To part or not to part out farmall MD

[jonnny2006]

I have a 1950 MD and there is a gear in the front of the engine that is not allowing the mag to spin therfor it dosent run... i bought it from a sheriff and it last ran in 09 ran great on diesel and ok on gas acording to him he said i just got it warm enough to switch it to diesel. engine is free. its got charlynn power steering and a M and W 9 speed kit in it. I wanna fix it as it would not take much to get going and i got the right guy to do the job for me he used to work at ih in the repair shop in south mn. he post on here all the time. i know the tractor is worth more parted out then if i fixed it and sold it. the paint is in its work cloths and it has mis match tires but are in ok condition. i know the head is worth big money so is the injector pump and the power steering unit i seen one go close to 1k on ebay. i just hate to reck a good tractor even the lights on it work. the guy said it just died on him and i thought it would be a simple fix turns out a gear that turns the injector pump and mag has stripped out or broke. i really wanted it cause the gas M's are not easy on gas and i love the M and W 9 speed trannys. there not the cable type. i know which gear it is but the prob is im disabled and cant do heavy work. i would like the guy to fix the part for me but parts are getting hard to find. i paid 2220 in 09 it had a bucket on it i took it off to get the front cover off. i just hate to canabalize a good tractor. the mag i had for it had a crack in the housing its special as it turns backwards. i can put a dist on it of a 400 or get a mag from a number of sources. i just dont want it to sit as its a cool tractor and has a plug in heater to boot. what you guys think? i wanna fix it and swap the wide front end off my 50 m as its an orignal ih wide front it would make it a bit more rare. the thing i like about the M and W 9 speed is that in high range it speeds up the pto so i have a back up genny for power and i would not need it to sit there a run wide open when its not called for. the genny is a pto hook up and has a volt meter on it and your to run it between 215v to 225v 60 hertz so i could match the 540 rpm on the high side of the 9 speed save fuel and easy on tractor. (yes i have a double throw saftey switch so i cant feed power back to the grid)if it was summer and i needed more juce i could throw it in low range and run her at 540 rpm in low range. the genny i got will put out 105 amps i dont need nothing near that i only need 12000 watts(used my dads portabal before i got my own) at least in the winter it runs everything summer i would need more or shut off a ac or 2. but i got a 45hp tractor that i could hook up and that would be plenty just hate to leave a gas engine run wide open when there is low load. plus the md would be cool for wagon rides as 5th on my h or super h is to fast and lugs the engine at low speeds and 4th is too slow unless you wanna burn almost 2 gallons an hour,and loud im not putting the bucket back on it as its a trip bucket and my super c has all hydro and is a fuel sipper and quiet. sorry for the long post. i will call you about the tractor and what i or we decide to do with it i just dont want it to sit no more....... i dint wanna mention your name but ill call you tommorow, i know its very hott out. thanks for all comments good or bad john. i know that 45 hp wont produce 105 amp but it will get me about 80amp constant 100 peak i know it takes 1.8 hp to get 1000 watts 100 amp = 110,000 watts to 120,000 watts depending on if your getting 110v or 120v at night time volts usually go up on the grid as there isent such a huge load straing the system.

 

[sflem849]

Fix it.

 

[gold1456]

I agree fix it neat old tractor.

 

[Nebraska Cowman]

The cold hard facts of life, They are worth more in pieces than they are whole. Once you get it tore apart to fix it's kinda stupid to put it back together. BUT I have. So it's up to you.

 

[mkirsch]

Only problem is that you usually can't sell the heaviest, hardest to move, parts of the tractor. Nobody wants the rear end housing, and the rear wheels are tough to get rid of.

It's a whole lot easier to get it out of the way when it's under its own power.

Sounds like a fairly simple fix to me anyway. We tore down the front of the M to fix a loose cam gear and had it back together in a couple of afternoons.

 

[D Slater]

Since I can't afford to fix more than one of the gas start diesels and keep it going anymore. Looking through my parts the last month and selling items I have more than one extra.
If you realy want to fix the tractor I have every gear behind the front cover except the crankshaft gear, thats 4 gears.

 

[26Red]

FIX IT. I'm working on a MD too. It's not a big deal to tear apart the front end.

 

[jonnny2006]

its cool i just need to get in there and see which one it is. eather thow a mag on it or the guy fixing it said we could throw a coil distributr set up on it. he thinks he can get his hands on one eather way time the thing once fixed and give it a good work out and then it will have a easy life. talking about tires around here they are hard to come by. i had to drive 160 miles one way and pay 230 for a good 50% tire for my h. but it was not a normal size tire without being out there by the tire i cant rember the size. they look like m tires that r that tall and a bit wider. the h goes 21 on hand held gps. i love that 44 starts every time switched to 12 volt all under hood and it sure has alot of power as my two other h"s dont have the snap this one has. i looked at the pistons with a litle mirror and there not flat they look like a fire crater set was put in. who knows after almost 70 years of work. but if i had a stack of h and m tires that were used around here they would sell like hot cakes. the guy i got the one tire from 160 miles away from me said he already had the other one sold the guy just had to come get it. and i dint wanna pay 700 for a new tire tube and mounting. i could got a forigen tire from the shop but they told me there junk. im gonna ring the guy today and set up a time to see him and see if we can get her running. i hardley doubt the cop lied to me when he said he was running it at low rpms on diesel just doing some back blading and it just died. so he threw it on ebay. he used it to bail hay small squars and plow his drive. he said it ran great and dint smoke after warm up. thanks i will be in touch with you on the board, i will just give you a hollar when i see you on or ask for ya. thanks d slater im in south mn.
john

 

[The Dukester]

For sure fix that tractor....Good MD's aren't that plentiful and there should always be a market for it, it being a diesel...and the 9 speed is a good option too. If you don't really want the tractor, somebody will come along that does. MD's were International Harvester's first diesel row crop tractor and taken care of and operated properly they last a long time.