fpappal

Member
I am going to overhaul my MF 203. This poor tractor has been used and abused by previous owners but yet it still runs great. Pretty much a steady stream of oil drips out of it, oil pressure is low, slight knock, none of the gauges work besides oil pressure. The engine is covered in oil and dirt from all the leaks. Even with all these issues it starts and will run all day long. In this pic I just got done pressure washing it so it does not look as bad as it did.

Before I start in on this project I was just wondering if anyone had any advice as to what I should watch out for. My goal is to install new rings, main bearings, all seals, get all the gauges working, whatever it needs. This is not a cosmetic restoration, just mechanical. I have removed the loader as you can see in the pic but that will be going back on. I use this tractor quite a bit on my little hobby farm. This tractor has the 3 cylinder Perkins diesel in it.

Thanks
 
I would buy a complete overhaul kit and do a thorough job. Have the crank ground and the head rebuilt. You will have a new engine then and if you take care of it it will last you a lifetime. IMO
 
(quoted from post at 20:25:33 11/01/15) I would buy a complete overhaul kit and do a thorough job. Have the crank ground and the head rebuilt. You will have a new engine then and if you take care of it it will last you a lifetime. IMO




X2 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
I see on Ebay I can buy a complete overhaul kit for $300. It includes new sleeves, pistons, rings, gasket sets, etc. It does not include the main bearings. Any idea if these are decent kits or should I go through the Massey dealership?
 
I guess the file size I uploaded was too large. I will figure out how to make it smaller and post the pic. Thanks for letting me know.
 
You can get them on this site or Ag-kits. I have used both with no problems. The main bearings should not be very expensive. Make sure you are getting a complete overhaul kit not an in frame kit.
 
Here is the pic.
a204837.jpg
 
This tractor originally came from a gravel bed. My uncle purchased it 15 years ago and used it very little. I purchased it from him a few years back. I took the loader off of it to do the rebuild. That was quite the job, took me a couple days. Now that I did it once I could probably do it again in a few hours. At some point someone put a three point hitch on it, from what I have been told that was not original to the tractor. I would love to know how many hours are on it but the gauge does not work. I plan on fixing that.
 
I would replace the oil pump while you have it apart. The pickup tube may be cracked or have a hole adding to the low oil pressure. My 205 had this problem. The tube wasn't available so we located some tubing around the same size and slid the pieces together using the new piece as a sleeve. Some spot welds held it together. It was a fairly snug fit anyway, but I'm taking no chances of it coming apart again.

I purchased by 205 rebuild kit from Yesterdays Tractors, but didn't like the rings in the kit so I got them from the MF dealer. Pricey but they matched the originals. One of my new piston sleeves was damaged (chipped on the top), but YT replaced it without needing the damaged one back. The Perkins engine can have 2 different sleeve types so make sure you order the ones matching your engine Serial Number. I was surprised how thin the sleeves walls are. A thicker sleeve wall would be be better in my opinion, but I had to use what it needed.

Larry
 
Thank you for the advice. I hope to be into the engine in a week or so. Now that I have the tank and hood removed I need to pressure wash it one more time. The amount of oil/grease/dirt that is everywhere is hard to believe. Such a mess. I did see there are two versions of the engine, I need to check the tag before I order anything.
 

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