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JD 214 Rehab Project

46K views 69 replies 21 participants last post by  skiwithjohn 
#1 · (Edited)
So after getting sucked in to join the GT crowd and buying a 214 to join my 100 series LTs I'm hacking away at a rehab of the tractor. I wouldn't call this a restoration just because the 214 is on too good shape to start with. For those of you who want to read the thread of my giddy exuberance of the post-buying rush its here: http://www.mytractorforum.com/showthread.php?t=127569

After a couple days of teardown, cleanup and rodent eviction she sits here tonight:


Even though I bought the package primarily for the non-tractor bits (Model 80 Cart, 31T sweeper, etc.) I still think the old girl has promise. Did a spin-up check today; charged the battery and reinstalled it to see if the motor would spin over. Poured some Marvel Mystery Oil down the spark plug hole and spun the motor over a few times. Spark plug was disconected so I had no intentions of getting it running but wanted to check the electrical at least through start. So far so good. Pulled the gas tank and its bone dry :fing32: and dropped the float bowl and cleaned out a little bit of old gas - maybe a couple teaspoons. Looks good too. Checked the breaker points and they looked brand new although I didn't set the gap. Spark plug is not bad and I regapped it to .035 per the manual. Drained the transaxle and refilled with some vintage Valvoline 90 weight GL 5/6 gear oil I bought at a garage sale ~10 years ago. Didn't know why then but I guess I do now. Leads to the first of three questions:

1) The manual says the transaxle should take ~3.16 pints to overfill the fill hole. I've got 2 quarts in and its not close to the hole. WTF? By my math I'm ~1 pint over so far and could use more.

2) Anything else I should do/check before reinstalling the tank and spinning for a full start?

3) Who has the grille emblem and mailer? Can you send it to me before I get this rig reassembled? I'll need it before I can post a full frontal pic for KATT.

Thanks,
HoD
 
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#2 ·
Hi there Herd of Deeres,

You got the makings of a very nice refurbish project there - I will look forward to following your post, as it progresses.
- Your math re. pints & quarts is correct (WTF is right on)

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Beaumont
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www.petperfectexpress.com
1992 JD 318 original paint w/484 hrs., 1998 JD GT262, 19xx Ford LGT,
JD #49 blower, 1986 Toro 824 snowblower, Honda HS624 track drive blower, STIHL 2 stroke F5 85 & F5 35 grass trimmer
1965 Malibu S/S, 1966 Beaumont Custom original paint, 1967 Beaumont Custom original paint, 1967 Beaumont 396-350HP Sport Deluxe M21-411's
- SOLD 1970 GTO Judge RAIII, original paint, triple black, # match, 4 speed
 
#3 ·
Dang thats a nice looking machine Herd! You are ONE lucky JD GT owner! I'd check in with PhilipB for the mailer and the emblem, just in case it went there for safe keeping... And hey, maybe he'd be in the market for one of your 100 series for his apartment, now that you're upscaling to a GT!
 
#5 ·
Nooooo.... :banghead3 This is already not going to plan. I told Mrs. Herd I bought the 214 to flip but its growing on me even before the first fart of the engine. Now the daugter and SIL have told me I have to keep the model 80 cart so I can pull the future grandkids around while I mow their lawn at their future house :fing20:
 
#7 ·
K91: I have a pic of the LTs together here: http://www.mytractorforum.com/showthread.php?t=118691 but the 175 is off to summer pastures at a buddy's house. Will definitely get a pic next time they're together.

Had today's :duh: :duh: :duh: moment on transaxle fluid capacity. Asked the dealer he said 2 quarts. I've already got two quarts in and nowhere near the fill hole. Buy another quart and add just over 1/2 of that. Then I figure out that the picture in the manual is from the bottom of the tractor :duh: and they probably didn't expect you to pull the fender deck and gas tank every time you want to change the transaxle fluid :duh: Look again and sure enough there's another plug accessible from the bottom of the tractor that's the fill plug :duh: Draining the excess now...
 
