Over the years, I saw this DC with a loader in the next county over. It looked sad but showed signs of being used. In Sept 2004, I was at a salvage yard nearby looking for something else. There it sat with the loader and still complete. Now it needed to be rescued. This DC came to my barn without the loader.
A few weeks earlier, I had seen a “for sale” ad in my area’s weekly newspaper “DC Case with loader---new pistons and sleeves”. This indicated to me it was not ready for the junk yard and no need for me to rescue it.
Things to do near the top of my list for refurbishing a DC include “check the crankcase for sludge”. Taking a side cover off, I could see the oil was “white”---antifreeze in the oil. Upon further inspection, I found antifreeze oozing down on the outside of #1 sleeve.
That meant to me that one of the big o-rings for the recent new sleeves had not sealed. Costing only a few bucks and nothing to loose, I put two jars of Bars Leak in the radiator. I was a bit surprised when that stopped the leak. Years later when I found this DC a good home, I made a point to tell the new owner how I had stopped this leak.
Another problem was not as easy to fix. The foot clutch would not release properly when starting the engine. It had to be started in gear. Applying brakes after starting, the engine's torque could release the clutch. Then the clutch would work okay until it remained parked for a while.
I split the tractor looking for the foot clutch’s problem. Crud had built up in the groove indicated below. Over time with no clearance, the crud was somehow bonding lightly to the OD of the clutch disc. Removing the crud fixed the problem.
I failed to make videos of this DC being refurbished. My love for the AWF on the other tractor kept increasing. I found this AWF axle assembly for sale on the Internet 500 miles away. My half ton pickup and I got a workout. I installed it on this tractor.
I have video of #5 plowing but unable to upload the video onto YouTube. Sorry.