D2 Pinion lever stuck?

[zootownjeepguy]

I just got home from looking at '52 5U that's for sale. It's in pretty good condition but has been sitting for 10 years in a barn. The Pony and Main engine are free but the pinion engage lever won't budge. When I first started messing with it I could feel the pinion dragging with the pony clutch engaged and after rolling the main over backwards the pinion disengaged. I'm hoping that it's just the lever that's stuck. There was no oil in the pinion clutch drain plug. Is this common? I seem to specialize in D2's that have been sitting and not run for a decade but I've never seen this before. Does it sound like an easy fix without splitting the tractor in half?

The tracks & undercarriage look very good on this machine and the drawbar shows very little wear (also has a PTO). Sprockets are probably the best I've ever seen. It shows only 200 hours but I'm sure that's not right. It was sandblasted and painted ten years ago and then driven into the corner of their shop where it's been sitting ever since. They tell me that they have a blade that goes with it but the pump is bad (have not seen the blade yet).

We talked about price a bit and at this point it all depends on if the clutches are free or not. If it works out I might have a whole truckload of D2 parts for sale cheap.:lol::lol:

[ol Grump]

If the stuck pinion lever is the only problem you've found so far and the rest of it looks good and the price is right, it might be a good investment. As far as the pinion lever, I've never seen one stuck but I have seen a few that were downright sticky. Loose juice applied liberally solved the problem on 'em. The hardest part was getting to the end of the shaft through the clutch inspection cover. .had to rig up a small tube and work mostly blind. It could be the shaft where it goes through the flywheel housing, it could be the pin that keeps the shaft from rotating rusted up or a combination of both.

[zootownjeepguy]

Thanks O. G.

There are some other little issues with the tractor. The pony has no spark, they cleaned the points but say the condenser is bad (I have a couple "extree" mag's laying around). The sheet metal is mangled but has "new" paint on the damage (if you're going to do it, why not do it right and straighten out the fenders???). The fuel in the seat-tank is at least 12 years old (two years older than the fuel in my CDU).

I offered to take it as-is as long as the steering clutches are not all fused together. I would rather bring it out of hibernation myself and do all the little stuff (like removing the valve cover and oiling the valve stems) before firing it up. We all know that I've found a lot of reasons for a D2 to NOT run, so I should know what to look for this time. :thumb: