Stuck Engine on Oliver 77

akrause

New User
I have an Oliver 77 (thanks to all who helped figure out what I have) that I just picked up and the engine is stuck. It sat outside for the last 7 years and the muffler rusted off and got water down the
exhaust. This is the first time I have dealt with a stuck engine so any help is appreciated. Here is where I am at.
- Pulled all spark plugs and filled with PB blaster/ATF mixture and it has been sitting about 1 month
- Only Cylinder #5 is stuck
- blocked up one wheel and rocking it in 6th gear to try and break piston loose every couple days

So my questions are what should i do next?
-just be patient and give it more time (always a problem of mine)
-pull the head and try and remove sleeve/piston
-should I pour PB blaster/ATF down the exhaust to help with valves?

Again, any suggestions would be helpful.
 
I actually saw this on youtube and was thinking about trying it. Anybody every try it? Can I just buy a threaded fitting and get a hydraulic fitting and hook it up to another tractor?
 
As long as the valves are closed and will seal, yeah, you can apply quite a lot of pressure, either with the careful application of hydraulic pressure from some source (another tractor) or from something like a grease gun. The best part is it applies pressure to all the surface of the piston and is guaranteed (this is not a guarantee) less likely to break a ring vs a block of wood and a big hammer.
 
For some reason editing posts is disabled???

Anywhoo... Make that "... less likely to break a ring land than a block of wood and big hammer"

...or ring groove - whatever you want to call it. It is quite oily, however.
 
Before you added the ATF mix did you make sure there was NO water in the cylinders??? If there was any water in them then the ATF cannot work. I would wick out that cylinder blow it out and then once you know it is dry or very close take some ATF and some HEET and mix it about 3/4 ATF to 1/4 HEET and then pour it in. Straight ATF is what I use to free up engines and out of over 30 only 1 or 2 did not free up. If it does not free up in a month I would pull the head and then pour in a little bit of gas and light it up and do that till you had burned out all the ATF and then try to spin it over. By the way using the starter with a 12 volt battery will not hurt any thing as long as you use short fast taps on the starter. That is how I have done all the ones I have done
 
Old, it took a couple weeks before I thought about it and realized any water would be at the bottom (duh). So I sucked out all the solution, made sure there was no water and filled her up again. Thanks for the suggestions!
 
You can loosen the adjustment screws on the rocker arms and should be able to see if a valve is stuck down or not. If it is, try taking the rocker shaft off and gently tapping on the valve tip with a big hammer, but slightly. Seriously, big hammer with gentle taps works better (in this case) than a small hammer with big whacks. If it starts to move, it might spring back shut. Sometimes the valves will have rust on the stems and won't want to close, so pulling the head and the valves out and cleaning the stems may be required, but HOPEFULLY not.
 
I have found that if one puts the plugs back in the pour as much down the exhaust as you can will help a good bit. And or apply pressure to the cylinder by way of a modified spark plug so as to help push the ATF down to the problem area
 
If it was mine and stuck that hard, I am going to overhaul it anyway, pull head and get the sleeves out and do it correctly with an over haul. Just the way I roll
Dave



(quoted from post at 23:32:30 12/19/17) I have an Oliver 77 (thanks to all who helped figure out what I have) that I just picked up and the engine is stuck. It sat outside for the last 7 years and the muffler rusted off and got water down the
exhaust. This is the first time I have dealt with a stuck engine so any help is appreciated. Here is where I am at.
- Pulled all spark plugs and filled with PB blaster/ATF mixture and it has been sitting about 1 month
- Only Cylinder #5 is stuck
- blocked up one wheel and rocking it in 6th gear to try and break piston loose every couple days

So my questions are what should i do next?
-just be patient and give it more time (always a problem of mine)
-pull the head and try and remove sleeve/piston
-should I pour PB blaster/ATF down the exhaust to help with valves?

Again, any suggestions would be helpful.
 
