totally useless trivia on military multifuel engines

[buzzinduzzin]

I have reached that stage in my life where I want to pass on information! (like every other old fart you have met at a tractor show) the multifuel engines had many different tags : white,hercules, continental. When we went to a neighbors retirement sale many years ago I told my dad that someone had put a multifuel in his tractor but dad pointed out that the tractor did not have an intravance unit between the PSB pump & timing housing, also there was no density compensator on the top of the governor housing. The military motors used clear plastic tubing for the fuel supply lines, even the 80(?) psi line that went to the pump head, can't remember if the White tractor had plastic or not. Also it had spin on oil filters & we checked in buying tractor stuff to eliminate our messy cannister stuff. We never converted so maybe we found out we had to change the entire oil cooler assy. $$$ . The first production were LDS 427 then they became LD 465 (non-turbo for 2 1/2 ton truck) & LDS 465 (Schweitzer wastegate turbo 5ton) The other differences between 2 1/2 & 5 ton were fuel delivery, single hole&2hole injectors,cam (maybe?)& stuff like pressure plate, bell hsg. etc. The dry sleeves were slip fit & if you rotated with heads removed the sleeves would usually push out! The energy cell cavity in the piston looks just like a Sheppard diesel & if I recall the Sheppard also had a 22:1 compression ratio. The intake manifolds were a water jacket type & the elbow that the clean air entered in had a spark plug & a tiny fuel spray nozzle, When you pushed the cold start toggle switch it activated a spark box & a tiny 24v gear pump to heat the intake air. When all was good it was actually a effective system. The later were LDT465 with non-wastegate turbo for the 2 1/2 ton , can't remember what the 5 ton had.

 

[J. Schwiebert]

What was the bore on the smaller engines? Also many specifications were different between the military & non military engines. I did a machine shop class for the machinest for a certain states National Guard and Hercules supplied with the military specs. The 20 & 2150 Oliver tractors had clear plastic lines.

 

[buzzinduzzin]

nothing in my brain about the bore, only 427 I ever saw in person was at Wabash Valley college in 73. ( Mt. Carmel Il.) In hindsight I should have kept the tech manuals on these engines. One of the echelon levels had a tutorial on the multifuel theory. You reckon that white had to get permission from the military to use all the "stuff" to make the civilian motors ? Were they all or any built at Canton ? Did the tractor motors have energy cell pistons or more conventional combustion chamber design/ compression ratio ?

 

[Dieseltech]

I still have the military engine service manual in the storage closet. Lists all the changes/updates for the 6X6 truck I had awhile back. Do know the military 465 crank has heavier webbing than the later tractor engines do. Neighbor broke the crank in his 2-155 awhile back, repair shop put in a good used military crank to get it repaired. Engine had a low speed rumble with the broken crank, above 1500 RPM it sounded fine. Was broke next to # four cylinder..

 

[gary66]

a heater to heat the intake air...have to remember that one...not something you see very often.

Something I didn't know existed...not even the idea...thanks

 

[gary66]

talked to a guy who traveled fixing diesels for some company...when he needed heat he would run a hose from a running one's exhaust for the heat...thought that was genius.

 

[larry duda]

I used a military block and internals when I restored my 2150. The pistons have 3 compression rings on them instead of 2. Also the valves in the heads have 2 springs on them and are a different color. A person would have to be an expert on both blocks to tell the difference with out seeing the engine tag and the date codes. What amazes me is you still can get NOS parts for the military version. I put new rings in mine when I rebuilt it and they came in sealed cardboard packages and the rings were in sealed foil or plastic wrappings with the boxes dated 1970. The tops of the pistons are the same and so are the injectors. Amazing how easy and fast the engine starts. If you found a block that was cast in 68 or early 69 don't think you could tell the difference as the casting numbers on the block would match the ara of the 2050-2150's. My original block was cast in 1969 and the military block I used was cast in 1970. They sure seem like sweet running diesel engines. This my first experience with one but so far I am pleased with it.

 

[OLWHDA]

Years ago I owned a M139 2 1/2 ton with a LDS 427, the one with the kick starter pedal. I was instructed by a person who knew (former army diesel mechanic) the trucks to not rev that engine over 22-2300 and it would turn 2750 if I remember right. I used it to haul lime 12 ton and had a center dump 450 bu box on for muddy harvest conditions. Burned very little fuel also.

 

[hd6gtom]

I worked on many of them in the early 1970's. We were shipped to Mannheim Germany. When I got there we had 10000 military trucks and tracked vehicals to get running and put in storage on Spinnelli Cassern. We had German diesel techs at Taylor Cassern. We put turbos on quite a few of the 465's. It was easy to do, those old Germans really new their stuff when it came to the diesels.