My Kubota project

[gurn]

I was given this L175 that went through a flood we had here last year. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohwFgtQkhyw I went over today and put the wheel on that I repaired. I also removed the Woods mower deck to make it easier to load on a trailer. I plan to go and pick it up this Sat. I don't know the present condition of the motor so I sprayed some penetrating oil into the glow plug holes. It was suppose to be a good running tractor before the flood. When I get it home I will drain the oil,fuel and change the filters before I try and start it. I will also clean the starter and alternator before trying to start it also. If it seems to run alright then I will change the trans. oil and go from there. Any advice I can get from you all will be appreciated. This is the first tractor I have restored so I'm sure I'm going to need a lot of guidance. Vic, thanks for the videos on steering gearbox rebuilding as this one is going to need to be done. Do you sell an all in one kit with all the parts you showed in your videos? I sure have learned a lot from this site and others in the last week or so.
Gurn.

 

[pat331]

gurn, you may have a real jewel hidden under all that dirt/mildew. Please check one thing before you try to turn it over. Make sure there is no water in the cylinders. Or try to turn it over with the glow plugs out. My brother tried to start an old IH that had got rainwater down in one of the cylinders. He succeeded in bending that rod, busting the piston, scaring the sleeve, and other related damage. If he'd pulled the glow plugs and then tried to turn it over, it would have blown out the water and saved him a bunch of money and trouble. Thanks for sharing. Good Luck and keep us posted.

 

[gurn]

Thanks for that advice, I would not have thought of that but it makes so much sense and so simple. You may have just saved me from destroying the motor. I will let you know if water squirts out but I'm crossing my fingers that water didn't make it in there. If there is water in there what are the chances that it will need rebuilding?

 

[pat331]

I would try turning the engine over using a wrench or socket/breakover bar. Hopefully, the engine is free and will turn. If it won't turn, then you've got a whole different can of worms to deal with. I'm betting it will turn over. If you get water to come out of either of the glow plug holes, that means one of the valves was open when it went through the flood. If it were mine, I'd then remove the head and inspect the cylinder walls for any damage. I'd think that if there is any damage, you could hone the cylinder bore to clean it up and then replace the head. Get rid of all the old fuel, bleed the fuel lines, replace the fuel filter, and I bet it will fire up. You may also want to check the clutch to make sure it isn't frozen to the flywheel. Good Luck and keep us posted.

 

[pat331]

I would try turning the engine over using a wrench or socket/breakover bar. Hopefully, the engine is free and will turn. If it won't turn, then you've got a whole different can of worms to deal with. I'm betting it will turn over. If you get water to come out of either of the glow plug holes, that means one of the valves was open when it went through the flood. If it were mine, I'd then remove the head and inspect the cylinder walls for any damage. I'd think that if there is any damage, you could hone the cylinder bore to clean it up and then replace the head. Get rid of all the old fuel, bleed the fuel lines, replace the fuel filter, and I bet it will fire up. You may also want to check the clutch to make sure it isn't frozen to the flywheel. Good Luck and keep us posted.

 

[gurn]

Thanks for that good advice and will do.

 

[gurn]

Got her home today and have some bad news and may be some good news. First thing I did was drain the oil,the thing is there was about a gallon of water that came out first. So then I removed the oil pan but it just looked oily in there. The water came out clean with no rust or funk. Then the starter was removed and the glow plugs again to spray a bit more penetrating oil in there.To my surprise the motor turned easily with just a screwdriver on the flywheel teeth. So the rings weren't rusted up and from looking up into the crankcase at the cylinder walls I could see that they were clean and shiny. My plans now are to fill it with oil, crank it from the front with an air socket driver to flush the new oil through the system then drain that oil. I will need to get a gasket for the oil pan and maybe one for the valve cover. I wonder why no rust was able to develop in the engine? Well I've got a lot of work to look forward to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS0AvB2BeQs&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

 

[helomech]

That is great news.

 

[284 International]

You got lucky on this machine, it sounds like! That's great to hear. It's nice to see people bringing stuff back from the dead, so to speak.

I don't think you'll have any luck with the impact wrench spinning the engine over. The impact wrench tends to just hammer away at the fastener, not turning the engine. Your L175, I think, has a compression release. It holds the valve open a little bit so the engine doesn't develop any compression. Activate the release, then just use the starter motor. Without compression, there is probably less wear on things this way than doing it slowly with a wrench under compression, and the pump works better at speed, I think.

After the engine has cranked for 10 or 15 seconds, oil should be everywhere it's going throughout the motor.

If it were my machine, I'd go buy whatever was cheapest in a gallon of 0W-20 or 5W-20 along with the cheapest "will fit" filter. The thin oil will pump more quickly, and will be more likely to go through any partly blocked passages and flush out anything that has accumulated there. After 3 or 4 sessions of spinning it with the compression release activated, I'd pull the dipstick out and see if the oil is milky. If not, go a couple more times, then drain it, put whatever good oil you like in it, replace the filter, and fire that thing.

