New Holland TC35D Top End

[ctjstr]

Well, unfortunately its that time. I severely, no, make that SEVERELY overheated my tractor last week and did some internal damage. I'm down on compression, hard starting, lots of blowby coming out the breather and puffing a bit of steam. I'm HOPING its just some crushed rings and a head gasket. I've decided to do the top end with the engine in the frame.

I'm going to try and post photos of the progress and we'll see how it goes. This is the first time I've been under the hood of a tractor for anything other then fluids so it should be fun.

Got the loader and backhoe off and stuffed the tractor in the garage. The new shop is not done yet, no concrete or electricity, so the garage is the only alternative. Its a total pain since I've got tools, parts and supplies crammed everywhere waiting for the shop.

I immediately made a horrific mistake. Started the tear down process and Had not bothered cleaning off the tractor. Total brain fart on my part and it will make the project way more time consuming. I'll have to clean as I go and before I take the engine apart, I'll blow it off with compressed air. Better then nothing but not what it should be.

First few shots are attached. I decided to pull everything off the top first. That involved pulling the dash, the cowling, steering wheel, all the electric stuff, hood, power steering fluid container and the large panel behind the engine, to which seemingly everything is attached. I've already got pretty much a coffee can of nuts and bolts. I can sort all those out later.

First picture is the tractor in the shop ready to start work. Next shot was pulling the exhaust so I could get a look at stuff to see what had to come off next. Third shows pulling some of the connectors off the dash and cowling so those parts could be removed.

That let me get the cowling off and you can see the large metal plate with steel reinforcing bars that go up to the front of the engine and even brace the radiator.

The large container for power steering fluid bolts on funny. You essentially have to move the tank to get to the bolts that hold it on. Huh? Now that's dumb. So I just drained the tank and left it on the steel framework.

Finally the last shot shows everything off the top, with all the wiring laying in a heap on the bottom right of the photo. Steering wheel is off and now its time to clean.

More as I get time to do some work. Right now, its time for Christmas turkey. yum.

 

[RickB]

The power steering reservoir is threaded onto its base. It is essentially a large spin on filter with a fill cap on top. Do you have a repair manual, or are you flying blind?

 

[kozak]

Sorry to hear about the Tractor. Coolant leak ??

That is one incredible filthy tractor. Should look much better once you get her all together again. Thanks for posting the pics & GOOD Luck. Don't think I have the guts to try that.

Vic

 

[ctjstr]

No manual yet. The local dealer is letting me drop down to his shop and copy some pages this afternoon so I can get some tolerance measurements and torque specs. Thanks for the tip I kind of figured out that the reservoir must be a spin on, but I wasn't positive what I'd get myself into re: seals, replacement of the reservoir etc, so I just pulled the lines off the bottom and removed the whole unit. I'll probably pull it off to re-assemble.

When I get back to it today, I'm going to look at the right side of the engine and figure out what I need to remove relative to the injectors/glow plugs. Once that is out of the way, then it should be a matter of pulling the air inlet manifold, the rocker box assemblies and then the head. I'm guessing I'll have to pull the water pump as well. It doesn't look like I need to pull the timing assembly, but I'll take a look at the manual and be sure.

Haven't looked at the bottom of the engine yet, but I'm assuming I can pull the front drive shaft, then the pan, oil pump pickup and get to the rod caps. I'm really hopeful the bearings aren't totally trashed, mostly so I don't have to worry about the mains.

Should all be hours of fun in any event.

 

[IH3444]

Most likely can just remove wire to glow plugs, and leave them in head. Then unscrew lines from injectors. Seal ends to keep any dirt out of both sides. Lets concentrate on getting the head off, and see where you stand. The head, and valves may be completely undamaged. The head should be checked for warpage. If you do start removing piston, connecting rod assembly. Mark or label them as to which cylinder they came from, and to which side the piston was facing. Also be absolutely sure to keep the connecting rod end caps with the same rod, and besure to keep them oriented to exactly which way they came off rod. Most rods have either a notch, or a rod number stamped on the same side of the rod, and the rod cap. We're with you on this.......

 

[RickB]

I'm not a big fan of leaving glowplugs and injectors installed in a cylinder head that I am removing. Get them out now, you will know that thay WILL come out, unlike the other guy here with stuck glowplugs in another thread. You won't have to chase the cylinder head around a bench to get this stuff off, and you can use never-sieze on the injector and glowplug bodies when re-installing. Most decent machine shops will appreciate having injectors and glowplugs removed. You are going to have the head pressure tested and checked for trueness????????

 

[ctjstr]

I'll see how things look when I get it all apart. Depending on how long I have to wait for parts, I may completely disassemble the head and go through it. I've got valve and seat machines so It shouldn't be a huge deal. I'm hoping that the head is still true, but will check it for sure.

Rods shouldn't be damaged, but worth checking in any event.

Didn't get anything done today. Looks like tomorrow. Did get the manual pages copied, so at least I've got some info.

thanks

 

[ctjstr]

O.K, here's the latest. I'm going to try and do the photos different, so we'll see.

I've got the injectors removed. Had to pull them to get to some of the head bolts.

Now I've got the rocker arm support housing ready to come off.

Here's one of the pushrods. I'm pretty sure they're all the same, but in the spirit of 'who knows for sure', I've marked them.

Now the head's ready to come off. I've got the last head bolts numbered in orange as well as the lash caps on the top of the valve stems. Little bitty valve springs.

Presto! Head's off and we're looking down the block. Nothing too bad so far.

And here we are looking at the head. Time to disassemble more stuff and see what's what. Hopefully the images will all load. If not, I'll put them up like I did last time.

Everything has gone relatively smoothly so far. From a brief look at the cylinder walls, a light hone should be enough. I'll check the bore with a bore gage for round and taper, and then check the clearance against the pistons when I get them out. There is no obvious blown head gasket and although I did find a few drops of antifreeze in the cylinders, I believe those occurred when I pulled the head off.

Next step is the drive line, pan, oil pickup and rod caps.

 

[dfkrug]

The 2nd batch of photos are MUCH nicer! Very clear and smaller, too.

Are you able to get at the engine's bottom end while it is still mounted
to the rest of the tractor?

As for the small valve springs, I have found that I can compress them
with just my thumbs, as these small Diesels are very low revving.

 

[ctjstr]

I haven't attacked the bottom yet, but according to what I've read, I can pull the drive shaft and drop the pan.

The springs were a shocker. I'm used to springs that have over 300 lb pressure on the heal of the cam and upwards of 650 on the nose.

So far, knock on wood, its been a pretty easy project other then my stupid move of leaving all that dirt on things. Turns out I didn't even have to pull the water pump.

I'll spend most of tomorrow cleaning and checking stuff. I did take one of the injectors apart to see how it was put together. Not much to it and it all looked pretty good. I'm going to try and rig up something to simulate pump pressure on the injectors just to see what kind of pattern they have, assuming that I'll have a few dead days waiting for parts.

The other project I have is figuring out where some spacers dropped out from. When I pulled the large metal plate off the frame and head, I ended up with 4 spacers; two were larger diameter but relatively thin, and two were smaller diameter but probably .150 thick. Great.

According to the manual, I can order several different thicknesses of head gaskets depending on where the piston sits relative to the top of the block. Messicks only listed two different thicknesses so I'll need to sort that out.