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Frozen transmission

O

old

Well-known Member
Location
Camdenton Missouri
Well with all the rain and all we got this summer I guess I should have checked the transmission on my Ford 841. Went out to give the horses a round bale of hay and the tractor would only turn over if I had my foot on the clutch pedal. Got it fired up and as soon as you let up on the pedal it died. Found that is has a lot of water which of course is ice right now so that was a no go. Have a tarp over it right now and had let ti run for around 30 minutes to warm it up and have the drain plug out right now and a light hanging next to the transmission so maybe in a few hours it will drain out so I can fill it and use it in a day or 2. Oh well what would life be if we didn't have a problem from time to time
 
Old,
When I bough my Jubilee, it was summer. The tranny was too full and milky. There was about 1/2 oil and 1/2 water. The rubber boot on shifter was defective. After that lesson, I don't leave any tractor outside.

George
 
Ya in Aug a guy does not expect to get much if any rain but this year that 15 inches we got in a week had the tractor out side a lot and yep the shifter boot will be replaced soon due to this problem. Had this happen a few years back and changed the oil and was just fine till today.
 
I only lived in Mississippi for 4 years and have lived here for the past 33 years. Taxes here are cheap but they sure as heck where not cheap down there. LOL
 
My Farmall H did that, I put a salamander under it and a tarp over the top and it thawed a little, eventually I decided to pull the transmission cover so I could get rid of the ice and check the gears since I had just gotten the tractor in the winter. It had a block of ice all around the differential area and I chipped it out with a big screwdriver and a hammer. I hope yours isn't that frozen.
Zach
 
Neighbor had that problem a couple of years ago.(rearend) I told him he needed to melt the ice and drain the water out. He has the same problem this year too.

I heated the gas line on the C to get it to go today. Got up to 5 today and is going down already.
Still more to do outside.
SDE
 
add my oliver to the list had steering coloum been freezing up getting by pouring hot water on it must have slopped now choke is froze went to turn it over just growled tommorrow going to warm up i guess time for the rocker adam 12 is on
 
I had a Farmall that froze like that.
I put it in the heated shop, figured it would thaw in a day or two.
Nope. Took it over a week at 60 degrees!
Hopefully you have better luck and/or milder temps.
 
My old stepdad who was from MO. Said on a cold day they would build a fire under the old model T to get warm enough to start. Those old guys had more guts than we do.
Walt
 
I remember my dad saying they used to do that on grandpas old Fordson. A bucket of cobs is what they used. He told me DONT do that on anything here. Funny how some things your parents tell you sticks in your head.
 
that happened to me on my old INT 500c--it moved about 5 ft and then that was it! had to wait for a warm thaw day before it would move again---changed that tranny fluid that spring
 
At least you were smart about it.
I've known of 2 Ford 2000 (3 cylinder) that the owner didn't figure it out. Tranny was froze so they gunned the engine and dumped the clutch.
Blew the main input gear out of it.
My pal Kenny bought one of them pretty cheap and we put a 6X4 from a 3400 into it.

P1010004.jpg
 
I put a magnetic heater on the bottom of the MH44 transmission when I first got it from my dad. It was frozen tight.
 
Well, I feel a little better after reading all these posts! About ten or so years ago, I bought a TO-30 and after about five years, I began noticing that the transmission oil was milky, well I knew that meant water in the mix but it took a while to discover how it got there until I noticed the shifter boot was very loose. I had originally kept a tarp over it, but those $2.98 tarps from those discount houses don't last very long.
 
I checked what one would cost today thinking I might do that so it would thaw out faster but at $51 plus tax that is not in the budget the day before Christmas
 
I had the same thing happen to this tractor about 3 years ago but it was parked out side so I could set a heater under it and tarp it. It is in the hay barn so the heater is not an option due to the lose hay all over and sure do not want to set fire to the hay barn. At least tomorrow it is suppose to get up to 41 and then on Thursday up around 50 so it should thaw out in a day or 2. Funny thing it I have had this tractor since around 1982 and this has only happened twice in all those years
 
Well see you should have dropped it off on your way to Texas then picked it up on your way back LOL. Weather guesser says it will be 41 tomorrow and then above freezing the next few days so it should thaw out in the next day or so. I have the drain plug right now so it should rain out as it thaws out
 
Hopefully expandinig ice did not burst the hydraulic tubes in the bottom of the transmission, as often happens in such cases.

Dean
 

I know where there is a 4 cyl 4000 with a big split in the bottom of the tranny from freezing solid.
 
Old: Recipe on how to thaw a transmission housing in cold weather.

