1951 Farmall Super A Refurb

[JCM 10,340]

Bought this tractor 38 years ago for mowing and snow removal mainly. At that time it came with a belly mount 3 blade mower and front plow blade. Over the years added a single moldboard and harrow that was used for a 25' x 75' garden deep with beautiful farm loam. After moving North it sat for sometime before I started to do a clean up and repaint. In October I was able to have help in splitting the A apart and replace clutch, pressure plate, throw out bearing and original carb stripped rebuilt and clear coated. While waiting for parts to come in I cleaned out the bellhousing and tunnel full of mouse mess and sanded up anything that needed it. Up and running now and did it ever feel good to be sitting up high listening to that 4 cylinder purr at idle, almost a nice lope to it. Change oil & filter, greased and adjust the width of the front end. If it wasn't so late in the year I would use it this Winter for a little snow plowing. Working on the front grille trying to straighten the horizontal bars now and some painting to do. I was able to locate a nice set of tools to do it. Gave it a cleaning yesterday and moved some leaves to the pile. I will update as I progress along. Pictures are through the course of years since purchase with the rims painted all red and left rear tire on backwards. It's getting there.

[ebinmaine 74,918]

Very cool to see this beast going again! 

[Handy Don 14,851]

1 hour ago, JCM said:

Ingenious jack/support system!

[JCM 10,340]

Going back together pics.

[peter lena 9,491]

 @JCM  incredible  era basic  engineering  , talk about bombproof !  makes me think about the FORDSON  tractors  that  plowed across russia , to show them what could be done !   glad you still have it ,https://overlandtravel.org/russia/fordzon-putilovets-tractor-russia/  also like the  basic patina look .  pete

[Bill D 2,393]

3 hours ago, Handy Don said:

Ingenious jack/support system!

Please tell us more about it.  Who makes it?

[JCM 10,340]

Sorry but I don't have that answer. That was brought here to do the clutch job. I believe he has 3 or 4 of those set ups. I did not see a name on that equipment.   @Bill D

 

[T-Mo-(Moderator) 4,655]

When I split my Farmall B, I bought a heavy duty trailer jack from TSC, the kind with the double casters.  Bought a piece of heavy duty 1/2 steel plate and boltedi it to the jack to kit.  Then place that against the tractor, to see where the two implement holes were on the transmission torque two.  Drilled two holes just below that point.  Then bolt the plate with the jack bolted on to the tractor.  After splitting the tractor, just roll the back half away from the front.

 

I hope you wedge the front axle before you split the tractor.

 

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/traveller-14-in-2000-lb-dual-wheel-trailer-jack-1227931

 

Below is similar to what I did to split my B.

 

 

 

[JCM 10,340]

Yes @T-Mo front axle was wedged before the split. Zoom in above the left front axle and you will see a 4x4 block doing it's job.

[oldlineman 1,580]

my late father had a 1946  " A " very similar in design. I grew up running that old tractor, had some great times.   

[pfrederi 19,073]

I have done splits on my DC3 and VAC  Do not think I could have done it outside on dirt....Besides it wold have probably rained or snowed on me as i do not work super fast...  You do not have to split my Farmall M to do the clutch (Yeah!!)

 

[Handy Don 14,851]

Clutch changes are a pretty big deal. On a ’66 VW Bug, it involved dropping the engine. I held up the car with one large forklift and got the engine out/in with a small fork lift!

[JCM 10,340]

18 minutes ago, Handy Don said:

Clutch changes are a pretty big deal. On a ’66 VW Bug, it involved dropping the engine. I held up the car with one large forklift and got the engine out/in with a small fork lift!

Yankee ingenuity is a good thing. I use it quite frequently.  

[squonk 44,740]

When I split my Dad's Allis B I used a chain fall on the front, engine crane on the rear. I had to replace the center section so I used an old air/hyd axle jack for that

[JCM 10,340]

8 hours ago, oldlineman said:

my late father had a 1946  " A " very similar in design. I grew up running that old tractor, had some great times.   

Biggest difference between the A model and Super A is the Super has the hydraulic system . The A is for real men       

[oldlineman 1,580]

Dads A had an exhaust system that powered a lift cylinder to lift the plows and other implements, it was pressured from the engine exhaust.   

[T-Mo-(Moderator) 4,655]

17 hours ago, oldlineman said:

Dads A had an exhaust system that powered a lift cylinder to lift the plows and other implements, it was pressured from the engine exhaust.   

I could have put one of those on my B, but didn't.  The B was a narrow front A, since it share the same drivetrain, sheet metal, etc.  The only difference between the B and the A, was the A had a wide front, the B had the narrow front, so the B had equal length rear axles while the A had a shorter left rear axle than the right rear axle.  They made two versions of the B, the standard and a narrow width B, called the BN.

[oldlineman 1,580]

My dads was called a cultivision  

[T-Mo-(Moderator) 4,655]

13 hours ago, oldlineman said:

My dads was called a cultivision  

IH called the Cub, A, Super A, 140, the B and BN cultivision tractors.  The layout with the tractor offset to the left while the operator was on the right, was done so the operator can have a clear vision of what he was doing.  Since these tractors were primarily made for cultivating, IH called this design cultivision.

[ClassicTractorProfessor 5,440]

I did something very similar to what @T-Mo did when I built my splitting stands, but engineered them a bit differently so that with different adapters they would work on several different tractors. Here they are under my M when we swapped the wide front axle out for a narrow, and again under my C when I pulled the engine for a rebuild

 

@JCM good looking Super A you have there. Those smaller Farmalls are some of my favorites. Recently picked up this 1940 A from my late friend Rodger’s collection and got it running again. It’s probably my favorite tractor out of all of them.