1950 Model M, brakes question

11062 Views 14 Replies 7 Participants Last post by Scotty370, Apr 24, 2012

PeteStorm

Discussion Starter · Apr 8, 2012

Hi all,

New guy here who just managed to find a 1950 Model M for what I consider a steal. Turns out she's been owned by the same gentleman for the past 25 years who is retired from govt work and now and has a pretty good automotive business on the side so he's kept it in pretty great shape. Unfortunately he's been using it on some pretty flat land and the brakes are pretty useless if you find a slope. Of course, he's never really needed them!

So, my question is are there any external adjustments I can make to try to get a little more power out of them? If not, tough job to replace? I've seen plenty of parts places out there selling brakes packs, etc. so seems the parts are there.

Any tips?

P.S.

My mom's family was a Deere family through and through and just hearing my cousin say "Your mom would want you to have a Deere; a Johnny Popper" made me feel this one was the one for me. She's been gone 3 years now and I could feel her smiling still.

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Scotty370

· #2 · Apr 8, 2012

Just wanted to give a "Shout-out"

to a fellow "M" owner! Can't help with the brake problem! Here's mine, before I bought it and rescued it from the high grass!!!

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3

PeteStorm

Discussion Starter · #3 · Apr 8, 2012

Scotty370 said:
to a fellow "M" owner! Can't help with the brake problem! Here's mine, before I bought it and rescued it from the high grass!!!

Have a service manual on the way but will try to adjust the free play in the pedals (doubt it'll help much). Can always do throttle cut, drop the implement to stop! Even thought about buying an anchor to throw out in emergencies

Hey that's a nice machine. I see it has the belt pulley as well (just have PTO on mine) and seems you still have the temp gauge (mine's long gone and have read they'll run around 210 degrees normally anyway!). Has some interesting field mods on it. You put the stack back in the original position when you got it? I love how none of these seem to have the seat backs any longer as that's best way on and off. Have the wheel weights too but they weren't installed and boy, they're pretty darned heavy. Wish I had the hub caps but I've found there are a ton of places for parts on the web. Only driven mine for minutes so far but I love it.

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tractorman1026

· #4 · Apr 9, 2012

model m

i have a 49 m,i did a full restore on mine 5 years ago.i had planned on replacing my brakes also.when i got in to it they were fine ,all they needed was to be freeed up and readjusted.

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PeteStorm

Discussion Starter · #5 · Apr 9, 2012

tractorman1026 said:
i have a 49 m,i did a full restore on mine 5 years ago.i had planned on replacing my brakes also.when i got in to it they were fine ,all they needed was to be freeed up and readjusted.

Beautiful machine! So to GET to the brakes was the process I found at the following link required? http://www.ssbtractor.com/wwwboard/view_all.cgi?bd=jd&msg=9514 If so sounds like something I wouldn't undertake unless I was gonna start on a full restore.

dieselshadow

· #6 · Apr 9, 2012

These old Poppers are so cool. Thanks for sharing the pics!:thumbup1gif:

Scotty370

· #7 · Apr 9, 2012

That's an "Ouch" link!

PeteStorm said:
Beautiful machine! So to GET to the brakes was the process I found at the following link required? http://www.ssbtractor.com/wwwboard/view_all.cgi?bd=jd&msg=9514 If so sounds like something I wouldn't undertake unless I was gonna start on a full restore.

Hope I never have to go there.........~Scotty

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Scotty370

· #8 · Apr 9, 2012 (Edited)

tractorman1026 said:
i have a 49 m,i did a full restore on mine 5 years ago.i had planned on replacing my brakes also.when i got in to it they were fine ,all they needed was to be freeed up and readjusted.

Pete- Maybe you can help me. I need to replace a Generator Belt. And I thought while I was there, I'd replace the Fan Belt. I started yesterday to remove the rear Nut on the shaft. After 'breaking' the nut free, the shaft keeps turning! I can see no 'flats' to keep it from doing so! I've got the Parts, and service manuel here somewhere, but at either the house or Country Property!!! Always my dilemma! As I see it, there's a shaft that holds the fan bearing on a shaft. Unscrewing the rear nut, I should be able to lift the whole assembly up, and replace the fan belt and the Genny belt, drop it back in the bracket, and tighten it back up. Do you know of 'flats' or a hole that I can 'pin' to allow me to back off that nut, without the shaft continuing to spin? I thought that I'd have to drain and pull the Radiator, remove the fan, and get get a socket on the front., but I don't see that there is one in the parts list, at least. Any help is appreciated............ ~Scotty

I just walked out and took another peek! Could I put a Large pipe wrench on one of the front pulleys, and crank the nut off............~S

What am I thinkin'! That won't work! The pulleys are on the bearings! Duh!

