JD B shifting question

[freefour]

Looking at an early 40s B. It goes into 2nd, 4th and reverse fine. It wont go in the other gears. Any idea what this could be? Thanks

 

[shaun wallace]

It has HI/LO lever to the rite and up in same cover main shifter is in. Also has to be running and may have to litely engage clutch to get every thing to line up.

 

[coonie minnie]

If it will not go into 5 and 6, it possible it could be blocked out... Early 40's B's shipped on steel wheels had 5 and 6 blocked out so nobody got in accident going too fast with steel wheels. As said
below, you may need to rotate the pulley a bit to get all the gears to engage.

What does this thing have for rear wheel equipment?

 

[freefour]

Tractor is on rubber.

I dont think it's blocked out. It will go into 6th. It will not go into 1st or 5th (low or high). Could that be something with the shifting forks?

 

[coonie minnie]

Let's clarify something here, as I'm confused by your responses. Does the shifter arrangement have 6 individual forward spots (plus reverse) or 3?

If it is an early 40's B, there should be 3 slots forward (1-3, 2-4, 5-6) plus one reverse.

 

[Mike M]

Should be super easy to take the top shifter cover off for a good look around in there. Once the top is off you can shift them with a crowbar.

 

[freefour]

Yes three spots plus high or low. Just like you said for earily B.

I dont think the guy will let me take the shift cover off but I can ask. Im just wondering what could cause this. I'm a novice on JD.

 

[freefour]

So to clarify, it wont go in the 1st or 5th slot regardless if in low or high. The rest of the gears work fine. Thanks!

 

[coonie minnie]

And this is with the tractor running, and you can rotate the pulley a bit (pushing the clutch ahead) to align the gears??? Or is this a non runner, and you are just trying to pull on the lever?

 

[Mike M]

Don't pay anymore than scrap price and take your chances.

 

[freefour]

(quoted from post at 14:58:05 05/20/17) And this is with the tractor running, and you can rotate the pulley a bit (pushing the clutch ahead) to align the gears??? Or is this a non runner, and you are just trying to pull on the lever?

It runs great. I can drive it in the other gears. Thats the only issue with it. Pulley works fine too. I will try pushing the clutch in some to get into gear. If it dont go, what could it be?

He's not going to let it go for scrap price.

 

[coonie minnie]

If it doesn't go in with turning the pulley a bit, I'm afraid it is going to get expensive, or at least in depth. The same shifter fork puts it in the 1-3 slot as well as R, so if it works in R, I'm not sure
why it won't go into 1-3, unless it is something simple like the gears not lined up.

The 5-6 thing could be just that the gears aren't lined up, something wrong with the forks, something wrong with the transmission itself, or as I said before, those gears are blocked out because it was shipped
with steel wheels. Remember, just because it is on rubber now, doesn't mean it left the factory that way, especially if it was produced during WWII. Material shortages then meant no rubber tires available,
which meant steel wheels. Most of those tractors were converted to rubber as as possible, but not all of them had gears 5-6 installed at the time. An early 40's B is 70 plus years old, and a lot could have
been done to it over the years!

I need to ask, how much experience do you have with two cylinders?

 

[freefour]

(quoted from post at 15:27:19 05/20/17) I need to ask, how much experience do you have with two cylinders?

Grew up on a 520 and an MT. Didn't work on them much.

This B is very nice. Reverse works. I mispoke eariler and 3rd works fine. It's just that one slot. I will try it with the clutch slightly engaged. I remember doing that woth our 520.

I just wondered if this was a common thing or not.

 

[Dana Peiffer]

I had a similar problem on my '42B. In my case I had to remove the shifting quadrant and clean the bottom of it out. There was a lot of debris
that had collected in the bottom of the quadrant and was limiting the movement of the shift lever. Good luck.

 

[freefour]

(quoted from post at 06:58:38 05/21/17) I had a similar problem on my '42B. In my case I had to remove the shifting quadrant and clean the bottom of it out. There was a lot of debris
that had collected in the bottom of the quadrant and was limiting the movement of the shift lever. Good luck.

Thank you. I will check that out as well.