ruffdog
Super Member
- Joined
- Dec 31, 2011
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- 9,885
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- southern wisconsin
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- Bobcat Toolcat 5610G, Deere X744, Cub Cadet IH 982
People like that keep the economy going. 
We All Live In An Orange Submarine
- Thread starter sunandsand
- Start date
CobyRupert
Super Member
Sounds like the type of guy who would pull the tractor out of the water and turn the key to see if it would start.
OP
sunandsand
Silver Member
- Joined
- Jan 11, 2020
- Messages
- 247
- Tractor
- Kubota B2601
And that is *exactly* what he did. How on earth did you ever know that? ;-)
It did start (very, very reluctantly) and he drove it about 1,500 feet or so to his work area. He says it ran very badly (duh. I'm surpirsed it ran at all), and he said that he thought perhaps a valve or two was bent. He will likely be taking it apart over this Memorial Day weekend and I will stop by as a good neighbor and play sidewalk superintendent while he does. I will report back . . .
("There's those who learn from the mistakes of others, and then there's those who have to p*** on the electric fence themselves." Will Rogers.)
Speaking of Memorial Day, we have a small, overgrown cemetery in town. It was abandoned for years and it is now slowly being cleaned up. There are about 20 veterans interred there, some from WW1, some from WW2. I was invited to come and pay my respects yesterday, on a very rainy morning. I thought about it a little and decided that these guys served their country and some of them died doing it, so the least I could do was show up and be slightly inconvenienced for a half an hour or so.
I'm glad I went, there are people in town who are the relatives and descendants of those veterans. I never served (4F), and I express my admiration and gratitude to and for those who did.
Best Regards,
Mike/Florida
ruffdog
Super Member
- Joined
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- 9,885
- Location
- southern wisconsin
- Tractor
- Bobcat Toolcat 5610G, Deere X744, Cub Cadet IH 982
More like a connecting rod or two got bent from hydro-lock. Once the head is off, use a height gage and dial indicator atop the deck to compare TDC piston height.
OP
sunandsand
Silver Member
- Joined
- Jan 11, 2020
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- 247
- Tractor
- Kubota B2601
"More like a connecting rod or two got bent from hydro-lock. Once the head is off, use a height gauge and dial indicator atop the deck to compare TDC piston height."
Went past this afternoon, he's working on something else - I think he knows he has big problem with his tractor and he's putting off opening it. He says it does run, but smokes a lot and has no power. I doubt running it will improve matters, and in fact will probably make things worse, but I kept my mouth shut because he's a "bit" sensitive about it right now.
Water ingestion into a running engine is almost invariably bad news. On the MB newsgroup there is a sad tale of a guy who played this game with an AMG 6.3 CLK. That's a 6.3 liter hand built high performance (big buck) V8, and each engine is signed by the guy who built it. You can buy a replacement engine from MB, it is $55,000 plus freight and installation. (Bargain day. I'll take two, please.)
Engine was toast - several bent rods, cracked the block, blew both head gaskets (early 6.3s have a weakness there, it's been fixed on newer ones). Of course everything is assembled with torque to yield bolts and there are a LOT of them. Basically the only thing still good was the dipstick. Someone repaired one of these, the parts bill alone came to $19,000 and he did all the work himself - and it was an astonishing amount of work. He had the MB mommyvan, the engine comes out the front, on the CLK, it comes out upward from the engine bay.
Anyway, his insurance company said no way, jack, he insisted on keeping the car, they went round and round and eventually they agreed to buy him a used engine.
It went downhill from there . . .
Parts yard in Oregon (he's in Texas) insisted they had exactly what he needed, insurance company paid and told him OK, we paid, now go away. Except the engine wasn't an AMG 6.3, it was a standard 5.5 out of a sedan, mild cam, and on a good day, maybe 2/3 of the HP the AMG engine was good for.
Bolting on the AMG parts doesn't do anything extra to the 5.5, all the hot-rod goodies are inside the 6.3, and they won't fit the 5.5.
This has been going on over two years to date, and is nowhere near being resolved. We should count our blessings.
Best Regards,
Mike/Florida
Went past this afternoon, he's working on something else - I think he knows he has big problem with his tractor and he's putting off opening it. He says it does run, but smokes a lot and has no power. I doubt running it will improve matters, and in fact will probably make things worse, but I kept my mouth shut because he's a "bit" sensitive about it right now.
