I've been wanting another CA for quite awhile now. Have a really nice snap-coupler, CA, disc that will be perfect for the garden. CA no.1 has worn a belly-mower the whole time it's been here and removing/installing never looked like something I want to do.

Joe O. posted one for sale and I happened to see it soon after the posting and called. Got pics and video and decided to go get it. Came with a 2 bottom plow. Not that I need another plow, (up to 13 now)!

At any rate, Saturday the uncle and I drove the 600 mile round trip and brought her home. Master cylinder shot craps in my Dodge, was an interesting trip! Almost ran out of fuel on the way back, distance to empty read "0" when I pulled up to the pump. Uncle says, "You better shut this S.O.B. off!"

Met board member JoeO. Had a great time hanging out the little while we had.

I left home about 06:20 and didn't get back to the farm until about 07:30 that night, long day.

Here's a couple of pics of the 'New' CA and one of the pair. I now have two CA's, two WD's, and two 45's. Guess I'm going to need another 720, 185, and 6080!

Nice... the Noah syndrome... !!!

BTW GMC truck rims will fit on the rears.....DA HOW I know...

Jay

Mike a great looking CA and Joe is quite the character also he and I have done same back and forth a time or two. Was Rod there it seem like if you find one of them the other isn't to far away.

Kenny, I believe the tractor actually belonged to Rod, He was out of town so Joe came over to do the sale.

This one is going to need a few things. Less than most of these girls I drag home! The clutch pedal has almost no free play, that will have to be addressed. Have read Dr. Allis posts about adjusting the fingers on the p-plate, now will have to do it.

Thanks wjohn.

The wrinkle in this story is that I have a (shoestring) cousin that has a CA he would like to sell. It's a lot closer than this one was. The uncle that went on this run with me and him have been trying to get me to buy his tractor for a couple of years now. It's actually very nice. But, it's a pin-hitch, also a narrow front. The NF wouldn't be a deal breaker though. As I recall, the rear tires didn't 'do-it' for me. Has a fantastic paint job on it, though I'm not in love with Persian 1. Biggest sticking point was the price, don't remember the number but it was in a different zip-code. I wasn't looking for a show-queen, just another working girl.

And the disease gets worse!!

NICE find Mike!  I've got 3 of them (so far) and love em!  Bad part is only one of them is a Snap Coupler machine and all three are narrow fronts.  I LOVE the narrow front on my mower one though.  Makes lawn cutting a whole lot easier.

What size tires are on your mower one?  And where did you get the rims?

I see that both of them have been swapped over to 12v.  I didn't want to, but my wiring burned up on the mower one and it's just as well.  It's not a show queen, it's my worker.

See ya soon?  I haven't got any plans right now.....

 Congratulations on the new addition to the family! A CA is on the list but down there a ways.

Your team looks good!

Looking forward to your updates and work with them.

 Regards,

 Chris

The CA was, to me, the best plowing tractor I sold.  Will do a GREAT JOB with the two bottom plow.  

Look forward to hearing updates.

Good Luck!

Bill Long 

Chris, Bill, thanks. Serial No. is 36,xxx, makes it a 55. Don't remember the no. on CA-1 but it is a 54. It also has the gauge, witch worked, so I put in on my NF 45. Ted J. pmed me some info yesterday about re-builders. I may just send a couple of my spares in.

Dave, good to hear from you! The hand-clutch is an issue. I knew this before going to look at this thing. I have a spare that I will go through and then swap out. Like any old tractor it needs a few things. Compared to my 756 this will be a walk in the park!

Dave(inMA) wrote: A spare hand clutch is a fine idea! I rebuilt the one in my CA with lots of help from DennisA(IL). Fun project. But after that I ran across one available from a parts tractor - it seems to be in good shape and is all boxed up on the shelf, just in case.

Mine came from the CA I parted out last year, need to get it found! Guess there's not that big of a hurry, won't get changed until next spring anyway.

I did find three spare traction-booster gauges at the farm today, couple of them look like they might actually work.

Looks like you have a nice set of twins!

I've also got two CA's, a wide front I bought when I was 17, 56 years ago.  It was my main haying tractor, mowing, raking and baling with a MF #10 baler.  The other CA followed me home a few years ago, it's a NF without the hand clutch.  Had the first CA painted 15 years ago and it's pretty faded, hasn't run in a few years, need to do a bit of work to it.  Good little tractors!

I didn't see that it wasn't an alternator on your old one.  All I saw was a silvery spot and I thought it was the alternator, turns out when I exploded the pic that it's a shiny new VR.  LOL

Ted, they are standard size. 5.00x15's I believe. I'll double check today. The lights are some sort of rubber housing 12 volt. The one is broken. I picked up a new one, thought it was the same, it's not. May get another one like it so they match.

Found the spare hand-clutch, will check it out this winter. Hopefully get it changed out next spring.

Worked on this girl a little Saturday. Changed the engine and hydraulic oil. Worked on the sediment bowl, probably going to need a new one. Found a traction booster gauge that works! Changed the temp gauge. I think the old one works, new one looks better.

