Beautiful day here:

[Rob]

Feeling a bit better and really nice outside, I decided it would really be nice to convert some diesel fuel to smoke and noise so went out to the shop. It took damned near everything I had in me to couple these together but I did get it done:

That tractor with double the horsepower and live PTO from what I'm accustomed too is one hell of a difference to mow with. Being ballasted it is just of 7K in weight.

I mowed the bulk of the shop property in about 1/2 the time it normally takes and this tractor didn't even attempt to slow down. Very smooth, quiet, and powerful. Given I have many black friends and am routinely referred to as "Honkey", I christened this tractor with the name given it is a "White Farm Equipment" brand. Many have had a good laugh over this.

Going to retain the former tractor, "Hercules" which I've had since 1997 as still a very good tractor; just a wee bit small for the tasks needed. Figuring I'd build some kind of hitch for the three point to make moving things around the shop a bit easier, I looked online for ideas. I ran across one of these for less than $60.00 and cannot build something less expensive, so ordered this to fit the category 1 hitch. This will allow the slip in of either a pintle hook, or ball end of any size being a 2" square receiver:

Went to move my air compressor a couple weeks ago and it is quite tongue heavy with no adjustment to the roller wheel. Trouble with this is if I jerk the tongue up, many times the compressor just rotates on the axle and the lunette ring points at the sky. I don't have enough ass on me to force it back down so need a chain or a bar to rotate it back down. I've found a floor or bottle jack is the tool to use to latch it into a truck to pull it with.

Once I get that hitch adapter installed this will no longer be a problem to move either the compressor, car, or skid loader trailer around with relative ease.

Also got to mow with my new to me Woods zero turn mower also today. The engine is a fresh 25hp Kubota diesel and this was it's first use since rebuild. I really like it and it really has a lot of power yielding a nice cut:

Picture is just before I pulled the engine to rebuild it. Don't know what went wrong but 318.2 hours and it started throwing the oil out of the engine. Did not blow up but the mains were chewed up good. I had the crank turned .2mm and installed new bearing carriers along with having the rotating assembly balanced and it is very smooth. It was a trade in at work on a new "Grasshopper" mower and ran well, but wouldn't keep the oil internalized.....

Had to move both my R-612 which hasn't been started in three months, and my B-61S to move and allow for mowing. Both started as had ran last week so all good. I then went out back and fired up my 79 IH4200 just cause I needed to hear a two stroke scream as it converted fuel to smoke and noise quite easily.

All in all a good day for me.

 

[Rob]

Found these of the Kubota engine teardown:

Setting up to remove engine:

Used one of my automotive lifts to both test the setup, and extract the engine:

Built a stand to hold the engine for teardown and eventual reassembly:

Fretting on number 2 rod bearing:

Crankshaft is a forging and it's toughness prevailed as it could have been polished and standard bearings installed:

Most forward bearing carrier with a little wear/blueing from heat. I'm certain this was lubricant starvation:

Second main bearing carrier with substantially more damage:

Third, (rear) main bearing carrier really chewed up good:

This rear carrier had enough wear in it the crankshaft would actually "woller" in the clearance allowing engine oil to bypass the rear main seal.

Main bearing shells:

I was absolutely astounded when the crank grinder I use told me the crank would polish as there was really nothing wrong with it. I still wanted it ground and balanced. He does a lot of race engines so quite competent in his line of work.

There have been many, many updates to this series of Kubota engine over the years and this one now has the latest ones incorporated. With the rotating assembly balanced, it runs much smoother than a brand new Grasshopper, or Woods mower using the same series of engine being brand new.

Overall I'm into the mower complete for just under half what it could be sold for on average. The power of true friendship was a player in this one as the folks I help out delivering equipment were the dealer involved.

[fjh]

13 hours ago, Rob said:

Feeling a bit better and really nice outside, I decided it would really be nice to convert some diesel fuel to smoke and noise so went out to the shop. It took damned near everything I had in me to couple these together but I did get it done:

That tractor with double the horsepower and live PTO from what I'm accustomed too is one hell of a difference to mow with. Being ballasted it is just of 7K in weight.

I mowed the bulk of the shop property in about 1/2 the time it normally takes and this tractor didn't even attempt to slow down. Very smooth, quiet, and powerful. Given I have many black friends and am routinely referred to as "Honkey", I christened this tractor with the name given it is a "White Farm Equipment" brand. Many have had a good laugh over this.

