L175--resurrection maintenance?

[coss]

I'm looking at buying an L175 that was traded in at a dealer and it has then sat untouched outside for about 4 years. Upon jumpstarting, it fired right up. It drives well in all gears and the hydraulics will raise and lower the Woods mower attached to it. Brakes, tires, seat and tin are good.

Before deciding to buy, what should I look for to avoid deal-breaking problems?

Assuming I do buy it, what should I do to get it into operation without overlooking a maintenance item that would result in a failure?

Thanks.

 

[Stumpy]

The big thing I'd look for is signs of the motor having been over heated. It'll be hard to start even in warm weather due to low compression and you'll likely notice a considerable amount of smoke coming out of the breather tube.

The reverse gears tend to strip out on these. Put it it in reverse and stomp on the throttle and see if it pops out of gear. If it does it's not a deal breaker, the gear is relatively easy to change.

The steering boxes tend to fill with water from the poorly designed shaft seal behind the steering wheel when left outside. It rusts and pits the shaft and when it freezes in the winter it tends to destroy the lower bearing if not crack the steering box. Signs include stiff spots in the wheel's travel and the wheel moving up and down. It's a bit of a chore to fix that one but doable. If it's fine and you buy it the first thing I'd do is stick a tube down through the fill plug to the bottom of the box and use a vacuum pump to pull everything out. Then refill with gear oil.

Probably a good idea to change all the fluids including the transmission fluid since it's been sitting so long outside. There are three drain plugs. One on the bottom roughly opposite the shifters and two back on the rear axle on the differential humps. When you have it drained make sure you remove and clean the hydraulic pump pickup strainer.

Clean the radiator out real good and check it from time to time. It's easy to over heat these things due to clogged radiators. You might consider installing a coolant temperature gauge. It can be a fairly hands on project but well worth the effort in my opinion.

Search the forums and you'll find lots of information on all of these issues.

 

[Orange Tractors]

Matt pretty well covered what to check and do on the tractor.

On the mower itself, grease and check all the bearings, and sharpen the blades. Check the belt, they are hard to get as tight as the book says to run them.

The idler sheaves at the bottom where the belt turns to go under the tractor need to be checked very well. The bearings on mine went to pieces, (sealed bearing, no way to grease them) they were prohibitivly expensive from one of the semi local Woods dealers' so I used a set of weld in hubs and cheap 4 1/2" sheaves as replacements.

The manual for the mower can be downloaded from the Woods website. If it is the model that was actually made for the L175, it is the L59-K17.

Good Luck,

Robert

 

[coss]

Thanks for the detailed replies.

I would have not known about the possible steering and reverse gear issues. The mower is the proper model number. The blades look as if they were last sharpened when Jimmy Carter was President, so I may ask the dealer to loosen the nuts because they will likely be a bear to remove.

My family had a 1973 L175 when I was growing up, and I was the official groundskeeper. I spent a lot of hours in the seat of that little guy, which is still in regular use on my sister's property. If I buy one of my own to mow the 1.5 acres of grass at our new house, there will be a considerable nostalgia component associated with its use, something I'm sure most forum members can understand.

 

[Stumpy]

Yep. I was originally looking for a Wheelhorse when I got my Kubota for that very reason. Does this machine have an over running clutch on the PTO? If not it's a good idea to add one. It allows the tractor to stop before the mower deck has spun down. Safer and easier to change gears on the fly without grinding.

 

[coss]

No, I don't think it has that PTO clutch attachment. Does the Woods L59 pulley fit well on one of those?

By the way, what range of metric wrench sizes will I need? Also, I assume the nut for the blades on the belly mower are in SAE, does anyone know what size it is?

Thanks again, from someone with a lot of L175 experience, but from a LONG time ago.

 

[Orange Tractors]

Yep. I was originally looking for a Wheelhorse when I got my Kubota for that very reason. Does this machine have an over running clutch on the PTO? If not it's a good idea to add one. It allows the tractor to stop before the mower deck has spun down. Safer and easier to change gears on the fly without grinding.

An over riding clutch won't work with the way the Woods belt pulley fits on the L175. Every one I have ever seen will extend the PTO shaft about 4", which would create all kinds of problems with the blet alignment system and safety guardsd. Not to mention needing a belt approximately eight inches longer.

The three blades on the L59 take about a second to spin down, and have very little inertia; nothing like waiting for the heavy blade and flywheel on a five foot or larger brushhog to spin down.