Water ingestion into a running engine is almost invariably bad news. On the MB newsgroup there is a sad tale of a guy who played this game with an AMG 6.3 CLK. That's a 6.3 liter hand built high performance (big buck) V8, and each engine is signed by the guy who built it. You can buy a replacement engine from MB, it is $55,000 plus freight and installation. (Bargain day. I'll take two, please.)
Engine was toast - several bent rods, cracked the block, blew both head gaskets (early 6.3s have a weakness there, it's been fixed on newer ones). Of course everything is assembled with torque to yield bolts and there are a LOT of them. Basically the only thing still good was the dipstick. Someone repaired one of these, the parts bill alone came to $19,000 and he did all the work himself - and it was an astonishing amount of work. He had the MB mommyvan, the engine comes out the front, on the CLK, it comes out upward from the engine bay.
Anyway, his insurance company said no way, jack, he insisted on keeping the car, they went round and round and eventually they agreed to buy him a used engine.
It went downhill from there . . .
Parts yard in Oregon (he's in Texas) insisted they had exactly what he needed, insurance company paid and told him OK, we paid, now go away. Except the engine wasn't an AMG 6.3, it was a standard 5.5 out of a sedan, mild cam, and on a good day, maybe 2/3 of the HP the AMG engine was good for.
Bolting on the AMG parts doesn't do anything extra to the 5.5, all the hot-rod goodies are inside the 6.3, and they won't fit the 5.5.
This has been going on over two years to date, and is nowhere near being resolved. We should count our blessings.
Best Regards,
Mike/Florida
OP
sunandsand
Silver Member
- Joined
- Jan 11, 2020
- Messages
- 247
- Tractor
- Kubota B2601
Tuesday afternoon update . . .
Friend of his stopped by, offered some advice. The friend is a diesel mechanic and does generally know his way around machinery. He's done a little work for me on an auto A/C before I learned to do it myself.
His advice was don't take it apart yet. Change the fuel, oil, all the filters (fuel and oil) and see if that helps. Owner was happy because it was what he wanted to hear (a/k/a hoping for a break) and says it seems to be running better now (he hasn't changed anything yet), but that might just be wishful thinking. We'll know when he puts the tractor back to work instead of just driving it around.
I told him I'd keep my fingers crossed for him because I'm a buddy, even though it makes typing somewhat awkward.
On the PTO shaft problem, he's trying to find an aftermarket PTO shaft that fits correctly. He says Bush Hog is almost as proud of their red paint as JD is of their green paint. I can't fault him on this because if he winds up having to buy the high priced spread, so be it, he will.
(Maybe I should go into the paint business?)
Stay tuned - I do hope the flush and fluid change works - we'll see.
Best Regards,
Mike/Florida
Friend of his stopped by, offered some advice. The friend is a diesel mechanic and does generally know his way around machinery. He's done a little work for me on an auto A/C before I learned to do it myself.
His advice was don't take it apart yet. Change the fuel, oil, all the filters (fuel and oil) and see if that helps. Owner was happy because it was what he wanted to hear (a/k/a hoping for a break) and says it seems to be running better now (he hasn't changed anything yet), but that might just be wishful thinking. We'll know when he puts the tractor back to work instead of just driving it around.
I told him I'd keep my fingers crossed for him because I'm a buddy, even though it makes typing somewhat awkward.
On the PTO shaft problem, he's trying to find an aftermarket PTO shaft that fits correctly. He says Bush Hog is almost as proud of their red paint as JD is of their green paint. I can't fault him on this because if he winds up having to buy the high priced spread, so be it, he will.
(Maybe I should go into the paint business?)
Stay tuned - I do hope the flush and fluid change works - we'll see.
Best Regards,
Mike/Florida
goeduck
Super Star Member
Following.... I gotta hear how this ends up...
FriendwithTractor
Bronze Member
- Joined
- May 16, 2023
- Messages
- 97
- Tractor
- Kubota L3901
I thought my friend's machinist brother was hard on equipment (Bent mower decks, shredded belts, Once he managed to flip a zero turn)...He's got nothing on this guy.
Following for curiosity's sake.
Following for curiosity's sake.
YanmarFever
Elite Member
- Joined
- Mar 10, 2002
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- 3,436
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- Eating a melon..
