My activities for the month of stardate 20666 are/is

[Smucky]

For this month, must get the tractor going.

Left off with

I think I will get back out there Thursday to continue on working.

I guess first order of things,
Clean up head bolts, then get it torqued
Drop in push rods
Then bolt on rock arm assembly
Then turn over engine again with starter with the injectors still out. Engine will be "fully" assembled so should build oil pressure on the gauge.
Then drop oil pan again and pull some bearings to see if any crap has contaminated them.
If NO, then move on to getting all the bottom end torqued, then install oil pan "for real"
Then adjust valve gaps.
Install injectors.
Install fuel lines, turn engine over some more to prime fuel lines before fully tightening.
Then see if it will fire up. Will leave intake and exhaust manifolds off for maximum effect.
Service book says after first start up and warm up to re-torque head bolts again and check valve gaps while hot.

So last I did was

Clean up head bolts, then get it torqued
Drop in push rods

So for tomorrow, got to do the rest

[Smucky]

And now to bed

[Smucky]

And now what I've wasted the entire day instead of doing any actual work. I guess I should get to work on the tractor. can't wait.

[NinjaPoodle]

And now what I've wasted the entire day instead of doing any actual work. I guess I should get to work on the tractor. can't wait.

PXL_20260802_001015229.jpg

Fix that tractor now. No computer work until it is fixed.

BTW. do you need calibrate the lifters with a filler gauge?

[Smucky]

BTW. do you need calibrate the lifters with a filler gauge?

Yes... eventually

[Smucky]

Turned it over without the injectors (hence too loud). Managed to get the oil gauge reading half way but never really any oil coming out any where up top. The rocker shaft is hollow, and the levers have the little hole in the middle top, blowing air in them blows air out the other holes so I know the shaft is hollow. Seems like oil should be coming out

PXL_20260802_011323634.TS.webm

(6.74 MiB) Downloaded 3 times

Also that was a 200mb cell phone vid that after 30 minutes to compress one minute came out to 7mb

But as you can see, no oil coming any where hmm

maybe normal, maybe cold straight 30wt too thick to flow through there. Instructions don't say much but I'll look at the dot alignment on the shaft tomorrow

Also for tomorrow, since I was cranking on it for like 3 minutes total or so with oil pressure built, I will drop all the connecting rod caps and see if any trash in there. If everything clean, I will torque all the bottom end and get the oil pan all the way on permanently

[NinjaPoodle]

Did you prelube the rocker arm and lifters?

[Smucky]

Did you prelube the rocker arm and lifters?

Yea

[Smucky]

Instructions don't say much but I'll look at the dot alignment on the shaft tomorrow

Heh, the alignment dot is nowhere near the opening slot
How could it have moved?

Another shop did the head gasket like 10 years ago. But certainly it hasn't been screwed up since then and no oil flow for 10 years?

[NinjaPoodle]

Instructions don't say much but I'll look at the dot alignment on the shaft tomorrow

Heh, the alignment dot is nowhere near the opening slot
How could it have moved?

Another shop did the head gasket like 10 years ago. But certainly it hasn't been screwed up since then and no oil flow for 10 years?


PXL_20260802_220057900.jpg

Maybe it does flow oil but at the wrong place. Is the lifter arm shaft hollow so that oil goes inside it? The if the shaft is not aligned the the holes where the oil comes out is just pointing at another direction. Still it is a failure of the last mechanic. You should of course align that shaft correctly.

Did you check for scoring on that shaft?

[Smucky]

Too late to post updates. Will do tomorrow. Maybe

[NinjaPoodle]

Too late to post updates. Will do tomorrow. Maybe

[Smucky]

So the hollow shaft the rockers ride on was clearly out of alignment. I checked the torque on those bolts and they were all tight. So there was no way for that shaft to rotate and that means it was messed with/installed wrong from the last shop. Not really sure how the top end could survive 200+ hours of run time with no oil Perhaps on a hot motor the oil was thin enough to get a few drops to the rockers. But that would still leave the "cups" at the top of the push rods dry

Instead of messing with that, I dropped the oil pan again:

Sadly there was quite a bit of rust flakes/chunks at the bottom of the pan. I was hoping the block hasn't gotten rusty enough to have pieces breaking off

Thankfully, pulling the connecting rod bearings didn't show much, but a few black specs of rust embedded in each one. Nothing to worry about it would seem:

Nothing on the journal bearings:

So with that, I torqued everything down there and got the pan back on and poured two gallons of oil in it. But had to stop to mow grass so didn't get back to this until it was pretty dark outside.

Took the rocker arm assembly stuff off and got that aligned. Forgot to get a picture but the support bracket things are also hollow and once the shaft is aligned right you can clearly see the hole in the shaft for the oil flow.

Cranked a bit and it is clear this is how it should work:

PXL_20260803_032345637.TS.webm

(6.13 MiB) Downloaded 1 time

Still don't see how it could have survived with no oil flow. Perhaps luck. The old pictures seem to at least show it not dry.

[Smucky]

[Smucky]

So next up,
Adjust valve gaps.
Install injectors.
Install fuel lines.

The guy that cuts the hay is finally coming out tomorrow after I asked him back in June so if I want to use the barn for hay storage I am going to have get the tractor running within the next week.

[NinjaPoodle]

You need to build a new barn.

[NinjaPoodle]

So the hollow shaft the rockers ride on was clearly out of alignment. I checked the torque on those bolts and they were all tight. So there was no way for that shaft to rotate and that means it was messed with/installed wrong from the last shop. Not really sure how the top end could survive 200+ hours of run time with no oil Perhaps on a hot motor the oil was thin enough to get a few drops to the rockers. But that would still leave the "cups" at the top of the push rods dry

Instead of messing with that, I dropped the oil pan again:

PXL_20260802_235928304.jpg

Sadly there was quite a bit of rust flakes/chunks at the bottom of the pan. I was hoping the block hasn't gotten rusty enough to have pieces breaking off

Thankfully, pulling the connecting rod bearings didn't show much, but a few black specs of rust embedded in each one. Nothing to worry about it would seem:

PXL_20260802_230229322.jpg

Nothing on the journal bearings:

PXL_20260802_234410211.jpg

So with that, I torqued everything down there and got the pan back on and poured two gallons of oil in it. But had to stop to mow grass so didn't get back to this until it was pretty dark outside.

Took the rocker arm assembly stuff off and got that aligned. Forgot to get a picture but the support bracket things are also hollow and once the shaft is aligned right you can clearly see the hole in the shaft for the oil flow.

Cranked a bit and it is clear this is how it should work:

PXL_20260803_032345637.TS.webm

Still don't see how it could have survived with no oil flow. Perhaps luck. The old pictures seem to at least show it not dry.

Normally the oil squirts from the holes at the top of the lifters. Maybe it needs more rpm to build up pressure.

I don't think it was starved from oil since the lubrication holes are pointing to another place but still lubricating the shaft. When the engine is running there is also a film of oil that that gets to everywhere. That's probably why the engine survived.

Anyway, get that engine together and you have two tractors. Two tractors increases your manhood.

[Smucky]

Finally getting hay cut. He insisted he'd be here no later than 9:30, but shows up after 11 so I woke up early for no reason Wanted this cut back in june so he is already 2 months late

[NinjaPoodle]

You're supposed to work on that engine block.

[NinjaPoodle]

You need to post updates of your day, otherwise you will end up in the Deadman's Switch [Thread] list.