[cjet69]

This is not my tractor, but I have been given the task of repairing, reassembling, and get it running. It belongs to a cousin who got it when his dad passed away. His dad, my uncle, had torn it down for repairs after the fan shaft came loose and ate the radiator. This happened decades ago, and the tractor has been sitting in my cousins shop ever since. We towed this to our shop about a year ago with the understanding that it would be a no rush job. The hard part with this job is most of the bolts are spread all over my cousins shop so I will need to a lot of searching to identify what goes where. Fun, Fun, Fun!!!!

I tore the radiator apart just after bringing the tractor over last year and started cleaning parts in the e-tank. Also pulled the governor housing off that already had the gears removed. The last couple days I started cleaning up the governor housing, disassembling the governor shaft to install new bearings, and cleaned up the top of the crankcase where the governor mounts. Figured I should spray some paint for him while this is accessible before reassembly starts. Anyway, this is a start, and we will see how it goes. I made a video slide show with some of the pics I have taken so far.

 

[Tx Jim]

Geez that is really what's referred to as a "basket repair job". Are you aware you can access JD parts diagrams for free at the following link?

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partscatalog.deere.com

 

[cjet69]

Geez that is really what's referred to as a "basket repair job". Are you aware you can access JD parts diagrams for free at the following link?

Loading…

partscatalog.deere.com

My cousin supplied a parts and service manual for this, but the online parts will come in handy also when needing gasket #'s and bolt size reference.

 

[PA318Guy]

Well the e-tank did a nice job on cleaning up the parts that needed it! That might keep you from those Saturday night carousings!

 

[cjet69]

That might keep you from those Saturday night carousings!

Those days were fun, but they ended about 20 yrs ago. Might have something to do with burning a candle from both ends and sometimes in the middle also.

 

[cjet69]

Since I got myself a borescope, I figured I should pull the plugs and take a look inside this engine since its been sitting in a damp shop for decades. Looks like the rodents got in the open exhaust and intake ports and brought some seeds and other debris with them. The bores look a bit rusty and could use some cleaning and I would like to get a good look at the valves to see if the rodent **** has pitted the face of the valves and seats. I would like to pull the head but need to ask my cousin if he wants me to go that far. I see it as this would be the time to do it since its already torn down to this point. Just need a head gasket. The pics show the rust in the bores, carbon laying in the bottom, debris on an open valve, and rust in the combustion chamber in the head. The last 3 pics are one down an exhaust port thats completely filled with rust and the 2 intake valves with the mouse goodies in them.

 

[cjet69]

A little more investigating and I found a mouse nest in the water jacket of the block right between the 2 cylinders. This is looking down into the big rectangular opening on the block in the last pic.

 

[cjet69]

Finished cleaning up the governor shaft and gears. I used the bead blasting cabinet to remove the light rust on the gears and the shaft is now ready for assembly. The 2 shaft bearings will be replaced, and the thrust bearing is good with just a lite cleaning. I already have the governor housing stripped and ready for primer so I moved on to the fan shaft and managed to get most of it stripped of paint. Should be able to finish it up tomorrow so it can be primed also.

 

[cjet69]

Got the go ahead on the head removal. With everything out of the way this is the time to do it.

 

[cjet69]

Just got back in from pulling the head. The shop is cold, 36°F on the old thermometer, and I didn't want to waste wood and propane for 1/2 hour of work. Glad I pulled it with all of the crud in the cylinders and ports. A lot of it is carbon, but also quite a bit of rust granules. Big pile of rust came out of the exhaust port when I turned the head over. It was stacked up against the exhaust valve where could have easily fallen into the cylinder if you turned it over. Everything I see so far should clean up pretty easily and I just need to pull the valves to check out the seats and faces.

 

[cjet69]

I got the shop warmed up a little and thought I would see if I could clean the rust out of the cylinders. After rolling the engine over I found the rust was limited to the area above where the pistons had stopped in the bores. I decided to try some Ospho on a shop towel and some scotch brite. It worked great, cutting thru the rust with ease. After cleaning I wiped it all down and shot a good coating of WD-40. This will all get a good cleaning before assembly starts. I also sucked up the big mouse nest in the water jacket. It was bigger than I thought. I then moved to the head to start removing valves. First valve I tried is stuck. This is an exhaust valve that had all of the rust and debris in the port. I'll get some penetrant on it and see if It will loosen up without any damage. I think it will if I take my time. Probably a good thing that I didn't roll the engine over before I took it apart or I might have bent a pushrod.

 

[cjet69]

With the pile of rust poured out of the exhaust port I sprayed some WD-40 down the port last night hoping it would coat the valve stem that you can't see. Today I took my borescope out to see what the valve stem looks like. Not Good. I put some acetone/ATF mix on it so we will see if that works down between the valve and guide. Hopefully the rust didn't go up the guide to far.

 

[cjet69]

Well, we have the first casualty in this project. After many attempts trying to get this valve out it finally started moving but got really tight again. While trying to push it back the valve head snapped off. Must not have had things squared up. Anyway, with the damage already done, I got the stem pushed out. Lots of dry looking rust in the guide. Probably need to get both the valve and guide but I will clean it up first to see what shape the guide is in.

 

[cjet69]

Wire brushed the valve seats. The bad exhaust valve seat looks a little rough, but I think it will clean up. The other exhaust seat has a little pitting that will clean up just fine. The 2 intakes look nice. The pics in order are bad exhaust, intake, intake, and exhaust.

 

[cjet69]

I checked our inventory and I needed to get some larger pilots and stones. Got those ordered and they should be here in the next day or 2. We also picked up a Sioux 645L valve refacer last year that needed some TLC. My dad and brother spent some time on it over the weekend getting the chuck loosened up and a general cleaning. We are approaching test time for it, just waiting on the cutting oil that is also in the order.

 

[cjet69]

While cleaning the cylinders out I noticed little to no bore wear. After closer inspection I found aluminum pistons with .125 stamped into them. This tractor must have been rebuilt shortly before my dad and uncle picked it up.

 

[cjet69]

My brother spent the weekend doing some more cleaning on the Valve machine. Its looking pretty good now. Got the coolant/grinding oil tank cleaned and flushed with some ATF. Drained the ATF and poured in the grinding oil. Did a test grind on a couple of old valves. The first cuts weren't smooth, kind of a chattery look. Dressed the stone and that straightened it up. The only thing we need now is a chamfering attachment. Some pics from when we first brought it home to camp are how it looks now.

 

[MARK (LI)]

Do you do that many valve jobs that it made it worth while to get that machine?...There is only one place around here that still does machine work like that...and reasonably priced..is it hard to use?

 

[cjet69]

Do you do that many valve jobs that it made it worth while to get that machine?...There is only one place around here that still does machine work like that...and reasonably priced..is it hard to use?

The machine was actually free. Got from a mower shop that closed just down the road. Just happened to know the property owner and he had no use for it and the building was being torn down so he could sell the property. We haven't been doing many valve jobs lately but we have quite a few tractors to go through that will be needing this machine. Not hard to use with a little instruction. My dad was a mechanic for 25 yrs and taught Auto mechanics at a community college so my instruction is built in. My brother is pretty good at this stuff also.

 

[cjet69]

After receiving my order of stones for the valve seat grinder, I found the thread insert isn't long enough to turn the stones around on the mandrel. Normally I would turn the stones and cut a different angle on the other side of the stone for a top or bottom cut of a 3-angle valve grind. I ordered 2 more stones so I should be good to go now. My cousin dropped off a gasket kit and I still need to do a final cleanup and measure to see if we need just a valve or a guide also.