New Member Could Get a Tractor for Pennies

[Mike584]

Hello All!

So happy to have discovered this forum. It seems very informative and there look to be a lot of nice folks.

I have searched the forums for any information regarding my issue and had a few hits but wanted to explain my situation and see what everybody's opinion would be.

Here goes.. I am currently working with my girlfriends father (a good friend) doing property maintenance at a 120 acre multi-million dollar horse farm in Central Ontario, Canada. Girlfriends father is the property and general manager, with the owner popping by once per week roughly. He has millions upon millions of dollars and all the toys. we have a fleet of new Kubota stuff, all new hay equip, new trucks. All the toys. It really has been a blast.

I recently discovered an International 584 parked in a room inside the barn. the door just inches wider than the tractor. as I turned on the light, my face lit up seeing the old tractor sitting there. It certainly was out of place among all the new equipment. I was very intrigued. Sat on the seat and turned the key, dash lights came on.. didn't try to crank but It was at least alive. It looks all original. Tires are good. Brand new Case filters, so it has been serviced.

I asked the property manager what it was doing there.. says its used once or twice per year for towing the hay wagons. Then parked in the room/garage again until next year. Two weeks later I came into work and the tractor was sitting outside. Apparently it had started right up. I moved it around the barn the next day. Ran really well.

Week after I was using to tow said hay wagons when it sputtered and stalled in the middle of the field. towed back and sat for a week, I worked on it, flushed fuel lines from tank to filters, bled the system up to injectors, ran again for 10 minutes and sputtered and stalled again. Towed back, sat a week, I bled lines again only to get a sputter and no running. Sat a week and I bled again, not even a sputter this time. Frustrated it sat for another week, accidentally left two injectors cracked open. Went back this week and it fired right up on two cylinders, connected the other two lines and it ran like a charm. Left it idling at 1100rpm for 30 minutes as I didnt want it to stall elsewhere and have to tow it. Confident after 30min, I drove around and it seemed great. Drove around barn, down trails, up and down the driveway, uphill, downhill, sideways, not a cough. Parked it for weekend, started right up today and yesterday. Runs perfect.

Today.... I decide to drive around some more. Playing with levers making my notes. I have discovered the following.

- PTO LEVER WONT MOVE/STUCK.
- All 8 forward plus 4 reverse gears work well.
- Looked up serial #. Its a 1981.
- Clutch engages within last inch of pedal... right at the very very very top. Barely an inch left of travel when It starts moving.
- Confused with the fuel issue..... Why sputter and not prime, then run perfectly???
- Believe it or not... hour meter reads estimated 281.0 at 1800rpm. On my hour long drive it didnt move though.... so not sure the true hours. (which is kind of saddening)

I am going to ask the owner if he is willing to part with the old and partially sick tractor and let me take it home to restore it if I get it running and pay to have it taken on a float trailer to my home the next town over. Property manager thinks he will go for it as it came with the property when the current owners bought it in 2009. Says its been here since new. Owner just got it with property and didnt pay for it. I used another kubota for towing hay wagons after the 584 died so my leverage is he doesnt even need it ever again.

My question to everyone is this...

[b:62bbc3cc99]Is it worth it to try and strike a deal and restore it? (amateur job)

What could be wrong that is causing the pto engagement lever to be stuck in the off position???

Is the clutch almost toast or just out of adjustment based on the pedal releasing at the VERY top?

[/b:62bbc3cc99]Let me know what everyone thinks.. I'll post some pictures if I can. Sorry for the long post... wanted to convey emotion and paint a clear picture.

Thanks all
-Mike

 

[jeffcat]

Did you take any pictures? Post a couple so we can take a look. Sounds like this could be fun so give it a shot! Oil around the linkage and let it soak in. Give it a few days and then give it a little wiggle now and then. It should have a release button on it? Make sure you push it. What do the other folk know about the PTO.

