If you find that the crankshaft is not damaged (you have horseshoes up your @$$ but thats another story), and you can replace the connecting rod and piston, and leave the crankshaft in place, then you do not have to split the tractor.
I will look into the damage on the crankshaft, I would prefer not to split the tractor
Rather than "splitting", you can remove the front half of the tractor piece by piece, first radiator, then front diff, then frame, at which point you are left with engine hanging on the rear. Un-bolt rear of bellhousing from transmission to separate engine.
This pretty much describes what happened today. My main goal was to remove oil pan, had to take off propeller shaft, entire front differential, steering, frame piece, just to get to the last two bolts holding the oil pan. It took 10 hours to do these tasks
I am thinking now about which direction to take
then when you have access to the back of the block, you can take the crank out after removing pistons and connecting rods.
Yes, it would be another whole day of labor to separate the block from the bell housing
Plan in my head at this point, yall feel free to critique:
Replace all the moving parts on the bottom end but keep the main parts that would require machine shop
My understanding: the parts that deteriorate and break down are replaceable, but the parts that are honed and machined for that specific block, do not need to be replaced and should not be replaced because:
if you replace the piston head, then you also need the block to be modified
Same goes for the connecting rod: that rod is specific to that block, and should not be replaced
I want to replace: all the bottom area, new bolts, connecting rod bearing for all the pistons, and whatever else yall instruct me to
Do yall recommend to put in new piston rings? I think yes
Plan with the block: the plan is to learn how to use acetylene torch to braze a patch that is rigid, permanent, better than JB weld
I might salvage the pieces of the broken block, or
Use torches/hammers to shape a piece of metal the same as the hole in the block, then braze that onto the block
I will not braze on the block until I am comfortable brazing, I will practice on scrap until I figure it out
Summary: figure out the bottom area to secure all the pistons perfectly, then seal up the block after I learn acetylene torch