Were D19 diesels a good tractor-Any problems with them?

Alan K

Well-known Member
Looking at a D19 diesel a guy said he has. Were they a decent tractor? Are there any bad points to look for on them? My uncle used to have a D19 but it was a gasoline model.
 
I have a D19 gas dad bought back about 1969 its been a real work horse and I love it.That said I wouldn't put too much money in one now, the diesels had lots of engine issues.If I did get one
the first thing I'd do is pull off the turbo as it creates pressure on the engine and help create head gasket problems the non turbo didn't have nearly as much.The gassers are about
impossible to find engine parts,I have a 262 power unit on hand for mine if something happens
 
(quoted from post at 07:40:41 08/29/17) When used heavily, D-19 turbo diesels were nothing but bad news....stay away.

This engine was also used in a Gleaner CII diesel. We had one of these. Other than being extremely warm blooded we never had any issues with it.
 
Dad bought 1 used with a 5 bottom snap coupler plow. It was a workhorse but as stated it had some engine problems. It dropped a sleeve, he took it to the AC dealer in Hummeston Iowa for motor work. They fixed it, but when they put it on the dyno, it was putting out 105hp. Needless to say they turned it back down to stock HP. Dad said it sure doesn't pull this plow very good now. A few years later it dropped another sleeve. He got a 190 and sold the D19 to the salvage yard. If I bought 1 it would be a gasser.
 
(quoted from post at 12:25:24 08/29/17)
(quoted from post at 07:40:41 08/29/17) When used heavily, D-19 turbo diesels were nothing but bad news....stay away.

This engine was also used in a Gleaner CII diesel. We had one of these. Other than being extremely warm blooded we never had any issues with it.
---- A conventional combine engine never gets worked as hard or lugged like a tractor engine does. Also doesn't get the hrs per year a tractor sees.
 
The D19D's value is more on the collectability side. You had to treat them nice, no lugging, ALWAYS warm it up before working and ALWAYS let it idle to cool down after working.
As Dr A says they were trouble because most users didn't know how to operate/care for them. Cracked heads, dropped sleeves were very common. The good news is if you end up with a cracked head Midwest Cylinder Head in Nevada IA can fix it. They can also sleeve the counter bores if you have dropped sleeves.
 
I have a D19 diesel that's been in the family for over 40 years. Frankly, it's been a trouble free workhorse. I bought it in 1971, used it for a few years, sold it to my father, then inherited it back when he died in 1985.

As someone else said, though, it's not a cold weather tractor. I usually park mine in late November and forget about it till March. I have a good engine heater on it that would probably allow using it in cold weather, but I really don't need it over the winter.

Only downside I can see is it has a high pressure, low volume hydraulic system consistent with other AC tractors of the era and a remote cylinder responds s bit slower than you would expect.

Mine will jump out of 2nd gear if you pull it REAL hard, but I normally don't use it hard enough for it to be a problem.

One tip. Injector pump timing is very critical. If the pump timing is off even slightly, you'll know it.
 
True. The D19 was the first production tractor with a turbo standard equipment. AC never made a non-turbo D19 diesel.
 
Exhaust manifold from a D-17 diesel is non-turbo and bolts right on. D-19 hydraulics were NOT high pressure like older A-C tractors. They were 2,200 psi like a 4010 Deere of the time. They were only 5 GPM's or so, and not live.
 
With what I have seen over the years, the D-19 turbo diesel engine COULD have been a pretty good engine if it had four things designed differently: #1. A larger diameter flange on the cylinder sleeve so they wouldn't sink down into the block. #2. A thinner head gasket with harder fire rings. #3. The later design cylinder head casting. #4. A thicker radiator core with one more row of tubes for 20% more cooling capacity. These changes would pretty much have taken care of all the head gasket blowing problems and you'd have never seen the small cracks in the cylinder head until it was time to actually overhaul it.
 
(quoted from post at 09:56:29 09/01/17) How is it not live if it has the Power Director hand clutch? Most people don't really consider it "live" when you push in the foot clutch. It is "live" if you use the hand clutch, yes, but it isn't very handy on a lot of jobs. In all the series 4 D-17 advertising literature, they keep referring to the new "high-volume" (12 GPM) "live" hydraulic system to distinguish it from the pre series 4 systems.
 
Im not real familiar with the ACs I drove my uncles WD45 and D17 but never used
the hydraulics on them. How do you operate them differently? Does the pump stop
with the clutch pushed all the way in as the pto does?
 

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