Shade tree mechanic! Whatcha workin on.

[TimW]

Then finally the planetary cover and the wheel assembly.  The sling worked perfect.  Finally, the fender.

[doc henderson]

Nice work Tim.  

[rusticretreater]

The current project is the repair of a 27hp Kubota engine for one of their zero turn mowers.  Doing it for a friend of mine.  A new one(superseded) goes for $3k!  Mower costs $5,500. It had been looked at by a service company who came back with an estimate of over $2k to fix it.

The service company had pulled the valve covers to check things.  I'm still in breakdown, but I found a bent pushrod on one side, the other one missing. The reciprocating assembly(crank,rod,pistons) seems fine.  I can tell by the tappet action the camshaft is broken.  It is usually nylon cast onto a steel rod.  It appears to have taken the governor with it, but I won't know for sure until I crack open the crankcase.

Probably about $500 in parts to fix it, plus a lot of cleaning up of things.

[Resonator]

Well I went to shift it into 4x4 one day and the shifter was just flopping. The clip on the little ball stud linkage on the transfer case had given up to the MN roadsalt.

Sounds like what happened to the linkage on my 4x4. (Only mine is a Ram in WI roadsalt).  
I follow a mechanic on youtube who when he doesn't have a part (like a plastic bushing), he'll print one out on his 3D printer. Kinda mind boggling how they can do that now.

[TimW]

Nice work Tim. 

Thanks Doc.  Do you see the light at the end of the tunnel on getting some time off?

[sprucebunny]

Trying to get my incredibly rusty F450 plow truck to run better. It's a 2000 7.3 diesel with only 63k miles but don't let the low mileage fool you !!! Rust, rust, rust. It will only ever go over 20 MPH if it's loaded on a heavy duty roll-back truck.

Return fuel line is rusted out. Proprietary fittings. A real hair ripper. I am Not taking anything apart to reroute it properly, I'm not using expensive factory-like tubing. Good rubber line taking the long way around. Whatever I need to do to keep the fuel inside the tank and engine.

Might put a new lift/fuel pump on. I bought it but I could wait until the thing dies and do that swap lying in slush.....

[rusticretreater]

I cracked open the case on the kubota engine I am working on.  Apparently the valve adjustment got lose enough for the push rods to jump out of their tappet sockets.  One fell down through the oil return passage into the crankcase. It got wrapped around the camshaft.  No damage to components(other than the pushrods!).

[TimW]

Well that is sweet.  Seems like your friend got lucky.

[doc henderson]

Tim, I cannot see light at the end of the tunnel, but I know it is there.  

[TimW]

I would send you my headlight, but I use it too much in retirement.

[RetiredTech]

Wow that's eye opening. Make me think I should order a couple valve cover gaskets and check my little kubotas valve adjustments. I've never checked either one of them. I just change the oil and filter and put them back to work.

[rusticretreater]

The engine on my john deere tractor got hard to turn over due to the valve adjustment being loose.  It would hold compression too long because the exhaust valve was opening late. 

In the case of the kubota engine, I think that the other cylinder fired and the first one was subject to too much stress.

There is an aluminum pushrod(intake) and steel one(exhaust).  The aluminum one was bent.  Maybe the steel one bent a tad and kaflooey!

Your manual should have an interval listed for valve adjustment if it is necessary maintenance.

[NewYankeeSawmill]

Threw new injectors at the Dodge 1500... got a random misfire.  

[RetiredTech]

Your manual should have an interval listed for valve adjustment if it is necessary maintenance.

Manual, what's that?   Both engines were very old when I got them. One is on a light tree generator we used to use as a backup generator. The other was attached to a piece of a Kubota lawn/garden tractor someone gave me to please his wife. She was tired of looking at it. It's the smaller of the two and is the one I put on my sawmill. Guess I need to do a little more research on it. I tried looking up the hp for it online and never did find a definitive answer. Different sites list different specs. I just assumed the valves were hydraulic lifters and wouldn't need adjusting.

[rusticretreater]

Well post some engine info, like numbers stamped into it, etc.  A picture can also help. 

[aigheadish]

I've been procrastinating, like a real procrastinator, on replacing the starter ony backhoe. It was stuck, not starting, with the loader arm blocking engine access and I was/am dreading the process.

This morning was nice and cool so when when I hoped to get lucky and get her to fire up to raise the loader bucket she actually started and I was able to raise it! Woop.