#8 ·
Slow progress so far. Pulled the fuel shutoff valve out and cleaned the gunk off and somehow managed to get the screen twisted and creased. Went back to the dealer today and got a new one - figured they'd have it after they came up with a neutral safety switch in stock for a 27 year-old tractor. Thought I'd remount the fuel tank tonight and try a test fire until I found a nasty wear spot in the fuel line. Figured I'd slow down and clean up the garage, stow the rigging gear used to pick it up and generally consolidate parts in the Model 80. At the end of the night I ended up with the cart before the Deere but I'm slowly getting closer...



One thing I noticed while moving it around the garage is that the front wheels seem to turn much father to the left than the right. Anything I should look for?
 
#9 ·
One thing I noticed while moving it around the garage is that the front wheels seem to turn much father to the left than the right. Anything I should look for?
Mine is the same way. I guess they figure that you'll trim around trees with the left side of the deck and mow round-de-round throwing grass to the cut side, so you'll need the sharper left turn. It's a matter of design, I don't know how you can get a sharper right turn without giving up some of the left turn capability. Sort of reminds me of the old trucker song: "Give Me 40 Acres and I'll Turn This Rig Around".

Mine is in much the same physical shape as yours. My paint doesn't look as good, but mine runs pretty well, I bought it last fall from a dealer; it was his brother's tractor, bought new, which sort of makes me the second owner. I'm gonna watch what you do and probably follow suit as soon as I can make a place out of the weather to work on it.
 
#10 ·
Thanks KHodges. Glad to know the steering is meant to be that way and not another problem to chase down. After what I found last night I'd definitely recommend checking the fuel line. Mine has what looks like a bad chafe or wear spot about 6" from the end that connects to the tank. Haven't decided whether to replace the whole thing or just splice in a fuel filter.
 
#44 ·
I go along with these thoughts--it's way easier, IMHO) to do stuff when it's apart and easy to access...

BTW--keep the pic's coming--makes me want to fix something around here...

glenn
 
#15 ·
:ditto: what slkpk said. The fuel line only costs like $0.75/ft at O'Reilly's, Autozone, or Advance. While dissasmbling my GT235, I noticed the line from the fuel pump to the carb, and the vaccuum line were both cracked. I decided then to jsut replace everything from the tank forward, cost less than $10. And if there is no filter, take this opportunity to add one.
 
#17 ·
I know you guys are right and that's usually the way I work - no shortcuts. Just getting antsy because I had my free 175 barn refugee up and running within 24 hours and I haven't even heard the 214 burp yet. I bought it from the daughter of the original owner and she was taking it to the dealer for service up until she stopped using it so there's no reason it shouldn't run OK once I get it straightened out. I guess I'm just used to my 100 series LTs and I need to have more patience with an older GT project. Stared at the 214 a few times tonight while helping the SIL fix his car and changing the oil on Mrs. Herd's ride. Once it moves I'll worry about the grille emblem so I can get that 23% of horsepower back.
 
#19 ·
SHE'S ALIVE!!! Played hooky from work today to play tractors. Started by pulling the mower deck off. Darn is that easy! Two cotter pins on the deck straps and everything else spring loaded. Makes my 100 series look like rocket surgery by comparison with 82 cotter pins and the lift assist spring. Replaced the whole fuel line from front to back, splooshed out the gas tank with some clean gas to get the crap out and installed a new shutoff and screen. Found a way to splice in a fuel filter just over the axle. Figured I'd treat the old girl right and even changed the oil with some Torq Gard 30 weight and threw in a new Autolite plug to boot. Pushed her out into the driveway, installed the battery, crossed my fingers and turned the key. Took two longish starts before the fuel system primed but she coughed right to life. Blew a huge cloud of blue smoke for a minute which had me worried. But then I remembered I'd fed it some Marvel Mystery oil down the spark bolt hole before the test spin. Once that burned off she runs like a champ. Here's a couple pix of her purring away and the fuel filter. Woo Hoo...


