Farmall H gets frozen throttle shaft

[Norm S]

I have two farmall H tractors, one a 1942, the other a 1950. The '50 has a loader on it and I use it year round for odd jobs, never enough to warm the engine up very thoroughly. My problem is this. The throttle shaft from the govenor housing through the aluminum tube to the carb gets frozen when the tractor cools off. Next time I start it no throttle control - it runs whatever speed the rod was at when shut off. The only way I can use the tractor is to take a propane torch and heat the gov. end of the aluminum tube that connects the carb and the gov. to melt the ice. The ice forms on the gov. end of the throttle shaft where it goes through the brass bushing inside the aluminum tube. I pulled it apart last week to see zackly what was going on and sure enough there was moisture in there that had frozen the shaft in place. There was even some moisture in the carb end. I have no idea how to keep moisture out of these two areas. I am assuming that there is a slight vacuum leak around the carb butterfly shaft which draws in air through the throttle shaft from the gov. case (which of course has moisture in it from running the engine). Anybody ever have this problem or know of a solution? I have NEVER had this problem with the '42 H although I don't use it much in the winter either.

Thanx!!!!!

Norm

[Ken Majeski]

Well.... I also have a 42 H and never had that problem... I use it for pulling my wood trailer and it gets a lot of short trips and never really gets warm.

Could the engine have a blowby problem causing moisture in the crankcase or a problem with the crankcase breather...???? I would think the engine could draw moisture from the crankcase/governor area if there was a slight leak around the throttle shaft... If it was a carb icing problem it would get moisture at the carb end of the shaft...

[Craig A]

I had a similar problem with a Farmall 200 I used to have. The governor shaft would freeze up. I found THAT out the hard way......lucky the engine didn't throw a rod before I shut it down!! After the first time I ALWAYS checked it before starting AND periodically either oiled or sprayed some WD-40 on it and didn't have any more problems.

[Ken Majeski]

Originally Posted by Craig Anderson

I had a similar problem with a Farmall 200 I used to have. The governor shaft would freeze up. I found THAT out the hard way......lucky the engine didn't throw a rod before I shut it down!! After the first time I ALWAYS checked it before starting AND periodically either oiled or sprayed some WD-40 on it and didn't have any more problems.

Well.... Maybe Norm could ad an Oil cup to the governor shaft housing and squirt a little oil or alcohal in there once in a while..... When I used to use A, B, or a 60 John Deere in the winter I used to ad a little alcohal to the crankcase oil... Probably not real good for the bearings.... BUT a HELL of a lot better than a broken oil pump coupling or a plugged screen.... John Deeres with their COLD Cast Iron crankcase could have moisture problems also.... I bought a 46 B once.... The guy had turned the engine in the winter breaking the coupling... So in the spring he gave it a pull and started it and sent his Kid out in the field and dragged about 4 acres... One Rod bearing was sprayed all over the inside of the crankcase, The main bearing babbit was running down the both sides of the crankcase... Well the crank was about .004 flat so a Buddy and I sat on the tailgate of a 66 Chev Pikup and sanded the crank with Roll Emery cloth till we got it to within about .001. That was in 1974 and I still have that tractor... Has .045 over aluminum pistons and still runs strong...

[Craig A]

You can bet ALL your tractors that I NEVER start one in cold weather any more without checking for free governor action!!! Gave my JD 50 a REAL good workout today................damn snow.................

[Lloyd Osmun]

Years ago I found out you could stop the freeze up and moisture in throttle shaft by just drilling a small hole in underside of shaft housing near carb.