Case 320b leaky left tank and bellhousing torched

[altay]

 

[altay]

Any feedback on these topics before deciding to sink any time into unseizing an old CASE 320B? The machine sat in a field for over a year and "ran when parked". The left side hydraulic tank is leaking somewhere near the bottom (see photo). Is such a thing fixable? Any suggestions on how to find the leak and do that repair?

Also has anyone ever seen a random hole torched into the bellhousing before? (See photo) Why would a previous owner do that? The handiwork looks like this was done long ago. The current seller tells me the guy before him did it to gain access to lubricate the clutch. Really? Or did something important in there probably break and he opened it up to fish out the peices and avoid splitting the tractor?

 

[Case Nutty 1660]

Any feedback on these topics before deciding to sink any time into unseizing an old CASE 320B? The machine sat in a field for over a year and "ran when parked". The left side hydraulic tank is leaking somewhere near the bottom (see photo). Is such a thing fixable? Any suggestions on how to find the leak and do that repair?

Also has anyone ever seen a random hole torched into the bellhousing before? (See photo) Why would a previous owner do that? The handiwork looks like this was done long ago. The current seller tells me the guy before him did it to gain access to lubricate the clutch. Really? Or did something important in there probably break and he opened it up to fish out the peices and avoid splitting the tractor?

The leak I would bet is just a crack,, yes can be V' ed out and welded,, suggest one who is a welder by professional unless you are Very good at it,, I have lost track of how many I have done in the past 50 years,, depending on the crack I add a gusset most times to help with stress cracking again, they should have a grease zerk for the throw out bearing,, they are a bear to get to with that style loader,, so would not surprise me if he cut it bigger,, would I do that Never but I have seen holes cut many times in places I would not ,,

 

[Joe (Wa)]

The 320 I did a clutch job on had a sealed released bearing. My take on this is on a loader tractor the clutch rod knob end broke off or wore through the release yoke socket. You could put the original spring and flat washer on the rod between the release fork and the bell housing, stack some beveled washers or similar to fit the yoke socket on the rod, weld a nut or similar on the end of the rod and readjust the rod length. Otherwise split the tractor and do a normal clutch job along with the rod replacement, it probably needs it.

 

[altay]

Thanks for the feedback on the hydraulic tank leak and the bellhousing hole. I will follow up in this threads with answers on what I find and with more photos. Now I have another interesting decision to make: see photo attached... when I pulled the head off it was very sticky, the shafts of the head bolts near the exhaust ports were initially seized to the head. But get it off I did. Used wooden wedges, a pump jack and a 8" 2x8 and half a can of wd40. Before the head came off here is a photo of one of my valve rods snapped in half. Some other valve rods are also bent. Once the head was off I also saw that the two cylinders up front are also quite corroded. The valves are all intact but I have not removed them from the head yet. Maybe they are bent but it didn't look like it at a glance they looked ok-ish. The pistons were all at seized at approx mid stroke with no daylight to the bottom of the block so all are getting soaked right now in atf fluid. But I have no expectation this will unseize itself just with some basic lube. The corrosion looks bad. Also when I drained the oil it came out at first as just water (a lot of water) and then a lot of black oil and then some new smelling gas at the end. Ok now my question: do I drop the pan to get those cylinder sleeves out and inspect the lobes? Or do I take a huge short cut and just try to hone the cylinder walls from above, add new valve rods and hope the bottom is ok? I assumed the oil pan would just drop off so I took off all the bolts I could see, but nope. Apparently there are trapped bolts at either end. Up front a bolt is trapped by the steering arms and at the back it appears the bellhousing cover has trapped more oilpan bolts. Time for the difficult question: normally yes I want to take the oil pan off, but do I have to basically split this tractor just to get this 230b oil pan off? (Seriously is this a tractor thing? Who designed it this way!?) I wonder if anyone has suggestions from the service manual (which I obviously don't have and obviously I do absolutely need) but also I wonder if anyone would share real world experience on whether or not there really are any short cuts in this situation. I don't know... How hard is it to split this thing?. There is a backhoe on the back, the tires are loaded and there is a loader and a weight on the front. It's sitting outside in the grass.... It's well over 7000 lbs. Fun times right?

 

[Joe (Wa)]

Take that half moon cover off the torque tube for the rear pan bolts. I don't recall a front pan obstruction but it's been too long and I am too old. CNT should be along, he'll know for sure.

I would pull the pan and probably the sleeves for new o-rings. Was the water coolant or rain/condensation?

I guess you figured out the pushrods come out first and back in last. We all have done something like that, live & learn.

 

[altay]

Thanks for the pointer to the half moon plate at the back, to know it is removable. Yes there is a bolt trapped at the front of the pan that I can feel with my pinky finger. Maybe if I made a homemade 1/2" very thin wrench I might be able to get on it, but I am not certain of that. I wonder if I can loosen the front axle to make room to get that front pan bolt off without fully taking the heavy bits apart?

The water in the crankcase is clear water, not coolant. I suspect it is rain water because the previous owner did add a new rad and water pump. The bit of coolant remaining in the rad was bright green. Also I note it was good to see the head gasket did not appear to look blown. I can see why the front two cylinders would fill with rain water. The exhaust exits up at that end of the manifold. Gravity would send rain water down into the open exhaust to flow into those front two cylinders first. (Photo of manifold attached. I found 1000s of ancient ladybug carcasses in there). Previous owner said the can kept blowing off the open exhaust as it sat int he open field for at least a few years.

