stumpy Posted November 9, 2003 Posted November 9, 2003 Greetings all, Stuffed the new crank breather in the B this afternoon. Fired right up, as usual...had a little smoke from the residual oil that had earlier been sent up the stack in liquid form, but once that burned off things were right back to normal...much better than billowing clouds and motor oil pouring out. Of course, all that oil coating should prevent any internal corrosion in my exhaust system for the immediate future :). Gotta look at the bright side on this stuff. Temps jumped up to near 40 here today...only a couple of inches of white stuff left in the open, and none under the trees. That won't last long. Thanks for all the input on my earlier dilemma. Luckily the problem was what I figured it was...and by far the easiest and cheapest solution. Something to put in the books for keeping an eye on when the weather gets cold and snowy, me thinks. The old breather seems to be OK, but over time the build-up of material in there must've allowed for easy clogging when the temps hit single-digits.
dirtsaver Posted November 9, 2003 Posted November 9, 2003 Bob was the crankcase breather the one that mounts on the block under the starter/generator? If so, did you clean it or find a new one to put in. I have a smoker that I'm hoping can be cured that way too. Larry
MPH Posted November 9, 2003 Posted November 9, 2003 Glad to hear your up and running and got by the cheap way. Since you appartently have to park it outside you should loosen the engine mount bolts and slide a oil pan heater under it. Plu in for an hour and they start like summer, with flowing oil...MPH
stumpy Posted November 9, 2003 Author Posted November 9, 2003 Larry, This one is a B-112 with a cast iron 12 horse. The crank breather is under the carb and doubles as a valve cover. Every one of the 112/212/3000-3400 series I've seen had their breathers in this spot if they were original (for what that's worth). It was stuck and forcing not only clouds of smoke but quite a bit of liquid oil out the exhaust...rather alarming. How much smoke do you have? It's always a good idea to check the breather as a maintenance issue. Seems most of the "casual smokers" I've been around needed rings though. Marty, I usually have her inside but a Gravely that's getting a homemade ignition is in the way, so the Homesteader 8 and the B are tarped and under a tree right now. Have a heavy canvas tarp and blanket and both an electric and a mini-propane heater (in case the electricity blips) close at hand for tractor warm-up duty, although I am thinking about the pan heater as you suggested...makes life easier.
dirtsaver Posted November 9, 2003 Posted November 9, 2003 Bob my tractor in question is a Big Ten with the original engine. It likely is rings since I just got it and do not have much of it's history. I was hoping to get by without tearing it down but....... I also have a Simp 3012V so I'm familiar with the crankcase breather you mention. My early B-10 has a factory rebuilt 10hp replacement which also has the one below the carb. Thanks. Larry
stumpy Posted November 9, 2003 Author Posted November 9, 2003 Larry, It might be worth taking off and cleaning up. Of course, sometimes even visual inspection doesn't mean much. When I removed this one and looked it over it appeared to be fine...could sucked and blew on eht tube and it seemed to work as advertised. Already had a new one coming so used it to be sure. I've cleaned and flushed the old one and put it away. Had several years of crud in there. Must've been enough to gum up the works when the temps dropped. I usually keep a closer eye on mechanisms like that...this will ensure that I do in the future. Sure couldn't hurt to pull yours off and clean it up, I reckon. I must be getting lazy...if an engine is running good it takes a whole lot of smoke before I get the gumption up to do rings... "Course, if your other machines are running good you have the luxury of back-up tractor power while one machine is down :).
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