JD A , more input please ,

First I want to thank all of you guys , the more you share the more I'm learning , but I have to say to buickanddeere, I'm not giving up my A. Whatever I spend on her is only money ,can't take it with me. Looked at the photo again of the rear of the A and on the right side of the rockshaft unit/control box is a decal that say POWR-TROL on it but still is hooked by a linkage rod to the foot pedal Now what do I need to do

I dont see a pic where is it.Jim

Someone stuck a Powertrol decal on a power lift unit. Get with someone that is John Deere savy and have them help you find a powertrol unit. No need to change the whole rockshaft assy. only the powertrol unit. It will bolt right up where the power lift unit comes off. The powertrol operates with a lever rather than the pedals that operate your power lift. Hope this helps.

Jim itried posting the photo on here but must have been doing it wrong or something the photo is in a folder on my computer

All that decal means is that the tractor has been repainted and whoever did the repaint wanted to fool someone making them think the tractor was something it was not and therefore being more valubable. That live pump would be a Deere item and I think it was first put on the 1950 AR tractor and then Deere modified the setup to work with the A & B tractors. And as said you can just change out the controll box with a power troll box but still heavy. And there would be two types of power troll boxes, one with a shear washer release, early type, and later with release type but you would loose all your oil if you broke away and if a load on cylinder you would get a full hot oil bath.

Good grief , Now I feel screwed over . the tractor must have some collector value. Maybe I need to just sell it after I get it ,maybe be lucky and make a few bucks to the good .

From about 1961 to 1964 I owned a 1941 B with a front loader I bought from an old mechanic who worked at the IHC dealer He had modified the valve body so that the hydraulic fluid fed out of the power lift to an external open center spool valve assembly to run the loader cylinders.

I can remember that he had removed the foot petals on the lift and the cam that operated the spool inside of the JD power lift valve body. There was a fill plug (If I remember correctly) that was directly above the JD valve piston or spool he had made a spacer rod that held the valve body down when it was placed under the filler plug and the plug was tightened down.

The rock shaft was not usable but you could operate 1 remote cylinder or 1 set of remote cylinders from each spool on the external valve.

Here again I believe with the JD valve control piston in the up position the oil bypassed and went back into the return cavity, when the cam pushed the valve piston down it blocked the bypass and the fluid was directed to the piston that operated the rockshaft.

I haven’t been able to find a hydraulic print on the old John Deere’s so I can’t be certain about the hookup, I remember that a hose came from the Power lift casing and went to the pressure port on the external valve whether he had drilled the casing to add a ½” pipe threaded port drilled into a passage or whether he had used and existing pipe port is what I cannot remember.

I also remember that the operation of 2 approximately 3” cylinders on the loader was slow so I think you are dealing with a fairly low volume pump in the older JD’s.

Maybe some of the JD guys can address this that is the only JD I ever owned and that has been nearly 50 years ago so that is all I can recall about the setup.

Glen i have a couple of power trol boxs if you email me i can sent back picts.these dont cost that much

Very possible to put live pump on mag drive theres units around for JD as I did put on on JD A simple instructions to use old unit for sump In youe case add double valve body and extra oil tank this will give 2 way for remote and single acting for 3 point

On the power troll boxes there are 2 ways of hooking up hoses for a cylinder but both require a after market breakaway coupler. And with the power lift there is a way (tho I am not sure just how) to tap a line in for a single action remote cylinder and with that setup you could use a cylinder lift pull type plow but you would still need that breakaway coupler for unhooking the cylinder. It would only be full lift up or down as deep as cylinder would let it go and with the cylinder lift plow a stop built into the cylinder would control your depth and as long as there was nothing to keep the plow from raising it would work with a heal click for down and then anouther one for raising. With a mounted then you would have to have a depth control wheel to control depth, even with power trol you would need that for a mounted plow. The orignal setup for the remote cylinder they did not intend for the cylinder ever to be removed from the tractor and just removed from the implement and hung on a bracket on the tractor and left that way no mater what you were doing and for a plow to prevent the hoses from pulling out they had a outfit that was supposed to pull the clutch out if you cought on something instead of unhooking and that is what you will see on here refered to as a knee knocker as if it did stop the tractor it hit you in the right knee and just about busted your leg. Your simplest and best way for a plow would be a 2 bottom 14" clutch lift plow with the breakaway hitch. If you want to go with that single action cylinder with only up or down by getting out my books I could guide you thru the prossess. And most pull type implements that use a cylinder will work with a one way cylinder with only lift and gravity down.

You went and bought the thing after you were warned not to ?

Oh--Everyone NEEDS to have the experiences (Multiple) of the operation of the Original Knee-Knocker..!!!

Saying that it "about broke your knee" is a Million times UNDER-STATED..!!!
Hitting a rock in 2nd gear with a late Styled "B" is Brutal...hitting one while rolling in 3rd will provide plenty time to ponder the possibility that you probably will NEVER walk again..
The Ball on the clutch lever end is Exactly the Same height as your knee-cap..
Man, still hurts just thinking about it..!!

I can tell you..it worked better than an Alarm clock..!!
Ron..

Curious I guess, but on my John Deere G plowing with the clutch pull-out I've had it stop me several times, but the clutch lever has never got me in the knee yet. I adjust the lever so it doesn't come back so far to dis-engage..and I set a little cocked to the right in the seat. I'm here in Michigan...where God dumped all the rocks He didn't need.

