1927 John Deere 1.5hp hit and miss

afwingnut · Jun 4, 2016

I have a 1927 1.5hp john deere hit and miss. Bought it at an auction, and have learned enough to make it run. Having trouble with oil leaking from the crankshaft bearings and around the magneto. Have taken it apart and installed new gaskets with sylicone, with not much gained. I have not taken the crankshaft and flywheels off the machine yet. Are there gaskets in there that should be replaced? The engine also will spit oil out of the the crankcase breather on the top. By the operators manual, I believe I have the correct amount of oil serviced into the crankcase. Anyone with some pointers out there? Thanks in advance!!

LarrySTN · Jun 4, 2016

Bad blow-by, from worn out piston rings and bad cylinder bore, can push oil out of the the crank bearings, breather, and magneto drive. The breather should act as a check valve partially keeping a small vacuum in the crankcase, too. With good rings and cylinder, oil stays where it should.

LarrySTN · Jun 4, 2016

Bad blow-by, from worn out piston rings and bad cylinder bore, can push oil out of the the crank bearings, breather, and magneto drive. The breather should act as a check valve partially keeping a small vacuum in the crankcase, too. With good rings and cylinder, oil stays it should.

afwingnut · Jun 4, 2016

Thanks for the response. I have had the piston out and honed the cylinder. The bore looked good and the piston has no slap. I guess i'm not sure how to know if the rings are good or not. They "looked" good. Again, any info is welcome. Thanks!!

Den N Ms · Jun 4, 2016

Afwingnut,Here is some good info and a place to get new rings if you need them.
Otto Gas Engine Works

Otto Rings

Bob · Jun 5, 2016

What you are seeing is somewhat "normal" for those engines, they can be 'dirty".

If I remember correctly, at a certain serial number they went to a crankcase breather with a leather flap to help to maintain a negative crankcase pressure. I hope I am correct in that statement.

Jon Hagen · Jun 5, 2016

yes Bob, you are correct. The late 1.5 hp engines had the little crank case breather in the crankcase cover near the water hopper. Odd that the breather flapper was never added to the 3-6 hp engines ? The 3 hp on my parade trike leaked oil like a sieve at mains and mag, even with the breather pipe someone added at some time in it's life.
I added enough hose to the added breather pipe to get it below the engine and added a check valve to the end of the hose, fashioned from the brake booster check valve off an old truck. It allows air out of the hose / check valve on the piston down stroke, but closes and pulls a vacuum in the crankcase on the up stroke, just like a typical Briggs & Stratton lawn mower engine.
With this breather / check valve mod, oil slobber from the mains and mag is reduced 80%.

Jon Hagen · Jun 5, 2016

And another place that has everything for the JD E engines.
Lightning Magneto

Crackerjack · Jun 9, 2016

Lookup Shopdogsam on youtube, his got an entire series on these engines, if you post a comment about your issue to him, he'll be Johnny on the spot with his reply.

Mark-Ia · Jun 10, 2016

You might try removing a shim on the main bearings to reduce the leakage.

1927 John Deere 1.5hp hit and miss

afwingnut

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Den N Ms

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