If it comes out milky, I'd drain it and do the process again until it's no longer milky. I have done this with a Mitsubishi tractor and GMC pickup and it worked great. The pickup has 25,000 miles on it since I did it, and the tractor has a dozen or so hours.

See how much water comes out of the fuel when you drain it, and make sure to bleed the system thoroughly. Same with the hydraulic system minus the bleeding.

Your experience of having the engine sit with water in it and have no significant rust is a good indicator of just how good modern oil really is at preventing corrosion and adhering to engine surfaces.

Good luck, keep us updated!

 

[Orange Tractors]

Sounds like you will have a good little tractor when you get it started. If you had a gallon of water come out of the engine, I would check the hydraulics before I even start it.

When I got my L175, it had sat outside for two or three years. It had enough rain water get into the transmission that you could see it through the fill hole in front of the seat. If I remember correctly it only holds six gallons of hydraulic fluid. This is a great chance to change the fluid and to clean the filter.

I used universal Hy-Trans from the local farm supply store, (it was on sale).

Check and grease all the bearings on the Woods mower before using it. You can download a manual from the Woods website for it. There are less expensive places on the web to buy belts than from the Woods dealer, (like 40% of the cost).

When you remount the mower deck, watch your tire pressure. Mine with turf tires likes twelve psi in all four tires for an even cut.

If you have any mechanical knowledge at all, the steering box isn't that hard to rebuild.

Good Luck,

Robert

 

[gurn]

Thanks for the great advice. I first have to rebuild the starter, its one part that did get real rusty. I plan to crank it over with the glow plugs removed is this a good idea? It didn't look like there was any water in the trans. but I didn't drain it yet. I will do that also in case there is any way down in there,thanks.

 

[gurn]

The starter and alternator were real nasty inside. I'm going to try and replace the brushes as the rest of the parts cleaned up nicely.
I found out the clutch is froze to the flywheel and or pressure plate. Is there a way to free it up through the throw out bearing greasing port? Or will I need to separate the trans from the motor? I don't relay mind doing that as then I can clean that area all up and replace the oil seals.
Gurn.

 

[Orange Tractors]

We freed mine up by pulling the tractor with a pickup. Tractor in a fairly low gear and repeatedly stepping on the clutch pedal. It wasn't stuck all that bad.

There are a few threads on this site about stuck cluthes and how to free them.

Robert

 

[gurn]

Update.. I haven't had the time to go at it full force but I'm getting there. In a few days I should be ready to try and start her up. I rebuilt the starter and alternator and the main wiring seems to checkout ok. Changed the fluids and cleaned the trans. screen. There was a lot of crap that came out of the rear axle drain plugs but I think I got most of it out.Took off the fuel tank and cleaned it out. Just have to reinstall the radiator and new air and fuel filters bleed the lines and see if she will start. I will try and get the first start up on video. Thats it for now. Gurn http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9b2gKfwiKNA

 

[Orange Tractors]

Take your time and do it right the first time, then you won't have to do it again next year.

When bleeding air from the injector lines, be sure you have a good battery or three around. We ended up pulling mine about 500 yards to get all the air out, of course we didn't really have a good battery in the first place.

It wasn't a whole lot of fun, but I have had worse days.

It does make one pretty anal about checking fuel levels bofore operating though.

Robert

 

[300zx]

Gurn, it is looking great! Can't wait to see it fire up. Bringing one of these great tractors back to life is sooooo satisfying.

 

[gurn]

Here is a video of the tractor in two pieces. She is getting her clutch replaced as it was frozen. I rebuilt the pressure plate as well. The rear motor oil seal seems to leak a bit, Dose it just pull out? Or do you have to remove the that plate with all the bolts? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRAMTI7YxUM&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

 

[gurn]

Took the motor outside for a good degreesing and power washing. Amazing that there was a motor under all that gunk. Notice at the end of the video the Blue top on the can of paint, looks to be a very good match to me.If it ever drys up around here may be I can actually do some painting, so dang humid. How do you like my homemade support for the back part of the tractor? It is an old office chair that weighs a ton. Even the two holes that the seat mounted to lined up perfect with attachment screw holes under the trans. case. Bubba strikes again.
Gurn http://www.youtube.com/user/gurn3006?blend=14&ob=5

 

[gurn]

Got the new clutch in and it all went back together easily. I used the "leaving the pressure plate bolts lose and tighten them up after it goes together" method.Then I started to work on the steering box. The bearings had come apart but the shaft and its bearings were clean. So I wont have to replace that. I will try and get the bearings and seals from the dealer here soon. I wanted to test out the new blue paint and it looks nice. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyH5VpB7Es8

 

[gurn]

Here is where I'm at so far. It's starting to look good to me. I need to pick up some more paint. Then to do the rear wheels. It sure is hot here. Thank goodness for a good shop fan. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwFgtAVr4EI