Posted by Billy NY on February 05, 2015 at 05:50:41 from (104.228.35.235):
In Reply to: Re: Bryce posted by Bryce Frazier on February 04, 2015 at 20:57:18:
Bryce, they had a bad reputation because the first series of the select-0-speed was released prematurely. The later series of the transmission was quite reliable, I had a '64 4000 S-0-S when I was quite a bit younger than you are now. It did everything on this farm. Cut, rake, bale hay, snow removal with a front mount hydraulic blade, manure spreader, small tillage for the garden, had a ford rotary mower that I used every year to mow fields not in use. Independent PTO and power steering, also had one set of remotes. The tractor for its size was very capable, and you had a gear for about any need, given there are 10 speeds forward, and 2 in reverse. This tractor was formerly a NYS thruway tractor, used for mowing along the highway, it had a mid mount sickle mower on it which we eventually stopped using and removed. It handled a 532 ford baler and lamco hay wagons on the hills and flats around here. Properly maintained, they were every bit as reliable as the manual transmission offered in the same tractor, and I can attest to that because I spent a lot of time on one. The demise of ours was due to a friend of my fathers who rented our place for a show, decide to service it and its believed he may have used the wrong fluid. I'm actually not sure what he did, but I was on the tractor when it stopped moving and I sure was ticked because it was the only tractor we had at the time and all the activity we used it for then stopped.
We sold them new in thousand series with no regrets, we had 2 mechanics in our shop that knew these from the beginning, we had all the books, bulletins and so on from Ford. I personally don't recall ever knowing as much in detail about them, but the huge diagram of one that hung on the wall near the parts counter certainly demonstrated that it is a bit complicated.
Today, they are obsolete, and the people like our mechanics who knew these and could take them apart and repair them, are mostly gone. You should check on the Ford forum, I am not sure who or where there are any people who have the experience and knowledge to work on these. Its been said that parts support has faded to obscurity, I don't know it for fact, but they are obsolete, shamefully too, because there are a lot of them out there, but understood, given obsolescence and with so many other options, the only market would be old tractor collectors and users. The market must not be lucrative enough to pursue obsolete parts manufacture, though there has been discussion on one part, a filter, being developed for manufacture, again, refer to the Ford forum.
I disagree with Delta Red, (sorry Steve LOL!) slightly, the 5 speed trans on the '00, '01 series are not bullet proof, they wear with use and one problem that comes to mind is they slip out of gear. The repairs may or may not be simple, detent ball is one that is, the rest require going a lot further and the parts support for the 5 speed has faded as well, or so I am led to believe. I own one and it slips out of gear in 1st, 2nd 3rd, maybe 4th, though mine has a zillion hours on it before I even owned it. 4 speed may have more support and you can add an auxillary transmission to it, only drawback is PTO speed when using it. Mostly a repeat of information posted here by others, but that's the reality of it in simple terms.
S-0-S tractors today, they are out there and many are still in operating condition, I would not hesitate to buy one, that proves the transmission to be in correct working order. You can ask over on the ford forum on how to deal with one that does work, not sure how you can determine its condition, but with maintenance, proper adjustments, its very possible you can get a lot of hours out of one, (maybe not full time daily use for 10 years but..). You have many tractors and one of these set up for a limited purpose each season, stands a good chance of performing. No you don't want to overpay for one of these and you do want to walk away from any that are overpriced, not running, can't be tested out etc. Well unless you are buying a parts tractor.
By no means were these weak or did not perform. One year my father got it stuck on the first round in our alfalfa field with lush growth. The 535 mower conditioner was on it. Our farmer/neighbor came over and pulled it out and did some cutting with it before he brought a much larger JD and NH mower conditioner over, as my father ran out of time, so he would cut and bale for us. He told me that silly old ford out cut his rig, and our mower had left some skips, so it needed some work on the sickle. He said, besides that, it did a great job in that thick alfalfa, this field has lots of moisture and grows nice crops. Of course something was off on his, he went back, needed some adjustments, but he was a long time experienced dairyman, he knew this equipment as well as anyone, was hard to believe what he said about how it performed. It did the same work as well as what he had, which was newer and likely a lot better than what we had. And of course it does not change what they are but..... LOL ! You should be able to find more information on the ford forum if its ever needed, Tony Jacobs who pops in from time to time reminds me of the 2 brothers we had as mechanics in regards to knowledge on these era ford tractors, he's extremely knowledgeable and has a lot of obscure technical information. His story is interesting having a connection to an old dealership and retaining all kinds of useful information and knowledge on these, I'm not sure specifically about S-0-S transmissions, but I know from speaking with him in person he knows these tractors quite well, and is a very capable mechanic on same.
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Today's Featured Article - Harvestin Hay: The Early Years (Part 2) - by Pat Browning. The summer of 1950 was the start of a new era in farming for our family. I was thirteen, and Kathy (my oldest sister) was seven. At this age, I believed tractor farming was the only way, hot stuff -- and given a chance I probably would have used the tractor, Dad's first, a 1936 Model "A" John Deere, to go bring in the cows! And I think Dad was ready for some automation too. And so it was that we acquired a good, used J. I. Case, wire tie hay baler. In addition to a person to drive th
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