Bad Bearings/Low Oil Pressure?

This is a follow on to a forum I posted a few days ago. My 1010 has low oil pressure. It drops over time and the needle on the guage is jittery. Today I changed the filter and put in new, John Deere 10W-30 TURF oil. Manual called for 10W-30 but i'm not sure about the turf part. When I started it up the pressure shot right up to 60, but half an hour later I was down to about 20 and eventually it got down to around 10 before I shut it off. When I changed the oil I pulled the pan and wiggled the rods and bearings. Two of the rods were a little loose and I could move them a tiny bit and make them make a clicking noise. I did not remove anything because I don't have a torque wrench, but the engine doesn't make any knocking when I run it. Is it bad bearings or something else?

Also, if it's bearings, could someone post instructions on how to properly measure and replace those, cause I really dont wanna screw that up.
 
Many places in an engine to loose oil pressure, rod and mains, cam bearings, weak oil pump, worn rocker shaft. Moving the rods back and forth won't tell you anything, if you can pull them down, then push them back up, and feel movement, then its time to check the clearance. Using plastigauge will give you an idea, checked against the required clearance.
 
I'd ditch the John Deere turf oil and get a good type 30W. I like the Shell Rotella. You're using oil for engines with tight clearances and it appears your's is badly worn. I would even consider adding a couple can of Stp. With the low oil pressure and excessive clearance you're flirting with a serious mechanical breakdown issue.
 
Check pickup screen in oil pan.Could be clogged with sludge or debri.Had similar problem with JD40 years ago.
 
There should be no noise when you move the rods.

I would pull those two, inspect the bearings and crank.
 
I would drop the oil pan and check the oil pump out first. Clean out the suction screen first too. Then remove the oil pump then inspect the gears and housing. You can easily check the rod and main clearance with plasta gauge. You just remove the cap and lay a piece of the gauge on the crank and reinstall the cap and torque it to the require spec. Remove the cap and measure how wide the gauge is smashed. If the clearances are not too terrible I would repair the oil pump and forget the multi grade oil unless you use it a lot in the winter. Then go with a good straight 30 weight motor oil. The modern 10W30 is like water when warm.
 
I appreciate all the replies. The pump in question was taken off the original, locked up engine that the tractor had. I disassembled, cleaned out, freed, and tested the pump to make sure it pumped by putting it in a bucket of oil and turning the gear. The engine in question I pulled off a parts tractor that didn't have a pump because someones mentally challenged kid hit the pump with a sledgehammer. I put a new screen on my pump before installing it, so not concerned about that. Going to replace the oil pressure gauge tomorrow as well, see if that's the issue. When I switched the oil, I spent a good amount of time looking for bits of metal. i couldn't find any, oil was clear of metal bits and water. The 2 bearings that I could wiggle only moved along the horizontal axis of the crank, no upward or side to side movement, not sure if that makes a difference.
 
A 10W-30 is going to be 30 when its hot, the polymers get tight in the oil,when it gets warm, and becomes a 30. But i agree he's got bearing trouble!
 
From experience I've found when you clean out everything the pressure or problem increases. Again I don't think your type oil was ever intended for these old tractors...okay for new lawn/garden equipment but where there is a lot of clearance by the time the oil thickens you've beat up your rods and other bearings. Now having said that you can try another oil pump but those rod bearings aren't supposed to have slop...they are to be around .002 clearance and oil should have filled that gap. Again you're looking at a total rebuild if you wallet is large enough. An engine rebuild will devour the value of your tractor.
 
Just straight 30W oil. Anything with another lower number will be thinner!!!! 30W oil should be easy to find. I know JD keeps it for the older Kohler motors used in the 100 and 200 series lawn mowers. It is called Torq-Gard?oil. The 30W part number is TY26790 in quarts.

On oil viscosity numbers. Example 15w40. The 15 is what the oil is supposed to be like cold. The 40 is what it is supposed to be like hot.

I find it surprising that the owners manual calls doe 10w30 oil. Back when the JD 1010 was new multi viscosity oils where not common. You ran 30w in the summer and changed the oil to 10W in the winter.
 
David they are not anymore prone to failure as any other fifty year old motor.

I have actually owner several JD 101 tractors. They are not too bad if they are the gas ones. They really are just a 40/420/430 with a different engine in front of it. The JD 2010 was an entirely different animal. It has many things that where only used in that single model.
 
On the cheap why don't you replace the bearings with same type...maybe even .002 over. But if you don't own a torque wrench it seems like you may be well over your head. I believe I'd take the last post and put some 40w oil in it and leave it alone.
 

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