Pulled this old Oliver out of the field...

[mopardude318]

Had that happen with an old Model A mower... at least 30 years under some old tin roofing and bailing wire... took me about an hour to get it running... I cheated bringing my own carburetor and a small gravity gas can...

After cranking by hand and checking fluids I used jumper cables and a shot of starting fluid and it fired right up... didn't sound bad either... only let it run very briefly.

Later checked compression and one cylinder was low... turned out to be a valve was stuck open and was able to free that up taking off the valve cover.

Yesterday I cleaned the carb, it was spotless inside. I flushed out the radiator with hot water, got all the rusty sludge out of it, found a couple pin hole leaks I'll take care of. Cleaned out the fuel tank, also no rust, just a broken stick I had to fish out of there. lol. Hooked up power, the starter works and spins freely, got power to the coil and spark at the plugs! I checked the compression, 3 cylinders had 150 psi, the other about 70...so today I'll pull the rocker cover, verify if everything is working.

It's definitely an Oliver 550 industrial model. First thing I would do is get a tech manual for it. There's a few listed on ebay. Don't waste your money on the I&T shop manual, I bought one for my Oliver Super 55 and it just doesn't provide enough information on a lot of topics. It's Ok but the Oliver reproduction manual was 10x better.

You got a great tractor there if there isn't too many issues with it. A lot of the parts for a Super 55 will also fit on a 550. There's a lot of these old Olivers still out and about and parts can be found.

Absolutely love my Oliver Super 55 I have had it for about 8 years now and this tractor gets worked. Only issue I've had so far is the PTO needs new clutches but haven't gotten to it yet because I use the tractor so much for other tasks.

Thanks, I will try and order a manual today for it. i'd like to find a good full service manual. I tried to start it up, still no luck, I don't think fuel is getting to the cylinders, or maybe it is, it'll pop every once and a while. But without that governor assembly, I was told I probably shouldn't run it. lol.

I got in contact with a gentleman on YesterdaysTractor, he has a complete governor assembly in good usable shape for $150.

 

[super55]

Did you try a wet compression test on your low cylinder and did it come out the same? Most likely your probably have a hung up valve or one that isn't seating completely giving you the low compression.

I would think you would be able to get the tractor to fire without the governor all it has is linkage to open the butterfly on the carb once the RPMs start dropping.

Look at the potential that think has. I even see some power steering.

 

[super55]

Another I just remembered to look for is to check for sludge buildup on the bottom of the oil pan. The drain plug hole is pretty large where you can run your finger inside on the base of the pan.

Mine had quite a bit of sludge from years of non-detergent oil on the base. I ended up draining the pan pouring about a gallon of kerosene down the oil fill, let sit, drain than used a bristle brush used to wash glasses to scrub the base and rinsed with kerosene again then drained.

It worked quite well at removing all the sludge at the base of the pan.

 

[mopardude318]

Did you try a wet compression test on your low cylinder and did it come out the same? Most likely your probably have a hung up valve or one that isn't seating completely giving you the low compression.

I would think you would be able to get the tractor to fire without the governor all it has is linkage to open the butterfly on the carb once the RPMs start dropping.

Look at the potential that think has. I even see some power steering.

Good news, I pulled the rocker cover off today, all the valves were way out of adjustment.. So I got them all in spec now. I then tried a wet compression test, and that worked, I now have 150 psi on all cylinders! so a stuck ring was one of the problems. Tried for most of the day to start with no luck. I checked one last thing, the firing order, 2 plug wires were reversed, and the coil was wired up backwards. Didn't even think to check that because there was no reason for it to ever be like that. I got it fired up and running!! Now that I know all is good, I will start to order parts to get it operational.

 

[Smokepole62]

Subscribed! When you get it running consistently, change that oil and put a pint of sea foam in with it for a short time. That should clean that motor up nicely.

 

[ultrarunner]

Terrific Job... and the kind I find most satisfying.

 

[plowhog]

Nice update. Out of adjustment valves could be a wear issue over time. Switched plugs could be some kid fooling around. But the coil wired backwards seems odd?

 

[coldsteelva]

I can't wait to see/hear a video of this thing running...please remember us.

 

[JimRB]

Some mechanics run a quart of ATF in the crankcase to break down those nasty sludge deposits. Some bush-hogging to get the engine warm might also help with some cleanup. Of course oil filter changes might be more frequent than normal if you are trying to clean that sludge up.

 

[dragoneggs]

I can't wait to see/hear a video of this thing running...please remember us.

Yeah a video with audio for sure could be sweet music!