Help!

I am not a tractor fan or mechanic. I have a 1947 M and was backing up and turning (too sharply as it turns out) in soft dirt. When I started to go forward, my front wheels pushed in the dirt and locked perpendicular to my line of travel. I could not go back or forth. No problem, I thought, I'll just lift the front end up with the bucket, turn the wheels straight and take off. That did not work. As you can see from the photos, the left wheel seems more perpendicular than the right, but not a lot. I can't turn them with the steering wheel.

QUESTIONS: Please look closely at all the photos. Does anything look broken or bent? Can I "pull" that situation out and straight with a wrecking bar or truck or something, or should I call in a pro to fix this? Thanks for any help you might be.

P.S. I use it to level and smooth gravel roads with a box blade on the back.

Huston we got a problem here !!!!!!! Time to pull the hood and grill and open the top of the steering box and have a look . Next place to look is up under the steering post and see if you sheared off the stop bolt or broke the trough that it rides in Start with the bottom first then pull the sheet metal .

Your stering linkage is just enough out of adustment or bent to allow the right front wheel, when viewing the tractor from the front, to travel over-center and this now prevents you from turning the steering wheel to the left. You will need to manually pry the right front stering arm that is connected to the spindle forward to get the linkage back overcenter. This should not take much effort. Once the linkage is put back in-line, you should be able to steer as normal. To preven this from happening again, the linkage shoudl be adjusted or stops installed to prevent the linkage from going overcenter. Again, this is all explained when viewing the tractor from the front and not the operator seat.

I agree make the center drag link 1 inch longer for a start. Then put limiters on it to prevent it from happening again.
Jim

Your left wheel is over centerd on the top drag link and spindal arm.Get the left wheel turned counter clockwise to unbind it then make a stop so it can't turn so short.

Thanks folks. I did as suggested. I took a chain, hooked it to the front of my truck and the other end to the right front steering arm that is connected to the spindle and gently pulled it forward to get the linkage back over center. Came right out and it's working fine again.

I will look into getting the stops or extended arm, but I think I'm going to sell it.

Again, thanks.

I'm going with a missing or broken stop bolt on the
bottom of bolster vertical shaft. Shouldn't be able
to turn that far.

Over center on the drag link. Just pull it forward with a crowbar and you'll be back in business.

Get that stop bolt fixed; it's missing.

Allan

As I recall, the wide front doesn't use a stop bolt on the bolster shaft. The arm has stops that should take care of it. The root cause of this problem is the bent (and possibly set too short) link.

She's locked up like a giant pair of Vise-Grips!!!

If your gonna sell that tractor, how close to pa. do you live!

Why would you want to sell that tractor?? Whatever you replace that tractor with will likely have as many problems or more than you have now! Fix the problems as they appear, use it and enjoy!! Armand

Where are these pictures taken? Looks like some of my old country in the background.

Ben

Hi folks. Again, thanks for the help getting it out. I own an RV Park, Campground and small motel in the south-central Colorado Rockies.

As such, I have become a jack of all trades [b:888f600ecb]but master of none[/b:888f600ecb].

While I do have the intellectual horsepower and physical ability to become a capable man on and with a tractor, I'm just running out of gas and losing the desire to try. I had an old Massy and sold it due to compression/ring problems. I got this M to replace it. I use it solely for the box blade on the back, maybe two or three times a year, to smooth roads, level stuff out, etc.

While I am remote, and thus it's nice to have my own equipment on site, that can also be a drag when it comes to equipment that does not work when and how I want it to. When totaling up the money and time and frustration, I think it may be cheaper for me to pay men to come in who [b:888f600ecb]are [/b:888f600ecb]masters of their trade.

I paid $3,750.00 for it last year and put a brand new $600.00 tire on the back. I had an expert look at it first and he said it was a stand up tractor and a good deal. However, the front end loader is weak and the pump inside the belly which runs the box blade is leaking oil all over the place. I have to add oil and then run it for a day or two and then add more. Then this problem with the front wheel.

But I can live with all that. Here is the problem I'm having, which is really no fault of the tractor: When I am using the box blade I have to raise it up and down to cut just the right amount off the top of a high spot. If I'm dragging too much material, it won't move. If I raise the box blade, and go a foot or two, all of a sudden I'm not pulling any material at all. It's a good blade, in that it doesn't just have to be up or down but can actually be anywhere in between, and unlike my Massy, it has down pressure. [b:888f600ecb]BUT[/b:888f600ecb] every time I raise or lower it, I have stop, push in the clutch, put the tractor in neutral, let out the clutch, raise or lower the box blade, push the clutch back in, put the tractor in forward or reverse, let the clutch out and proceed. If, perchance, I didn't get the box blade at the perfect height, I have to do it all over again. And, since the ground is undulating and the box blade goes up as the front end goes down (dumping all the material) or the box blade digs in as the front end goes up (bogging me down so I can't move), it's easier and faster for me to get off the damn tractor and use a good old fashioned shovel.

So, long story short, I don't have the right tool for the job or the right man for the job.

I do have a Ford 555 back hoe/front end loader which is MUCH better but it can be too large for the finer work I'm trying to do.

It is the way I found it, plus a brand new back tire, so I'm hoping to get $3,750.00 for it. But it's in Colorado. I'll probably do what everyone does around here and put it out by the highway with a for sale sign on it. That's how I got it.

I think what I'd like to have is a Bob Cat but those things are expensive!

It sounds like part of your problem is that your tractor is set up with down pressure, which is handy, but can cause problems. You really need a "Float" function for a box blade. That lets the blade follow the ground more closely. Ideally, you get some stops for the cylinder(s) that won't let them go below a certain level, but will let them raise up.
I agree that it can be frustrating to blade when things aren't set up correctly, but M's are great tractors(I've got 2). I'd suggest putting in a little effort to get things set-up correctly before you throw in the towel.

But that's just this guy's opinion.

Ben

Depth gauge wheels behind the box blade, and a tellescopic top link (or chain) will allow the blade to conform to terraine. Adjustability then results in incremental adjustment of the (assumed) 3pt hitch on the fly. A loader willing to lift the front is not too weak! Jim

Please post pics of the box blade setup and three point.

What is powering the loader hydraulics? PTO pump? Is that why the loader is weak? Granted these machines are not going to dig like a bobcat, but it should be fairly capable with some operator patience and skill.

James, I'm not trying to expand this thread off into another direction but I have several Farmall tractors of the era of your Farmall M and later. I also have modern tractors with all the great features of currently produced tractors and several various types of blades including a box blade. My very best tractor and blade to use on my gravel driveway is my 1953 Farmall Super C 2 point Fast Hitch tractor and a straight angled blade on the back. The Super C has a full time engine driven hydraulic pump which provides hydraulic pressure whenever the tractor is running without regard to clutch or gear shift position. It also has down pressure (great with a post hole auger as well) and the ability to tilt the blade up or down on either the right or left corner of the blade. My driveway tends to become high centered over a year or so and by going down the road one way bringing about half of the crest off the center and into the track made by driving and then turning around at the end of the road and coming back the other way doing the same thing it is a perfect job. If the center is still a little high just make another pass with the blade in a level position and spred the balance into both tracks. You can adjust the blade up, down and up and down left and right all the time without stopping with it's hydraulic system. Just food for thought if you are looking for something that is still very affordable in today's tractor market without buying sometime new. My Super C is the most used of all my Farmalls and I use them all but that Fast Hitch blade is really handy for that type of chore. They also make another blade for the Super C, the C-72 which mounts in under the center of the tractor or upfront which would be an excellent snow removal system for where you are located, Hal.