I recently bought an old Northwest 25 dragline crane with a Cat D318 6 cylinder diesel engine. The plan is to use this and my old JD dozer to put in a pond or two by putting dams in large gullies on our farm.
While showing me how to run it, the operator let it run out of fuel. The tank is about 2 feet below the engine, so there is no help from gravity feed to get it primed again.
He thinks the best way to get it primed is to put low-pressure air into the tank, and open what appears to be a bleed valve knob at the top front of the very large cast iron fuel filter on the front of the engine to bleed off any air, and fill it with fuel.
I did make up a gas cap with an air valve and pressure gauge. I unhooked the fuel line below the fuel pump, and got fuel flow out of the line with only about 5 PSI. I hooked it back up, but haven't tried the air bleed yet, Does this sound like the right way to refill the fuel filter? I didn't want to try this without advice, don't want to damage anything.
There is a fuel pressure gauge on the instrument panel, it shows no pressure when cranking. The engine fires a little on ether, but the short cranking cycles haven't got any fuel to the injectors.
Also, would greatly appreciate finding someone who is familiar with the clutch adjustment on the lower "reverse" shaft that operates the swing, travel, boom hoist, etc. I have operator's and parts manual, but haven't found a repair manual anywhere.
While showing me how to run it, the operator let it run out of fuel. The tank is about 2 feet below the engine, so there is no help from gravity feed to get it primed again.
He thinks the best way to get it primed is to put low-pressure air into the tank, and open what appears to be a bleed valve knob at the top front of the very large cast iron fuel filter on the front of the engine to bleed off any air, and fill it with fuel.
I did make up a gas cap with an air valve and pressure gauge. I unhooked the fuel line below the fuel pump, and got fuel flow out of the line with only about 5 PSI. I hooked it back up, but haven't tried the air bleed yet, Does this sound like the right way to refill the fuel filter? I didn't want to try this without advice, don't want to damage anything.
There is a fuel pressure gauge on the instrument panel, it shows no pressure when cranking. The engine fires a little on ether, but the short cranking cycles haven't got any fuel to the injectors.
Also, would greatly appreciate finding someone who is familiar with the clutch adjustment on the lower "reverse" shaft that operates the swing, travel, boom hoist, etc. I have operator's and parts manual, but haven't found a repair manual anywhere.