How to prime CASE 400 Diesel pump

I brought home an AWESOME 1955 CASE 400 Rowcrop Diesel restoration candidate today. It needs some diesel leaks fixed and some batteries, but other than that, it is amazing what great condition this thing is in.

With the batteries being dead we had to pull start it of course. I'd bet the engine didn't turn a 1/2 turn 'til she was purring like a kitten. I drove it up on the trailer and brought it home. As I let it roll down the ramps to unload I left the compression release open. When she got to the bottom I flipped the release closed and it busted off again immediately. Unfortunately, it ran out of fuel before I could get it to the barn. Now I can't get the pump primed. I cracked the injector lines at each injector and pulled it about 400 yards. What kind of tricks are out there to prime one of these? I've primed the 30 series tractors before, but the CASE engineers must have been "fuel-line-happy" when they built these things. Is cracking the injector line enough? It appears that the fuel pump has been rebuilt at some time. I can't believe I have any trouble there as good as it started the first two times.
Sorry this is so wordy, but I'm excited about this tractor and mad at myself for letting it run out of fuel!

I got so excited that I accidentally posted this stuff on the Pulling site. Sorry about that.

I could not believe that it was pegging the oil pressure gauge on 50 psi.
The steering has about 2 inches of slack at most. (Wide front I might add.)
Original wrap-around front weights.
4 sets of rear wheel weights.
Rear spin-outs in VERY good shape.
VERY straight tin.
Original battery cover with posts and wing-nuts you can turn with your fingers! The battery tray under the batteries looks like it's 6 years old instead of 56.
Original brass fuel cap.
Even the rubber seat torsion is in excellent condition giving me, (310 lbs.), a great ride.
Front rubber is good. Rear rubber has one original and one replacement.
I would post a picture, but the dang battery on my camera is dead. Yes, it's on the charger now!

An original 56 year old tire????

I not going to tell you to buy the manual.lol But you MUST fill the fuel tank to the very top. There is not a lot of fall in the fuel system and with no priming pump it must gravity fill the system. It was a very frustrating experience for this diesel newbie. Sounds like you made a great find. I sure enjoy the LOOK of the 400 series gobble

Yes, and it has quite a bit of tread left on it. The tractor has actually had a rather "cushy" life running a relift pump at about 2/3 throttle. The engine was rebuilt at some point in time. It appears the front head was replaced at rebuild due the industrial yellow paint showing on it. The hour meter is on 6206. The front axle, spindles, pivots, steering u-joints, tie-rod ends, are tight like a 500 or 1000 hour tractor. There's no doubt it did some tillage work in its life, but very little sign that it did other than it having the front and rear weights.

My 800 has the same maze, Not convincedTHEY ARE ALL NEEDED .LOL . once you get thios fella primed,, You Will swear Never To run Low on FUEL AGAIN . fill the tank and or use air to push the fuel trhu ,, with decompressor crankin the pump will pik up easier . I think Clausen wanted all them Damlines put on the Pump,. so that he could sell overstocked SCs , if a newby diesel owner became disatisfied from confusion when the GOOD 400 quit..

In other words, I'd better get all the fuel leaks fixed before I try to primer her up?

To bleed it fill the tank over the top of the sealed can filter up front, then go filter to filter cracking bleed screws until fuel flows out, then go to the next. Once you have fuel in the sealed filter it will gravity feed into the pump.

(quoted from post at 21:37:46 02/19/11) To bleed it fill the tank over the top of the sealed can filter up front, then go filter to filter cracking bleed screws until fuel flows out, then go to the next. Once you have fuel in the sealed filter it will gravity feed into the pump.

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I believe that system had a bypass valve that you can open to allow fuel to bypass the transfer pump down low by the mesh filter. It will bleed much easier if you open that. Originally it had a brass stem with a T on top but many have the T gone and plier marks where it has been opened with tools. Really it shouldn't be that hard to bleed once you understand it. As another stated, a full tank of fuel is a real help. mEl

I like to pull start them, it saves batteries, and starter wear, but it will take more than 400 feet to get everything bled. Loosen the bleeder screw on the first stage fuel filter, it"s under the fuel injection pump, by the oil pan, and will gravity bleed, close when you have fuel. You don"t need a full tank of fuel. Open the throttle wide open and pull start in 5th, or 6th gear. It may take about half way around a city block to start, I"ve done it with 5 gallons of fuel in the tank and it"s the quickest way to get them bled out and started. Of corse slow the motor down as it starts. There is a procedure to bleed everything, and a full tank of fuel allows more filters to gravity bleed.

Nice find! A few years back I bought a 500 at auction for $500 bucks. I had to rebuild the starter and it ran good. I did run into a problem with the primary filter. It's a brass can like unit with a million small holes. It was pluged up so it would start then run out of fuel and die. It ran a saw mill most of its life so it had a lot of fines in the tank.PK

The other thing I will add. DO NOT USE PUMP DIESEL! I did, destroyed the pump head because it is too dry. $900 later and it was fixed.

The bleeding/priming procedure is in the owner"s manual, and it does work. If you can"t find one, holler.