wct097
Member
Found this tractor on Craigslist listed as "needs work". I'm in need of a tractor by the end of the year, so I figured I could take on a project and decided to go look at it. I'm new to both diesel and tractors but not new to swinging a wrench, so I figure this would be a good learning experience. Not 100% sure I can get it running without replacing or doing a major rebuild, but I figure that for what I have into it, I can probably sell the loader alone and get most of my money back.
The previous owner said that it was running when he parked it before his last deployment. Not sure when that was, but I figure it's been sitting for a couple of years. He also said that it ran OK, but was leaking compression from one of the injectors that he had disassembled.
At first glance, it's rough. The muffler was rusted in half, the tires were flat and looked dry rotted. There was a animal nest in the radiator fan, the bucket was sitting in the field, and the hydraulic lines look (I'm not experienced with those) like they've seen better days. The radiator shows signs of leaking and was empty. We tried to hook jumpers to it to see if it would turn but didn't have any such luck. Then we pulled the oil fill plug to check the oil level and were surprised to see water come gushing out. The owner admitted that it was probably just scrap once we realized the engine was full of water and agreed to sell it to me for $1000. I pumped up the tires and got it towed to my brother's farm to start tinkering.
First we drained the crankcase. It ran clear water for a good amount of time before we got to the oil. I pulled the exhaust and intake manifolds and found the exhaust to have silt and water in it and the intake to be dry but full of what looked like dirt. I think it was sediment from the rust in the muffler. We poured some oil through the rocker adjustment covers and decided to try to manually turn the engine with a strap wrench on the crank pulley. We were pleasantly surprised to see the engine turn a little. We hooked up a battery and hit the starter and it cranked over. We spent some time flushing and draining the crankcase and turning the starter over to get the oil flowing around a bit, then called it for the week and ordered some parts (gaskets, filters, exhaust studs, and injector crush washers).
Today I reassembled the manifolds drained and replaced the oil again, installed a new oil and fuel filter, filled the radiator and put a couple gallons of diesel in the tank, then tried to get it to start. I found that the fuel injector pump wasn't pumping fuel to the injectors. I disassembled the hard lines and sprayed some WD40 through them to ensure they weren't clogged. I also removed the soft line at the injector pump and confirmed that diesel was flowing into the banjo fitting. The throttle seemed sticky and I briefly fiddled with the decompression knob thinking it was a choke. I also shot a bit of ether in the intake but never got it to start or even sputter. I tried dumping a little diesel into the intake only to find out that the gasket wasn't sealing correctly (I ordered a 950 gasket on accident and butchered it a bit to try to make it work). So I went home a little bummed and started researching the injector pump and called a friend who is a diesel mechanic. He's going to look at it with me tomorrow but is mostly concerned that the ether didn't make it start.
I'm not convinced that there isn't a water related problem inside the engine, but I'm somewhat optimistic given that it's cranking over and sounds/feels like it has compression. My plan for tomorrow is to investigate the "decompression" setup to make sure it's not sticking partially engaged/open causing the engine to lose compression and thus not start. I'm also going to pull open the throttle and governor cover plates and pull the delivery valves out of the injection pump to see if fuel starts flowing and/or to clean out inside a bit. I'm wondering if the throttle could be stuck in the off position causing the pump not to pump...... I don't know enough about how it works to really know if that could be an issue or not. It could just be gummed up from sitting and/or water intrusion. Going to have my diesel mechanic friend look at it with me over the weekend.
Here's a quick vid of the engine cranking over that first day when we were flushing it with oil: Test cranking John Deere 85 after draining rainwater from engine - YouTube
Some extra pics from when the day I bought it:
So yeah.... we'll see if this little tractor ever runs again. I'm going to give it a solid try, for sure. I know I have a number of issues to deal with, but I'm trying to see if I can get it to run before I start fixing everything. This is my short list:
* Block & radiator drain lines are split (probably why the radiator was empty)
* The fuel filter bowl is cracked (probably why the tank was empty)(I applied duct tape to try to limp by until we can get it to start)
* Water pump appears to be seized
* Seat is completely rusted & rotted and needs to be replaced
* Radiator appears to have had a number of leaks over the years
* I have the FEL bucket, but not the pins to attach it.... JD appears to be very proud of those pins, to the tune of ~$40 each
* Hydraulic lines look rough
* Tons of rust
On a positive note;
* The engine isn't seized
* Tires are holding air
* Transmission fluid looks brand new and is full
* I can probably make most of my money back selling the FEL if I decide to abandon this project
The previous owner said that it was running when he parked it before his last deployment. Not sure when that was, but I figure it's been sitting for a couple of years. He also said that it ran OK, but was leaking compression from one of the injectors that he had disassembled.
