TO-20 Engine

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member
Hello, 18 year old kid here. Dad gave me a 1952 Ferguson TO-20. I've decided that I want to rebuild the engine. I pulled the head and saw there was a good amount of wear on the cylinder liners. I don't see any cracking between the cylinders which i have heard are common with the Z120 engines. Does anyone have any advice to share?
 
How far do you want to go with the rebuild money wise as little as possible? Hone the ridge on the liner down replace bottom end bearings if the pistons can be reused replace the rings. Being a young man that will be a good project to learn from & you can always ask questions here. Just my 2 cents for your first tractor.
 
Be sure and get the blue Ferguson service book and read through the sections you are working on. The first tractor I ever bought was a TO20 with a broken piston and I put a basic piston/sleeve kit in it along with new rod bearings. Its still running strong 12 years later.

Dan
 
You're cool. It's the Z129's -that were your engine block bored out, that had alot of cracking. You must have a digital camera. Take and show us tons of pics as you tear down. And welcome to the grey area...
 
OP here. I have in my possession three different service and parts manuals. One of them being the Blue book you speak of. I"ll make sure to use them ball as a resource.
 
OP here. I have in my possession three different service and parts manuals. One of them being the Blue book you speak of. I"ll make sure to use them all as a resource.
 
OP here. my dad at one point did the front main seal and quite possibly the rear main as well. I'm thinking about purchasing cylinder kits then main and rod bearings but because of the front and rear mains being done i want to leave it to an in chassis overhaul and leaving the crank shaft in the engine. any thoughts?
 
My first tractor overhaul was the 20. It's always a good idea to know what the oil pressure is when up to operating temp. and also to do a compression test before any teardown. That will let one know if the mains and rods are ok. If there's no water in the oil then the sleeve orings are ok.You could turn the head upside down and pour gas in the chambers to study the leak down time.I'd pop that head back on and do a prognosis.
 
You can do a in frame over hall easy enough and you don't have to remove crank to replace the mains you just need a little patience. Just remove one main bearing (1/2) take a good look at it if there isn't any major scoring or marks your probably ok you just might want to run 10/40 motor oil just to keep the oil presser up if the mains are wore down alittle.
 
Better take a wire brush to the webbing between the cylinders - the cracks are not easily seen if there is grime on them. I know of five z120 blocks within a two-mile radius of me and four of them had cracked - don"t know about the fifth one. There have been no complaints from the owner, but there usually isn"t a problem as long as the cracks are just in the upper webbing and the head gasket is in good shape.

The TO30"s may or may not have been more susceptible (beyond my limited knowledge), but the TO20"s ARE well-known for this problem.
 

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