1946 Farmall A problems

I just acquired an A that has had a starter issue and has been cranked with the hand crank for a while. While turning the engine over with the crank (still on the trailer), I noticed the right rear wheel was turning backwards as I turned the crank which made me think it was in gear... Pressing the clutch relieved the pressure off the chain as the tractor rolled back forward slightly. Checked the shifter and it wasn't in gear... The previous owner said he never had a problem with it staying in gear, but I can't figure out what could be wrong and can't find any similar issues posted on here. As far as the starter, the previous owner said it would spin, but not engage the flywheel. I took it off and the bushing (?) at the end of the shaft was loose and I noticed the shaft was threaded at the end. It seems that the "starter gear"? would spin up too far and disengage from the shaft because the bushing wasn't screwed down on the shaft. I screwed it down hand tight and hit it with the jumper cables and it seemed to work right then, but I'm not sure if thats a real fix or not. I'm about to start restoring this tractor including renewing the diff/axle seals, brakes as well as trying to tighten up the terribly loose steering. Any advise or links would be greatly appreciated.

It might be stuck in reverse. If it continues to go backward when cranking it in neutral, do not start it. The shifter can be taken out, and the slots in the shift rails can be re-aligned. The tip of the lever gets worn, and allows it to slip out of a notch while still in gear. A new style starter drive is available to fix the issue you have. Clutch type is the new style.
This is the best place in the Universe for info and we are friendly. JimN

I kinda thought reverse was the problem because thats the only gear it won't seem to go into. So I can simply unbolt the cover and the adjustment should be pretty self explanatory? I have a feeling I'll need a lot of help with this one... I have a 49 M that was easy to work with, but this a with the mag is my first experience with one... thanks

The whole cover can be taken off, or (I think) just the lever. The whole cover pulls off the shifter forks, and makes getting it back together tougher.
JimN

Jim, I took the entire cover off tonight and found that it was locked in reverse. The detent ball (?) for the reverse fork rail or whatever its called was jambed up. Once I took it off and popped the fork with my palm, it slid back into place. After a couple tries at getting the cover back on with all the forks in the right place, it shifted just fine. Now I just need to find all the gaskets and seals for the A. The gear oil was milky from water seeping in around the bolts/gasket and I'm sure the shifter. The detent ball had a little rust on it and I think was the cause of the stiffness.

Checked for spark on the mag by unplugging the wire from the mag to the cap and arcing it to the steering shaft while I turned the hand crank... surprisingly good pop to it.

Carb was rebuilt by a "pro" about 4 months ago (before I got it) and the float must be out of adjustment because it leaks gas out of the air intake on the carb. Turned it over a few times with the handcrank and got a few puffs of smoke and maybe half a pop, but I guess its flooding too much with the carb overflowing like it is.

Jamieei,
My 40-A carb will leak if cranked on full choke 3 or more times. I have read this is common. Best start is one pull with full choke, crack open the choke 1/4, starts on second pull. Crank safely, pull-up, no thumb, 1/2 turn only.
Tim

I got it to actually crank and run for about 5 seconds today, but after many many rounds with the handle... When it cranked, I had it at almost full throttle and with the choke off (saw that it was leaking out). I have the idle mix screw out 1 full turn and the main needle backed out 5 turns I think (forget what the baseline is supposed to be). I thought I had the starter fixed, but I'm gonna have to get the clutch drive and figure out how to take the current one off the starter. Starter turned fine though... the engine just didn't... Anyone know where I can find the band that covers the brushes at the back of the starter? This one didn't have one on it.

After retiming and changing plugs, points, rotor, etc as well as rebuilding the "professionally" rebuilt carb, we finally got the A running last night and drove it around... Thats its first trip out of the garage since I got it a couple weeks ago. Let it run for about 20 mins and apprehensively cut it off to see if it would crank again... Luckily it did. Carb doesn't seem to leak anymore unless I flood it trying to crank it. The odd thing is that the main needle had to be turning all the way in for it to run right... I guess its worn that much? Seems to idle fairly high, but I'm not even sure how to hook up my dwell/tach meter to a magneto now that I think of it.

Drove it out in the yard today and got most of the grease build-up off of it. Just in time as my garden is getting overrun with spiny pigweed (new garden in old pasture...) If I can just figure out these cultivators or find some info on them.

Oh yeah, the problem with the carb/float leaking apparently was the viton tipped needle had been manually set which someone on here suggested, but the napa rebuilt instructions warned against. The kit came with new needle and seat and after carefully adjusting the float to specs while not applying any pressure to the needle, the carb worked much much better. Plus the guy that rebuilt the carb used the wrong gasket out of the kit he got...