 RPMs which is where it idled before, the throttle is about half open!

Opening the throttle all the way only gets me to about 1400 and there is quite a big dead zone at the end where opening the throttle more doesn't increase the RPMs.

It does not change throttle settings smoothly at all. It backfires a lot when moving down which it never did before. When moving up, it does so very slowly. When it is running it does sound smooth though.

I know the carb needs to be adjusted more but I can't figure out what I need to do. I know the idle (air) needle is lean in, rich out and the main adjustment is opposite. But I don't know from these symptoms how I should be adjusting it. Also, I can't imagine that the needles could change it enough to require half open throttle to get 450 RPMs. My max RPM as mentioned is only 1400 whereas my high-idle before was somewhere around 2200.

The other thing is that it seems like there is no power. When it is sitting idling at 1200 RPMs it is running fine. When I put it in first with no attachments/load and sitting on nearly level ground and let out the clutch SUPER slow, the RPMs decrease to about 300 and then it stalls before we even start to move. And no, there's nothing in front of the wheels, and yes, I checked that the parking brake isn't on.

Do any of you kind chaps have ideas? I tried to provide as much information up front to reduce the number of questions you might have, but I'm sure that I've forgotten something. Please let me know if you have any questions and thanks very much in advance.

- Ethan

Welcome to the forum! Sounds like you've done a lot of work.
I prefer not to change so much at once but in your geographical
situation you may not have much of a choice in the matter.

First thing I would do is check spark to make sure you have
good quality spark on each cylinder. Free and easy to check.

"I know the idle (air) needle is lean in, rich out"
You have this backwards. In for "in" or enrich. Main opposite.
This screw adjusts air, so opening it lets more air in.

Firing order is 1-2-4-3 as you stated. Remember it is clockwise
on a Jubilee/NAA, not CCW like on the N series tractors.

Your tractor doesn't need an inline fuel filter and if you chose
the wrong type of inline filter it could cause you more trouble.

As to the idle, you set the minimum idle with the screw on the
linkage at the back side of the carb. Easy, mechanical adjustment.

Will the throttle respond normally if you run the linkage by hand?
If it does, maybe a gummed up governor from setting.

Finally, if you aren't going to use the original carb, I would like to buy it.

So! Who messed w/the carb in the year you were away? What all did they do to or with it besides mess everything up inside? I guess what I'm asking is did they pull the original carb and replace it with something improper which you are now trying to match? I'm still having trouble dispelling thoughts of improper new carb, even though it looks the same save the "white metal"

Hi Royse.

Thanks for the reply. The spark on all plugs is good. Bright blue and thick. I've also gap tested and it easily jumps 1/2 inch gap.

Thanks for the correction on the adjustment direction.

The firing order is definitely correct.

The fuel filter I believe is a good idea as I was getting chips of rust through the line before I changed the tank and bulb etc. The cause of the chips is gone but it's nice to be able to easily change out the filter instead of getting crap into the carb. I know a lot of guys have done the same. The fuel filter is a simple high-flow mesh that greatly exceeds the flow rate of the tractor running at the highest RPM setting. It's also nice to be able to have a visual of the fuel flowing when working on it.

The idle adjustment screw can't be used. The throttle has to be open so far that even if I had a longer screw it would never line up with the plate that stops it. I can take a photo if needed to show you what I mean, just let me know. The idle adjustment screw is used for very small adjustments to stop the throttle lever at the "new idle". My throttle has to be nearly half open to idle so not only is the screw nowhere near long enough, but the angle is changed so much with the throttle so open that as I mentioned, it wouldn't line up with the stop even if it was long enough. I definitely think this is an issue.

I will check on the throttle. I suspected it might be somethjng with the governer as well. Are you suggesting disconnecting the lever at the carb and moving the butterfly manually or where would you disconnect it?

Thanks for the reply again!

Oh, forgot to say that a guy in Indiana already bought the carb. I didn't realize it was such a lucrative thing to have the original. I think he was going to sand blast it and reuse.