Going to retain the former tractor, "Hercules" which I've had since 1997 as still a very good tractor; just a wee bit small for the tasks needed. Figuring I'd build some kind of hitch for the three point to make moving things around the shop a bit easier, I looked online for ideas. I ran across one of these for less than $60.00 and cannot build something less expensive, so ordered this to fit the category 1 hitch. This will allow the slip in of either a pintle hook, or ball end of any size being a 2" square receiver:

Went to move my air compressor a couple weeks ago and it is quite tongue heavy with no adjustment to the roller wheel. Trouble with this is if I jerk the tongue up, many times the compressor just rotates on the axle and the lunette ring points at the sky. I don't have enough ass on me to force it back down so need a chain or a bar to rotate it back down. I've found a floor or bottle jack is the tool to use to latch it into a truck to pull it with.

Once I get that hitch adapter installed this will no longer be a problem to move either the compressor, car, or skid loader trailer around with relative ease.

Also got to mow with my new to me Woods zero turn mower also today. The engine is a fresh 25hp Kubota diesel and this was it's first use since rebuild. I really like it and it really has a lot of power yielding a nice cut:

Picture is just before I pulled the engine to rebuild it. Don't know what went wrong but 318.2 hours and it started throwing the oil out of the engine. Did not blow up but the mains were chewed up good. I had the crank turned .2mm and installed new bearing carriers along with having the rotating assembly balanced and it is very smooth. It was a trade in at work on a new "Grasshopper" mower and ran well, but wouldn't keep the oil internalized.....

Had to move both my R-612 which hasn't been started in three months, and my B-61S to move and allow for mowing. Both started as had ran last week so all good. I then went out back and fired up my 79 IH4200 just cause I needed to hear a two stroke scream as it converted fuel to smoke and noise quite easily.

All in all a good day for me.

 

What engine powers the the Honkey tractor Rob?
Nice looking unit! I have a 1972 David brown on my little claim here tough as nails! its powered by Perkins as one would expect given the name! Its my wheel borrow wy forklift  powers everything I got from my saw mill to my rototiller! would love to have a 3 point mower !

[Rob]

Hi Fred;

This one has an Isuzu diesel. 199 cubic inch. My wife worked with the original purchaser for over 30 years and he did custom bale work for high end horses with this tractor. Never abused, never left out of doors so very nice. 53.2 drawbar horsepower and very smooth. 16 speed transmission and independent PTO either engine, or ground driven.

I purchased that mower new in 1999 and it cuts as well as a riding tractor but I've always had to mow slow having only 23 PTO horsepower available with "Hercules". The mower deck requires 28 PTO horsepower according to Woods. Hydraulic power steering is nice but a bit "loose" feeling for me but the tractor is a larger frame so this would be expected.

I installed these new Firestone four rib tires to be a bit easier on the grass during turns and glad I did. They will readily dig into the turf so something that needs accounted for when mowing:

Original three rib tires:

Replacement four rib type:

Currently has 14.9-28 rubber on the rear and I'm going to install 16.9-28 rubber. Tires are original and tractor is a 1984 build so time citing age before problems arise. Original tires are Firestone and I'll stay with the same although cheaper can be had; I'm told the name brands are still the best and I'll have this tractor a lot of years moving forward.

Thanks,

 

 

[Rob]

Never was around David Brown tractors or implements myself but I do understand they were very well designed and built. Just don't see many of them around here other than collectors. Perkins was a very common power plant in those days as Massey-Ferguson owned them at the time and vendored the engines to most anybody willing to purchase. 

It's amazing how universal a compact frame tractor is around either a small farm, or homestead. They get pressed into service for anything it seems and there are attachments galore available for most anything. I'm going to build a pull behind hydraulic box scraper sometime this spring so I can do a better job maintaining roadways and drives that my truck frame and cement block affair does behind my skid steer. It is too heavy for "Hercules" to drag even with ballasted rear tires.

[Rob]

Tractor hitch is on the way. Getting anxious to try this out as first project is to move my large air compressor, (Junior) around to the back of the shop to get him permanently plumbed into the building:

6V-71 powered 750cfm unit that runs like a fine Swiss watch. Very efficient at converting liquid diesel fuel to smoke and quite a bit of noise if the doors are open; otherwise really pretty quiet.