I have now forever learned to remove the rods before battling to remove the head gasket. I fear I may have bent the rods that I had left in place and scored the contact surfaces. The one that was broken was not due to my mistake though. I saw it was broken immediately when I took the valve cover off. It looked like it broke during operation, scuff marks on it. Thanks again everyone for your pointers. It's clear I need to get that shop manual and stop making avoidable mistakes.

I agree fully with the idea of pulling the sleeves.

 

[altay]

I forgot to ask: I also wonder if the oil pump pickup will obstruct me from getting the pan off once it is unbolted. I may have to take the front axle apart if that is the case.

 

[Tgrasher]

There are those of us who check daily on your progress. There were only 51 of your 320B made, according to Tractor Data, and it is lacking ordinary information. The GD157 Continental was not a widely used motor but parts appear to be out there. I once had a 300 row crop with the 157 diesel and it amazed me with the power it put to the wheels. The only tractor I wish I would never have sold. Do check on parts because that sometimes determines what you do.

 

[Joe (Wa)]

There may have been some changes in the 320B but the original 320 and most Case tractors in this era had a floating oil strainer pickup with a hinge so it can always float on top of the oil level. It can swing up & down, not a problem on Case tractor pan I've pulled.

The oil filter is the bypass type that is designed to circulate 10-15% of the oil pump output from the oil galley though the filter and back to the crankcase. Check that the stem tube is still there, they are just pressed into the socket with a light interference fit and can get pulled out and discarded with the filter. The stem tube directs the incoming oil to the top of the filter media. If the tube is missing the oil just circulated back out through the outlet to the crankcase. Not only is the oil unfiltered but the filter media acts as a restriction and there is usually a drop in engine oil pressure pending condition of the oil pump. If tube missing, post back one of us will tell you how to make one.

 

[altay]

There are those of us who check daily on your progress. There were only 51 of your 320B made, according to Tractor Data, and it is lacking ordinary information. The GD157 Continental was not a widely used motor but parts appear to be out there. I once had a 300 row crop with the 157 diesel and it amazed me with the power it put to the wheels. The only tractor I wish I would never have sold. Do check on parts because that sometimes determines what you do.

 

[altay]

Interesting. I had not realized it was a rare one. Photo attached. It looks mostly complete. It has a lot of repair welds everywhere. It came with a set of forks not shown in the photo. The forks hook onto the bucket. The forks alone must weigh 800lbs. One thing I can share from experience is this: Don't let the tow operator underestimate how heavy these things are.

 

[altay]

Take that half moon cover off the torque tube for the rear pan bolts. I don't recall a front pan obstruction but it's been too long and I am too old. CNT should be along, he'll know for sure.

I would pull the pan and probably the sleeves for new o-rings. Was the water coolant or rain/condensation?

I guess you figured out the pushrods come out first and back in last. We all have done something like that, live & learn.

I took a closer look at the push rods (photo) the

and I see only one looks bent at the bottom tip. All are a bit rusty from sitting in that water bath that was in the crank case. The bent one is shown here second from the bottom of this photo.

 

[Jim.ME]

Roll the push rods on a flat surface. Watch the center of the push rod as you roll it, a bent pushrod will show going high to low in the center from the surface if it is bent.

 

[Joe (Wa)]

Combustion chambers look pretty decent. Send the rocker arms along with the head for the valve job, I would bet some valves were sticking in the guides with that much wear. Also that can be a symptom of lack of lube oil to the top deck as it is the end point of the pressure lube system. Check that oil filter stem tube, as far as I can tell a missing tube drops the oil press about 2 psi or so, maybe more if you have a weak oil pump or the relief valve is leaking.

When you get it running, warm up to op temp, slow to idle and settle out, you need enough oil running off the top deck and down through the holes the pushrod are in to lube the lifters and help lube the cam lobes. Check some oil dripping off rocker arm shafts, doesn't need much. Check the exh valve rotators.

Jim's pushrod straightening is best, I had a mirror to roll them on, helps us old guys to get them straighter.

 

[mEl]

Send a pic of the side of the engine down low, I would be very surprised if you can get the pan out without dropping the wishbone down to get clearance.

 

[altay]

Send a pic of the side of the engine down low, I would be very surprised if you can get the pan out without dropping the wishbone down to get clearance.

Will do. It's soaking wet here this week, should be good on Saturday.

 

[altay]

Combustion chambers look pretty decent. Send the rocker arms along with the head for the valve job, I would bet some valves were sticking in the guides with that much wear. Also that can be a symptom of lack of lube oil to the top deck as it is the end point of the pressure lube system. Check that oil filter stem tube, as far as I can tell a missing tube drops the oil press about 2 psi or so, maybe more if you have a weak oil pump or the relief valve is leaking.

When you get it running, warm up to op temp, slow to idle and settle out, you need enough oil running off the top deck and down through the holes the pushrod are in to lube the lifters and help lube the cam lobes. Check some oil dripping off rocker arm shafts, doesn't need much. Check the exh valve rotators.

Jim's pushrod straightening is best, I had a mirror to roll them on, helps us old guys to get them straighter.

Partial update: I got the valves and springs off the head. And you were right there was a very stuck valve, the first one at the front of the engine. I had to drift it out and it resisted all the way out. Valves look quite worn. I will check for the oil filter stem tube on Saturday. Misc. Photo of the head is attached with some numbers stamped. I noticed the little eagle stamped inside too... nice touch CASE.