My neighbor has let this crawler sit on our property line for about a year now. He said that "it over revved, and quit running." There is no tach, just a hr meter. I am not sure he knows what actually happened. But told me I could have it for $500. Of course I couldn't refuse, I have been a ASE Master auto tech for 12 years. And could use a crawler on the property here, don't have a tractor bigger then a 14 Simplicity riding lawn mower ROFL!!!
I walked up to the machine, and took a look at the oil and coolant levels. the coolant was about 1/2 gallon low, so I topped it off. The oil was a little over full, but it isn't on level ground either, so I disregarded that. It was quite clean also. I figured the battery was dead, noticed it was 12v, so I went and got the batterys off my jeeps, same size, age and 1000 CCA each. Hooked the one up like I took off the old one, pos to starter, and neg to block, then put some nice jumper cables pos to pos, and neg to neg. Tried to crank it, and it sounded good, not like it was resisting or anything.
Then I checked the fuel, it was very low, so I went to a truck stop and got 5 gallons of fresh. (wish I had drained all the old now) Filled it up, made sure the fuel was turned on (a valve under the tank at the line) cracked the line going to the head loose and cranked until it sprayed fuel. Then tightened it, and took the line loose on the top of the tank and cranked it, and got a steady stream of fuel from there, so put it back on. After this, it sounds like it hits 1 or 2 times on the first few revolutions but if you just keep cranking it doesn't hit again. The temp outside here in TN is about 75 degrees at this time. I pulled the rubber elbow off the blower, and cranked it with it off, whiteish blue vapor smoke comes from the blower, and when it hits 1 or 2 times you see a puff from the stack.
I talked to a friend, and he said to look inside the blower to see if its turning inside when you crank, it is. so I thought maybe restricted exhaust, so I took the stack and manifold off, its all good. Put it back on. Took the valve cover off, and watched all 6 valves moving while cranking... Put it back on....So far so good.... I gave a small shot of ether and put the tube back on the blower, and its about the same as before, a little harder to crank over at first, hit 1 or 2 times and nothing more.
I cross ref the wix fuel filter on it, filled it with Dextron V Trans fluid, and put it on. The old filter was nasty, and some water came out with the yellow fuel and some black fluid. Then cranked again, still not much different results. Kind of frustrated, I thought maybe I could move it with the starter and get it out of the woods onto the grass 15 feet away. Well, it moved for about 3 feet until I burnt up the starter... LOL!!! I wonder why? I should have known better... But anyway, Monday I am taking it into town and getting it rebuilt.... I spent 2 days playing with trying to get it to start, and verified the bucket works and it has all forward and rev gears and will turn while cranking... Guess I got bored with trying to get it to fire actually....
How should I be starting this, and/or what do you think is wrong?
1) When I crank the engine, it turns counter clockwise (view from sitting in the seat) Is that the correct direction?
2) I have it out of gear, with my foot on the clutch (left pedal)
3) I have tried throttle in all positions, seems at full throttle it cranks better, Where should I have it?
4) The reverser lever on the left should be pushed forward or pulled towards me during cranking?
5) The PTO switch next to the 5sp trans which direction should it be pointed for off?
After all of this, I rechecked the oil, its about a inch higher then it was when I started, but the coolant is the same level, I guess it dumped some fuel in the crankcase.
Any ideas or comments are very much welcome!! Thank you all for the great forums, I have already learned A LOT and cant wait to know even more!!
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
Eric - Riceville, Tennessee