Tuesday, May 27, 2025

1950 John Deere BN Valve Adjustment

John Deere manages to make things difficult. Even the most basic task of adjusting the valves was way more difficult than it had to be. The carburetor float bowl is in the way of getting the valve cover off, so I had to drop the bowl. The large stem poking down in the photo is what the bowl nut threads onto. That stem is still in the way to get the valve cover out all the way but there was just barely enough room to do the job. I suppose since the carburetor on this tractor is not the correct one, it just might have been easier if the right carb was in place, but I doubt it. Most of these DLTX carburetors are very similar in construction.

Friday, May 2, 2025

1950 John Deere BN Brakes - Can You Say Scope Creep?

The brakes on this tractor did work but not very well. Neither brake pedal would spring back like they're supposed to after releasing the brake pedals. Also, the right hand brake was adjusted too tight and was dragging some, so my first order of business was to try and loosen the right side adjuster. It was stuck and did not want to budge one little iota. Ok, so let's pull the brake drum off and see what's going on. That was the first level of scope creep, removing the drum, and it was an hour-long endeavor but the drum is finally off. Come to find out though, that's the least of my worries.