Super A rebuild

I ran the tractor about 2 hours after it finally started. I do not have a good way to break in this engine. I have a Woods belly mower but I have not overhauled it and painted it yet and there is nothing to mow anyway. No other implements and Western Kansas is flat, no hills. I installed a temperature gauge by sawing of the top of the taller outlet from a C123. Gauge is mounted off a bolt on the governor, can be seen from the seat, unlike the gauges on the distillate engines which run off the cold side of the radiator. When running I block the air to the radiator until the needle is nearly in the red, then let it cool some with the engine still running if it is still moving up, then repeat. Machinest, who rebuilts car engines says to get it hot, so I did. There is absolutely no smoke from the exhaust or breather, not on starting, or accelerating or idle. So I hope it is working.
All bearings in the transmission and final drives were replaced, along with the reverse idler gear which had a chipped tooth. The transmission is now quiet. One reason I replaced the bearings was to see if what I have read on this forum for the last 10 years or so, is that these transmissons are noisy from the factory. Nope, just normal wear. Gene Bender's experience says the front bearing causes the most noise. Could be, but I wanted to be sure. Main problem now is the clutch. I did not replace it, but It appeared ok, clutch pads had a lot left, plate needed a little sanding. I did replace the release bearing. Clutch is very noisy when engaging. It is the release bearing and the fingers. Probably going to have to split it and replace the clutch. With the old release bearing there was no noise. Going to look at it some more. I don't think I can adjust anything without splitting it. It gets a new clutch if I do. I have asked questions about various things for the last 16 months, I greatly appreciate everyones help.

CNKS just using it flexibly, but not at full power or lugging, for 15 hours or so then changing the oil, will be all it needs to be broken in. Do not get it "hot" just run it normally. Heating it is not at all correct. (bad advice) running it at operating temps (mid gauge) is just fine and can require cardboard in the winter. Good job again. Jim

I don't keep it hot all the time, but these engines do not warm up very fast, I don't think I am abusing it. It will likley be run at varying engine temperature. Can't do much outside until I get the clutch fixed. What I don't want to do is run for awhile, and shut it off. I messed up my newly rebuilt 460 by not running it. Also had a clutch problem on it, that would not let me move the tractor without shutting it off and and starting it in gear. I should have let it run before I started messing with the clutch. Learned my lesson on that one. Rings did not seat all the way.

I saw your post down below on the ignition issue. Good job noodlin' it out! And your explanation set off a few neurons to fill a thought I didn't share because I couldn't put my finger on it. Yes the marks are at 180*, but the centers of the crank, cam and governor/ignition shafts are not in a straight line -- hence your original problem with the the flywheel mark not lining up at TDC. Good job!

On the temp issue, I'm one for warming her up well any time I run. I hate shutting down a cold motor that spends most of its time sitting anyway. My SuperC has shutters, so I use them for short runs, and won't shut down before the gauge moves up into the Run range. The BN doesn't have shutters or a gauge. I've been known to let the fan vacuum hold a tall kitchen trash bag up against he grille to help it warm up, and I gauge the temp by hand, waiting until the outside of the upper block around the water jacket is good and warm to the touch.

On the clutch, did you switch from a graphite cone to a thrust/roller bearing?

Glad your tranny work came out fine. What did you use for lube. I use the 140 stuff figure all the wear needs some heavy oil. Now if we could only quiet down the finals.

When I did the Farmall A back in 1975 I ran it up and down the hill which isn't very steep a few times then I installed the plow and plowed the garden. You may have to wait until the weather warms up so you can put it to work. My wife use to have a problem with this old 1981 Mercury Cougar stalling. Most of her driving was short runs over town. Since we use it to haul shelled corn with about 500 pounds in it and running around 55 to 60mph for about 60 miles it hasn't been stalling. It has the 302 engine. My late brother-in-law told my wife's sister to get rid of it when it had 15k miles on it. We bought it in 1985. He told her it was wore out. Hal

85W140. Not sure the finals ever were noisy, haven't driven it enough to really tell, so they are not bad. Have to fix the clutch before I can do much.

Clutch had a roller bearing, was quiet before I tore it down -- probably another one of my goof ups. I notice that the difference between the levers and the bearing are supposed to be 1/2 inch (graphite bearing if that makes a difference) that seems extremely wide. Mine are maybe 1/8, if I adjust the pedal play to get that 1/2 inch, I will have about 2 inches free play in the clutch pedal and I am sure it won't go into gear. With the current setting it shifts fine and the bearing does not touch the fingers at full rpm.

302 Is a good engine. And, cold operation probably causes the most problems. Jim corrected me when I said "hot". What I meant was what I consider the maximum operating temperature maybe at the edge of the red. If run into the red, the the pressure cap releases and water comes out the overflow. That is with plain water, not antifreeze, I'm not going to find out how hot it has to get to boil 50/50 antifreeze.

If the top of your clutch fork is hinged like it was on the As and Bs, it should be on just a tapered pin that drives straight through the torque tube. Check to see that that pin is centered,, i.e., the pin is recessed to about the same depth on each end. There's a certain amount of float where the fork, carrier and bearing can slide side-to-side so it can float on the shaft and in contact with the cingers, but it's limited by the gap betweeen the shaft and the bearing center. If the pin is holding it too far off to one side, your bearing will be off center, and won't center itself on the fingers. It will operate the clutch, but if the bearing is off-center, and it's under tension you could be a chafing the shaft against the center of the bearing, and the bearing will be spinning around a different center than the rest of the driveline.

BTDT. Could be as simple as that, and worth checking/trying before you decide to tear into it again.

Back when I was a teen about 65years ago we used zerone as the antifreeze. It was alcohol and you couldn't run high temerature thermostats. Most were 160° thermostats and we used it in a Farmall H & a Farmall C. We drained this when the cold weather ended. Never had any radiator problems over overheating. When they had 10-20 we drained it after being used on cold days. That was when we were spreading manure or sawing wood. Usually we waited until the temp had risen when sawing. Hal

Thanks, I'll look, but I think everthing is lined up. I still have to split it, though.