Case 730 Diesel

RBiela · Dec 28, 2011

I just purchased my grandfathers 1966 Case 730 Diesel Comfort King from the gentleman that purchased it from my grandfather nearly 20 years ago. Tractor runs and seems like everything works just needs some TLC. The tractor has a history of blowing piston tops off. It did it to my grandfather a couple of times back when he owned it and the gentleman that I purchased it from said it did it to him a couple of times. The last time it did it he did a complete in frame overhaul and exchanged heads since the old ones were cracked and the engine had some wear. My question is has anyone else experienced this with the pistons blowing and if so do you know what caused it?

Anonymous-0 · Dec 28, 2011

Not sure what you mean by blowing piston tops off. On a gas engine i would say timing problems or cheap fuel and preignition burning holes in pistons. 730 and 830 with 10,000 hours and never had that kind of problem.

Dr. Ed · Dec 28, 2011

Case tractors of that era were known to not tolerate too much ether (starting fluid) for cold starts. It tended to break the ring lands and then other bad things would happen. IH, Cummins and Cat seemed to be able to knock and hammer for a while with ether and not show damage.

RBiela · Dec 28, 2011

When I say blow off the top of the piston I mean the top of the piston would stay in the cylinder and detach while the skirt continued to go up and down with the connecting rod. This would only happen to one cylinder and the other three would keep the engine running roughly until it died or was shut off. I"m not sure if it was always the same cylinder. I never wittnessed it I was just told about it. I don"t think ether was ever used but grandpa seemed to think it was something to do with the fuel and maybe contaminated diesel.

bradley martin · Dec 28, 2011

Mr Biela: I have owned 3 of these tractors,(still own 1), all diesels and have never had a problem like you describe......I even use varying amounts of either from time to time!! However, if you move your question over to the Case board, you will find some very knowledgeable people to give you their insight and thoughts. It seems strange that this has been an ongoing problem for this tractor. I have always thought of the 267 as being pretty well bullet-proof.

Anonymous-0 · Dec 28, 2011

any possibility the piston is hitting the valve at tdc due to improper machining from the factory? Case's machine tools were well worn by the time the 70 series came out making it difficult to turn out quality work. And of course the 30 series were right before that. Many 504 cranks have the thrusts worn because the bores were not quite square to the deck. One would think the valve would break first but I've seen stranger things happen. Just throwing something out there to consider. We always used either and never had a problem. Are these original cast pistons or aftermarket aluminums?

chess · Dec 28, 2011

I must of had some rare breed of Case tractor as i have used it countless times on my 830 an few on our 930 an have never caused a problem.There is a right way to use it an it will not cause problems.Sparingly!Give it time to reach cylinder!

Case 730 Diesel

RBiela

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Anonymous-0

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Dr. Ed

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RBiela

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bradley martin

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Anonymous-0

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chess

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