 
#20 ·
Update: I reconnected the belt for the hydraulics and did a test run. Seems like they work the way they should. With the key 'on' the PTO locks up when the switch is engaged and freewheels when disengaged so I think that's OK. The motor has a little bit of a tap to it like you's expect from valves out of adjustment and the ground drive belts seem really sloppy. Haven't put enough back together to drive it but I might just go to the dealer tomorrow and plunk down some $$$ for belts.
 
#23 ·
one you ger her together she'll be nice. i wish mine had the hydraulic lift:praying:
 
#24 ·
i wish mine had the hydraulic lift:praying:
Me, too. That's gonna be a nice tractor. I tried figuring out how the hydraulic pump was hooked up by just looking at the available space under the hood on mine. I didn't reckon on running the drive from the flywheel side of the engine. That's cool. I sure wish I had a good place to work on mine, and the time to do it right now. I enjoy using it, but would really like to strip it down and "massage" it.

I guess I'll have to practice on my wife first.
 
#25 ·
It's nice to see things come together without a lot of cost. Make sure you use the JD belts and you'll be much happier with the performance. slkpk
 
#26 ·
:fing32: That's my plan. The only JD belt on it now is the hydraulic drive and I'm not sure that's the right one. Will check the p/n @ dealer. Changing the short drive belt from the crankshaft -> variator input looks like its going to be "interesting" to say the least.
 
#28 ·
Been there and done that too. Just got back from the dealer. $100.49 for the two ground drive belts and two mower belts. Another $42 for an extra set of high lift blades I can use on either the 214 or 185. Service guy told me how to change the variator belt which I thought would be the worst. Will post my results later.
 
#30 ·
Not too bad changing belts. Quick post while I still remember. Big :fing32: :thanku: to the guy at the dealer who told me the easy way.

1) Remove mower deck.
2) Start the engine - move variator lever all the way forward.
3) Stop engine
4) Move variator lever all the way back
5) Remove PTO - impact wrench works great but you can also hold the other end of the crankshaft with a socket
6) Go underneath and LOOSEN the bolt holding the belt retainer for the crank belt. Take that bolt out and your screwed - so to speak.
7) Remove the variator -> differential belt
8) There's now enough slack to pull the belt out and replace it
9) After installing the new belt, tighten the retaining bracket bolt and reinstall the PTO

Another tip - to change the variator -> differential belt you must remove the differential drive pulley (3 x 1/2" bolts). There is not enough clearance to get the belt between the pulley and axle. Don't know how long I'd have spent :banghead3: figuring that one out if he hadn't told me.
 
#31 ·
And one minor detail. Don't be a moron and put the crankshaft drive pulley on BACKWARD :fing20: If you do the crankshaft will bind up and the starter won't turn the motor over. There is a shoulder on one side of the crankshaft pulley that must face outward otherwise the pulley rides against the back of the PTO and binds up the whole works... :banghead3:
 
#32 ·
Some pix from yesterday for you :wwp: folks:

After belts I took her out for a bath with the power washer



Figured I might as well clean up the rest of the tin while I had everything set up



And did one little bit of reengineering on the tensioner pulley for the differential belt. The bearing for the tensioner arm has some slop in it that was causing the tensioner bolt to clank off the frame at low RPMs. Trip to the hardware and a couple minutes with a sawzall:



At the end of the day after some more cleanup:



Definitely going to need a muffler. Anybody know rough cost for new? Is there any aftermarket?
 
#38 ·
And did one little bit of reengineering on the tensioner pulley for the differential belt. The bearing for the tensioner arm has some slop in it that was causing the tensioner bolt to clank off the frame at low RPMs. Trip to the hardware and a couple minutes with a sawzall:

Are you sure the clank was from contact with the frame? I have a similar issue with my 216, however the pulley itself looks to be hitting the underside of the fender when I engage the clutch. The only thing I can find is a nearby tab on the frame rail that almost looks like it should hit the top of the pulley instead of the underside of the fender. I'm exploring any ideas to fix this since it is probably the most annoying of sounds, and usually occurs unexpectedly.

Definitely going to need a muffler. Anybody know rough cost for new? Is there any aftermarket?
The replacement muffler through JD parts is about $70. My local dealer even has one in stock right now.
 
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