 

[Brocky]

Rob, Did Detroit make many 6V-71's???? A man was asking me at a show recently and I did not know the answer😓..

[Rob]

Yes, they made a LOT of them in both natural aspirated, and turbocharged. Really a good engine and relatively compact. This one is naturally aspirated:

 

[1965]

Never seen a turbo charged 6V-71, not saying they weren’t. Bunch 6V-71’s in city buses had them, & worked on gen sets in the Le Tourneau cranes. Not as popular as the 6-71. My opinion, Detroit had a very good stationary engine. Truck engine not good. (My opinion). 
I’m thinking the 6V-71 was rated a little less than the 6-71 in hp. & torque.

Edited April 28, 2021 by 1965

[Rob]

We had a lot of 6V-71T series in generator service along with 6-71T. They were both dead reliable in those applications. Most of the 6V-71T engines in trucks I seen were of the short hood variety such as the Louisville Ford cab and General Motors products. They fit nicely and didn't require much of a doghouse in the cab. I do think they were heavily overshadowed by the 6V-92 series which were all turbocharged. This engine was seemingly troublesome unit the "Silver" series made it's debut and then it joined the ranks of reliability with the 71 series.

From what I remember with the 6V-71T series was you could get power from them but they didn't hold up that long. The 6V-92T could easily attain 350 reliable and live; especially after about 1976 when they had aftercooling incorporated. These became 6V-92TA and I believe the 6V-71T was also offered with aftercooling. Both the 6V-71T, and 6V-92T were built at the same time also for a spell.

My opinion is there is no finer engine on generator duty than a two stroke Detroit.

[Hayseed]

On 4/26/2021 at 10:50 PM, fjh said:

What engine powers the the Honkey tractor Rob?
Nice looking unit! I have a 1972 David brown on my little claim here tough as nails! its powered by Perkins as one would expect given the name! Its my wheel borrow wy forklift  powers everything I got from my saw mill to my rototiller! would love to have a 3 point mower !

What Model David Brown do you have fjh..??  & any chance of a Pic (or 2)

I've never heard of (or seen) a Perkins Powered David Brown Tractor..

 

But More than Happy to learn something New..

[fjh]

3 hours ago, Hayseed said:

What Model David Brown do you have fjh..??  & any chance of a Pic (or 2)

I've never heard of (or seen) a Perkins Powered David Brown Tractor..

 

But More than Happy to learn something New..

I will see if I can upload A pic bro ! if You google 72  880 David brown  its an 880 12 sp  live drive two speed PTO ! the only thing I am missing is power steering it would be helpful for the stuff I do with it! I'm pretty hard on it, I mostly log with it! The saw mill is run off the pto as well! how ever as stated Its my swiss army knife around the yard, Would feel hopeless when its not running!

[Hayseed]

Is it Like this one,   http://www.tractordata.com/farm-tractors/005/0/0/5008-david-brown-880.html

 

It says It has a David Brown Engine.. 

[Rob]

Oh man, new blades on the deck coupled with adquate power to drive it and the cut is as good as you would get with a lawn tractor in your residence front yard. Extremely nice to be able to drop a gear to slow down for manipulating near structures and the PTO not stop turning too.

Going to need to address the front end "dig" when turning however. Maybe lose the front weights on the tractor as the outer wheel in a turn will really cut a "trench" in the turf if not gradual enough. No slippage on the 35, (or so) degree ditch sides in front of the shop and tractor is very stable mowing these. I have to hold onto the arm wrest as the seat bun is larger than my ass, (believe it or not) and slippery vinyl so easy to slide around in. 

Tried various ground speeds and like 3rd speed gear in medium range. The cut quality begins to suffer if faster although most would still find this acceptable.

Lots of fun learning new equipment sometimes and this is no exception.

[Hayseed]

16 hours ago, Rob said:

Going to need to address the front end "dig" when turning however. Maybe lose the front weights on the tractor as the outer wheel in a turn will really cut a "trench" in the turf

Uncouple the Brake pedals & apply some pressure to the "inside" Brake pedal will stop that outside front Wheel "bulldozing" a Trench !!

