Hi everyone,
I'll try to catch everyone up without writing a novel. I bought a 3400 with a FEL and Backhoe from a friend of a friend. He bought it in non running condition and from what I have heard, he is very knowledgeable when it comes to engine work, so I don't think he would have bought a piece of junk. Anyways, he had a heart attack and didn't have the energy to finish putting the motor together. So what I bought was a big puzzle. He had the head removed and it was rebuilt by a local shop and that was about as far as he got, never got it installed. He also had new rod bearings, rings and gaskets because he planned to replace it all.
Now I am trying to put the puzzle together. Since the motor is torn down this far, I also wanted to check the rod bearings and rings. I am in the process of pulling the oil pan off, but its a bigger job than I was expecting. Just out of curiosity, I measured the cylinder bores and it appears that the tractor has already been bored out to the maximum size. This is where I would like your opinions. If you were in my shoes, would you have the cylinders bored and sleeved or would you put the head back on and get it all back together to see if it runs as is? I have never had a block bored so I have no idea what a 3 cylinder gas block would cost to bore and sleeve. Any ideas? Of course that means 3 new pistons as well. I just hate to spend a ton of money gambling on a tractor that I have never heard run before. If its not too expensive to bore and sleeve it, I am tempted to have it done while I am in this far. Head is removed, oil pan will be off, front end will be almost off (if not completely) to drop the oil pan. Sounds like the only other major step if I wanted to bore and sleeve it would be separating the block from the transmission.
I will admit though, this is a little nerve racking for me because I have never done any work of this caliber. The most I have done is an intake manifold gasket on my pickup and I have torn down and rebuilt an atv motor. Nothing of this scale. I am a hands on type of guy and love to learn about this type of stuff. In a perfect world, if/when I get this running, the backhoe will be used to install a septic system or two and then the tractor/FEL will mainly be used around the farm, probably not very heavily used either. I am not shooting for a show quality tractor, just a good running piece of equipment. So what would you do if you were in my shoes?
Thanks for any opinions!
I'll try to catch everyone up without writing a novel. I bought a 3400 with a FEL and Backhoe from a friend of a friend. He bought it in non running condition and from what I have heard, he is very knowledgeable when it comes to engine work, so I don't think he would have bought a piece of junk. Anyways, he had a heart attack and didn't have the energy to finish putting the motor together. So what I bought was a big puzzle. He had the head removed and it was rebuilt by a local shop and that was about as far as he got, never got it installed. He also had new rod bearings, rings and gaskets because he planned to replace it all.
Now I am trying to put the puzzle together. Since the motor is torn down this far, I also wanted to check the rod bearings and rings. I am in the process of pulling the oil pan off, but its a bigger job than I was expecting. Just out of curiosity, I measured the cylinder bores and it appears that the tractor has already been bored out to the maximum size. This is where I would like your opinions. If you were in my shoes, would you have the cylinders bored and sleeved or would you put the head back on and get it all back together to see if it runs as is? I have never had a block bored so I have no idea what a 3 cylinder gas block would cost to bore and sleeve. Any ideas? Of course that means 3 new pistons as well. I just hate to spend a ton of money gambling on a tractor that I have never heard run before. If its not too expensive to bore and sleeve it, I am tempted to have it done while I am in this far. Head is removed, oil pan will be off, front end will be almost off (if not completely) to drop the oil pan. Sounds like the only other major step if I wanted to bore and sleeve it would be separating the block from the transmission.
I will admit though, this is a little nerve racking for me because I have never done any work of this caliber. The most I have done is an intake manifold gasket on my pickup and I have torn down and rebuilt an atv motor. Nothing of this scale. I am a hands on type of guy and love to learn about this type of stuff. In a perfect world, if/when I get this running, the backhoe will be used to install a septic system or two and then the tractor/FEL will mainly be used around the farm, probably not very heavily used either. I am not shooting for a show quality tractor, just a good running piece of equipment. So what would you do if you were in my shoes?
Thanks for any opinions!