Finished in the nick of time - GM Diesel M Restoration

Rootsy

Member
This post is a little late in coming. I had a deadline to finish this project of September 12, 2012. I finished and loaded it on the trailer about 1 am September 13, 2012 and promptly headed for the Mackinac Bridge. I had zero miles on it and about 30 minutes of run time on the engine. Needless to say, though confident in my mechanical abilities, there was some nervousness for the first few miles. In the end it performed flawlessly without issues other than I hooked the ammeter up backward.

I have spoken of the background in other related threads about how my Father acquired this tractor, finally, in 2007. My Father passed in early 2010 after driving this tractor in the bridge ride in 2009, his last tractor show / parade.

After my uncle passed in early 2011 it was up to me, more or less, to dispose of the physical contents of the partnership. I held an auction in June 2012, less than a week after losing my Mother to Leukemia. This was the only tractor I kept of the 14 that my Father, Uncle and I had, because of the sentimental value it possesses and because it was my father's "Holy Grail".

I brought her to my place in March of 2012 and it would not run. It had a stuck an injector while sitting in the barn between my Father's passing and me bringing it home. I had started it at Christmas time, 2011 when I was home and it ran away on me and has no air shut-off above the blower. I had to kill the fuel and it ran itself out, and lean, and took the rings out of it, what was left of them anyway. It has not started well since we had owned it.

Once I had it home I spent some time straightening a few things out and put new N series low deck liners and pistons in it. Just FYI, this won't work. The 18.7:1 pistons sit proud of the deck and you cannot get a head gasket to seal. You must use low deck 17.5:1 pistons and liners. After that I was caught up in my Mother's illness, two bone marrow transplants and ultimately passing as well as prep for the farm auction which I had over 300 hours of labor invested in. If that wasn't enough I found myself unemployed May 29th, 2012... A blessing in disguise.

From Mid June onward I was full time working out of my shop on projects and on this tractor. Everything I touched needed to be repaired or replaced it seems. I had to replace every steering seal, bearing and bushing as well as the tie rod ends. Then I had to rebuild the Char-Lynn power steering motor. I put a proper rebuild kit in the engine, went through the cylinder head, replaced the injectors and buttoned her up. Then I went to replace the left outer axle seal and things got ugly fast.

The bearing behind the seal was missing half of the balls. I popped the top to find them and what I found made me ill... Bits and pieces of bearing everywhere, rust galore, rough ball bearings, all of the rollers from the pinion bearing lying in the sump, all oil passages and returns packed full of steel shavings. I replaced every bearing, seal and gasket. I completely emptied the rearend housing and started from scratch reassembling and setting it up. I finally had it buttoned up Mid August.

I took me another week to mock up all of the plumbing, including making all hard fuel lines, making hoses and wiring as well as refabricating the air intake system, modifying a "new" hood and re-soldering just about every joint on the radiator (after unplugging it, inside and out). I was beginning to feel the pressure and wondered if I should just forego paint and head North.

I ended up painting it, obviously. PPG's Shop Line product family. I don't recommend it for topcoat in Acrylic Urethane. The coverage is poor, especially on corners and rough surfaces. I put 2 gallons of paint on this thing.

Since this tractor had only been repainted one time it's life I used stripper and the power washer to take it to bare metal, most of the way anyhow. In the process I found some old decals applied over the original paint. I documented them digitally as well as dimensionally so I can have them recreated in the future. On each side of the grill there were GM Diesel Power decals and on the left side of the tank there was a decal that read, in 3 lines,

Sold and Services By
The Earle Equipment Co.
Detroit - Grand Rapids

Doing some research I have discovered that the Earle Equipment Co. was a Detroit equipment company that was a GM Diesel distributor as well as Allis Chalmers dealer. They advertised retrofitting your equipment with GM Diesel Power. I have a few pieces of literature from them with these advertisements. The company went under in the early 1980's but had existed since the 20's.

I also found the tag for the engine which riveted to the block behind the left frame rail. The block S/N is also stamped just below the deck behind the governor. This tractor is a 1949 with a SN of 210XXX. The engine SN is 18830 which puts it at a 1949 or 1950.

After stripping what I could it was time to wire wheel, sand, prime, paint, assemble, plumb, wire and make sure everything is ready to go. No problem... I found myself working day and night wearing myself out physically.

In the end, I made it North and the further I drove her the better she ran. No noises, smoke, leaks, rattles, etc. She made the 20 mile ride from Mackinaw City to St. Ignace without a hiccup. She draws attention wherever she goes.

This thing almost did me in. I returned from Mackinac, unloaded it, put it in the shop and haven't been back out for more than an hour since. The place is still a disaster area. But I think I need to hook her to the plow and see how she does under a good load in the next few weeks if things dry out.

I can hope my Father is proud of how she turned out. This has been a bittersweet journey for me. I have tried to incorporate elements from my Father, Uncle, Grandfather and our family farm, which was sold in July. The hood this tractor wears is from the M my grandfather bought new in 1945.

