Utilitor-Midwest Engine

Recently came into possession of a tractor with a Utilitor-Midwest Engine on it. The latest patent date on it I could find on it is 1919 and the S/N is 515. Not a whole lot of information available except on the company itself. What I am looking for is information on the engine itself, even to determine what model number it is and any tech help. I did get it running and it runs just like me, old and worn out. Thanks in advance, Allan.

Alan, I have the manuals for the Utilitors. Can also identify the models with pictures. Feel free to email me for more info.

Doug, thanks for your help, it is greatly needed. From what I can tell, the tractor appears to be home made from various equipment. The Utilitor engine appears to be genuine and complete and runs. It has a chain drive on it connected to a gear box behind it that seems to be from an early ford. This is where the main problem I am having is. There is a clutch mechanism inside the front of the engine hooked up to a clutch pedal. No matter how you adjust this pedal, nothing seems to disengage the engine from the drive chain. The chain drive sprocket is always engaged, preventing the tractor from being put into gear while running. I assume that it does not have a standard clutch assembly but another way to disengage and engage the drive. I do not want to start taking things apart knowing that parts would be very hard to find. Once I would know what I was up against there would be a greater comfort level in disassembling this engine to find the problem. I think that the mechanism that is used a clutch is totally worn out. I will try to send some pictures as per your request but in the meantime thought you would like to see what I am up against. Thank you very much, Allan.

Alan, sounds like an interesting contraption. Originally the Utilitor was a 2 wheeled walk behind. From the engine number, it probably started life as a model 500. There are actually 2 clutches, one for each wheel. There is a big drive gear directly off the crank. the gear has a cone clutch on each side. One cone is pulled away from the gear and the other the gear is pulled away from the cone. There is a separate shaft for each side that is hooked together yet able to spin independent of each other inside another shaft. Kind of a complicated set up to describe but after you've had it apart it's not as scary as it sounds. I would suspect rust or excessive shaft endplay as your problem. The cam drives off the drive gear so it will have to be retimed when the shaft is removed. You could flip the engine over and remove the pan. You should be able to loosen the bearing plates enough to work the pan out without disturbing the shafts. At least you can see what you are up against.

Doug thanks again for the information. I was thinking of turning the engine over as you suggested to remove pan and take a look at the clutch mechanism. This will have to wait a while due to the fact the tractor is now buried in the shed due to space needed for running equipment. It is now on the winter to do list. Still needing to get pictures. Let me know how to get the information needed to obtain a copy of the manuals. Thanks, Allan.