440 frozen?

[mapaduke@yahoo.com]

i went to start it to day and bring it inside to begin its restoration, its been sitting out side with the hood off for about 6 months. i did have the breather cap on and rain cap on the muffler to keep the water out.it will not turnover.i pulled the starter its ok, trans is in neutral reverser is in neutral and clutchpedal is held down i pulled the dipstick no water in oil.i then pulled the head off,no water or rust.it looked pretty good so i pulled the radiator and put 2 bolts in crank pully and used a bar to turn it over. no luck it will not turn over.i can only think that there might be ice in the bellhousing keeping the flywheel from turning.engine ran good before this.
any other thoughts? ron

[Lavoy]

Could also be mice in the bellhousing, you would not believe how much crap I have dug out of them in the past.
Lavoy

[whiteclipse16]

You might check for ice in the tranny or other drivetrain areas.
I have an old 8N ford and its sit out in a lean-to. It seems to build a lot of condensation and I have to drain some water out of the tranny every year before winter or it'll freeze up.
Just a thought.

[mapaduke@yahoo.com]

I think lavoy is right about the mice in the bellhousing. I remooved the cover off the timming hole and it was chuck full of black hair like stuff.
Im thinking of dropping the front skid plate to access the cover on the bottom of the bellhousing and see what might be in there.I have a weed burning tortch im thinking of using to thaw out the ice?
any other ideas?








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[Bobsawer]

I have a 440 that wouldn't turn , it was this fall when the temperatures went below freezing , there was water in the flywheel housing so I took off the front belly pan and took off the sheet metal cover from the front of the flywheel housing , the drain hole was full of mouse nesting material and about a cup of water in the form of ice had locked the flywheel solid . Before taking the pan off I had taken the starter off and put a hair dryer in the hole and let it run for a couple hours and melted the ice enough so I could start the crawler and get it inside , but if you've got flamable material in there you might want to consider other options

[mapaduke@yahoo.com]

Thanks i will try the hair dryer first.Did you pull the engine to clean that stuf out?
Thanks Ron

[Bobsawer]

On mine I cleaned out the nest material from the bottom , no need to pull the engine , when I took the starter off there was evidence of nest wound up in the starter so if you take it off it could tell you what you've got

[Bobsawer]

On mine I cleaned out the nest material from the bottom , no need to pull the engine , when I took the starter off there was evidence of nest wound up in the starter so if you take it off it could tell you what you've got

[Gil]

First thing I do when I buy a new JD440 is put a little 2 inch square of hardware cloth (wire mesh with 1/2 inch squares) under the cover on the bell housing inspection holes. I keep a half dozen or so of these on hand. I must figure I don't have enough JD440's yet.

Lavoy, you could get some of these made up kind of fancy looking and sell them. After pulling my first engine to replace the clutch disk when it was only a mouse nest problem, I would have given you a couple hundred dollars for one.

[mapaduke@yahoo.com]

Hair dryer worked great Thanks.To bad I pulled the head to check the cylinders,owell live and learn.I did notice alot of wear on the rocker arms and valve stems.The manuel said to grind the rockers flat to get an accurate valve adjustment.Im not sure i like this idea,the valve stems are still dimpled?

[Lavoy]

I would not call it grinding them flat, level would be a better description. There is actually a machine for doing this, my local engine shop is able to do it.
Lavoy

[mapaduke@yahoo.com]

Thanks for all the advice. I talked to my machine shop and they will clean up my rockers and valve stems for $40.Not to bad.At least I will know its done right and i can get an accurate valve adjustment.

[CELSESSER]

did your top end (rocker arm assembly) have oil in and around it or was it dry? I had a M that I worked on that had been "Rebuilt" several years previously that had had the rear cam bearing installed incorrectly blocking the oil flow to the valve train. It was dry and dusty up there. after talking to Lavoy I decided the easiest solution was to tap into a oil gally plug and plumb a copper line to get around the cam bearing. Had to close up the end of the small coper tube to limit the oil flow but it worked great. I was amazed how little wear it showed after years of running like that. That is why I ask about oil flow.

Chuck

[mapaduke@yahoo.com]

Good call.Tractoe sat for about 6 months after its last run so it wasent verry wet in thair.I blowed air threw the passage in head and its clear. wonce i get the new rubber radiator mounts frome stiner I will start it with out the valve cover and check oil fiow.Witch oil gally plug did you youse and did your oil preshur drop anny?
Thanks Ron.

[CELSESSER]

Ron,
If I remember correctly it was just behind and maybe a little above the oil filter housing attachment to tthe block. It was maybe a 1/4 inch plug. It should be in line with the rear cam bearing location. When you pull that plug you should be able to see the outside of the cam bearing shell. If you rotate the engine(plugs out, in neutral turning the fan belt or crank) and you see something rotating through that gally hole the cam bearing is installed incorrectly, the hole in the cam bearing shell should line up with another hole in the bore to send oil up to the head. I soldered the end of the copper tube (3/16th I think) closed and drilled a hole (about 1/16th) to restrict the oil flow so it wouldnt over flood the top end so there was no reduction of oil pressure. As I remember the plug I used to get into the head was on the back passinger side corner of the head.
Chuck