 

[JimB2]

Hi Mike, welcome to YDT.
Re fuel problem, I suspect junk in the bottom of the fuel tank blocking the outlet at the bottom of the tank. There is an outlet
on both bottom sides of the tank. The only solution is to take both outlets out of the bottom of the tank and drain it. Short
term solution is blow compressed air from fuel line on top of fuel filter back into the fuel tank. Just in case the air vent is
clogged try loosening the fuel tank filler cap the next time it happens.
Re PTO will not engage, the linkage behind the seat is seized. First check for junk behind the seat interfering with PTO lever.
The PTO lever mechanism runs from the lever all the way behind the seat to a control valve under a rubber boot on top of the MCV
valve behind your left heel when you are sitting on the seat. Use you favourite penetrating lube while working the PTO lever.
Re Clutch, does tractor have a T/A, either a lever like the throttle lever on the left side of the dash or a toggle switch on
the left side of the dash? Does tractor have the "Z" shift pattern where 1 is at back and 4 is all the way forward or the "H"
pattern for 1-2 and 3-4? There were different types of release bearings, one where there was no return spring on the clutch foot
pedal and the clutch release bearing rode on the pressure plate fingers all the time. The older version had a clutch return
spring on the clutch pedal and kept the clutch release bearing off the pressure plate fingers.

If the clutch is worn it will slip going up a steep hill in 4th High.

Hope this helps
JimB

 

[Dugger]

(quoted from post at 17:41:10 08/11/15) Hello All!

So happy to have discovered this forum. It seems very informative and there look to be a lot of nice folks.

I have searched the forums for any information regarding my issue and had a few hits but wanted to explain my situation and see what everybody's opinion would be.

Here goes.. I am currently working with my girlfriends father (a good friend) doing property maintenance at a 120 acre multi-million dollar horse farm in Central Ontario, Canada. Girlfriends father is the property and general manager, with the owner popping by once per week roughly. He has millions upon millions of dollars and all the toys. we have a fleet of new Kubota stuff, all new hay equip, new trucks. All the toys. It really has been a blast.

I recently discovered an International 584 parked in a room inside the barn. the door just inches wider than the tractor. as I turned on the light, my face lit up seeing the old tractor sitting there. It certainly was out of place among all the new equipment. I was very intrigued. Sat on the seat and turned the key, dash lights came on.. didn't try to crank but It was at least alive. It looks all original. Tires are good. Brand new Case filters, so it has been serviced.

I asked the property manager what it was doing there.. says its used once or twice per year for towing the hay wagons. Then parked in the room/garage again until next year. Two weeks later I came into work and the tractor was sitting outside. Apparently it had started right up. I moved it around the barn the next day. Ran really well.

Week after I was using to tow said hay wagons when it sputtered and stalled in the middle of the field. towed back and sat for a week, I worked on it, flushed fuel lines from tank to filters, bled the system up to injectors, ran again for 10 minutes and sputtered and stalled again. Towed back, sat a week, I bled lines again only to get a sputter and no running. Sat a week and I bled again, not even a sputter this time. Frustrated it sat for another week, accidentally left two injectors cracked open. Went back this week and it fired right up on two cylinders, connected the other two lines and it ran like a charm. Left it idling at 1100rpm for 30 minutes as I didnt want it to stall elsewhere and have to tow it. Confident after 30min, I drove around and it seemed great. Drove around barn, down trails, up and down the driveway, uphill, downhill, sideways, not a cough. Parked it for weekend, started right up today and yesterday. Runs perfect.

Today.... I decide to drive around some more. Playing with levers making my notes. I have discovered the following.

- PTO LEVER WONT MOVE/STUCK.
- All 8 forward plus 4 reverse gears work well.
- Looked up serial #. Its a 1981.
- Clutch engages within last inch of pedal... right at the very very very top. Barely an inch left of travel when It starts moving.
- Confused with the fuel issue..... Why sputter and not prime, then run perfectly???
- Believe it or not... hour meter reads estimated 281.0 at 1800rpm. On my hour long drive it didnt move though.... so not sure the true hours. (which is kind of saddening)

I am going to ask the owner if he is willing to part with the old and partially sick tractor and let me take it home to restore it if I get it running and pay to have it taken on a float trailer to my home the next town over. Property manager thinks he will go for it as it came with the property when the current owners bought it in 2009. Says its been here since new. Owner just got it with property and didnt pay for it. I used another kubota for towing hay wagons after the 584 died so my leverage is he doesnt even need it ever again.

