so 353 question

[furltech]

i am first going to assume that a 353 in most pieces of gear is interchangeable to an extent .and i was curious as to how hard it is to rebuild one myself .i don't have a lot of experience on the older stuff  .and any of the newer stuff i worked on they just replaced the engines .i was thinking if i seen an old skidder or something with the same engine and tires i would pick it up just to steal for parts, but if a rebuild isn't that bad a job i will save my money until it needs to be done .

[Mark K]

353's aren't to bad to rebuild. They are fairly simple to work on if you know what your doing. I would say the hardest part is setting the rack to make it run right when done. You will need the tools to set they injectors also. I would rebuild the blower and injectors while your at it. If you do decide to swap motors make sure you find one that turns the right way. They changed direction of rotation by swapping the balancer shaft with the camshaft and swapped the head around. Also stay away from the aluminum blocked Detriot's. They used them in marine applications. Don't last long in skidder's. Good luck.

[timberjackrob]

i have never worked on a detroit internally so i cant help you but i have one of the backward detroits markk was talking about in my 208 tj it works fine u just push the shuttle forward to go back and back to go forward and the exhaust comes out on the wrong side can this be changed to run the other way or would you have to get another motor maybe markk can tell me

[Mark K]

It can be reversed but it would be time consuming. Only time I would attempt it is if I was going to overhaul it. Engine has to be tore completely down and basically start over. Balancer shaft gets switched with camshaft. The block is reversed. Detriot blocks are the same end for end on the in lines I know of. My dad and I did a 4-53 in a yard donkey. It is posssible.

[timberjackrob]

thanks mark k i guess ill just live with it tjll the engine goes south ive done got used to the shuttle and i use flexible pipe to cross over so the exhaust exits out the cover on the top but i just dont like the way it looks.

[furltech]

I know it will also depend on where you get them but does any one have a ballpark guess as to what a rebuild kit would cost .??

[madmari]

This thread may have answered my question-I hope. My TJ230  engine fan (3-53)blows air through the radiator. Should it draw air through instead of push it forward? The problem is that any leaking oil is sent into the radiator, making a gooey mess. Can I turn the blade around to draw cool air in from the grill ?

[timberjackrob]

madmari ithink mine blows air out the front but i do have a backward running detroit we used to have an 89 model 240 tj that had a 453 but i cant remember which way the air blowed on it for sure but i think it blowed forward thru the radiator too i had the fan off my 208 the other day to replace the bearing in it but didnt pay any attention if it could be reversed.

[Mark K]

Fan is suppose to push air forward to keep leaves from plugging grill. My 225 is that way, covers radiator with oil over time. I tried to flip the fan around once. Heated up in about 5 minutes. Pitch of the blades weren't made to pull air through. I'd like to find one to pull air for the winter to keep the heat towards the engine.

[Jamie_C]

I know it will also depend on where you get them but does any one have a ballpark guess as to what a rebuild kit would cost .??

I don't remember buddies name but there is a shop between Stella Jones and the turn off for hwy 311 that is a wizard with detroits ... next time you are down to Truro check him out ...

[timberjackrob]

furltech i dont know the exact cost of a overhaul kit now but my brother overhauled a 453 for a guy a couple of years ago i dont think the basic kit is too expensive but after machine work and other things plus labor he could have done a exchange for a reman engine just as cheap and it would have had more new parts plus a warrenty the old timberjack dealer here locally still deals in them and at that time was very reasonable on reman engines

[Randy88]

I"m not sure how your machines are made but I have a 353 in my trencher and we attempted to put a different fan on to suck air instead of blowing it out the front and mine has a large oil cooler in front of the radiator and by sucking air in we ended up running the engine too hot so we put the original fan back on to blow cold air through the raidiator first and into the oil cooler instead of the other way around, by just turning around a normal fan its right that the blade angle is different and won't throw air like it should but even if you have a reversed direction fan put on to suck instead of blow it might solved one problem but create another, just a thing I tried and it didn't work very well, but it did cool the hydraulic oil better with a reversed fan on it but kept the radiator running hotter was the downside, didn't think about that beforehand but afterwards it did make sense.   Just an added thought.