Need a new plug for the alternator, this one is different than any other delco I've seen. Looked at Napa yesterday, they didn't have one. See attached pic, could use some ideas where to get one.

Sunday update; Spent another afternoon with the 'new' CA. The alternator plug must be working, checked with voltage meter, seems ok.

Adjusted the free-play in the clutch.

New sediment bowl, no seeping anymore.

New cap and rotor, points looked good, left them alone. Probably order a new set of wires from Steve pretty soon.

Checked the toe in, toed out about 1/2" didn't have time to correct but maybe tomorrow.

Installed 'brody' nob on steering wheel.

I guess this is the process of making a tractor your own.

Made a list of parts to get.

Ted, the front tires are 5.00X15's.

I think this tractor might be pretty handy with the Oxnard blade so Sunday/Monday I did the mod so it will fit. Also freed up the pins in the links. Read somewhere about them needing to be able to move or they will wear out the latches. I only hope I get to use these girls enough to wear out a latch or two!

Had time Sunday to mount a pair of rear wheel weights on the CA. REEDE and son happened to be driving by at the time and stopped to chat. Gave them the nickle tour.

I don't know what those weights weigh but they are heavy! They don't have good hand holds like others do. Reed thinks I'm going to need some weight on the front to keep it on the ground with the S-C disc. Have a pair of doughnut weights that are currently loose...

Anyway, couple of pics with the weights.

So, I put the weights on the front wheels today. Best part of today is; The builders showed up! There may be hope of getting some of this stuff inside yet this year.

How wide is that disc Mike?  I've got a 10'er on my WD45 and it wants to try and fly every once in a while.

Good thing they are starting the new shed now, instead of a couple weeks ago when we had the 'high' winds!!  Good thing it hasn't been normal temps.... I'd hate to try and dig holes for the posts now.

Merry Christmas everybody!

Ted, I think the disc is 6'. It will be great in the garden.

John, the roof is on. I would think it may be done this week. Will try to get a picture later today. Done as far as the builders are concerned. It's not going to be quite as elaborate as Sugarmaker's! Some day I hope to build a nice new 'shop'!

The pic's of the 2 next to each other appear to be "social distancing".

The building appears to be going up and good size, what size will it be?

 Wow, your building is going up in a hurry. Still puttering on inside wall details here.

 Love the look of the CA with the weights on all four wheels.

Keep the pictures coming!

 Regards,

 Chris

Joe, Chris, good to hear from you guys!

The building is 52'X64'. Short answer is; Not big enough! Way better than looking at everything sitting outside though.

I was wrong about the disc, it's 7&1/2'. Looking forward to using it!

Took a couple pics today.

Probably should start a shed topic in that area.

Anyway, The builders got back to it Monday. Got the tin on the North side, they were working on the West side doors when I came back to town. I asked them if the combine would be in their way, said no. So it's under a roof for the first time in about 16 months.

Now I know why you got the red roof!...

Looking good, nearly ready for winter.

The weather here is starting to get better! Windy as all get-out but warm enough to work in the shop so it was time to fix that annoying exhaust leak! Last June at the Amana show I talked to a gentleman who had a new Vinson manifold on the table at a reasonable price. Made a mental note and took his card. Glad I did! Gave him a call and he shipped it right out. Three coats of high-temp grill paint, ready to go. All the nuts came off the studs so this job wasn't bad at all. Took three pics of the process; not sure if the damage on the No. 4 exhaust port will be evident or not, gasket was gone about half-way around. New Nelson muffler is in the plan at some point. For now she sounds much better and just purrs like a kitten! The 'spare' hand clutch is ready to go in when the weather cooperates again.

That new manifold looks way better. How long do you think the paint will last?

Wjohn, not sure how I got by with no broken studs! The paint holds up fairly well really. I painted the manifold on CA-1 when I changed it. So far it still looks pretty good. The exhaust will burn off when you work them hard I would think. CA-2 is going to do some plowing, that may get her warm enough to burn the paint, time will tell.

I should mention, I've had five of these engines in different tractors. Four of the manifolds were junk! Not sure if the fifth one was good or not, it was on a C that was stuck. Sold it to make shed space.

I have the hand clutch from the parts tractor ready to go in, just need a warm weekend.

Kenny, the ones on the ends are bronze. Ones in the middle are not. That's the way it was when I took her apart. I will change them out if I can find some bronze ones. I anti-seized them, kind of hope I never have to remove that manifold.

Beautiful weather here Sunday so I took advantage of that. Pulled the valve cover to check the lash. It was fine, never moved one. That may be a first. Anyway, now I'm not worrying about it.

That done now it's time to dig into the non-working hand-clutch. I got it apart and so far can't see why it won't disengage. Will have to dig into it on the bench. Found a bad bearing in the final, will have to stop and see  ReedE on the way to work and get parts coming this way.

Took advantage of the nice day to dig my 62 plow out. This is the one I want to use with this tractor though I do have a really nice 52. Decisions, decisions.

The current state of things.

So I had about an hour to fool with this again today. Got the final tore down a little. Got brake band out, that would explain why the braking was so poor on the right side! Upshot is, just need to replace the lining. The pan on the final has had some serious repair work done at some time, it will get replaced.

