Waukesha engine in a skid steer

[coachgeo]

bought an old CASE 1537 with a transplanted Waukesha diesel (4cyl 180DCL). Waukesha Engine Historical society tells me that by serial number engine is 1957 vintage. Have been studying the drawings and workings of the engine. Was wayyyyyyy ahead of its time with swirl chamber in pistons AND head. Bosh injection too.

anyway.... starter turns way to slow... with MUCH research found an equivalent (maybe??? it is not here yet). Will add coolant heater in radiator hose to help engine start easier too. Need to protect engine.

 

[BruceP]

Those old engines were designed to be fixed 'in the field' using common tools.

If it were me... I would try the following:

Use voltmeter to monitor the voltage AT THE STARTER. (both leads connected at starter) to check voltage while it is cranking. If voltage is too low, suspect bad connections or weak battery.

If that checks out OK I would then remove the original starter and take it apart.
Those old starters were VERY well built and often just need cleaning and lube to get them to spin up to speed.
Clean and lube the bushings on BOTH ends of the motor as well as the spiral gear. Also use FINE sandpaper to clean the copper commutator. Lightly 'scratch' with needle between the commutator coppers to remove debris.

Re-assembling any electric motor with brushes is kinda tricky. DO NO damage the soft-carbon brushes. The brushes need to be held up inside their housings as the rear of the starter is assembled.

It is also likely you will find that the starter is Delco-Remy or some other common name. In this case, new brushes may be available (if needed)

Even the contactor within the bendix is often 'flippable' to renew the contact-surfaces. (I have done this to several old JD dozers which now start just fine)

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

It's possible that it's supposed to be 24 volts to the starter too.

 

[coachgeo]

It's possible that it's supposed to be 24 volts to the starter too.

there is 12v and 24v versions of this engines starter. The engine was shipped with out a starter from manufacture to end user when it first sold

 

[coachgeo]

the starter turned. but slow..... and it smoked. The solenoid did not function at all.

Have possible new starter (cross reference) that will arrive Monday or so. Hopefully it fits.

 

[coachgeo]

starter replaced at a surprise to me good price. (less than 100 bucks) and it is a gear reduction starter. Took a good bit of part number cross referencing to find starter that "should fit" (and did) based on cross references. Ordering by engine model for what appeared to be same type delco remy starter that has not changed in design since it was chosen by company that put this engine in its original home back in 1957.... was over three large bills. Glad took the time to search it. Ended up with better starter, for less than third of the price. Spins the engine fast so she fires right up.

Not sure how tired the shear pin in the drive shaft yoke where it installs on the flywheel end was..... but starter may have spun everything too well. You see; one design flaw? said about this old Uniloader is the transmission and hydraulic pumps are always connected. So when you crank engine... your spinning those parts too; thusss the forces going on when starting are higher than just diesel compression.. Appears that; along with old wear of yoke on engine side, it snapped the shear pin (just a grade 5? bolt). The crankshaft yoke has no splines or key... just the shear pin/bolt thru it and yoke. Yoke's holes for this bolt though are waddled out a bit. This likely didn't help.. suspect that gave it more snap at initial start up as it spun all those items and caused the shear pin bolt to snap and fall out.

when test drove before buying and having it delivered to my house; it all worked fairly well, but starter. . So now that this is solved; will put a grade 8 bolt for shear pin in it tomorrow. Will then get more test driving and light practice in. Once got that practice in; will replace or repair the yoke and go back with a grade 5 shear pin/bolt.

This skid steer was reworked a few owners ago.. more than just engine swap to this old Waukesha diesel was done. What was also modified was the two levers. These levers are used for both steer-locomotion AND for curling bucket; along with up-down of lift arms. in OEM form .... when lever(s) pulled/pushed this put power to wheels for "skid steering" and fwd and reverse locomotion. Left/right of one lever curled the bucket... and left/right of other lever moved the lift arm up/down. Think by watching videos; this is pretty standard still today. I've never used a skid steer. Anyway.... lever control is the part that was reworked...... the bucket curl and lift arm control are now two foot pedals with a toe forward and a heel down action to control bucket curl and lift arms. Levers only operate steer/locomotion. Fine with me...... having never driven one anyway..... it wont change my learning curve I do not think.

side note... kinda cool in that it has a hydraulically adjustable cvt as part of the transmission system.

not the one I bought......... same model

 

[coachgeo]

advice needed.

looks like shear pin/bolt hole is wallowed out in both the crankshaft and the end of the crank..... unless there is a such thing as a shear slot pin.... did some search and have not seen such an animal online.

anyone seen/heard of such a thing.

 

[coachgeo]

small update. while digging around with spare bolts and drill bits as sizers..... found the shear pin/bolt on ground..it was unbroken.. In the past had seen the nut end of this before; with no threads showing from the bolt when it was installed. Apparently the nut came off. the bolt is 3/8 allen head.... hmmm. and the allen wrench I found under the seat fallen into a cavity last week might indicate it was a past problematic issue? Butttt... that might be cause the hole is larger than 3/8. (or it is now larger from waddling?). Tested up a size with drill bit and a 29/64 or 11.5mm bit fits in there.


Was also testing if I could put two pins in there since it is stadium shaped hole now. So far not found a magic combination. To do that thought might go with one pin and one bolt with fender washers to keep pin from coming out..... but the bolt needs to still be substantial enough to act as sheer pin.

 

[coachgeo]

got 7/16th bolt in there.... only size close enough available. Will at some point get something better.

Old starter was so weak the seller to get it started to pull it up on trailer.. loosened the three belt adjustment nuts on the cvt pulley spring to allow it to slip more so starter had less to spin. Im trying to dial this back in.... right now the loader barely moves forward or backward. During my test drive it moved easily in all directions and steered well.

I need to clean belt too though. hydraulic oil got on it and thusly may be slipping adding to issues of dialing it back in, to get it to where it was.

PS- a Uniloader is mechanical / chain drive for locomotion. Only bucket and lift is hydraulic.