No, I don't think it has that PTO clutch attachment. Does the Woods L59 pulley fit well on one of those?

By the way, what range of metric wrench sizes will I need? Also, I assume the nut for the blades on the belly mower are in SAE, does anyone know what size it is?

Thanks again, from someone with a lot of L175 experience, but from a LONG time ago.

Most of the things I have done to my L175 were accomplished within the range of 10-19mm, with the exception of rebuilding the steering box. So you are probably good to go with a normal set of metric sockets and wrenches.

The catch to all of that is the Woods mower. Everything on it with the exception of the bolts that screw into the tractors casting is SAE.

The bolts that hold the blade on the mandrel are 15/16" (IIRC) and LEFT hand thread. An air impact is the easiest way to get them off, without it you will need to figure out how to hold the blade to keep it from turning while trying to loosen the bolt. I used a log chain to the front of the tractor, before I started using the impact gun.

Be very careful about how you raise and block the tractor when you reach under it to service the blades; it is a very small tractor, but still weighs more than I want to try to catch or support with my body.

The 18186 belt can be bought from vbeltsforless.com for about half the price from the Woods dealer.

Robert

 

[coss]

Well, I went and took another look at the tractor, and I have some questions for the experts.

First, there is a fair amount of what looks like exhaust smoke coming out of the breather tube at all engine speeds. Is that a sign of trouble?

Also, the mower deck bogged down to the point where the blades stopped turning in grass no more than about 4" long. The belt looked pretty worn, and the blades are dull, but could there be more gremlins out there I haven't thought of?

The 3 point hitch arms have been removed, and the dealer says there are no replacements available. While the primary purpose of the tractor is to cut grass, it would be nice to have the 3 point available for future use. How much would the absence of these parts deduct from the expected price?

Thanks for the help.

Coss

 

[Orange Tractors]

Well, I went and took another look at the tractor, and I have some questions for the experts.

First, there is a fair amount of what looks like exhaust smoke coming out of the breather tube at all engine speeds. Is that a sign of trouble?

Engine blowby is never a good sign, in my experience. Look at Matt's (Stumpy) rebuilding thread for some of the possible problems.

On the other hand, maybe it just needs some normal Prevemtive maintenance; like adjusting the vavles and replacing the air filter.

Also, the mower deck bogged down to the point where the blades stopped turning in grass no more than about 4" long. The belt looked pretty worn, and the blades are dull, but could there be more gremlins out there I haven't thought of?

Sounds like a very loose and worn belt to me, 4" grass should not be tall enough to cause even a round edged blade to stop turning. Did you have the PTO in the 1000 RPM position and the tractor at PTO speed?

Could be bad or dry bearings in the blade mandrels also.

The 3 point hitch arms have been removed, and the dealer says there are no replacements available. While the primary purpose of the tractor is to cut grass, it would be nice to have the 3 point available for future use. How much would the absence of these parts deduct from the expected price?

The bad thing is you can't just go to the local farm store and pick up a set of 3PH arms, the ones they carry are usually sized for a Ford 8N or Massey Ferguson 35. The good thing is they are usually available from the tractor salvage yards on the internet. You would have to factor in the cost of shipping.

Thanks for the help.

Coss

Without actually seeing the tractor run, it is very hard to say just how much it is worth. Is the dealer willing to give you any kind of warantee, or is it a "Once you pay for it, its your mess" type of deal?

To be honest, the "...there is a fair amount of what looks like exhaust smoke coming out of the breather tube at all engine speeds." concerns me more than the blades dragging down, which sounds more like a belt problem than anything really wrong.

It is good that you are doing some homework, instead of just saying I want it.

Good luck, whichever way you go,

Robert

 

[coss]

The dealer would much rather sell new, expensive machines than deal with a low-budget used item. If I buy it, it won't have a warranty, and he has made it very clear he doesn't want to spend any of his mechanics' time getting it into better shape. The counter clerk is a nice kid who has gone around the boss to help me out a bit, but there's a limit to what he can do on the sly.

The current price is $2200 without the 3 point hitch parts, and in need of a battery and the mower belt. He said he could get $2000 for it if he took it to the junkyard.

Is the exhaust coming out the breather tube a symptom that it overheated once and now has low compression?

 

[Stumpy]

Its certainly was on mine. Sounds like a lack of power too which could be another indicator of overheat. Unless hes willing to do about 1/3 of that I'd let that one go. Excess smoke out the breather can almost only be from the rings.

 

[coss]

Guys, thanks very much for the advice.

coss