I was talking to a friend telling him about my tractor. He asked if when I tore it down to paint and replace seals, if I was going to throw an engine rebuild kit into it? I told him I wasn't planning to.

But that would be the time to do it.

So, how does a fellow determine if they need a kit? I mean, my tractor runs. Granted, it wasn't running great, but I think that had to do with the carb, and maybe manifold gasket. The carb is getting professionally rebuilt by RustyFarmall, and I have new gaskets and proper mounting kit for the manifold.

Is it dependent on a compression test? (Which I've never performed). Or are there other factors?

I don't WANT to spend the $600 for a new engine kit. But I do want this tractor to last for years and years and perform with little to no problems after I'm done restoring it. Since it won't be doing any heavy labor, other than pulling floats, I just don't know if I need one, or should get one anyway. The $600 would take me a long time to put together, and that would delay my restoration even further. I mean, I'm looking at $1000 for new rear tires!

Opinions and advice are appreciated.

mike, it will depend on how your engine is running. does it smoke blue? burn excessive oil? short on power? if not, run a compression test. all spark plugs removed, throttle in wide open position. all cylinders should be within about 10% of each other. compression can run anywhere from 75 psi on upwards of 150psi, depending on pistons and head combinations. if all seems ok, i would not major the motor at this time. its gonna have light duty for years to come, not runnin full throttle doing tillage operations.

Well its alot more then 600, becuase when you take it apart you should have the head checked and such, But if it isnt broke dont fix it. if its not smoking or lacking power, just not worth it

Nope, not smoking at all. Just sputtered a bit the last time I ran it. Sounded... I'm not sure how to describe it. Almost as if the timing was off maybe? Or something just wasn't "in tune" I guess. Which is why I thought it could be the carb. When I took the manifold off, the gaskets were ugly, and probably weren't creating a good seal. So maybe that was part of it.

I'll look for someone who has a compression tester I can borrow and go from there.

Mike, If you have an auto zone near you they lend tools for pretty cheap if you cant find one

I would be very careful about doing an engine kit now. If its not smoking just go on . Foget the kit. As said below it will cost much more than $600 when you open it up. I found out the hard way. As far as tires, I put new rear tires on my M for less than $600 . Look at several different sizes because I found out that the more popular tires sell for lots more than what I got.(Which were 15.8's)

Even if the compression test comes out bad, don't just automatically assume you need to overhaul the block... could be a valve problem that could be corrected with some head work.

$600 will just get you started.

I don't have a lot to add besides even a worn engine will give you good service. My BN needs to be redone, but with everything tuned properly it still holds it's own.

Unless the oil pressure is way down or your blowing blue smoke they old girls still preform pretty well.

K

Ok, thanks for the opinions gents. I'll do the compression test when I can, and report the results. But I'll skip the kit, which will save me a lot. Thanks!

Nah not needed for its purpose, (probably not needed at all. Enjoy it a while and you will find it will last forever as you intend it to be operated. (I also believe there are reasonable insurance options for pulling a float or hayride.) JimN

If you find one, let me know. I'm going to hold off searching till I'm ready for it.

If the tractor pulls the occasional float, rides a tractor tour, jaunt down to the mail box, starts & runs OK, or other things "in retirement", that will drive one decision.

If the tractor is at work, and possibly needs a little more oomf to get the work done, that will drive another decision.

If your tractor is in retirement, holds reasonable oil pressure, burns a little oil, thus using 2 quarts of oil per year, and a set of spark plugs, you can buy a lot of these over the years to realize the cost saving of a rebuild.

On several of my tractors, re-ringing it brings back a lot of lost life for little dollars.

Many people spend a lot of dollars to rebuild tractors to near new, then let them sit in the barn other than a few hours each year running around at tractor shows. Kinda of a waste in my eyes, but if you have the dollars, I can't tell you what to do with them.

Guess it all depends on what you really need for your tractor to do.

Pete

Mike, I can't remember if you're married or not, but if you are please tell your wife to slap you upside the head any time you start pondering rebuilding the engine in your H. :lol:

Of course, I am (mostly) kidding, but you strike me as a "if it ain't broke don't fix it" kind of guy... and you're falling for the "since I'm already this far into it I may as well..." trap.

Sputtering can be fixed with carburetor and ignition work.

Until that thing is a knockin' and a hammerin' so bad you can't stand it, or the blue smoke is so bad you can't see, or you switch from filling the gas and checking the oil to filling the oil and checking the gas, leave it alone

In considering compression, please note that all cylinders should be close to equal in pressure. If one is considerably different than the others, you need to find out why. good luck!