Oliver 88 Diesel...

[Ida Red]

How rare are 88 diesels?
Do they crack heads and are there any other weaknesses?
 

[Tramway Guy]

88 Diesels are very common.
Heads do crack, but rarely are these cracks fatal.
In my opinion, the weak point is the American Bosch injection pumps that plungers sieze in if they are sit for long periods without running. I would say they are above average in reliability compared to other diesels of the same vintage.
 

[oliverkid]

You will never regret buying a fleetline diesel, or any Oliver diesel for that matter. My uncle had a super 88 diesel, and it was the sweetest running tractor ever. You cant really compare an 88D to any other make of that era because Oliver was blowing them out of the water. Farmall had didnt have a true diesel because it started on gas and ran on diesel. John Deere and ford handnt even entered the diesel market yet, and Chalmers didnt sell enough of them in the fleetline era to be in the running. One thing you will really notice with it is how snappy the throttle response is. Most naturally asperated diesels seem like dogs, but for some reason the waukesha engines come to life instantly.
 

[jordan hackman]

they are not very rare at all. my dad owns two 88 fleetline diesels along with two 77 fleetline diesels.
 

[Ida Red]

FELLOWS thanks for all the info on an 88 Diesel. I am new to Oliver.How was it that Oliver came out front with there diesel.I know my grandpa"s old Cockshutt70 had a 6 cylinder Wauki gas.
By fleetline do you mean the one with side curtains. Any tips on starting an 88 diesel in the cold.
 

[oliverkid]

Fleetlines are just the 66/77/88 and 99 tractors. Then they went to the super 66/77/88/99 and so on. I dont know much on the history of Oliver diesels other than they started to push them really early on and they sold a boat load of them compared to other companies. McCormick had a platform in the early 30s with the WD-40 and TD-40 but they never took it all the way. As for starting it, it should have a glow plug in the manifold, and if it still starts hard should be able to install a block heater.
 

[thetractorfreak]

We have had several deisel and gas, the deisels suck around idle if they have the bosch pump as there is near no governor response, but other than that they are a good one to farm with. They do crack heads if not warmed up and cooled down

And for whoever said farmalls weren't a true diesel I don't know how much you've been around them but they are in fact a true deisel that only starts on gas, You can start them on deisel.
 

[jordan hackman]

oliver liked to experiment with different setups and although oliver didn't create the first diesel tractor they saw its potential and new that it would someday make gas tractors obsolete, looks like they were right. so when the fleetlines got started in 1948 oliver made a big push on farmers to use diesels and from 1948 to 1956 or so oliver owned what i believe was 80 or 90% of the diesel tractor market.
 

[Oliver Diesel Posse]

They are not that rare. But just different. A conversion piece. I have owned them for 30 yrs with very good luck. I have 4 of them. I hate changing stale gas, shellac in the carb after the winter. You do need to use good diesel and filters. Plus they have a nice Oliver Diesel Power decal on the hood.