[Rob]

6 hours ago, Hayseed said:

Uncouple the Brake pedals & apply some pressure to the "inside" Brake pedal will stop that outside front Wheel "bulldozing" a Trench !!

Yes, that does lessen the "dig" but the tractor is heavy on the front and the ground is still quite soft from the spring rains. It will improve as it dries up a bit.

Thanks,

 

[fjh]

On 4/28/2021 at 4:04 PM, Hayseed said:

Is it Like this one,   http://www.tractordata.com/farm-tractors/005/0/0/5008-david-brown-880.html

 

It says It has a David Brown Engine.. 

Yup that's it! The engine was a joint effort thing same deal as Ford 6.9  and IHC back in the day ! you build an engine for us to our spec and we will call it ours! 

[Rob]

Hitch arrived today and I'm quite happy. Very heavy built and good welds. Maybe China built but it is "Titan" attachments out of Memphis, TN branded.

Only thing I didn't like was no lock washers where the bottom pins thread into the weldment for retention. I installed grade 8 split lockwashers and blue Loctite on the threads so it's shouldn't vibrate loose.....

[RowdyRebel]

Working on my grandpa's 8n...no spark. Messed with it about 15 years ago...battery, oil, plugs, wires, cap, rotor, points, condenser...still nothing. So, I moved it from grandpa's to my place where it's been sitting in the front yard. I've been wanting to get it running, but nothing is more motivating than a 3 year old who LOVES tractors nagging you to fix it. So, I tore back into it...pulled the distributor to recheck the points. They're correct. Still no spark. Pulled it again (no easy task...front mount, and it's got a loader, so there's extra stuff in the way) this time with my multi-meter. Showing 30 ohms resistance between the screw (that's SUPPOSED to be isolated) where the wire from the condenser connects to the points and the distributor housing with the points open. If it's grounding there, OF COURSE it won't be making any spark! So, I was going to get one of those rubber plug deals with the brass threads that squish into place when you tighten the screw...but being a front-mounted distributor, there's going to be some heat in there and I'm not sure how long that rubber deal would hold up. That and I found a breaker plate assembly for under $30. I was pretty stoked when it showed up at the post office in time to be picked up Saturday morning...wasn't expecting it 'til Monday, which would mean it'd be next weekend before I could do anything with it. This afternoon, pulled the distributor...again...removed the breaker plate assembly...inserted the new one....and cussed. What the hell am I supposed to do with this? I would've been better off if they'd just not drilled/tapped the hole at all rather than putting it a hair off like they did. This low-quality aftermarket part has me seriously considering that rubber thingamabobber.

[davehummell]

I have had the pleasure of working on the same model tractor with the sh-t bucket loader frame and the front mount dist. is a real pain to adjust the points. I had a 52 it had a side mount dist. way easier to mess with the points. 

[other dog]

On 4/27/2021 at 11:48 PM, Rob said:

 

"...My opinion is there is no finer engine than a two stroke Detroit."

So, what do you think about that, 1958FWD?

[Rob]

7 hours ago, other dog said:

So, what do you think about that, 1958FWD?

Silence suggests agreement.

[Rob]

SOB I like this hitch. Makes moving things around the shop so much easier:

 

Back up, lift the 3point and go.

[mrsmackpaul]

Only down side with that style hitch is it allows the tractor and trailer to put you in sticky situations before you know whats happened 

It puts a lot of weight a long way back, ideal for just poking around the yard but very unpredictable at speed 

Good luck and enjoy

 

Paul

[Rob]

1 hour ago, mrsmackpaul said:

Only down side with that style hitch is it allows the tractor and trailer to put you in sticky situations before you know whats happened 

It puts a lot of weight a long way back, ideal for just poking around the yard but very unpredictable at speed 

Good luck and enjoy

 

Paul

I would agree Paul but I'll not use it for anything except moving trailers around the property to mow. That air compressor has almost 350# of tongue weight to it when horizontal to the ground and it is so much easier to not have to use a truck to move it.

I purchased that tractor in April of 1997 out of the weeds as the owner said the engine was blown. All it had wrong was a rusted/corroded starter motor brush holder. After telling the former owner what the problem was and offering the tractor back to him for repair costs, he told me "I" got a good deal on a tractor has he'd already replaced it. Been a good one and I like it but "Honkey" is so much nicer to mow with having the power needed for my mower deck.