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Resurrecting Grandpa's TD-9, engine froze, any hope?

G

Gnarlodious

New User
My first post! Grandpa's big baby, his beloved International TD-9 hasn't run in at least 25 years:
mvphoto106427.jpg

This was a farm tractor, it was never used much. After grandpa died, my uncle would start it up periodically and let it idle because "it's good for the engine". Now my uncle has died and it falls to me to decide the fate of this monster. Unfortunately the engine doesn't rotate. I suspect my uncle let it idle to death with no coolant. There is quite a lot of caked crud on the inside bottom of the radiator, and my grandpa always said it had a chronic leak. Today I looked at the injectors and saw this black stuff had come out, drained down and decades later is a brittle crust:
mvphoto106428.jpg


Does it look like an overheating incident? Should I take out those two injectors for a closer look? What's the worst case scenario? I can take off the head if need be, but I am trying to decide if this machine is even worth fixing.

Thanks for any advice. I am located in Idaho, far north.

This post was edited by Gnarlodious on 06/06/2023 at 07:08 pm.
 
thats what happens when they sit for 25 years. basically not worth fixing unless you have money to throw at it. can be at least 5k up to 10 k
to have it rebuilt.plus parts for then engines are obsolete. sleeve and pistons are are around 2500.00.if found. sell it as is and you wont
get 1k.
 
If your relationship with your Grandpa was a strong and meaningful one, and you feel compelled to get it running. Then have at it. But if
you have knowledge that your Uncle did indeed let it run without coolant and thats the reason for the stuck engine. Your Gramps will
understand scrapping it out and going out to dinner with the proceeds. Its pretty easy to get going on a project like this, but, the
problem is to keep going when other priorities and money and issues cause you to lose interest. I wish you the best. I do not know if
Gramps is watching or not, but believe if he is, he will understand your decision. gobble
 
plus the injection pump will be seized up, common on these pumps also. that can be another 2-3000 if you can find the parts as they are
obsolete and a shop willing to work on them. you are not able to do the work so thats a big downfall. plus the transfer pump will need to be
resealed as they leak diesel into the pump. dont know why u are saying your uncle let it idle to death. engines seize from sitting due to
condensation in the cylinders. your very first thing to do is get some oil into each cylinder. such as mystery oil, atf, or a thin oil. let
it sit for a week or 2 then see whats going on. you need to remove the injectors and that is one big job in its self. plus it looks like
there is a patch on the head above the pump. and i dont like that patch behind the pump as that maybe the lea plus post a picture of the
complete unit as there is still the undercarriage to look at.
Untitled URL Link
 
Give her a hour or 2 work and $15 in fluids. Pull injectors. On gas engines I first use Marvel to displace water and lube. Remove as reqd, then 1/2 ATF, half Xylene. Acetone OK, Xylene better. LET SIT. See if can bar over, let sit, see if cylinders drain, refill, bar, repeat. Little downside, and a free motor, not working, = 2x value now... 25 years to get tight= about 25 days to free up- been done before. Good Luck!
 
This doesn't look good. Then as the day heated up to 90, water began seeping out the rocker arm!
mvphoto106468.jpg

Looks like the head is coming off.

This post was edited by Gnarlodious on 06/07/2023 at 02:42 pm.
 
it will be a learning experience taking things apart. not what i would do yet though. but the more you tear down the more expensive it gets
as you go. have you priced out any parts? head gasket. have you checked to see that them valves are free??? that would be the first thing i
would have done after the cover is off. dont look that bad to me. you need to analize stuff before getting wrench happy.
 
The cost-benefit analysis is pretty simple to me, and I can't find any good reason to not tear this thing apart. The machine doesn't run and we need it for farm work. It is a remote location and nobody is going to come out here and fix it for us. Worst case scenario is it is unfixable or not worth it and it will either sit for more years or get scrapped.

I found all the bolts to be too loose. I now suspect a leaky head gasket and the engine got hydrostatically locked. Unfortunately they were running straight water in it so likely a piston and valves are all rusted up. The fun never ends out here.
 
Looked at photos, seem to be not to bad ,a lot of cakes on dust. Not a lot oil seepage and collecting on block to me .
Nice project
Place in Boise that specializes in the units. , think its General .
It will take three time more and longer to fix than you think ,so be prepared to that.
 
This is a start on GAS then run on Diesel. Pull the plugs and put the liquids in the spark plug hole. Leave the injectors ALONE.
 
find a running wd9 or swd9 and swap engines. i just had the radiator for my w9 recored, cost was 1750.00 .
 
I tried to edit my last post but there is no editing option.

Okay here is an odd thing, this is apparently NOT the original engine. Spec for the bore is 4.40 but this measures to 4.49 (possibly 4.5?). Piston is stamped 1039 and marked std. My grandpa said it has sleeves in it but I don't recall it being modified. His brother was a professional bulldozer mechanic, is it possible this was a more recent engine? Could they have bored it out and installed bigger sleeves? This would have been in the early 1960s, I think.

Is there an ID somewhere on this engine I can figure out exactly what it is? I am hoping a more recent engine will make for better parts availability. Thank you!
 
The later engine had 4.5" bore pistons for 350cubic inches, The earlier engine with 4.4" bore is 334 cubic inches. According to what I have heard, the earlier engine is harder to find parts for, but none of these older tractors are easy to find parts for.

DWF
 
Okay then, the original was replaced with the later engine by my grandfather! So I guess it is the D350 engine instead of D335. If anyone knows
where I can get sleeves, pistons and rings for this beast, please let me know. I may not actually need the pistons, they look pretty good. I think they
must be cast iron pistons. I felt the two good cylinders and there is no ridge at all. All that happened was the head gasket leaked, but it's possible
the head is warped. And of course they were running plain water in it, so the corrosion is severe. Shame this engine was neglected
 
Carr s Repair can get the parts to overhaul it. Gerald Carr is the owner and knows these engines well.
I overhauled my WD9 engine. Cost about $10k to $12k to do it right.
Pistons and liners $2k
Overhaul pump and injectors $3k
Bearings $2k
Figure $2k at the machine shop including grind crank and cam and lifters
Gasket set $750
Figure another $2k for misc stuff, hoses, belts, new alternator, rebuild starter, rebuild water pump, carb kit, plugs, wires, etc.
And that is after inspecting head and block for cracks. The heads are prone to cracking due to not being allowed to cool down properly.
 
If you have some pitting but the sleeves have no wear, you can hone them alot or machine hone them so they are middle worn spec. That plus new piston rings.
Deep the entire CLEAN pump in diesel with acetone and wait few weeks, disassemble the plungers, reset the flow using the actual injectors so the flow is equal on each cylinders, and you will be all set if you have a lathe and the injection pump book,you can adjust it.

This post was edited by fdt860 on 06/29/2023 at 02:44 pm.
 
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