Just looking for any input before I start overhauling a couple D17 gas tractors that I bought. I paid $400 for the pair of them,a 1958 and a 1960, one with a loader and wide front and one with an AC blade. The price was right, but the bad news is that both had motors out of commission. One has a hole in the pan you can put your fist in so no big mystery there as to what has to be done. The other just"seized up" one day , according to the previous owner, so who knows what went wrong there. The radiator is almost plugged solid with dirt , so I wonder if he didn't just get it hot.
I have overhauled motorcycle and car engines, but these are my first tractor engines.
Some questions for any of you AC gurus:1) The manual says to pull the wide front end out and the frame side plates before removing the block. I am not sure why this is necessary from what I can see. Can someone enlighten me? 2) If I was confident in the block and clutch, couldn't all work be performed with the block setting in the frame? 3) My intention was to buy overhaul kits, listed at $640 each at our local AC dealer and buy whatever "hard parts" I needed from them as well.Is this a good approach , or are there short blocks available as there are with automobiles? 4)Are these year D17 motors the same as the WD45's? 5) I am located in central eastern Iowa and wondered if there is an "AC graveyard" or excellent parts outlet that I don't know about in the vicinity. Hope I got this into the right forum. Any input would be appreciated.
Kevin Woods
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