John Deere B carb work

[cjet69]

Our 1945 John Deere B hand start was getting tough to start. A couple of days ago I got dad to jump on the B while I towed with another tractor. Had to pull it quite a bit to get it going. Once running it acted like a stuck float valve or sunken float. I pulled the carb off today and found the float full of fuel. Since its apart I thought I should clean it up and paint it. I'll see if the float can be repaired or if I need to order one.

[ricky racer]

Looks good. You've got to be careful removing the big nut from the bottom of those carbs. Sometimes the nut rusts to the stem and you'll break the stem off trying to loosen it.
If you can find the leak, you can resolder it.

[cjet69]

Looks good. You've got to be careful removing the big nut from the bottom of those carbs. Sometimes the nut rusts to the stem and you'll break the stem off trying to loosen it.
If you can find the leak, you can resolder it.

The nut came off with no problems. We had this carb apart to clean it just after we brought it home about 5 years ago. Looking the float over it looks like this has happened before. Its got a big solder patch on it.

[Bob McCarty]

You can dunk the float in hot water to see where the leak is (unless it is completely full of gas). Then you'll probably need to drill one or two holes to get the fuel out. I've used JB Weld to seal the holes as it's very hard to repair them by soldering. I think McDonald Carb may carry that float.

[cjet69]

Thanks Bob. That's what my dad taught me to do with floats. Its not full of gas, but has enough that it will need to be drilled to get it out.

[cjet69]

Got sidetracked on some other priorities for a few days. Just got in from shooting some JD green on the carb.

[cjet69]

I checked out the float in some hot water and got a lot of bubbles. After some steel wool you can see the crack. I have opened up 3 more carbs and found all of the floats have some leaks. Two of them are in better shape and are easier fixes so I will use one of them. I should probably order a couple new floats and gasket sets and go thru all of the carbs this winter. They make nice indoor jobs during the nasty weather.

I had to use some heat on the bowl nut on the 2 carbs pictured.

[Bob McCarty]

I hope you have a sandblaster.

[cjet69]

Sandblast and Bead blast.

[cjet69]

Picked out the best used float and soldered a couple spots on it. I dipped it in almost boiling water and didn't get any bubbles so it should be good to go. While going thru my parts stash I found a new throttle plate that I bought for this carb to replace the worn one that was in it. The old one was worn to the point that engine wouldn't die when the throttle was completely closed.

[cjet69]

I installed the float along with the new throttle plate and then bolted the carb back on the tractor. Hooked up the fuel line and gave it a try. The tractor fired right up and seems to be running good.