Ford 4000 Hour Meter

[Retcol]

I have been looking at Ford 4000's. it seems like everyone does not have a working hour meter. Is this a common problem? What part is failing? The tach works to show rpm's but the hours.

 

[Tom in Mo.]

Those instrument clusters have a long history of failure. Poor design couldn't handle the vibration. My little '66 2000 diesel might have the only original working hour meter in existence.

 

[mikewood869]

Even the remanufactured ones suck, we had one die around 180 hours.

 

[Sean in PA]

My '73 4000 had 1710 hours on the proofmeter when I got it, but the cable was busted and neither the hour meter nor the proofmeter (tach) were working. I replaced the cable and the hour meter began working but the tach still wouldn't move off of zero. I looked closely, and the gasket material from behind the glass had deteriorated and fallen down and gotten stuck behind the needle. I disassembled the instrument cluster and removed the bits of gasket from behind the needle and reassembled it with a new gasket and it has been working ever since, but I cannot say how many total hours are on the tractor, nor whether the instrument cluster is the original or not.

 

[Destroked 450]

Those hour meters have never been reliable and the ones that do work are most likely not accurate
I installed a new dash on my 4000 in 2000 only to have the hour meter quit in less than a year with 95 hours showing
The present dash only shows 1800 hrs in 21 years, it did all of the mowing, tedding, tedding and feeding while my 6610 accumulated nearly 2500 hrs in ten years pulling the round baler and loading bales

 

[bob p mn]

I just did a clutch job on a 66 4000 gasser, working tach and hourmeter. The owner's dad bought it
new he didn't think it had ever quit working, now showing 3536 hours. A nice original tractor.

 

[Eman85]

I've pulled the cluster apart and the plastic gears that drive the hourmeter wear and strip out. I tried everywhere possible to find the gears but finally gave up and bought a new cluster. Years ago there were speedometer shops that would recalibrate and rebuild speedometers and other gauges. They would stock gears and all of the other internal parts. Those days are long gone as everything is electronic now.