Photographs -

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Nice job on it . BUT i am glad i do not have to listen to that Yamhaw screaming at me . Myself i have spent more then my fair share on Detroit powered equipment . spend 10-12 hours a day on a C Pull Lt Turnio (sp) pan with a 6 71 Detroit with 3 , yes three four inch exhaust pipes sticking up thru the hood or the D Pull pan with the 4-71 with two pipes up thru the hood with no mufflers screaming at ya all day long or setting on a Euclid TS 12 with 2 6-110 Detroits bellowing at ya or the neighbours 1950 G with no muffler screaming at night while they were plowing really turns ya off then drive then screaming double breasted Yamahaws in a semi's day in and day out . Now i like quiet four strokes with quiet mufflers. But ya did a fine job.
 
man that is nice, nice, nice!!! also good to see the restoration finished with a set of fenders, that totally gives it a finished look!
what size gm is that? i see only 2 cyl's.
 
Rootsy, you have done a fine job. I am curious as to how that GM breathes, does it really breath through that Mason jar and 2" pipe? Would not want to restrict her and suck the seals in on the blower, talk about running away! Otherwise, that;s a nice tractor.
Best Regards,
Charlie
 
You did a great job on it. I have redone 3 so far but the biggest was a Super C. I agree, you need to get the GM decals for it.

Thanks for sharing, you dhould be very proud of it.
 
wow - beautiful.

And great timing - I just got home from ohio last weekend where I saw a farmall with a gm engine just like that sitting in a junk yard.

I can't remember if it was an M - I was looking for other parts and kind of passed over it thinking it was some kind of "farmer hack" - now I wish I looked more closely at it.

... might even be tempted to go back.
 
all i can say is SWEET!
the old mighty Mac bridge that was on my bucket list to ride my motorcycle across that bridge on the open grate section what a ride man.
you did a very nice job on tractor.
 
(quoted from post at 21:19:52 11/02/12) wow - beautiful.

And great timing - I just got home from ohio last weekend where I saw a farmall with a gm engine just like that sitting in a junk yard.

I can't remember if it was an M - I was looking for other parts and kind of passed over it thinking it was some kind of "farmer hack" - now I wish I looked more closely at it.

... might even be tempted to go back.

If you don't PLEASE tell me where to go...
 
(quoted from post at 17:58:48 11/02/12) Rootsy, you have done a fine job. I am curious as to how that GM breathes, does it really breath through that Mason jar and 2" pipe? Would not want to restrict her and suck the seals in on the blower, talk about running away! Otherwise, that;s a nice tractor.
Best Regards,
Charlie

Well think of it this way. The stock engine was 248 CID and 4 stroke. The GM is 142 CID and 2 stroke. Thus, equal in volume of air moved per crankshaft revolution (under suction anyway). A two stroke moves twice as much air as a four stroke per cylinder per revolution of the crankshaft. I don't have this engine turning more than rated RPM either. 1520 RPM at WOT. Even though it is pressurized it isn't a whole lot of pressure.

At one time or another someone puked this motor and put it back together. It has a different supercharger (was painted alpine green) and a Reliabilt rod (DD reman) in one hole.. Had two different liners and two different pistons in it.
 
I grew up with everything running DD power. My father owned a trucking company and everything had 8V92s. I put an 806 muffler on her which is tall and muffles well. It makes it manageable as far as noise. I am sure 8 hours would drive me batty.
 

Rootsy,

Nice clean installation, you should be
proud.

One question, does the muffler have a
baffle ,reason I ask is DD cannot have muffler
with baffle as that will make it consume oil.
One of my customers had a 6-71 in an emoryville,
he came in complaining about using oil. He
also went to the local DD distributor ,their
question was did you change the muffler. He had
put one from a mack on it ,they told him to
replace it with an open thru with resonant
chambers and your problem will go away . It
did.

george
 
(quoted from post at 01:02:29 11/03/12)
Rootsy,

Nice clean installation, you should be
proud.

One question, does the muffler have a
baffle ,reason I ask is DD cannot have muffler
with baffle as that will make it consume oil.
One of my customers had a 6-71 in an emoryville,
he came in complaining about using oil. He
also went to the local DD distributor ,their
question was did you change the muffler. He had
put one from a mack on it ,they told him to
replace it with an open thru with resonant
chambers and your problem will go away . It
did.

george

George,

The muffler is a Stanley from my IH Dealer out of an IH box. Has a thru hole in it.
 
(quoted from post at 17:24:10 11/02/12) Nice job on it . BUT i am glad i do not have to listen to that Yamhaw screaming at me . Myself i have spent more then my fair share on Detroit powered equipment . spend 10-12 hours a day on a C Pull Lt Turnio (sp) pan with a 6 71 Detroit with 3 , yes three four inch exhaust pipes sticking up thru the hood or the D Pull pan with the 4-71 with two pipes up thru the hood with no mufflers screaming at ya all day long or setting on a Euclid TS 12 with 2 6-110 Detroits bellowing at ya or the neighbours 1950 G with no muffler screaming at night while they were plowing really turns ya off then drive then screaming double breasted Yamahaws in a semi's day in and day out . Now i like quiet four strokes with quiet mufflers. But ya did a fine job.

Just for you...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGls7UOiCP0&feature=share&list=ULeGls7UOiCP0
 

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