- Tractor
- Mahindra 5010C- Branson 4520r- 5520C- Yanmar FX235-D - Bad Boy rogue mower
Mike, I hope your friend isn't reading this neighborly report on tractorbynet after all he is a tractor guy (kinda)
What part of Florida do these endeavors take place at?
What part of Florida do these endeavors take place at?
OP
sunandsand
Silver Member
- Joined
- Jan 11, 2020
- Messages
- 247
- Tractor
- Kubota B2601
Interim update . . .
The root rake has been retrieved from Davy Jones' locker. Took some imaginative profanity, some chains, his tractor and another guy who brought along a big green JD. He didn't ask me to help (although I would have been glad to) because he calls my 2601 a "toy tractor" (he's mostly ribbing me, I'm a big boy, so that's OK) and compared to the JD, it is.
I know the guy who dug that "shallow looking pond" and there is no telling what lurks in the depths of it. He threw all kinds of crap (technical term) into the water and the bushes. I wouldn't at all be surprised if Nessie is down there.
Fortunately, the root rake has no moving parts to rust, and is a VERY solid chunk of steel (fabricated locally) so it isn't hurt any. The surface rust just adds to the "patina".
His tractor, however, isn't OK. He's been driving it around, leaving a smoke trail like a WW2 destroyer. It is now having trouble starting, so he took the starter apart, cleaned it (it was submerged), liberally dosed it with WD-40 (a/k/a chicken soup for machinery), and it is barely working. That, I think, is the least of his problems.
He says he's still able to get "light work" out of it, but I am concerned that if there is any metal debris in it (symptoms seem to indicate a cracked piston), the shrapnel is going to damage other parts of the engine and his ultimate repair bill is going to be a lot higher than it needs to be.
Essentially, he's in denial. (I happen to know that de nial is a river in Africa, in fact there are two of them, the Blue Nile and the White Nile. I have seen them, they are both very brown.)
I've offered to help when he (ultimately) decides to take it apart, offered moral support, tools he might need (he has plenty of his own, but the offer shows good faith) and so on, but for now, he's using it even though it is limping along.
While the tractor is definitely broke, he isn't, so the ultimate resolution might just be for him to use it as a trade-in on a new one. He has over 2,000 hard hours on this one, so that might be the best way forward. Of course, it is his decision, not mine.
No progress on the pretzeled PTO shaft yet.
Stay tuned . . .
Best Regards,
Mike/Florida
The root rake has been retrieved from Davy Jones' locker. Took some imaginative profanity, some chains, his tractor and another guy who brought along a big green JD. He didn't ask me to help (although I would have been glad to) because he calls my 2601 a "toy tractor" (he's mostly ribbing me, I'm a big boy, so that's OK) and compared to the JD, it is.
I know the guy who dug that "shallow looking pond" and there is no telling what lurks in the depths of it. He threw all kinds of crap (technical term) into the water and the bushes. I wouldn't at all be surprised if Nessie is down there.
Fortunately, the root rake has no moving parts to rust, and is a VERY solid chunk of steel (fabricated locally) so it isn't hurt any. The surface rust just adds to the "patina".
His tractor, however, isn't OK. He's been driving it around, leaving a smoke trail like a WW2 destroyer. It is now having trouble starting, so he took the starter apart, cleaned it (it was submerged), liberally dosed it with WD-40 (a/k/a chicken soup for machinery), and it is barely working. That, I think, is the least of his problems.
He says he's still able to get "light work" out of it, but I am concerned that if there is any metal debris in it (symptoms seem to indicate a cracked piston), the shrapnel is going to damage other parts of the engine and his ultimate repair bill is going to be a lot higher than it needs to be.
Essentially, he's in denial. (I happen to know that de nial is a river in Africa, in fact there are two of them, the Blue Nile and the White Nile. I have seen them, they are both very brown.)
I've offered to help when he (ultimately) decides to take it apart, offered moral support, tools he might need (he has plenty of his own, but the offer shows good faith) and so on, but for now, he's using it even though it is limping along.
While the tractor is definitely broke, he isn't, so the ultimate resolution might just be for him to use it as a trade-in on a new one. He has over 2,000 hard hours on this one, so that might be the best way forward. Of course, it is his decision, not mine.
No progress on the pretzeled PTO shaft yet.
Stay tuned . . .
Best Regards,
Mike/Florida