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1973 John Deere 110 clean up and repair

47609 Views 118 Replies 27 Participants Last post by  nick4030
Hey guys, I acquired and have been working on this old 110. I am not restoring it yet, just cleaning it up and getting it mechanically sound again to go back into service. Ill post a lot of pics, but tonight ill just show you how it was when I drug it home... It has the hood, I just took it off for transport





and here is the hood. I have the missing chunk, and a buddy and I will do the fiberglass work to get it looking good again!

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Well can't wait to see it plowing!
looks like itll clean up nice. good luck!
The tractor appeared to have been taken care of. It was a barn find with the owner planning on getting it going and the typical "never found time" The tractor itself is in great shape. I couldnt complain for $100. Paint is faded but decent and not to scratched. The seat is obviously rough, and the springs are backwards. The hood had a couple of ******, but its definitely fixable. Everything is free (both pedals, manual lift) and it even has the spring assist which is good. It has the front lift mechanism, and I picked up the rear lift from a buddy that Ill be adding when I get to that point (its cold outside).

On to what its missing: grille, headlight bezel and a the fuel tank was rusted BAD!

Skipping ahead, it has a K241, and when I got everything ready to fire it, to my surprise, NOTHING! It has an electrical issue. Ill get to that later, due to the fact that there are bigger problems at hand.. After jumping the starter, still nothing. When I say nothing, I mean no fire, however, the engine is turning over. Easy fix? **** no, that'd be way to easy. Ill just skip to the point. Broken rod. after a couple hours of disassembly, it appeared that it was run low on oil and the rod welded itself to the journal. Rod broke in about four places and damaged the gears, cam and, naturally, took a one inch section out of the block. junk. In case you cant tell, I was frustrated.

On a happier note, it was in the midst that I stumbled across this:



$75, I couldnt resist. Its a 1972 110 The wheel weights were worth more than that. Anyway, the owner said it was running when parked, but it had carb issues. I believe him, but ill get into that more as we go. The tractor is rusted solid, but the engine does turn freely AND build compression. It is also a K241, so with this second tractor, I believe I have an engine that will work in the other tractor, since overall its in much better shape.
BTW, Gooch2010 and TRACTORMANDAN are other members that are assisting me with this ole' girl. Gotta give credit where its deserved...
Well thanks for the credit nick4030
You have a whole restoration team, I'm jealous :trink39:
here are just a couple more quick pics

I removed the old engine:



I then cleaned the dirt and grime out of the hard to reach areas while the engine was out:



Sorry these arent the most exciting pics, but its just me documenting progress! lol. I pulled the engine from the other 110 and stripped the tin, carb, head and pan. I then cleaned all of the carbon off of the deck surface and piston and was pleased to see the letters STD. stamped into the piston. I was the first person to see it since the assembly line back in 1972! Never been opened! Ill post some engine pics and write up the progress as soon as the pics come through to my computer. -Nick
So here is the other k241 that I plan on putting in the 110. Here the head is removed and I cleaned all of the carbon off everything. this is before I cleaned the gasket surface:



I dont know why I liked this next picture so much. Probably because its shiny....



I opened up the bottom to check for balance gears, luckily it didnt have any. I also checked the torque specs on the cap bolts which was perfect. from there I cleaned the gasket surfaces and put some form-a-gasket on both sides of the gasket and back together it went!



This next picture is the engine almost ready to go bak in the tractor. It was a good thing I had both tractors to use parts from. I ended up using the original carb off the old engine because the housing was in so much better shape. I let the carb sit in some carb soup (the old kind that actually works) for 2 days, then completely cleaned with carb cleaner and installed a kohler rebuild kit. Also, the 1972 110 that this engine came out of had a different muffler. You will notice that the "stub" for the exhaust sticks out two inches from the side of the block. In order to use the muffler from the 1973 I had to trim that down an inch to the correct length.



Here the engine is back together and ready to back into its home. I had to use tin work from both engines to get a complete set, another reason Im glad I picked up the parts tractor!



The tin work is scratched, but I thoroughly cleaned everything so at least it will be a clean tractor when its done! :fing32:
Oh, I forgot to mention, the heads off of both of the engines were slightly warpped (I could get a .003" feeler gauge underneath certain spots). At the advice of RED, i took a sheet of 200 grit paper on a pane of glass and slid the head across it twice in each direction. Problem solved and now I have a spare head!
:thanku: This will help when I start on my 110.:thThumbsU
Looks like you're making good progress.
Great progress. Thanks for the play-by-play.
The engine is in!





currently working on the fuel tank, pics will follow!
I removed the battery tray to clean and lube up the manual PTO linkage:



I then took some cleaner and cleaned the dirt and crap out of the dash tower and everything else under the battery tray:



It still looks dirty but its MUCH cleaner than before. Although I couldnt get into some of the hard to reach spots. They'll get cleaned someday when I tear down for a restoration :fing32: :fing32:
I bought a good clean tank off of ebay that came with the glass sediment bowl, but it was a disaster. Completely plugged with silicone and dirt. That was the inside. The outside looked like it had been buried underground for the last 30 years... After a couple hours of cleaning (the internal screen was a nightmare), here is the final product:



I then installed it on the tractor:





From there I installed all new fuel line, removed the carb and adjusted the valves, set the point gap, and installed a new spark plug. She is almost ready to run, as soon as I get a decent charge on the battery...
Im sure you all noticed that the top tin is still undone? I left it off so I can check the torque on the head bolts after I run it.
Lookin good Nick, keep the updates/pictures coming :fing32:
Here are a couple more pics of the tractor:





It really isnt in to bad of shape. Im excited to get it going. all four tires are junk though, but I have big plans for that as well. Thats all ill say for now...
Looking Good!
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