"Turning up" a 3020?

[TheKuhnFamily]

I was speaking with an "Ol timer" today about his 3020 with duals, that he plows gravel soil with a 4 bottom, 16" mould board plow! He told me he has it "turned up" to 95hp! How is this done, and what are the long term negative effects of doing this to a tractor that is suppose to only put out 70-75hp.?

 

[Tx Jim]

Turning the engine up is normally done by turning a fuel delivery screw in the inj pump. Higher HP & loads can increase the operating temperature. It is safer to install & MONITOR a pyrometer on a tractor that has had the fuel turned up.

 

[TheKuhnFamily]

How hard is it to install a pyrometer?

 

[aczlan]

How hard is it to install a pyrometer?

Depends on the tractor. Some discussion on the subject: Pyrometer install question - General IH - Red Power Magazine Community

Aaron Z

 

[jenkinsph]

Back in the day when I needed an extra 20 hp I moved up to a 4020 with two more cylinders. That is what I would recommend you do if you need the extra power. I have never liked to turn engines up that you plan to work for any period of time, too much heat to dissapate, everything is loaded to the max, why go there/

 

[Tx Jim]

I agree " faster horses need better wagons"

 

[jd110]

This reminds me of a customer I had brought in his 3010. He had bought an M&W turbocharger kit and wanted it installed. He complained the tractor had no power. I said fine, as long as he understood the potential problems. Before we started any work, I put it on the dyno to check power. It was only producing 38 hp. Spec was 59 I believe. I replaced fuel and air filters and gained 10 hp. I then determined injection pump and injectors were worn out. We sent out the pump and had them bump up fuel delivery 15% per instructions in M&W kit. I installed all 4 new injectors and ran on dyno again. Power was then at 65 hp. I called customer to see if he still wanted turbo installed since the power was now almost double what it was when he brought it in. He said yes(he already had a 4020 with M&W kit and loved it.) Installed turbo kit which included a pyrometer. Final power output was 91hp. That was over 20 years ago and that tractor is still running strong with no problems. The customer is very conscientious aboout watching exhaust temperature and he backs off the load if temps get too high. I just thought I would share this story to show that power can be set up without disaster, but operator of machine needs to understand limitations. On non turbo engines, it is difficult to get large gains in power due to not enough air is available to burn extra fuel. The main thing to consider is be sure proper maintenance is done to ensure the engine is performing up to it's potential before doing any mods. You might find modification is not necassary.

 

[AKfish]

Noteworthy advice from jd110. Worked for a neighbor that had a 3010 with a "3020 engine upgrade" and M&W turbo. Great setup... but, over a 2 year period they worked that tractor to the point of major blow-by and oil consumption!

If the job is way more than the tool -- get a bigger tool!

AKfish

 

[AGRIMAN]

You would have a hard time finding one around here that didn't have some fuel shoot to it. I could mention dozens of examples, but far the best is an old local farmer who has 3 4430's that were turned up shortly after he bought them new. I bet they must have 20k hours on them and still running today. No pyrometers and I guarantee you he has never cut them any slack.

I have ever seen any issues with bumping them by 25 to 30 HP.

 

[aczlan]

I have ever seen any issues with bumping them by 25 to 30 HP.

Depends on the tractor. Bumping a 150HP engine up to 175-180HP isnt a huge deal (15-20% more HP). Bumping a 50HP engine up to 75-80HP on the other hand is 50-60% more HP which could be a big deal depending on the engine (ie: often the same head/block will be tuned to provide (for example) 50-70HP depending on the tractor it is put into).

Aaron Z

 

[RickB]

You would have a hard time finding one around here that didn't have some fuel shoot to it. I could mention dozens of examples, but far the best is an old local farmer who has 3 4430's that were turned up shortly after he bought them new. I bet they must have 20k hours on them and still running today. No pyrometers and I guarantee you he has never cut them any slack.

I have ever seen any issues with bumping them by 25 to 30 HP.

That's a tractor with a factory turbo. Overfueling a NA engine leads to a little bit of power and a lot of smoke. I plowed thousands of acres with a bone stock 3020 and IH 720 4-18" plow; most of it in 4th gear.

 

[daugen]

Seems a conservatively designed engine should be able to be "turned up" as that allows a wide range of
applications, i.e. continuous duty in a mine or ship. Look at what Cat did to the 3208, more than doubled the hp from 210 to
450 in marine applications. My understanding is that just pushing more fuel or just pushing more air doesn't get you very far, other than smoke,
vs. feeding the engine an ideal balance for its load and rpm. Which since I'm not a decent mechanic is all a bit of voodoo and witchcraft to me.
But I do know that if I ever get a miniature diesel engine to run my pencil sharpener, it will need to be common rail...and run on vegetable oil so it smells like
popcorn. Wouldn't that be a hoot to have on your desk.

I think turbocharging diesels is a natural, no pun intended, almost all of them are heavy duty enough to withstand some more stress/pressure. And from what I have read, they actually
get more fuel efficient when more air is added, I suppose to a point. As others have said, it's all about preventing them from
overheating. Change the oil and keep them typically under 200 degrees and most of our diesels will outlast us, the owners. Which is the way it should be.
And feed them clean fuel, which is always a challenge.

Those New Gen JD's were tough tractors, you look at one and just know it was built to be handed down from father to son.

 

[Tx Jim]

Before we started any work, I put it on the dyno to check power. It was only producing 38 hp. Spec was 59 I believe. I replaced fuel and air filters and gained 10 hp.

jd110
You must have given the owner of the 3010 a "good lecture on the necessity of changing filters in a timely manner" if he ran the turboed 3010 20 more years with no problems.