Silver King with Hercules IXA engine

[wbcelec]

This tractor was running good when it was parked 20 years ago. It has always been under cover. It is not stuck. Just the oposite.No compresion.I pulled the valve cover and all the valves are moving.Could it be just stuck rings? And what would you use to free them up before i wind up having to pull thr pistons?
Happy New Year to all of you with grease under your fingernails
Bill

 

[CCer]

I think that your engine valves may be sticking open a little. Can you remove the spark plugs, and add peneterating oil? Keep trying, what ever is stuck should loosten up.

 

[Gene Davis (Ga.)]

Engines stored for long periods of time like this will have dry cylinder walls because the oil will run back down into the crankcase and the rings will not seal when they are dry. The cylinder walls probably have a rust coating and the valves also may have some pits and corrosion on their sealing surfaces due to not opening and closing which keeps them shiny from being seated. Check the crankcase for water in the oil from condensation before starting it up as this could cause major headaches later, It would be smart to remove the spark plugs and pour a small amount of oil into each cylinder and rotate it through by hand crank or jacking up a ear wheel and turning it by hand to distribute this oil in the cylinders. let it sit overnight and most of the oil will drain back down into the crankcase. The next step might best be to pull it around in high gear with the spark plugs out and let the engine blow this oil out and also watch the oil pressure gauge to see if the oil pump primes before you crank it. Starting it up dry could score a rod bearing and since the IXA Hercules has poured rod bearings you don't need to damage a babbit rod bearing because they have to be repoured and that is not the easiest or cheapest thing you can do.

 

[old]

I run into that all the time. I only buy non running tractor and most have sat for year and about 505 are locked up. What I do to all of them is this. Fill the cylinders with tranny fluid and walk away from it for say a week. Be sure to put the plugs back in to keep dirt etc. out of the cylinders. Then pull all the plugs and spin it over to clear the cylinders. Put the plugs back in and see what happens. I had an OC-3 cletrac with an IXB engine that had around 30 psi in each cylinder but after doing that the compression came up to around 100psi in each cylinder, it had sat for years also
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