what is good to use to break a farmall a motor loose?it is my grandpa's old a i am going to start on soon thanks in advance
jerry

I mix up a witches brew of PB Blaster, Liquid Wrench, ATF and Acetone along with a bottle of Rust Buster and keep putting it down the spark plug holes for a month. If that doesn"t free it I take it apart.
Don"t forget to remove the oil drain plug so the brew does.t stay in the oil pan.

You can start with putting ATF / Kero / Diesel fuel into the cylinders. Let it set for sometime and give it a hit with the starter of hand crank for some time. If that does not work after sometime then remove the head and either pound the pistons with a oak block down. If that does not work then you can just pound the cylinders from the bottom up and out and have them pressed out.

Look in the archives there are 100's of post on this topic there.

Andrew

have tried many of the mentioned solvents , have had the best luck with brake fluid has worked on at least a dozen engines for me cover the pistons let it set , tap on them every day or so with a block of wood , longest it has ever taken is 2 weeks to get one free, best of luck

Maybe I"ll add some brake fluid to my brew.

Well I use ATF and that is pretty much it. I have been popping engine free now for well over a decade and if one is going to free up ATF is going to do it and if not a mix of ATF and turpentine might but that is it. If it has had water in it at any point in time by say having the exhaust open then forget it and open it up because it is not going to pop free. So far I am 3 for 25 3 did not free up out of 25

There are a lot of magic elixirs that work, but the key ingredient is TIME.

You can't squirt some ATF down each spark plug hole and expect the engine to be freed up the next morning. Some times it takes weeks, or months.

Pull the head and oil pan and unbolt a connecting rod and use a piece of 2 X 2 oak and a big hammer and tap on the rod to see if the sleeve or the piston or both can be driven out. I did that on this A back in 1975. Once you get the sleeve out use a torch to heat it and that heat should free the piston. I pulled the engine as it made it easier to work on and wanted to steam clean the block. I installed a new sleeve kit from my local IH dealer cost back then was $80.00. I had the crankshaft measured and polished. It needed .002" undersize bearing and I bought them from the machine shop. I pulled the engine and drove out the sleeves and pistons in a few hours. I had the clutch disc relined too. Hal

jerry, since this is a Farmall A engine separate the engine from the rest of the tractor and get it on an engine stand.
1 get all non essential components off it. remove oil pan, unbutton the mains and rod caps, remove crank.
2 spin engine right side up, roll engine stand out side. keep all flammables away from the immediate area.
3 on the cylinder with the most volume fill with Diesel add a splash of gas, set it on fire. Now drink a cup of coffee or adult beverage till it burns out. Now take a large 4x4 block and 4 or 5 lb sledge hammer hit the piston to move it a little, if it moves easily, wet the cylinder walls with oil, spin the engine back over, drive the piston out through the top of the engine.
4 repeat with the piston that has the next largest volume. And so on, and so forth.
**Note as the volume decreases so does the burn time, so a 2nd or 3rd or 4th etc, etc may be needed to break the pistons loose.
This method will enable you to save the pistons if they are not too rusted, and if the cylinder is not pitted, then a honing will work and they can be saved too, only needed new rings
This method is the safest, & fastest method I know of. just be careful with the fuel cans you have nearby. Hope this helps.Holler at me if you like, my #512-577-3837.
Later,
John A.

Yep I have had then pop free in just a few days and others took me months to free up. I have one that I knew was locked up for at least 15 years and when I got the money to work on it, I fill the cylinders with ATF after wicking the oil that was in there out and in less then a week it was freed up. But the moment I found it had locked up I filled the cylinders with some oil I had around and it sat that way for those 15 year. Never did pull the head off and it runs pretty good for one that has not had the head off since some time in the 40s. Yep I know what and where it has been since 1940

The witches brew I make less the brake fluid worked on a few engines that haven't been started for over 20 years.
One I had to rebuild but the other one runs great with no smoke. Go Figure????

I stick with and have stuck with the ATF now for 10 plus years and the only thing I have ever found that might improve it and braking one free is a mix of turpentine with it. I have freed up at least 22 engines out of 25 and the 3 did not free up till I opened them up

An A has wet sleeves & all that holds them in is the bottom O-ring. When you try to pound out a stuck piston, the sleeve will come out too. Then you use a press to get them apart.

teddy, I do not dispute your word on the A having wet sleeves! he asked how to Break Loose the pistons from the sleeve!
I will still bet the pistons will come out better after a burning for the sleeve will expand from the heat, thus seating more tightly in it's place, breaking loose the rust that has seized up the piston, then letting the piston be driven out. One can always drive the piston out the bottom, and let the lip help hold the sleeve in place, or drive out from the bottom and let the sleeve and piston come out together, and let the work can be done on a work bench and then a press.
What I do not Understand is there is an Easier way to break loose a derelict engine with fire then a 4x4 block and hammer.,,,,,,,,,,,
Not go to the 4x4 block and hammer then, then hammer and chisel, then torch. As I hear most of the time. Just My opinion here!
Later,
John A.