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PeteStorm

Discussion Starter · #9 · Apr 10, 2012

Scotty370 said:
Pete- Maybe you can help me. I need to replace a Generator Belt. And I thought while I was there, I'd replace the Fan Belt. I started yesterday to remove the rear Nut on the shaft. After 'breaking' the nut free, the shaft keeps turning! I can see no 'flats' to keep it from doing so! I've got the Parts, and service manuel here somewhere, but at either the house or Country Property!!! Always my dilemma! As I see it, there's a shaft that holds the fan bearing on a shaft. Unscrewing the rear nut, I should be able to lift the whole assembly up, and replace the fan belt and the Genny belt, drop it back in the bracket, and tighten it back up. Do you know of 'flats' or a hole that I can 'pin' to allow me to back off that nut, without the shaft continuing to spin? I thought that I'd have to drain and pull the Radiator, remove the fan, and get get a socket on the front., but I don't see that there is one in the parts list, at least. Any help is appreciated............ ~Scotty

I just walked out and took another peek! Could I put a Large pipe wrench on one of the front pulleys, and crank the nut off............~S

What am I thinkin'! That won't work! The pulleys are on the bearings! Duh!

Man oh man, Scotty, I'd love to give ya advice but I've been a Deere owner for all of 3 days now! I just tend to research a lot and have barely had any hands-on time with this one. I have the same problem as the tractor is on the country property but I'm up here in the suburbs in the current house.

I will say there seems to be a pretty active forum over here: http://ytforums.ytmag.com/viewforum.php?f=18 and ya might try the smokstak.com forums or the johnnypopper.com forums.

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green and red man

· #10 · Apr 10, 2012

Those are some nice looking M's. Scotty I wish I could offer assistance with your issue and also to the OP. I may need to likewise ask for some help as I get further into some recent purchases, until the repair manuals arrive.

PeteStorm

Discussion Starter · #11 · Apr 10, 2012

Apparently my reply wasn't approved for some reason (possibly bc I suggested other places you could ask your questions) but the short answer is I wish I could help you guys but I've only been an owner for a few days, I just do a lot of searching!

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andy b.

· #12 · Apr 20, 2012

Pete,

Did you ever get your M taken care of?
I believe the brakes on the M are the same as on my 40U. There is a linkage from the brake pedal to the brake mechanism inside the final drive. It has a locknut on a small threaded rod inside the final drive housing on each side. You access it from the bottom of the housing where it bolts to the transmission body. You loosen the nut, and use a flat-blade screwdriver to tighten the rod, then tighten the locknut. On mine one of the adjusters was broken and I had to put in a new one.

Pulling the final drives off to get to the brakes isn't as bad as it sounds. Make sure the tractor is well supported and do the brakes on one side at a time. You need to take the wheel off, and then remove the final drive (on the 40U anyway). The wheel weighs more than the final drive housing (it is lighter than it looks). I still used a jack to slide it off and lower it. I am going from memory, but I don't think anything holds the axle in place except the drive housing itself. I will look in my service manual tomorrow if you didn't receive yours yet.

Andy B.

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Scotty370

· #13 · Apr 24, 2012

John Deere "M" Belt Replacement

Just for the benefit of the group A thanks to Pete Storm who Directed me to a site that answered my question! Thanks Pete! It's at:

http://ytforums.ytmag.com/viewtopic.php?t=893101

I know the propritory 'gig' is to not mention other sites, but in this case, old tractor restoration doesn't seem to be a 'conflict of intrest' with GTT, and I'd hope the moderators would yield a little leniance! At any rate if this gets 'booted', there is a Cotter Pin that's suppose to prevent my dilemma! And, I thank Pete for his guidance. ~Scotty

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Kennyd

· #14 · Apr 24, 2012

Scotty370 said:
Just for the benefit of the group A thanks to Pete Storm who Directed me to a site that answered my question! Thanks Pete! It's at:

http://ytforums.ytmag.com/viewtopic.php?t=893101

I know the propritory 'gig' is to not mention other sites, but in this case, old tractor restoration doesn't seem to be a 'conflict of intrest' with GTT, and I'd hope the moderators would yield a little leniance! At any rate if this gets 'booted', there is a Cotter Pin that's suppose to prevent my dilemma! And, I thank Pete for his guidance. ~Scotty

It won't get booted from here, We are all about helping-if they have the info then oh well. But just answering a question with only a link to another forum may be a problem.

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Scotty370

· #15 · Apr 24, 2012

Thanks Ken! ~Scotty

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