Oliver OC-3 crawler

[mudmuckgrease]

(quoted from post at 00:53:14 05/17/23) I hope that isn't the problem with our OC-3. I really don't want to mess with that magneto out in the field. We ordered a new carburetor and intake/exhaust manifold from OliverCrawlers.com - hope to receive it soon. Yesterday, we drove out there to play with it - it starts easily and we let it warm up before putting any load on it. It runs very well until we put a load on it - that is when it starts to misfire and then it quits - not to start again. I checked the spark plugs and they are coated with black soot. Adjusting the fuel mixture on the carburetor didn't seem to help, so I'm hoping the new carb and manifold will solve this problem.
The thing is in a tight and steep location, so we will need to drive it out so that it can be loaded onto a trailer.

This post was edited by mudmuckgrease on 05/16/2023 at 04:53 pm.

Hello folks! Following Is an update to our attempts to get this Oliver OC-3 home. Added to this is a mystery concerning its transmission: There are two of them!
I changed out the carburetor with a new one from Yesterday s Tractors. The engine now runs well and we can now keep it running while under load. Attached is a picture of the drive that we must take to get it to a point where it can be loaded onto a trailer. The drive is a lot steeper than the picture depicts, none-the-less, it should pose no problem to a crawler. We made wooden pads that bolted onto the tracks so that no damage would be done to the read. Half way up the drive, the Oliver struggled as if it were in a high gear it couldn t make it up all the way. We were in reverse gear and we were backing up as the backhoe is very heavy. The second picture shows some of both transmissions: After the Clutch is a small what appears to be an old ford transmission then there comes what I think is a U-joint and then the main transmission/rear axle assembly. The previous owner said that he never used that fist transmission and that he recommended that we don t use it. I thought that maybe there was something wrong with it, so we left it as is. I later asked him if there was something wrong with that fist transmission and he said that he knew of nothing wrong with it it was just that he was told that it made the tractor move very slow. OK so what I think we have here is a transmission with a high/low mode, and we are apparently in a high mode while the main transmission is in first gear or in this case, reverse gear. Could this be our problem? Turning to this tractor s operation manual, I could find no mention of that first gearbox. I don t know what gear it is in, how many gears it has or what its shifting patern is. Do we have some kind of highbred here? Does anyone know about this transmission configuration and what the shift patern is in the first transmission?


Also, that Idea I had with bolting wooden plates onto the tracks turns out to be not a very good idea as the tractor will tear that wood apart in short order. Hopefully, it will last long enough to get us on a trailer that is, if we can just get the thing out of that depression that it is in.

 

[warbaby]

You have a TRASCO auxiliary gearbox. Basically a Model ''A'' Ford tranny modified to fit inline ahead of your Clark transaxle.

A popular and handy addition!
Trasco fiasco

 

[mudmuckgrease]

(quoted from post at 14:17:57 06/18/23) You have a TRASCO auxiliary gearbox. Basically a Model ''A'' Ford tranny modified to fit inline ahead of your Clark transaxle.

A popular and handy addition!
Trasco fiasco

... so, one less mystery! Thanks so much for your help, Warbaby. I looked up the shifting pattern for a 3 speed ford transmission and it goes like this:

What remains now is for us to head back to the tractor to learn how to drive the thing!



This post was edited by mudmuckgrease on 06/18/2023 at 08:17 am.

 

[mudmuckgrease]

Placing wooden pads on each track was not a good way to cushion the crawler s travel upon paved roads, so Adam got the idea of cutting up the rubber tracks used on some tractors. He got one that was used up from a tire shop. Cutting it up was quite a chore we ended up using a chainsaw, but in the end, it all worked out very well:

The TRASCO auxiliary gearbox is suppose to have 3 forward and one backward gears, but I was only able to find two: one high and one low. With it in low gear and the Clark transaxle in reverse, we were able to get it up that steep concrete grade. We had to go up backwards because the weight of the backhoe makes the front of the tractor bob up and down on level ground. It is now up and waiting for transit which is scheduled for tomorrow.

This post was edited by mudmuckgrease on 06/23/2023 at 04:26 pm.

 

[mudmuckgrease]

The OC-3 is home and we have been working on it lots to be done. So far, we ve flushed out the cooling system, changed the engine oil, changed the transmission/differential oil, we flushed the hydraulic oil a couple of times, but there is still some water remaining. I ve read that some people use diesel as a flushing agent, but we decided to stick with hydraulic oil. I have a Massey Ferguson TO 35 that I will try the diesel flush on at a future date. We adjusted the tracks to specs, and we had made some modifications to the throttle linkage. The throttle handle lacks a locking mechanism so that it needs to be held in position while in operation. We added oil to the final drive funny thing about that in that it has only one port which is locatated at the top of the drive wheel no way to drain the final drive that I can tell. All I can do is just add oil to it. We still need to modify the generator s bracket to accommodate an alternator, we want to add a water temp guage as well. We are currently hunting down all of the zert fittings to grease all joints. We are looking forward to the day when we can take it out to do some digging.

 

[mudmuckgrease]

I think I am going to need a little help here: Has anyone added a 12 volt charging system to an Oliver OC-3? I would really like to know how you did it. I ordered an alternator from Yesterday s tractors which was suppose to be for the OC-3, but apparently there ain t no such thing! Following is where I am currently at:

The 6volt generator is removed and the alternator will not fit on this bracket.

...so, I will need to make a different bracket to fit the alternator:

On top of all that, the pulley on the alternator is for a smaller belt size than the pulley on the crankshaft, so I will now need to find a source for the right sized pulley to replace the one on the alternator.

 

[MikeS55d]

I put an alternator on my early OC46 (same engine as the OC3) using a common small alternator used on many lawn tractors. The gentleman who came up with the conversion posted all the info on the old Cletrac.org website and also on this website I believe. I used this alternator, very small so that it fits inside the OC46 sheet metal covering the engine bay. Has been working perfectly for many years.

https://www.rareelectrical.com/i-26880810-new-alternator-compatible-with-john-deere-tractor-3120-3320-3520-4200-129423-77200-101211-1170.html

Below is a link to his YouTube video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B37YWbXImTE

 

[mudmuckgrease]

Thanks Mike! I really appreciate your pointing me in the right direction. I found that alternator in Amazon for about $80. My neighbor and I fabricated this bracket to replace the one that carried the old generator:

I have a question regarding wiring this alternator:

.... OK, This is confusing: I see that sometimes, they are calling an alternator with a three pin connector a THREE wire alternator, but then some other times, they count the battery terminal along with the three pin plug and they call it a 4 wire alternator. I can't find any wiring info for this URQS alternator .... not sure what to do.

Cletrac.org is no longer on line - error code 409

This post was edited by mudmuckgrease on 08/28/2023 at 10:51 pm.