Tore the hand-clutch down, pretty sure the reason it didn't release was just rust. Had I tried it under a good load it probably would have broke free and worked fine. Had that happened I wouldn't have found the bad bearing in the final and the brake would have still needed fixed.

Picture of the grease and dirt on the brake band.

Slowly making progress on this thing. Got the seal on the inner axle shaft hanged yesterday. Also got the old bearing off the lower axle shaft. Ordered new front tires at the local shop last Friday. Dug out a pair of good rims with crappy tires, got them dismounted. Just need to clean them up and paint.

Reede got me the rest of the parts, so now it's just a matter of time.

Time for another little update, finally! This one has had tied in knots a little bit. Outer bearing is press-fit. Took awhile and some digging to figure out how to get the seal in the final drive! Since I do not have a service manual for the model CA, I looked to the WD 45 manual. It says to use a 'horseshoe' to install the seal. So I fashioned one out of some aluminum. Made a bearing driver from a chunk of 2" black iron pipe. There was .0009" press with both parts warm. Freezing the axle got it down to .0002", pressed right on in my little arbor press.

Also in the picture is the re-lined brake band, horseshoe tool and bearing pusher.

Other picture shoes the final drive pan I chose to replace, looks worse on the inside!

Well, this little project took a turn for the worse yesterday! While cleaning the inside of the final drive housing I spotted a roller. That doesn't look good! The two bearings in the axle were both intact, must be from the top shaft. Pulled the cap, all kinds of ugly! As bad as the outer bearing looks, it is the good one of the two.

Since I need this thing operational soon, decided to use the final off the parts tractor. I had toyed with this idea when I took this thing apart but decided to fix to keep the paint together. As I'm not sure what it's going to take to change the bearings on that top shaft, the paint will just have to be mismatched for awhile. I will get the parts and fix the original final in time, then reinstall.

Picture of the bearings, you can see, it's been bad for some time;

Kenny, you're right, I really do enjoy working on these old girls. This last setback isn't going to be all that fun but I'll get through it. As of yesterday she is back on all four feet. Nice to have spare parts.

On the downside, the brake isn't doing much and the hand-clutch still doesn't release??? Neither of these things will keep me from using it but still frustrating. Will look into this further when the original final goes back on.

My uncle who helped put this back together isn't real excited about doing it again in the future but I'll bet he's here helping.

At any rate, should be able to disc the garden and take her to a plow day this spring.

wjohn, judging by the layer of crud on those rollers, it had been bad for quite awhile! All it would have taken is for one to get lodged in the gear teeth. Would have been cutting cookies in a hurry! That could be down right scary at highway speed.

Parts are on order and a new service manual showed up yesterday. I read up a bit after work. Probably be after planting before I make much progress on changing the final again.

Got the new headlights mounted but not wired up. May work on that today. Rained here overnight so that limits what I can do at the farm. I don't like driving around in the slop. That's nothing 50 or 60 tons of gravel wouldn't cure. Ok, maybe 100 tons.

Lately, been working on attachments for the new girl. The 7' disc is ready to go in the garden. One of these days I'll work on freeing up the beaming screw on it. Hopefully it is set close now. The model 52 plow is in great shape but the lift arm links were rusted tight. The torch was kind of rough on the paint but it's fully adjustable now. Also changed the roll-pins in the links and hooked up the sway chains. Just need to shine up and add dirt!

The disc had one gang that didn't want to turn, not good. Took it apart and got the bearings moving. The outside one may need replaced someday but it's not like I'm doing 100 acres a year with it. Kind of reset the scrapers on that gang too.

 You have been very busy! Just getting caught up on your tractor and building project too! 

Great that you can get equipment in under cover! 

The CA has had some needed repairs and will be a good work horse for you! 

Thanks for the updates and pictures!

 Regards,

 Chris

Time for another little update, some good, some not so good;

The good, got the disc hooked up, shined it up a bit in a grass area that's pretty rough. Then went to the garden, worked great. Remembered to get a pic, barely.

Other upshot is the 52 plow is as ready for dirt, (or paint) as it's ever going to be.

On the downside; After discing the garden, I headed back to the grass. Going up the hill the tractor slowed and then came to a complete stop! Thought it must be the foot clutch, it's not. Turns out the hand clutch that didn't want to release is the culprit. Back to the drawing board I guess.

The other thing I discovered while tractor riding down the road is, the left final drive is noisy. A little exploratory surgery in it's future now. Such is life.

Ah, the fun of having something down.  I hear ya buddy.

My D17 with the FEL needs gas tank work.  I was going to change the gas gauge and one of the machine screws broke off.  Somehow I've gotta get that out.

My CA the wiring burned up last fall and I got it back together, but then I had starter troubles.  Had to work that all over and have yet to get up there to get that going.

Can't get up there because my 04 Chev truck needs a new fuel pump in it.  All I can say is I hope that goes smoothly.  I don't need any other headaches...

Pray for spring and warm weather and NO MORE SHOW!!  Rain sounds good....