How To Buy That First Homestead Tractor
(Page 3 of 5)
September/October 1971
By J.V. DORNER
By the way, if it's ever necessary to fire up a magneto-equipped tractor with the battery completely removed, be sure to disconnect the generator field wire at the same time you disconnect the battery. If you remember this tip, you can start a battery-less tractor on its magneto and run it all day with no harm done . . . if you remove the battery and forget to disconnect the field wire, however, you'll burn out the generator in short order.
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A hydraulic power lift raises and lowers the drawbar on the A Model John Deere and a built-in "Power Trol" system can be used to operate a remote hydraulic cylinder such as is found on a trailer plow, the cutter bar of a combine, etc. The tractor, of course, also has a power take-off or—in Deere terminology—a "power shaft".
The water cooled engine on the Allis Chalmers WD—the third tractor I'd like to mention—has a spark ignition and four four-inch pistons that travel a four-inch stroke. At 1700 r.p.m., this powerplant develops about 25 HP . . . enough muscle to pull two 14inch plows.
Capacities for the WD are six quarts of heavy duty detergent oil for the engine, 17 quarts of SAE No. 80 oil in the transmission and differential, six quarts of oil in the hydraulic pump, 15 gallons of fuel in the main tank and one in the auxiliary and three and a half gallons of fluid in the radiator. Water, of course, is fine for any of these tractors during warm weather but a half-and-half mixture of ethelyene glycol and water is recommended for freezing conditions.
An interesting point about the WD is that it was manufactured with both a low compression engine designed to burn distillate tractor fuel or low octane gasoline . . . and with a high compression powerplant that operates on gasoline only. The serial number, located on the left-hand side of the engine block, will tell you which compression ratio any particular WD has. A low compression model has the two letters "KA" following its number and "PA" is stamped after the serial number of a high compression engine. Champion. J11 spark plugs are used in the low octane powerplants and Autolite AN7 or equivalent plugs are specified for the WD's that burn gasoline.
The machine is mounted on 5.50 X 16 tires in front and 11-28s behind. Ground speed for the WD is about 2 to 1 11 m.p.h. for the four forward and one reverse gears. The WD's transmission is the sliding gear type and a dry disc clutch is used to disengage the engine. A separate transmission clutch (which disconnects the transmission from the drive train while leaving the PTO, belt pulley and optional hydraulic pump operating) is the double-plate, wet variety.
A look at homestead tractors, in my estimation, should is include at least one diesel and I've selected the International Harvester 350 as particularly useful to a new farmer . . especially one located in a warmer climate or blessed with snug garage. Diesels are notoriously hard to start in colt weather (even with the aids that are available) but they do wring more performance out of the fuel dollar and seem to have fewer breakdowns than gasoline-powered tractors.
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