Swapping tractor with my engine

   / Swapping tractor with my engine #1  

Mechanos

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2010
Messages
1,116
Location
Roosterville, MO
Tractor
JD 955/70A/7 TLB
I've been re-working and "renewing" a 955 while keeping my other running 955 in working order. Today, I finally got to the point where I'm ready to pull the engine out of the runner and put it into the "new" 955. In about an hour I had everything disconnected from the engine and the engine ready to pull except for the rear two engine mount bolts. I tell ya, those rear two bolts are a PITA to get to. Looks like I'm going to need a 14mm crows foot (which I don't have) in order to get those last two bolts out. I'll have to run into town tomorrow and pick up a set of metric crows foot wrenches to get those last two bolts out.
 
   / Swapping tractor with my engine #2  
Hmmmm. I don't remember using any special wrenches when I removed the
motor mounts. Are you replacing them with new ones as well?
 
   / Swapping tractor with my engine
  • Thread Starter
#3  
Hmmmm. I don't remember using any special wrenches when I removed the
motor mounts. Are you replacing them with new ones as well?

How did you get to the nut on the bottom of the through bolt to back it up? That nut is back in a little notch cut out of the frame so it can't be directly reached (with an extention and socket) from the bottom. I tried from several angles and couldn't even get a finger on it... let alone a wrench. The crow's foot was just ticket. The extension went right up along the frame next to the oil pan and the crow's foot offset over into the notch and engaged the nut to back it up. Had both of the rear mount bolt removed in less than 10 minutes.

Reinstalling them took a little creativity as well. I lined the inside of the crow's foot with electical tape and wedged the nut into the wrench so the nut wouldn't fall out. Then reached up between the engine and the oil pan with the crow's foot on the end of an extension to hold the nut in place as I turned the bolt from above to start the nut.

I inspected the mounts and they were in excellent shape, so I did not replace them. I did have to replace the bonded coupler between the flywheel and the driveshaft. The old one was shot and was beginning to tear around a couple of the bolt holes.

I had to remove the fuel filter bowl to get one of the rear engine mount bolts out... I couldn't believe the engine even ran with the amount of black sludge gunk built up in the filter. I couldn't figure out what it was at first. Then when I dumped out the fuel tank there was a LOT more of that black sludge in the bottom... and a fuel pick up strainer. Then it dawned on me that all that black gunk was the remnants of the fuel line that had long since fallen off the sending unit pick up tube. Appearantly, it had sat in the bottom of the tank long enough to completely break down into a black goo.

Anyhow... I got the engine removed from the "old" tractor, cleaned up a bit and mounted onto the "new" tractor's frame. Engine to trans driveshaft hooked up, fuel tank cleaned out and ready to remount, front axle cleaned up and painted. So now begins the reassembly with a new radiator and freshly repainted body panels. It's been a long time coming....
 
   / Swapping tractor with my engine #4  
Mechanos said:
Anyhow... I got the engine removed from the "old" tractor, cleaned up a bit and mounted onto the "new" tractor's frame. Engine to trans driveshaft hooked up, fuel tank cleaned out and ready to remount, front axle cleaned up and painted. So now begins the reassembly with a new radiator and freshly repainted body panels. It's been a long time coming....

Pictures? This sounds Very interesting and would go better with pictures!! And good luck with finishing the project! Are you going to fix up the "old" tractor now?
 
   / Swapping tractor with my engine #5  
How did you get to the nut on the bottom of the through bolt to back it up? That nut is back in a little notch cut out of the frame so it can't be directly reached (with an extention and socket) from the bottom.

Well, my memory has faded a bit, but I do remember it was not too easy. I took
out the engines of 3 of the 4 955s I owned. Never owned any crow's foot wrenches.

It has been more than 6 years since I did the last one, but I believe that I
removed the rear mounts from the engine, not the frame rail. I wish I had
taken more pix back then.

As for the black sludge in the fuel tank, all of mine had that, and I think
is was algae. Now JD had a tank drain below the fuel pickup for newer
tractors.
 
   / Swapping tractor with my engine
  • Thread Starter
#6  
Well, my memory has faded a bit, but I do remember it was not too easy. I took
out the engines of 3 of the 4 955s I owned. Never owned any crow's foot wrenches.

It has been more than 6 years since I did the last one, but I believe that I
removed the rear mounts from the engine, not the frame rail. I wish I had
taken more pix back then.

As for the black sludge in the fuel tank, all of mine had that, and I think
is was algae. Now JD had a tank drain below the fuel pickup for newer
tractors.

I see what you probably did... unbolted the mount from the bracket and left it bolted to the frame. I thought about doing that, but I figured I'd have a heck of a time lining up those bolts after I had the mount bolted to the frame.
 
   / Swapping tractor with my engine
  • Thread Starter
#7  
Pictures? This sounds Very interesting and would go better with pictures!! And good luck with finishing the project! Are you going to fix up the "old" tractor now?

Yeah, I'm a one man show when it comes to doing this kind of work and time to do these things is a precious commodity these days. As filthy and nasty as I got throughout the last couple of days, I wouldn't have gotten 1/2 the work done that I did if I would have taken the time to wipe my hands off, grab the camera and shoot a pic.
 
   / Swapping tractor with my engine
  • Thread Starter
#8  
I decided to replace the exhaust pipe since it has rusted through in one spot. My 955 is one of the early models that had the exhaust pipe exit through the side engine cover panel. I guess there was some sort of issue with the exhaust exiting in that location and the installation of the loader (although I've never had any problems or that sort) so JD redesigned the pipe to exist out of the bottom rear of the engine cover panel. They don't even sell the side pipe anymore, so I had to get the new pipe and a different mounting bracket as well. I wish I'd have know that before I painted the body panels... I would have welded the hole up and body worked the panel before painting it. Oh well, I think I have an idea to repurpose that hole for something else.... but that is a post for another day.
 
   / Swapping tractor with my engine #9  
I decided to replace the exhaust pipe since it has rusted through in one spot. My 955 is one of the early models that had the exhaust pipe exit through the side engine cover panel. I guess there was some sort of issue with the exhaust exiting in that location and the installation of the loader (although I've never had any problems or that sort) so JD redesigned the pipe to exist out of the bottom rear of the engine cover panel. They don't even sell the side pipe anymore, so I had to get the new pipe and a different mounting bracket as well. I wish I'd have know that before I painted the body panels... I would have welded the hole up and body worked the panel before painting it. Oh well, I think I have an idea to repurpose that hole for something else.... but that is a post for another day.

Put a big fancy beer tap in it. Doesn't have to work, but everyone who see's it would try it just to be sure.
 
   / Swapping tractor with my engine #10  
As filthy and nasty as I got throughout the last couple of days, I wouldn't have gotten 1/2 the work done that I did if I would have taken the time to wipe my hands off, grab the camera and shoot a pic.

Well, MECH, be careful.... as some say on TBN say, "if no pictures, it didn't happen."
Of course, I would never say that....

Anyway, my memory was correct. I left the rear motor mounts on the frame, as
you can see in this old photo.
 

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