Unless you get the pistons freed from the sleeves, you'll be buying pistons and rods and sleeves. So, regardless of the plan going forward, freeing the pistons is most likely required.
 
patience and constant pressure on the crank will sometimes work, if you have a hand crank insert it and hang some rear wheel weights off of it, you can also use the pto and put a pipe wrench on it with a cheater pipe and some weights. another way is to jack one wheel and hang weight off of it. this method will only work if the stuck cylinder is in mid stroke, if it is near top or bottom very little force will be applied thru the crank. if only on cylinder is stuck it most likely will come loose with time. as to pulling sleeves and rebuilding it you will have way more money into it than it is worth. probably better too put in a used engine.
 
In MY experience, if the muffler was rusted off and it leaked through the exhaust manifold and stuck a cylinder, a valve had to be open for it to leak into the cylinder in the first place. Personally I'd pull the head and see what it looks like. I would expect at least one valve seat to be messed up if not ruined, ditto the valve. I'd also pull the pan and try tapping the rod up and out. You can use a short bolt and flat washer on the block to retain the sleeve. I use oak 2 x 2's for "punches." If it objects to popping out at this point, remove the bolt and washer from the block and drive the entire unit, sleeve, piston, and rod up and out of the block. It's all pretty self evident from that point. Enjoy! gm
 
Ok you free up the piston, how do you deal with the frozen rings. I just did a motor with stuck piston but decided to pull piston ,the tings were froze into the piston, can't see how they would ever free up? As for pounding on a piston ,I cut a circle out of a1/2in. Piece of iron. Haven't had any trouble yet!!!
 
When I have a piston that has the rings stuck on it I put it in a coffee can that is full of ATF and let it soak. If it is in the winter and I have the wood stove going in the shop I then set the can on top of the stove so the ATF gets good and warm which helps a whole lot
 
Greg, thanks for the info. The cylinder is stuck at the bottom of the stroke so I will try something other than rocking the wheel. I also agree with you that a complete overhaul is more than the tractor is worth. It was overhauled in the 70's and hasn't done much other than rake hay and run augers. When we stopped using sickle mowers for hay and and went to 10" augers we didn't have a use for it and is when it got parked. I am hoping 1 new sleeve and piston, a new set of rings, and gaskets will get it going.
 
Take the head off, spray some lube on cyl walls, grab a piece of oak wood 1-2 ft long put it on the stuck piston near the outer part so you dont put a hole thru the middle and using a sledge give 4-5 good wacks. Its the only way I've been able to get it done on some engines.
 
1. remove valve cover. 2.loosen or remove the rockers from the valves. 3. the biggest waste of time is waiting thinking a miracle will happen by soaking. 4. get it apart and get to work on it.
 
Valve train could be stuck too. We tore apart one we thought was stuck but as soon as we pulled the head it turned fine.
 
Take the starter off and if you have a quality prybar that is 3-4' long, stick it in the teeth on the ring gear and give it a good pry. That leverage can help as well. Also, find one of the cylinders that the piston is just past top dead center, loosen the valve adjustments so the valves are closed, and make an air fitting out of an old spark plug. Screw it into the cylinder and put full air pressure to it. With the air pressure pushing down on an adjoing piston, and prying on the ring gear, it may help get it loose. Heck, even put a buddy on a rear tire to try to help get it turning as well.
 
it may have died that way...kerosene used to be used...darned expensive these days...There is a product that will eat rust like nothing I've ever seen and it's cheap..."The Works"...all that's left when it's used is a rusty colored liquid...read the label
 
(quoted from post at 10:04:44 12/24/17) it may have died that way...kerosene used to be used...darned expensive these days...There is a product that will eat rust like nothing I've ever seen and it's cheap..."The Works"...all that's left when it's used is a rusty colored liquid...read the label
A word of caution yes the Works eats rust it also eats aluminum and will flash rust your tools so be careful use rubber gloves personally I've decided its best use is in the toilet
GB in MN
 

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