My question to everyone is this...

Is it worth it to try and strike a deal and restore it? (amateur job)

What could be wrong that is causing the pto engagement lever to be stuck in the off position???

Is the clutch almost toast or just out of adjustment based on the pedal releasing at the VERY top?

Let me know what everyone thinks.. I'll post some pictures if I can. Sorry for the long post... wanted to convey emotion and paint a clear picture.

Thanks all
-Mike

Hey mike
I owned a 684 and it was very good little tractor
Some of your problems are common with those
The pto lever on ours always would freeze up if you didn't use it much
The clutch just needs adjusted probably
Good luck
Doug
Illinois

 

[warrenWoodrow]

I own one of similar vintage . Darn good tractor.

 

[Mike584]

Thank you all for your replies!

Jeff, here are some photos, they are sideways for now as they are Iphone photos and keep rotating automatically when I upload them. I will take some more tomorrow with my Iphone tilted sideways, that way they wont be automatically tilted to landscape as opposed to portrait.

I oiled around part of the linkage in my spare time this afternoon and tried to wiggle immediately after, but nothing moved yet. There is a bolt on the upper part of the lever.. but It looks like that could only be used for replacing the actual top portion of the lever itself and wouldn't actually move anything if loosened, so I left that. I'll let it sit for a day or so and see if I can get it to move. Also.. no release button that I can see unless its buried underneath where I haven't been able to see without monkeying my head down and underneath the seat.

Jim B.. I had a funny feeling junk might be in the bottom of the tank. I would have to drain the now 3/4 full tank to address that issue. If it keeps running for now I will leave it, but if it starts hinting it wants to stall again, I would like to drain the tank. But I will only do that If the tractor becomes mine and makes it back to my place. Its still at the horse farm so unfortunately that will have to wait a bit.. but I have a feeling you are likely right.

I tried a bit of penetrating oil this aft.. but didn't use much nor hit all the points you have mentioned. When my next spare chance comes around, Ill really go at it and see if I can free it up. That's really a sigh of relief the linkage etc. is just seized. I was scared it was an internal problem requiring a tear down or something. I may have left the tractor at that point... (not what I want to do) But I shall keep soldiering on with this good news!

Tractor is a 1981 bearing the earlier Z-Pattern you have mentioned with 1 thru to 4 going downwards and the reverse high/low forward to the right of that.

Doug.. Thankfully another vote on the seized lever and not an internal problem as I had feared. I am definitely going to put more work into freeing this up as soon as I can. I'd love to get that PTO going again. Who knows how long it has been since it was last used? My guess is years unfortunately. I was going to try adjusting the pedal as I can see the adjustment in fairly plain sight, but wanted to see what others have said first before I messed around with it.

My plan is to try and score the tractor, tow it home.. (drive it maybe...?) use it with a snowblower this winter if all goes well. and begin the cleaning and light restoration work come spring.

Any other thoughts I would love to hear them!

Thanks again all!!
Regards
Mike

 

[Mike584]

Warren.. Seems like a solid tractor at this point. Just needs some work. I would really enjoy having it as my own and taking care of it. It needs love!! I haven't heard anything bad about the IH 84 series yet. Would really love to see a bigger one in person. That would be a blast for me! 884? Is there bigger?

 

[495man]

looks like a solid tractor.

884 Biggest here. There was a 985, which wasn't sold in North America, but the 995 was.

 

[Chance M]

You know wealthy folks don't give thier stuff away....lol. Good luck man and welcome to YT.

 

[David G]

You are right, that is how they got wealthy.