I bought it before I found you experts (LOL)

Leroy thanks for your info , first real encouragement I have felt.Where are you located,and can we trade emails.
I havent got the tractor yet ,still paying for it. Planning on getting it first week in Feb

I am in northwest Ohio and thought I had opened the email but guess not. [email protected]. Do you have the serial number of the tractor you bought? That will help in figuring out the correct manuals. And go to Deere's web site and look up the parts book for the styled A tractors and that will cover all the tractors from 1939 thru 1952. Now on the operators manual there are at least I think 6 different versions. I have 2 of them and the printed version parts book sold by Deere before there were computors. So we would need to be looking at same page in same book. I know a cylinder can be hooked up on a powerlift tractor because I have seen loaders mounted like that and for the extra hydrolic oil the loader took there was a resivor that screwed in to the filler hole in the lift housing. I do have some loader books and they may show something. The big thing with the power lift is when you go to lift you cannot stop halfway up or when you want to drop you cannot stop halfway down. And stop at your local tractor parts place and check out the hydrolic couplers including breakaway clamp and see what they have. Some of them you can reconnect under preasure and others you cannot. Some you connect just by pushing and others you connect by pulling but all will need that breakaway clamp, then check out the 2" to 3" hydrolick cylinders in 8" stroke and the depth control stops, some are built in cylinder, some are add on ans some are just a donut that snaps open to slide over the shaft. The 2" would handle a 2 bottom plow OK, might be a bit light for a 3 bottom in pull type, the Deere made cylinder was a 2 1/2" diameter or a 3 1/2" diameter and they had the built in depth stop. Also check to see if they have a breather plug to put in a 2 way cylinder to convert to a single action cylinder. You only need a low pressure cylinder for that tractor. The Deeres that I had were a 38 A with no electrical or hydrolick, a 46 B and a 49 B and a 51 A all with power trol and rockshaft and a 50 AR that only had power trol. All that information will sound like a lot but will need to be had in figuring out what to do. And look forward to hearing from you.

In your other post where you ask about price I see you say electric start but other wise plain tractor. A couple of questions on it. Does it have the pressed steel rear wheels like Walt's or the cast wheels like Beatles or are they a spoke wheel and is there any wheel weights with it or is there any fluid in the tires? Traction problems is why I am asking. And does it have a 4 speed or 6 speed transmission? 4 speed was on steel wheel versions while most rubber tire versions were 6 speed. If either spoke or pressed steel wheels without fluid you will not have enough traction to pull a plow, cast wheels better but still may want to spin under certain conditions, cast and fluid or weights better. Cast with both fluid and weights best and what I had on the 51 A to pull 3-12" hydrolick lift #55 plows and it was rated at 38 max pto hp being a gas tractor and then it had aftermarket high compression pistons in it that uped the power some. Your tractor came with the low compression pistons as being an all fuel tractor is all they built at that time. It could have been converted to the gas pistons or to the high compression pistons but with the all fuel manifold slightly less power and I do not know if a gas manifold fit. And on the swinging drawbar dois it have a roller that it hangs on or does it fit between 2 pieses of flat steel, orignally would have had the roller but could be converted to newer style and newer style is what is needed foe a 3 point hitch and even with a power lift you could use a rear blade on the 3 point if one would mount for grading a drive using skid shoes on the blade.

Leroy , I can see you will be a big help in getting my A to where i want it to be. But first things first . First i need to finish paying for it ,then get it home Then I will review my options to what the best way to get there is.That's one reason I wanted your email .I can email you 1 on 1 rather then thru this site.My email is [email protected]

Leroy I cant post pic But you can see the tractor It's posted under Tractors in the Photo
Ads In YT's Marketplace It was posted!2/06/11. I havent seen it or touched it yet.

Can't figure out where or how to find it.

Things like what type of wheels and if fluid and speeds are right up there in some of first questions you should ask in purchasing a tractor, if you do not know that how are you going to be sure the tractor delivered is what you actually thought you bought. If you do not know then a quick phone call should be made.

Leroy
On left side of YT home page , near top of page , find section titled Marketplace , click on Photo Ads , when page comes up you find categories listed , click on Tractors Scroll pages back to listings posted on 12/06/11 , look for JD A Posted 12/06 /11 From PA,click on Details , Pic will pop right up. Let me know if it dont work I will try a Forward to you

I could only go back to Dec. and the way you have the date down I thought it was Feb. 6, 11 so now I might be able to find it as they do not go back to Feb. Big difference between 2-6-11 & 12-6-11.

Found it, ads only go back a half day further. And it dous have the cast wheel centers so yoy should be able to even if it does not have fluid be able to have traction to under normal conditions pull a 2 bottom plow, pressed steel or cut down spokes no. And with those wheels it will have all 6 speeds in the tranny, if it had been cut down spokes then probably would not have had the top 2 speeds installed as they could not be used with steel. So that helps you. The other question tho if you still want to install a 3 point hitch is the drawbar that the picture does not show and one type that is the newer and would be used as a replacement for the orignal would accept a 3 point while the orignal will not.

(quoted from post at 19:45:54 01/03/12) Leroy , I can see you will be a big help in getting my A to where i want it to be. But first things first . First i need to finish paying for it ,then get it home Then I will review my options to what the best way to get there is.That's one reason I wanted your email .I can email you 1 on 1 rather then thru this site.My email is [email protected]

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well Its times I got one thing right LOL
Tomorrow night I will try posting a pic of the rear of the tractor and maybe you can tell for me Be looking for it under a new topic as this one is going to be gone soon

Just try to use my email and send it direct.