John Deere 730 Diesel with Pony Motor, what should I fix?

tacoma747

New User
Vague title I know, but here's the story:

Had a 730 diesel (standard) with pony, rare tractor I know, but had no 3-point hitch and needed lots of fender work, steering work, and tires. Had the opportunity to trade for a 730 Row Crop with good back tires, sheetmetal, and a 3-point hitch, only problem was the steering didn't work/fan didn't spin.

I HOPED it was a simple problem such as a gear stripped or fan shaft broken, of course this was not the case.... So I had the whole frontend torn apart, even disassembled the radiator--I am going to replace the core I guess. I figure while all the parts are off I will get everything blasted/painted, no sense doing it twice...

So I have come to the conclusion something in the governor housing is messed up, luckily it seems everything I already removed would have had to come off to get the governor housing off anyways I guess. I have the pony motor lifted a little for governor bolt access, the governor housing will not lift off, I didn't want to force anything. I have the I&T manual ordered and it should be here hopefully tomorrow.

My question now: While I am this far along what else should I go ahead and do? I didn't really plan to do a 'full restore' just yet, but since pretty much everything is already off I figure I might as well go a little further if there is something that is not easily accessible when everything is back together. I really do NOT want to go through this again!

I can't believe how horribly these things were designed, they are not hard to work on it seems, but to take one thing off it seems you have to first remove ten other things...

Also, where is a good place to get new gaskets, and are the O-rings in all the metal coolant/oil pipes replaceable?

Thanks for any info
 
you can never find a place to stop on a diesel, as I was once told there's no stopping point. So hope you have lots of money. good luck.
 
I got so mad at mine I ended up tearing it 100% apart and went all the way thru it !
Pretty much that way with any of these old 2 cyl. though. The more you look the more you can find and so on.
I don't know how so many people can put the blinders on and just half arse them ?
I just always got my gaskets from JD. Might be some others making them now ? The coolant pipe O-rings are replaceable. Clean the pipes and castings up good and smear silicone gasket maker on them before installing them and they slide right together. Then center them up between the castings before the sealer sets up.
 
Albert at Renaissance Tractor is making a lot of the gaskets fo the Diesels and has a lot of aftermarket parts for them also.
 

The 730 had a much improved camshaft idler gear/bearing/stub shaft than the 70 but it should still be inspected for wear .
 
You're right on that. I don't think I'll ever get everything fixed on mine. One day I'll just quit, haha.
 

Got the governor housing off tonight, the keyway on the governor shaft seems to be broken, the gear the governor gear spins freely on the shaft. Tore the WHOLE front of the tractor apart just for a keyway!!!

The gear teeth are slightly damaged, wondering if something else was the cause of the keyway breaking?
 
Hopefully this picture will work:

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