At first glance, it's rough. The muffler was rusted in half, the tires were flat and looked dry rotted. There was a animal nest in the radiator fan, the bucket was sitting in the field, and the hydraulic lines look (I'm not experienced with those) like they've seen better days. The radiator shows signs of leaking and was empty. We tried to hook jumpers to it to see if it would turn but didn't have any such luck. Then we pulled the oil fill plug to check the oil level and were surprised to see water come gushing out. The owner admitted that it was probably just scrap once we realized the engine was full of water and agreed to sell it to me for $1000. I pumped up the tires and got it towed to my brother's farm to start tinkering.
First we drained the crankcase. It ran clear water for a good amount of time before we got to the oil. I pulled the exhaust and intake manifolds and found the exhaust to have silt and water in it and the intake to be dry but full of what looked like dirt. I think it was sediment from the rust in the muffler. We poured some oil through the rocker adjustment covers and decided to try to manually turn the engine with a strap wrench on the crank pulley. We were pleasantly surprised to see the engine turn a little. We hooked up a battery and hit the starter and it cranked over. We spent some time flushing and draining the crankcase and turning the starter over to get the oil flowing around a bit, then called it for the week and ordered some parts (gaskets, filters, exhaust studs, and injector crush washers).
Today I reassembled the manifolds drained and replaced the oil again, installed a new oil and fuel filter, filled the radiator and put a couple gallons of diesel in the tank, then tried to get it to start. I found that the fuel injector pump wasn't pumping fuel to the injectors. I disassembled the hard lines and sprayed some WD40 through them to ensure they weren't clogged. I also removed the soft line at the injector pump and confirmed that diesel was flowing into the banjo fitting. The throttle seemed sticky and I briefly fiddled with the decompression knob thinking it was a choke. I also shot a bit of ether in the intake but never got it to start or even sputter. I tried dumping a little diesel into the intake only to find out that the gasket wasn't sealing correctly (I ordered a 950 gasket on accident and butchered it a bit to try to make it work). So I went home a little bummed and started researching the injector pump and called a friend who is a diesel mechanic. He's going to look at it with me tomorrow but is mostly concerned that the ether didn't make it start.
I'm not convinced that there isn't a water related problem inside the engine, but I'm somewhat optimistic given that it's cranking over and sounds/feels like it has compression. My plan for tomorrow is to investigate the "decompression" setup to make sure it's not sticking partially engaged/open causing the engine to lose compression and thus not start. I'm also going to pull open the throttle and governor cover plates and pull the delivery valves out of the injection pump to see if fuel starts flowing and/or to clean out inside a bit. I'm wondering if the throttle could be stuck in the off position causing the pump not to pump...... I don't know enough about how it works to really know if that could be an issue or not. It could just be gummed up from sitting and/or water intrusion. Going to have my diesel mechanic friend look at it with me over the weekend.
Here's a quick vid of the engine cranking over that first day when we were flushing it with oil: Test cranking John Deere 85 after draining rainwater from engine - YouTube
Some extra pics from when the day I bought it:
So yeah.... we'll see if this little tractor ever runs again. I'm going to give it a solid try, for sure. I know I have a number of issues to deal with, but I'm trying to see if I can get it to run before I start fixing everything. This is my short list:
* Block & radiator drain lines are split (probably why the radiator was empty)
* The fuel filter bowl is cracked (probably why the tank was empty)(I applied duct tape to try to limp by until we can get it to start)
* Water pump appears to be seized
* Seat is completely rusted & rotted and needs to be replaced
* Radiator appears to have had a number of leaks over the years
* I have the FEL bucket, but not the pins to attach it.... JD appears to be very proud of those pins, to the tune of ~$40 each
* Hydraulic lines look rough
* Tons of rust
On a positive note;
* The engine isn't seized
* Tires are holding air
* Transmission fluid looks brand new and is full
* I can probably make most of my money back selling the FEL if I decide to abandon this project