Hi Larry. Nobody touched the tractor while I was gone. It sat covered in the garage. I am the one that replaced the carb when I got back as the original was so gunked up. The replacement carb that I put in was a exact replacement of the TSX-428 and has a metal tag stamped with RE-TSX-428. I'm sure it's the same.

"I didn't realize it was such a lucrative thing to have the original."

Yes, they're hard to find and all the aftermarkets are junk.
As you are discovering, I'm afraid.

I rebuild these carbs for our fellow forum members so I
understand your explanation of the idle adjustment screw.
No picture necessary for that one.

You really don't even have to disconnect the linkage to try.
Just grab the rod between the governor and the throttle butterfly
and move it a little by hand. It doesn't take much movement.
The engine should respond immediately and if the governor is
working it should fight against your movement.

Ah, thanks so much. Ok I'll try and let you know in the morning. If the issue comes down to a poor quality carb, we can talk more about recommendations. Cheers!

Where are you located in Alabama?

Hi ...welcome..
I have had a Jubilee for about 10 years before I decided to restore her. Complete tear down and rebuild. Cleaned and rebuilt original carb. When I was ready to set engine timing I read both the Owners manual as well as the technical manual. The Owners manual said to set the static timing at 8 degrees BTDC and the technical manual said 31 degrees. The users manual has a chart for the timing at various speeds but clearly states 0-450 rpm is to be set at 8. So that is what I set it for initially. Initial carb settings where set to 1 and 1/2 turns open from fully closed for both. When I tried to start the tractor it seemed like it would barely catch but would never really catch. I checked for spark and fuel and had both so after running the battery down I decided to try and set the static timing to 31 degrees BTDC. Recharged the battery Turned the key and she started right up. Checked for leaks etc, throttled up and down, and then shut her down. I know it will need to be timed with a timing light and tweak the carb settings but I am close to final adjustments with those settings.
I just went thru this this weekend. Hope this helps.
Alan

Put a new manifold gasket on it. Take a big file and clean up the manifold were it faces the block.

Hi All,

An update:

I tried running the throttle disconnected from the governor as well as connected and moved by hand as described by Royse. It didn't make any difference. It still was really, really slow to respond. For example, I would open the butterfly and over the course of 20 seconds the RPMs would slowly climb. With the butterfly completely open, the tractor would MAYBE get 1200 RPM, though it seemed more comfortable around 900. An idle around 400-450 required the butterfly half open. So it doesn't appear to be an issue with the throttle linkage as holding the butterfly open directly produced the same results as opening the throttle lever.

What I did notice once it got warmed up is that I was sitting in a cloud of exhaust. I got off the tractor and could feel the around the manifold was way too hot, but my water temp was totally fine. The left side of the tractor was so hot that even with a long handled screw driver I couldn't adjust the carb air screw because it was just too hot on my hand...radiating heat. I started the tractor again and watched the left side and could see exhaust coming out from the manifold (see picture). Could this cause the power loss?

Picture 1 - Tractor Overview:
https://i.imgsafe.org/7b3eb555d5.jpg

Picture 2 - RPM & Throttle Setting:
https://i.imgsafe.org/7b3d838391.jpg

Picture 3 - Exhaust Leak:
https://i.imgsafe.org/7b3b629679.jpg

Picture 4 - Exhaust Leak Close-Up:
https://i.imgsafe.org/7b37abb4e3.jpg

Hi There,

I am located in Tuscaloosa (Northport).

Cheers.

Gee, what could that be?

This thread stopped. I am having repeat problems with my NAA

Carb adjustment is where i am focussed. Have had this tractor for 20 years, read lots of things, made adjustments, have used the tractor for plowing, planting, seeding, baling, mowing, earth work.

This year, it is not complying. I will try the initial settings for the carb.

1 1/2 from full shut, for both the mixture and whatever that mysterious thumb screw does.

Frustrating when I read about the adjustments, and then looked at the picture, to discover the responder did not have the MS carb from a jubilee.....

Set the main, down pointing, large adjustment at 1 and 1/2 turn off
the stop. Set the little air adjustment screw at a 1/4 or 1/2 turn out.