? 49 JD A Pulley end play

~1/4"-3/8" is a lot but many have been run that way for years.. Your play could easily be bearing wear or inner bushing wear [or both].. You might also have a worn bearing bore in the pulley as that is somewhat common.

~You are lucky on that A, unlike Mike’s B your pulley bearing has an inner race that can be replaced if worn..

~It probably wouldn’t hurt to remove the pulley [mark the clutch driver to crankshaft position before removing so it can be put back the same], then look for wear & re-pack the pulley bearing.. Don’t forget to clean the pulley oil return holes..

~When you get it apart & find what’s loose post back & we can then help you determine how best to repair it..

Clooney

~I did repair a worn crank on a B a few years ago by welding the crank up while still on the tractor then setting up a guide bar parallel to the crankshaft & starting the tractor engine then using that guide bar to guide my grinder to grind the weld back down to original size. It took a while & a lot of stopping to re-mic the crank, it was a pain but actually made a pretty good repair..

JDClooney@aol.com