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DEUTZ 1918


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DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY THOUGHTS ON THE 1918 DEUTZ ULTIMA-I GUESS IT IS SAME AT SIMPLICITY SUNSTAR.IT HAS KOHLER MAGNUM ENGINE THAT SEEMS TO STILL BE AVAILABLE.WHAT THOUGHTS AND EXPERIENCES ON THIS TRACTOR AND ENGINE CAN ANYONE SHARE TOM
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Yes, the Duetz Ultima is identical to a Sunstar except for paint and decals, there was also an Agco-Allis as well as a Massey-Ferguson edition. The Sunstar has an excellent reputation, many "big tractor" features such as PTO, power steering, 3 pt. hitch and individual rear wheel brakes, the weakest point is the front axle. Apparently they were an expensive design to produce, so the high original selling price prevented them from being overly sucessful. Just before I bought my Kubota, I thought I had a 20 hp Sunstar with a 60" deck bought, but the guy backed out on me because he said he liked the tractor too much. I could never understand why most of the Sunstars came with 18 hp engines and 48" decks, seems such a waste of a fine tractor, apparently it was due to the high production cost as Simplicity was doing whatever they could to get the cost down. The few I have seen at auction sold very well.
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I have experience with only 2 of them both are 1920. But both had cheap ball bearings in the front spindle instead of the tapered roller bearings. What I mean by cheap is that they did not have the standard ball bearing that you would find in the mower deck arbor but the stamped bearing that you would find in a converyor roller. Was this common on the Sunstar chassis? Otherwise they are a solid built tractor, most have hydraulic lift and differential lock also. Good Luck! Mike S.
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Thanks, That is the kind of info I was looking for.Is it just the bearing that are the weak point on front end?IF spindles are heavy enough would better ball or roller bearings correct problem or is entire front axle design too lite?Since a front end loader is my final goal the front in is a concern.Ii have also see quite a few tractors with the Kohler Magnum advertised that had bad engines, is that just because the are about hitting that age or is the a weakness? Thanks again for a great site Tom
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The Sunstar uses the same wheel and looks like the same spindle >>> so I don't know why you couldn't put a tapered roller bearing like the Sovereign has. The Magnum twin engines (M18 and M20) are very good, much better than the KT engines they replaced (KT17 and KT19). They have a full lube system with oil filter. The magnums have electronic ignition. The only issue with the magnums is that many had a fixed carb. jets (emissions I suspose). All of Kohler flat twins had breather problems and tend to smoke and burn oil but are cured with the new breather kit. But any engine can live a short life if the oil is never changed and the fins get plugged with dirt and the engine overheats. I think all twins are more vulnerable to getting plugged up with dirt and grass (smaller space between fins). Good Luck! Mike S.
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Hi, These are very tough tractors. The front wheel bearings are kind of cheesy, but the spindles are 1" as opposed to the rest of the tractor line, keep them well greased and they go a lot of hours. We have one out with the quick detach loader. Great setup. The Magnum engine is basicially the KT series 2 with a few changes. The flywheel and cooling fan are improved, the heads have fins redesigned for better cooling, oil filter standard instead of an option, and they have electronic ignition. We as a policy have never rebuilt these engines and usually installed a new engine. There was only about $150.00 difference between a short block and a new engine. A short block has a 90 day warranty and a new engine 2 years. With the new engine you get a new carb, starter etc. By the time the extra labor to short block it came into play the new engine was cheaper. The engines for these are no longer being made due to the EPA. We are repowering one of these [DA 1920] right now with a Command. In our territory, our distributor is in parts of 14 states there still 5 of these engines. Effective August 1 the price went to 2200+ dollars. I belive that short blocks are now in the 18 or 1900 range, I haven't looked them up, but have had a number of calls from around the country about repowers and this was what I heard. The tractor we have in has 1000 hours on it and the engine blows the front oil seal out. [Shot] The Mag is over $2200 and our kits are $2495. With our kit you get a Command engine, double the rated life, more fuel efficient, cooler running, new electric clutch, muffler, driveshaft, PTO belts, heat shields, wiring adaptor harness, adaptor plate to mount the engine, plus a whole bunch of other smaller parts and complete step by step instructions. This customer is going with the kit. In this case the engine would probably be rebuildable, but you would still have old technology, old carb, charging system, starter etc. and a lot of money in it. After one adds the shop labor. Usually when these blow they punch a hole in the opposite side of the crankcase and since they are sold in pairs and very expensive and rebuilding is not realistically an option then. If one does the work themselves this changes the picture, but to hire it done is how we have to look at it. Regarding the 48 inch mower. There a lot of people that don't want the 60" deck because of obstacles they need to mow around or the yard is so uneven they want to get away from the 'Bridging" of the 60" deck. Also they don't want to pay the extra bucks. Me, call me TIM the tool man, I would HAVE to have a 60" The used Sun Star 60s we have sold with the repower kit in and the mower decks gone through have been clean and we got $4000. for There are a lot of Legacys sold with 48" deck, Simplicity actually did special pricing a year ago for them to be the other replacement option for the Sovereign. The new families of tractors are very nice and have some neat features and lower pricing this year. My 2 cents worth and its free, value accordingly Good luck, Al Eden
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I agrre with bro Les,, they have many big trac features at small trac prices.As far as the magnum goes its a fine eng,just dont run it low on oil[mow on steep side hill!] or more importantly get a rat's nest in it.NOW if I could just get them to make a SHUTTLE DRIVE in it,,hmm,,[That was 4 you Les Bud!,,lol,,]
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I have a 20hp/60" deck Sunstar and think this tractor is great! I would like to point out that only the 20hp models came standard with power steering, locking/2 speed differental & independent wheel brakes.
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