1- Steel hog feed pan (the rubbers ones smell funny when you use them)

1/2-bag of charcoal briquettes (Full bag if your in a hurry)

1- Old heavy canvas tarp (New plastic ones melt too easy)

Squirt of charcoal lighter fluid (pint of gas if in a hurry. This requires a longer lighting device)

Lighter and or box of matches (propane torch if the wind is blowing)


Put the charcoal in the feed pan. Apply liquid lighting fluid of choice. Light charcoal/fluid. (IF gas was used, light and roll around until your sleeve burns out). Push pan under the tractor transmission. Cover top of the tractor with the tarp. Weight the edges to hold tarp down.

PS. Watch to make sure the oil drain plug is not over the feed pan. Had to repaint the tractor rear half when I did that, after I put the flames out. IF you are quick the paint will stick while the castings are still hot from the fire.

Keep your stick on the ice. JD Seller
 
That does not work well in a hay barn where I park this tractor due to lose hay on the ground so in turn that would or could well cause a major hay barn fire
 
The loose hay just makes it more of a "CHALLENGE" LOL. Substitute a old car/truck hood for the hog feed pan.

OLD the general idea of my post was the pan of charcoal with some humor also.

If I remember correctly those older Fords have a larger Oil fill hole for the transmission??? Take the plug out and stick a electric heat gun nozzle down into the transmission.

Another trick I have seen done on crawlers that have frozen up is to heat oil/diesel/K-1 to where it is warm/hot. Pour it into the transmission housing. It will help heat the frozen water/oil and also help flush your system when it thaws.
 
If it had not been for the fact the ground was getting soft in front of the hay barn I would have pulled it out of the barn so the sun could have warmed it up. But I figured all we would have done was cut ruts and spun tires trying to pull it out. This time of year I only use this one tractor and he others have been put in the shed and to get one out to pull is not easy since the one I need to pull this one I have to move another out of the way to get to it the other . Oh well the weather guesser says 41 tomorrow and up to around 50 Thursday so that should do the trick
 
This Saturday me and a friend are going to Kansas to get an antique tractor...I know that we will have to drag it on the trailer as theres always water in the rear end..A space heater works good to thaw one out..
 
I have heard of folks adding some cans of Heet to tractor transmissions in the fall just to make sure the tractor would go in the winter. This was before cabs on the feeding tractor.
 
Is it possable to place a electric heater on a old hood or something like that after sweeping away the chaff and putting a tarp over it? Maybe angling it upwards towards tranny.
I would only do this while I was awake and able to keep an eye on it.
 
I always loosen the drain plugs on all of mine in the fall to get the condensation out. They sure can collect a bunch over the summer. Just don't turn them out to far or you will have an oily hand-arm.
 
lots of good advice
and Old, ya should be ok with a warming trend coming.
For the real cold area guys, sometimes ya have to just give it up.
outside, brutal temps, wind, no break in sight..
something big, frozen hard, takes an amazing long time to thaw out. especially with the ice formed around steel parts.
Wind and cold, blows away any heat you are trying to generate
and just like a cooling system, cools the metal faster than you can heat it.
bah...I'll fix it in April....
 
I did not have any HEET on hand but I did have a bottle of rubber alcohol so I dumped most of it in. It is the 91% stuff so should do as good as HEET does
 
Old hood, couple pieces of iron, then the hog trough on top of those.

When I was driving truck I'd carry a Coleman propane torch if I was working local. If trailer brakes were hung I'd turn it on shooting the bottom of the drum, usually I couldn't thump all 8 trailer tires before I heard the shoes pop loose. Might set one to hit the bottom of the tractor beside the drain plug. A couple rolls of duct tape work real good for holding the thin tanks upright.
 
An electric hot plate propped up on a metal 5 gal pail just under the pan has got me going before.
Hair dryers work well and move lots of heat if you can get three or four going at the same time.
Ceramic heater and a tarp.
Heat gun.
Magnetic pan heater.
Dipstick heater.
Old style 110 volt in car heater.
110 volt battery blanket.
Old pressure cooker half full or water and a tiger torch or hotplate hooked up with steel pipe leading to what you want to thaw.
Steam works great on frozen underground water bowl lines, but might be a little steamy indoors.
 
(quoted from post at 00:39:57 12/25/13) I always loosen the drain plugs on all of mine in the fall to get the condensation out. They sure can collect a bunch over the summer. Just don't turn them out to far or you will have an oily hand-arm.
Click to expand...

Bingo. I welded a 1/4 nipple on my drain plug and put a ball valve on it. Now, whenever the tractor sits for a couple weeks, just before I start it, I drain the trans till its clear oil.
 
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