AGRIMAN
Platinum Member
I see this one turned out to be a rod bearing, but I can also say for sure that a engine will run with a broke crankshaft and have good oil pressure, power and no skip. I have seen it happen several times myself and have heard of others.
My first was a 4640 JD. The guy was pulling a 23 harrow behind it and noticed a weird noise when he stopped and idled it down. He convinced himself that it couldn稚 be much wrong because the oil pressure was good, it still had power and only make noise at idle. He continued on for another hour or so and then drove the tractor to the shop and asked me what I thought. I will admit that I thought it was a rob bearing and he was lucky not to have puked out a rod. It was only after I had the engine on the stand and removed the rod caps (not finding anything wrong) that I started to wonder. I still did not have a clue until we lifted the crank out of the block and it came up in to pieces, broken behind a main journal. Damnedest thing that I had ever seen and I figured it was a one off for sure, but it's not as uncommon as you may think.
Several years later got a call from my neighbor asking me to come look at his 2-135 White. He had been pulling a heavy 12 foot cross cut harrow with it all morning and noticed a weird noise at idle when he stopped for lunch. You could hear a slight noise (enough to know that something was wrong) around the back of the engine from 800 rpm up to around 1200 rpm but any higher and it when away. The oil pressure was good, there was no skip or loss of powder. I popped off the inspection plate for the clutch and was trying to turn the engine with a pry bar when I noticed the flywheel was loose. Thinking the flywheel bolts had backed out, I pulled the engine (ever pulled a engine out of a White?) .
After removing the clutch assembly, I noticed that we had a bigger problem. It turns out the crank was broke right behind the number 4 main journal. I had the block line bored and completely rebuilt the engine using a used/turned crank. About 3 years later it did it again, broke the crank in the same place. This time I just replaced the crank with another used one and as far as I know it's still running today.
The common thing between the diesel ones I have seen (and from reading the others) is a low idle noise which goes away above 1200 to 1500 RPM.
My first was a 4640 JD. The guy was pulling a 23 harrow behind it and noticed a weird noise when he stopped and idled it down. He convinced himself that it couldn稚 be much wrong because the oil pressure was good, it still had power and only make noise at idle. He continued on for another hour or so and then drove the tractor to the shop and asked me what I thought. I will admit that I thought it was a rob bearing and he was lucky not to have puked out a rod. It was only after I had the engine on the stand and removed the rod caps (not finding anything wrong) that I started to wonder. I still did not have a clue until we lifted the crank out of the block and it came up in to pieces, broken behind a main journal. Damnedest thing that I had ever seen and I figured it was a one off for sure, but it's not as uncommon as you may think.
Several years later got a call from my neighbor asking me to come look at his 2-135 White. He had been pulling a heavy 12 foot cross cut harrow with it all morning and noticed a weird noise at idle when he stopped for lunch. You could hear a slight noise (enough to know that something was wrong) around the back of the engine from 800 rpm up to around 1200 rpm but any higher and it when away. The oil pressure was good, there was no skip or loss of powder. I popped off the inspection plate for the clutch and was trying to turn the engine with a pry bar when I noticed the flywheel was loose. Thinking the flywheel bolts had backed out, I pulled the engine (ever pulled a engine out of a White?) .
After removing the clutch assembly, I noticed that we had a bigger problem. It turns out the crank was broke right behind the number 4 main journal. I had the block line bored and completely rebuilt the engine using a used/turned crank. About 3 years later it did it again, broke the crank in the same place. This time I just replaced the crank with another used one and as far as I know it's still running today.
The common thing between the diesel ones I have seen (and from reading the others) is a low idle noise which goes away above 1200 to 1500 RPM.