deeretails
Member
This is a story about an 830 (serial # 8302437) I
bought on-line a little over a year ago. This
missive isn't a complaint, just a story and the
experiences one gets into with an old tractor. I
live in southeast PA and the tractor came from WI.
Willie Welchert hauled the tractor for me, I
highly recommend his services.
The tractor has shutters and a foot throttle, both
seem to be unusual options.
The seller told me the pony didn't run, but
believed it was in good shape mechanically, but
the distributor and carb. needed to be rebuilt.
He was right. I also knew it needed tires. Still
looking for a pair of 23.1 x 26" for a reasonable
price.
Although the pony wouldn't run, the diesel would
start with a tow of 4-5 feet, and ran fine, no
smoke, funny noises, or other visible problems,
although the PS didn't work.
Fist I checked the PS fluid, none on the stick,
added the proper fluid and I had PS steering, at
least for a day. The next day no PS steering, no
fluid. Discovered the PS pump seals were leaking
the fluid into the crankcase. Resealed the PS
pump, and all is well.
Next was to change the engine and transmission
fluids. The engine was no problem, but I did get
a surprise with the transmission and rear. The
trans. and rear specifications call for 3 1/2
gallons of fluid, mine had over 12 gallons on oil
in it (no water). Engine oil getting into the
trans. Amazing there were no leaks on the back
end of the tractor, even with all that extra
fluid. I wonder how many hours it takes to get
that much engine oil transferred into the trans.
More on this later.
In the meantime I worked on the pony, it had an
Onan coil mounted externally but had no spark. I
replaces the coils, points, condenser, wires &
plugs. Wired John T's oil pressure switch into
the ignition circuit. Then rebuild the carb.
Then I thought I was ready to start the pony, no
oil pressure. Posted on this site and one
suggestion was to pressure bleed the oil circuit,
that's all it took.
The pony started right up, with some smoke, but
ran decently, and had enough humph to get the
diesel running.
Now that it ran I needed it to stop. One side had
good brakes but the adjuster was frozen. The
other side the adjuster and brakes had been soaked
in oil for a long time. Replaced the brakes,
ground the drums, and replace the oil seals and
another problem solved.
Back to the engine/trans. oil transfer problem.
The 830's live PTO is driven off the left side of
the tractor by the engine timing gear train. To
access the seal I believed was the problem the
pony, flywheel and timing gear cover most be
removed. Once that was done I discovered the seal
on the PTO drive shaft was a hard cracked piece of
old rubber.
Some gaskets are no longer available form Deere
and must be made, seals and bearings are readily
available from numerous sources.
Remember I said the pony smoked, I read that often
the valve guides are problematic so I thought
while I had the little engine on the bench I
should look it to this. Sure enough the intake
guides were worn, but the rest of the engine was
in good shape. While reassembling the engine two
valves would not adjust, the lifters were missing
on two valves, one each on two different
cylinders. At first I thought that maybe the
lifters had rolled into the valley when I pulled
the push-rods. I had done that on some V8's I'd
worked on years ago. However I discovered that
isn't possible on this engine. Someone had put it
together without these pieces sometime in this
beasts 55 year history. The push-rods were just
laying in place riding on the side of the cam
lobes (I did pull the cam and the lobes were
fine). If only the tractor could talk. Henry at
J & S Machining was able to provide the lifters
and gaskets needed.
And there are many other little items that needed
attention, wiring etc. I'm not a painter, I try
to buy decent tractors that have a good set of
work clothes on, and get they in really good
mechanical condition. I'm not quite done with
this one yet, but it's the journey not the
destination.
bought on-line a little over a year ago. This
missive isn't a complaint, just a story and the
experiences one gets into with an old tractor. I
live in southeast PA and the tractor came from WI.
Willie Welchert hauled the tractor for me, I
highly recommend his services.
The tractor has shutters and a foot throttle, both
seem to be unusual options.
The seller told me the pony didn't run, but
believed it was in good shape mechanically, but
the distributor and carb. needed to be rebuilt.
He was right. I also knew it needed tires. Still
looking for a pair of 23.1 x 26" for a reasonable
price.
Although the pony wouldn't run, the diesel would
start with a tow of 4-5 feet, and ran fine, no
smoke, funny noises, or other visible problems,
although the PS didn't work.
Fist I checked the PS fluid, none on the stick,
added the proper fluid and I had PS steering, at
least for a day. The next day no PS steering, no
fluid. Discovered the PS pump seals were leaking
the fluid into the crankcase. Resealed the PS
pump, and all is well.
Next was to change the engine and transmission
fluids. The engine was no problem, but I did get
a surprise with the transmission and rear. The
trans. and rear specifications call for 3 1/2
gallons of fluid, mine had over 12 gallons on oil
in it (no water). Engine oil getting into the
trans. Amazing there were no leaks on the back
end of the tractor, even with all that extra
fluid. I wonder how many hours it takes to get
that much engine oil transferred into the trans.
In the meantime I worked on the pony, it had an
Onan coil mounted externally but had no spark. I
replaces the coils, points, condenser, wires &
plugs. Wired John T's oil pressure switch into
the ignition circuit. Then rebuild the carb.
Then I thought I was ready to start the pony, no
oil pressure. Posted on this site and one
suggestion was to pressure bleed the oil circuit,
that's all it took.
The pony started right up, with some smoke, but
ran decently, and had enough humph to get the
diesel running.
Now that it ran I needed it to stop. One side had
good brakes but the adjuster was frozen. The
other side the adjuster and brakes had been soaked
in oil for a long time. Replaced the brakes,
ground the drums, and replace the oil seals and
another problem solved.
Back to the engine/trans. oil transfer problem.
The 830's live PTO is driven off the left side of
the tractor by the engine timing gear train. To
access the seal I believed was the problem the
pony, flywheel and timing gear cover most be
removed. Once that was done I discovered the seal
on the PTO drive shaft was a hard cracked piece of
old rubber.
Some gaskets are no longer available form Deere
and must be made, seals and bearings are readily
available from numerous sources.
Remember I said the pony smoked, I read that often
the valve guides are problematic so I thought
while I had the little engine on the bench I
should look it to this. Sure enough the intake
guides were worn, but the rest of the engine was
in good shape. While reassembling the engine two
valves would not adjust, the lifters were missing
on two valves, one each on two different
cylinders. At first I thought that maybe the
lifters had rolled into the valley when I pulled
the push-rods. I had done that on some V8's I'd
worked on years ago. However I discovered that
isn't possible on this engine. Someone had put it
together without these pieces sometime in this
beasts 55 year history. The push-rods were just
laying in place riding on the side of the cam
lobes (I did pull the cam and the lobes were
fine). If only the tractor could talk. Henry at
J & S Machining was able to provide the lifters
and gaskets needed.
And there are many other little items that needed
attention, wiring etc. I'm not a painter, I try
to buy decent tractors that have a good set of
work clothes on, and get they in really good
mechanical condition. I'm not quite done with
this one yet, but it's the journey not the
destination.
