1955 JD 50

[Dean Olson]

I just acquired a new to me 50. PO said the clutch had been replaced last year.
The hand clutch won't allow me to ease it in to engage. When I engage it it lifts the front end off the ground. Very grabby.

I have ordered the parts, operators, and service manuals.

Is this typical? or does the clutch need adjustment?

It does not have live PTO. Can it be easily converted to live PTO?

 

[Badger08]

Must need adjusting. Mine is very easy to let the clutch out nice and easy, very smooth. Post some pics up! Enjoy, they are great tractors.

 

[Dean Olson]

This Tractor was purchased new in 1956 from a dealer in Navasota TX. It was delivered to the Mckinney farm in Plantersville TX and never left till today. All original even the weather checked tires. I bought it from the 70 year old son of the original purchaser. Starts and runs well and everything works. It was primarily used to cultivate and shredd. Seems to be very well maintained and lightly used.

 

[Pete76NY]

Just because someone replaced the fiber discs doesn't mean they corrected all the ills of the clutch: occasionally the drive and metallic discs need to be at least sanded well and sometimes resurfaced on a machine. Also some time it is good to dissasemble far enought to remove the dogs toggles and adjustment bolts, clean and polish them and the surfaces they slide on.
We just did the clutch on an A that had been sitting, was acting like yours, once we polished all those components up it worked well.
On As and Bs it is real easy to get to the dogs and toggles, on our 70 it's a major pain, not sure which your 50 is more similar to.

 

[RLA]

I will add my 2 cents to this...

A extreamly jumpie clutch sounds like a wore
out pulley bearing to me... Beside's all the
other things you should do to the clutch asy
Double check the pulley support bearing.....

 

[Kerry50]

thx for the pic. Wondering, is that a pipe in front of the muffler, or something on the barn side behind it? Awesome to find a tractor like that from the original owner. I have my grandfathers 50 and bought a 40 2 years ago at at neighbors auction, one that he had purchased new.

 

[Machinery-Man]

That intake pipe is style used on unstyled....guess someone added this....would seem like it would suck the exhaust back into the intake......looks like your main seal behind flywheel need replacing....these old tractors were work horses....

 

[Machinery-Man]

On these tractors the clutch bearing runs directly on the crankshaft and a lot of them were not greased left running dissengaged and wore a groove on the crankshaft....you can tell by moving the clutch assy up and down...

 

[Mike M]

No ,it cannot eaisly be converted to live pto.

The others pretty well covered the clutch.

 

[Kent Petersen]

that air stack is a kit that deere offered

 

[WWS]

Dont forget the spring (Belleville) washers that go behind the adjusting nuts.

 

[BushogPapa]

JD 520's have a rep for having grabby clutches..

Mine gets grabby about twice a year...that is, until I spray a good shot of Graphite spray into it...really woks and it still will not "slip" under a heavy load..

FWIW..
Ron..

 

[Machinery-Man]

the grab can be caused worn crank, roller bearing on pulley and also by a worn inner clutch disc....you better have a few hundred dollars especially if that crankshaft is messed up. You might be better to use this as a parts tractor as I've seen restored 50's sell for around $4000 and you can sink a thousand or two without any difficulty. However have fun and good luck...been there done that...