1955 Oliver Threw a Rod

Hey guys my uncle has a 1955 Oliver tractor with the waukesha diesel engine. It threw a rod and busted the block. Which from what I have read is very commen the tractor has 4500 original hours on it. My question is can a 354 perkins replace the waukesha engine with out alot of fabracation? I have read about guys doing a 5.9 cummins swap. I have also read you can rebuild the waukesha and take care of the problems the engine had from factory. The big problem would be trying to find a waukesha engine in good rebuildable shape. And does it really take care of the weak points. If anyone has any Info I would greatly appreciate it.
 
Only way to put a Perkins in it would be to buy an 1850 as a donor. You need the tub and most of the engine parts if you were to buy one with a bad engine and try to put a combine donor engine in it.
 
I would contact someone like Maibach"s. They do Cummins repowers. There are others out there too. Google would lead you to them.
Shep in Va has done several also. You could contact him via this forum.
I did a Perkins repower in a 1750 and would not do it again knowing what I know now.
Without a junk 1850 engine for parts and an 1850 tub on hand, it gets to be expensive quickly. When I was done, I was within a few hundred dollars of putting a remanned Cummins in the tractor.
If I do another repower of a Waukasha Oliver, I would use a Cummins. Good Luck.
 
Putting a Perkins in that tractor will be a hassle and in the end
be a little like kissing your sister. The Cummins conversions
are nice but spendy and a little complicated. The Waukesha
310 can be built to last a long time if you can find a mechanic
and machine shop that know what they are doing. Someone
should have a useable block. I'm thinking by the time you buy
a block, go thru the head, buy an overhaul kit, and have all the
machine work done, you will still be less money than a
Cummins conversion. That is what I would do.
 
If you got 4500 hours on a factory 1955 engine, you did better then most. If your block wasn't trashed,I'd say find someone who knows what they are doing with the 310 and rebuild it. However, since your block is smashed, I'd say do the 5.9 repower and be done with it.

I got 2,000 hr. on the first motor and about 200 on the first rebuild because the crank was improperly reground and the guy rebuilding it (me) didn't know what he was doing.

The second time around I had someone who did know what he was doing build the motor. That was close to 20 years ago and the motor is still going. I will say that the tractor doesn't get used as hard as it used to, though. As long as you have to put a whole engine in it anyway, grit yer teeth and pay for the Cummins. Then you will have the tractor Oliver should have built in the first place.
 
My uncle offered to sell the tractor today to me for $2500 been trying to figure out what it would cost to have the tractor done right with either a rebuilt waukesha or cummins conversion. Im sure I would have more than what its re sale value is but it would be a neat tractor to own and have around. There is a local machine shop that does very good work and Is very precise he also has the latest equipment to do the machine work with. I will have to price a rebuild for the waukesha and conversion kit for a cummins swap to see if its anything I would want to play with. If anyone has anymore info or knows where to get more info on the correct way to rebuild a 310 or a good resource on cummins conversion that would be great.
 
Yes I am looking for a good rebuildable waukesha. But I dont wanna give an arm and a leg for one sense I will be completly rebuilding It or I will just do the cummins conversion.
 
i have done the 1955 310 rebuild (tossed rod) in 2013 and the 1800 5.9 swap in 2014. the 310 rebuild is cheaper unless you can get the cummins engine for under $1000. still have the cost breakdowns. both are expensive, you can cut a couple corners with the cummins but the 310 is pretty straight forward (get all of the service bulletins/info needed). ~$5500 for the 310 and ~$7000 (double the time)for the swap, did all the work, except machining, myself. it was a first time for both, let me know if you want to know more.
 
That tractor should price at 1500 dollars the way it is and less if the tires are poor or has other serious issues. What shape is the Over/Under in? Radiator in good shape? 310 blocks used to be plentiful but around here you are going to have to find a donor tractor. I'll bet that even with 1500 dollars in the initial investment you will have 6000 dollars or more into it total when done.
 
Depending on which direction you decide to go, I have a 5.9
cummins out of an excavator with correct turbo mount, proper
injection pump, etc setup to put in a tractor if I ever find a
donor. Next project on my list at the moment is a 1955 that I
just picked up, so might be willing to take your 1955 engine on
partial trade for my cummins if you're interested in talking.
We're 50 miles south of Kansas City, email is open, I can send
pics of the cummins on a stand, it can be test ran as it sits.
 
Everything on the tractor is suppose to be in good shape execpt the ac compressor is bad. They where useing the tractor when the rod went. I never physically drove the tractor but I know my uncle wouldent hide nothing from me if he new about it. Its got brand new tires on the back. I priced a complete rebuild kit is $1900 for a waukesha which isent to bad but I havent found a good rebuildable engine to see what there bringing plus redoing the head and block machine work/balancing and injectors and and injection pump all the lil little things like water pump things like that I thought I would have around $5000 in rebuild alone Is what Im thinking plus buying the tractor and a rebuildable engine. Prolly looking at $8500 total which I dont no if a 1955 would be worth that in re sale but I dont plan on selling it I would use it. But for that price the cummins conversion might be worth the hassel.
 

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