3930 radiator (again) w/pix

charlesw · Jul 20, 2007

I got it all apart. Wasn't that fun. 4 sentences in the I&T - 5 hours of work! I should be able to get it back together in, well, about that amount of time. If I had known what a pain it was going to be I would have taken the FEL off while I still sort of could!

So, a shot of the -inside- of the radiator... It got pushed back into the fan with the results that you see. And a shot of the transmission oil cooler. It was only bent all to heck and hasn't leaked yet. So, well, I just made it mostly flat again. Hope it holds pressure!

Interesting note: the OEM radiator runs a bit over $450. The cheap replacement I bought was $170 ish. Now, the OEM one is made in Korea and the inexpensive one is made in Ireland. I hope it's up to the task!

charlesw · Jul 22, 2007

Yeah! I finished the work myself! I didn't even have any extra parts when I was finished! It took at least 5 hours to get it apart and only 3 1/2 to get it back together! Then another 1/2 hour to fix one hose clamp then 10 minutes to fix another... Still, faster together than apart? Awesome! I only wish I could have used it all of that time instead of just farting around with it! Arg! I'll think about posting some after pix - it's not pretty. I will want to find a used (dead) 3930 somewhere so that I can get a "new" grill for this one...

Robert_in_NY · Jul 22, 2007

One nice thing about the newer tractors is that they made it easy to get to and service the radiators. What did you hit to cause this damage? I did that much damage before to a MF 135 radiator when the fan blade broke. That wasn't pretty

charlesw · Jul 22, 2007

I was shoving brush around and just shoved some right on through - into the oil cooler then kept going back and then into the radiator. It's silly, too, that it should happen at this point - I've already cleared 10+ acres and this happens on the last 1/2 acre of that bit of land. Ah well!

And 9 hours was easy? Wow. I hate to think of what it's like to work on one that's difficult!

Robert_in_NY · Jul 22, 2007

I meant the newer tractors like the TN series that replaced the 30 series. Most of the new tractors have hoods that are all one piece and raise up to expose the entire engine compartment.