1946 Farmall M - Belt Pulley Drain?? Other Lube??

[gitractorman]

Hey guys,
I've been making some slow progress on the M. My barn isn't heated so I guess I'm a little reluctant to go out and work in the cold..... however, I have been doing a little at a time.

This weekend I drained the transmission and hydraulic pump. Transmission had about 3 gallons of water in it (yes, clear as can be) and then about 3 gallons of gear lube. I know it had been sitting a while, so I dumped about a gallon of diesel fuel in it and let it flush thru and drain out all weekend.

The hydraulic pump wasn't nearly that bad, just a little water then nice looking oil.

I see the fill port on the belt pulley drive unit, but I'm not seeing a drain anywhere. Is there a drain for the belt pulley drive?

I see the fill port for the hydraulic pump. Is there an overfill port (like a Cub), or do you just fill to XX capacity?

Same with the rear end/transmission, is there an overfill port, or just fill to XX capacity? I saw somewhere that it holds 13 gallons, but I only got maybe 6 gallons total out of it, so can someone verify that?

Thanks!
Bill

[Jim Becker]

The pulley drive opens into the transmission, no separate drain.
Hydraulic pump originally had a dip stick under the fill cap.
Should be a level plug for the transmission. Look on the left side, ahead of the clutch pedal. 13 gallons sounds about right.

[John *.?-!.* cub owner]

I believe the belt pulley drive in an M is similar to an H, maybe the same. If so it will have about a half gallon or more of sludge in it the only way to get out is to remove the assembly. The fill plug was only to add oil right after draining, after that is is lubricated by splash from the gears. I have never drained an M, but my H had drain plugs both near the front, and near the rear of the transmission, and to get all the old oil out both had to be removed

[gitractorman]

I'm going to have to play with it tomorrow or this weekend. Been traveling and held up with Christmas, so maybe I'll get in there tomorrow. I did notice that I only got about 7-gallons of lube (and water) out of the rear drain plug in the transmission, so I better dump the front plug too! The belt pulley gearbox must hold some liquid because it froze up last week when we had some really cold weather, and just by chance I was in the barn showing a neighbor. I went to shift the belt pulley and could not move the lever. A couple of days later when it was warm, the lever moved just fine. So, there must be a way to drain it somewhere.

[gitractorman]

Yes, the belt pulley definitely holds some liquid up in it. I removed and drained it. It is open to the transmission, but it also has a little reservoir where it holds fluid, which is why mine froze up. It's all back together now and I'm in the process of re-filling all fluids.
Thanks,
Bill