Now, I'm stuck, because I'm not sure what to remove to access the bolt with the wires going to it and the final bolt holding the starter to the machine. So far it's gone better than expected but I gave up for the day and switched to working on a bourbon.

I've taken the next coupla days off work to try to learn some more and see how it goes.

[Resonator]

Did you try tapping the starter with a hammer? Sometimes they stick, and a few taps is all it takes to free them up.

[aigheadish]

Yeah, that worked a couple of times but I'm not going to trust it. 

[aigheadish]

I got the starter out, now to order a new one and figure out how to jam it back in place! 

[rusticretreater]

Threw new injectors at the Dodge 1500... got a random misfire.  

I recommend a can of BG 44K.  The stuff is amazing at dissolving engine deposits.  It will clean your system better than any fuel system cleaner I know of.

You never hear of this because they don't need to advertise it. It really works.  It is well known inside the automotive trade.

[aigheadish]

Threw new injectors at the Dodge 1500... got a random misfire.  

I recommend a can of BG 44K.

For diesel? I have a backhoe that sounds like it could use some... 

[rusticretreater]

Ah, for diesels you want BK 245 Fuel system cleaner for Diesels.  $25 on Amazon.

[NewYankeeSawmill]

I recommend a can of BG 44K.  The stuff is amazing at dissolving engine deposits.  It will clean your system better than any fuel system cleaner I know of.

Thanks for the reco. I may try to find some of that locally today.

I'm baffled by this truck and the engine troubles. I've replaced everything I can think of (related to combustion), but am still getting 'random misfire' codes on the engine:

I bought the truck in March w/ 245k miles ('03 Ram 1500 w/ 5.9l Gas engine). Since acquiring I put on a new muffler, O2 sensors and exhaust pipe (from the cat's back), replaced the alternator and battery, put in new fancy-pants 'iridium' spark plugs and heavy duty wires (haven't done dist. cap yet), cleaned throttle body, replaced IAC, and put in 8 new Bosch fuel injectors last weekend.
Got to grocery store Tuesday and white steam was coming from under the hood.     
My son helped me replace the water pump and belt tensioner this week. Serp belt is only 6 months old (replaced that w/ the alternator). Yesterday nothing else broke, but today's a new day!

Pour in half a can of seafoam, she purrs like a kitten. Top off the gas tank after it's down, random misfire codes.

Grrrrrrrr?!?!

I've replaced everything I can think of that impacts combustion. But a fuel additive at half-strength cures the problem. Can't understand it. I don't know enough about cars/engines to really understand, but my logic-circuits can't figure out what parts to attempt to replace at this point? If it's a bent valve or the like, why does a fuel-cleaner-additive eliminate the problem? That makes me think chemistry... Amount of fuel in the tank doesn't seem to matter (1/4 or 1/2 full), it's the seafoam concentration that matters... I pour some in and it smooths out, add 10 gal. of fuel, starts throwing codes again.

Last night I pulled a couple fuses to re-set the ECM computer (suggested on a Dodge help forum after new injectors). It used to have trouble starting when cold, but injectors seemed to fix it. At idle it _sounds_ a little rough, but under load the engine hum's nicely, there's zero cough, sputter, or other signs of loss of power. Does consume a little oil (but at 250k miles, they'll do that).
Oil is clean, no milk (so I think the head gasket is intact). Replaced it twice now, only driven it about 2k miles.

[SwampDonkey]

I had a '98 Dodge. by 30,000 miles the engine went haywire with it misfiring and the transmission was wonky. The transmission guy couldn't figure it out and the dealer didn't have any solutions and also told me they weren't doing any warranty work on it until I called Montreal. But that never resolved any issues the truck had. It was made in Mexico, so who knows where the problems stemmed from. I was talking to a Ford man, who went GMC, had troubles with both and finally went Toyota. Been happy ever since. I've had GMC and Dodge and none went to 140,000 miles without major issues.   My Toyota runs like a champ. A lot of those are hard miles on the roughest forestry and paved roads imaginable. 

[NewYankeeSawmill]

I hear ya @SwampDonkey ! 
I swore off Fords after my BIL (a retired Ford truck tech) said he wouldn't buy any F-series truck made in the last 20 years. My cars have all been Honda or Toy, they run like champs. Have you seen the prices on used Tundra's?!?!?    Why I bought the Dodge....