Priming a John Deere R

[Le9102011]

Hey all. Just did a service on my John Deere R and from the looks of it, it’s been a while since the ole girl had a service done. Changed the oil in the Pony Motor, engine oil and filters in addition to the fuel filters. Now the famous words it ran when I parked it and now I can’t get the fuel system primed. Set the filter housing to prime loosened up the bleee screw on top of the house and now she just rolls over and nothing. I farted around with it until I started throwing wrenches any help would be greatly appreciated
 

[kurt v]

set valve on prime, crack the first bolt on the filters till steady flow of fuel ,tighten bolt , go to front filter crack bolt till you get steady flow of fuel, tighten bolt, go to upper center bolt crack it get full fuel flow , tighten bolt. Now set valve to run and start tractor.
 

[Le9102011]

I didn’t see any bolts on the fuel filter housings just the top bleed
screw. Only thing I have are fuel lines.
 

[David from Kansas]

Just to add my 2 cents; I changed fuel filters many years ago on my R and remember having the same problem. Had heard or read somewhere that sometimes you just had to add a little air pressure to the fuel tank. So....with an air bubble with only about 10 or so PSI, I wrapped a rag around the nozzle and put a little air in the tank while someone watched the bleeder and it worked. Just be careful not to put too much pressure in the tank as that could be disastrous.
 

[LarrySTN]

My R had old fuel snot in the line and fuel shut off valve at the bottom of the fuel tank.
 

[coonie minnie]

I've used your remedy multiple times priming skid steers... It works well.
 

[Le9102011]

LOL.. Strange you said that because an old farmer around my area did exactly that while we were cranking it over, i did find the bleed screws to bleed off the air between the two filters (old ones were filled with shmooo) we got tired of using the starting engine so we hooked it up to another tractor and drug it about a mile before she finally kicked off what a show think the neighborhood we drove through thought we set something on fire. But she runs like a top now put John Deere PLUS 50 II in it and it seemed to quiet it down in addition she has a helluva lot more go go juice and rolls coal like a champ when i give her a little bark while driving... It probably hasnt had the service done for years since the oil in the starting engine was full of water and the big engine the oil was a dark gray and had some water in it. Keeping an eye on the starting engine to make sure i dont have a water leak in addition to the big engine...