Loosening question

I'm trying to break loose the heat selector in my distillate manifold. I've had it stewing in an electrolysis tank for 6 days, and it's cleaned a lot of paint, rust, and scale off, but hasn't allowed the valve to move. I pulled it out, cleaned all around the valve with a screwdriver, and managed to break some of the stuff between the valve and the front wall off. But is seems like the selector arm may be rusted in place as well. So, I threw it back in the tank till Sunday.

What else can I do to free this thing up? Once free, is there anything I can do to the inside to prevent it from sticking, freezing, and rusting up?

I use PB Blaster on stuff. Gotta let that stuff soak is. Heat is good too. Keep trying it will come loose at some point.

PB Blaster, or, if you have enough, soak in ATF. I've gotten some pretty seized stuff apart with PB Blaster, patience and gentle torque

I got mine to free up with heat and GENTLE taps on the selector arm. It took several heats and several gentle taps. Slow and steady was the method I used and it worked. I also used some ATF on the pivot points. Slow and steady. That is a great looking manifold you have and you certainly don"t want a big crack in it. Glad to see you are restoring to a correct distallate tractor. I have a 1940 H, bought from the original owners son, I did that way. You just don"t see many at the shows, atleast not around here.

John, did you do anything to the inside to keep it in operation? I'd like to do something now, so years from now I won't have the problem again.

Mike,

I used never sieze on everything when I put it back together. Will it help???? One year and still working good!! I move it every now and then just to make sure it moves. I think periodical movement is key. Many haven"t seen movement in years. Does anyone really use distallate???? Mine is more for show.... Perhaphs one day I will try running on "distallate", just so I can say it really works.

Mike,

The best thing you can do to prevent it from seizing up in the future is to use it. That selector valve hasn't been used since the early 1950s. It certainly took several years of neglect to seize up initially, and half a century to get where it is now.

I don't plan on using distillate, or kerosene... but having the capability as a showpiece will be an interesting addition to this tractor.

Mike, on mine, I soaked in blaster for at least a week. then, I used a propane soldering torch, and heated. Keep the heat localized to just the shaft part, on both sides. Then I used a larger size (1") brass drift pin, and moderate blows to start working it loose. I got it loose and working fine. You may need to use the drift and hammer to break the rust bond. Moderate heat and then hammer and brass drift should work just fine with LOTS of patience!

John---the landlord got a wild hair about running his 2-cyl J.D.'s on distilate. Every weekend he'd be out & warm them up & switch to distilate [kerosene & diesel fuel mix]. Well, every week, he'd have to change plugs also. Got to be old after a while, & the newness wore off, & he never tried it again.

It will come free with patience and the ideas the others have. I'll just second the operating of the heat selector periodically as a way to keep it freed up. For example, if you foresee a lot of short runs from cold starts, just moving the tractor in and out of the way of other things, that would be a good time to run it with the heat valve set for cold weather. For a longer run where it would warm up well, set the selector for warm weather before you start up. If you made the change through the positions once every couple or three months as you go along, I should think that would keep it operational.

Many, many, many years ago, when my father"s 10-20 was still in use and I was gonna drive it no matter what, I decided to give kerosene a shot to see what it was like. One try was enough. Drain carb if the engine stopped on kerosene.Turn on gas. Start as usual. Raise curtain to near top of radiator. Heat engine until steam comes out the radiator cap (could be done while moving to the job). Turn off gas. Turn on kerosene. Lower curtain, then get to work. As long as the tractor is working, it will stay hot, at least in warm weather. Adjust curtain as needed to keep engine from sputtering. If the tractor idles for a few minutes, it will sputter until it warms up again. To stop tractor, shut off kerosene. In emergency, cut ignition, but then you have to drain the carb unless you start it immediately. A cold engine is not going to start on kerosene. Today, kerosene is hard to find and more expensive than gasoline, so there is absolutely no incentive to use it, as there was in the early days of tractors. People put up with all the nuisance I"ve just described because of the lower price of kerosene, distillate, "tractor fuel," and the like. Kerosene engines have a much lower compression ratio than gasoline engines, because kerosene knocks like crazy with higher compression ratios. I never knew if gasoline used in a low-compression engine produced more power than kerosene, but I suppose somebody, somewhere, must have tested that and reported on it. In any case, I never knew anybody who had a kerosene model who really used kerosene (I"m talking about 10-20, "Regular," F-20, F-12, H, M tractors that I saw in regular use among neighbors and family). Too much trouble, so they all used gasoline.