Hercules and White Engines

Why were not more Hercules engines used in Oliver, MM and White equipment? White owned this engine company for a duration of time.

What is considered low hours for a red stripe 2-135? What are problems with this model and how do the engines hold up with regular maintenance?
 
Want a simple answer? They'd have sold more tractors with Hercules engines if they'd sold more tractors. By the time they switched to Cummins,White Motors didn't own White Farm Equipment anymore. In relative terms,it was kind of a short window of time from when the first Oliver with a Hercules came out and the time White Motors went bankrupt. They were already in bad financial shape and weren't coming out with much new stuff. They were milking the farm equipment division as a cash cow to prop up the truck division.

As far as the 2-135,I've got a Series 3 red stripe. At 9000 and some odd hours,mine spit a broken ring out and ruined the top groove in a piston. I put pistons,sleeves and bearings in it. I've put a new hydraulic pump on it and had the Over/Under rebuilt over the years. I've got somewhere near 11,000 on it now. I don't know that there were any real inherent problems with them.
 
A lot of them with ring problems around the 3000-4000 hour mark if worked hard. A lot of 135's turned up past the 155 pump settings. I've seen a few with broken cranks as well likely due to
failed damper.

Lately the biggest trouble with them is that silly little gear lift pump before the main pump, it costs more than a whole 2-135 2wd tractor. 4-6000$ depending where you try to buy it. Thats if
you can find one to buy, last year there were only 2 left in north america. The relatively fancy main pump is cheap, maybe 1000$.

Surely someone will make a run of these lift pumps again soon and get the prices down.
 
Hercules was used by Cockshutt in the 35 in 1956. Also the new overhead valve family of engines the 35 used was used by Oliver in crawlers. Cockshutt used them in the 550 and 570 also. The big 478 Oliver and white used. Some of the very best tractors all 3 companies made. When you look at the Nebraska tests from the 50s, very few of those old tractors had anything that looked like a power bulge. The hp just dropped off from the get go. Not the 570 though. It increased then dropped. The white 2-155 did that in spades. Picked up 12 drawbar hp as it was pulled down in rpm. Very good engines. I have been a fan for years.
 

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