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Ford 861 Diesel questions.

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003Ryder

New User
Hello everyone! I picked up a Ford 861 Diesel tractor a little while ago from a good friend who passed away. It was his "Daily Driver" tractor and has been used quite a bit. Im not sure on the year. It has the 5-speed, live P.T.O, and power steering, however both the hydraulic are shot and most of the hoses need to be replaced (a future project). Anyway I pulled it out of the boneyard a few days ago and started doing little things to it (Change all fluids and filters, flushed fuel system etc.) It smokes a little bit but runs very smooth. One thing I noticed was as I used it and got the engine warming up the oil pressure would constantly drop. (From 40psi when cold to hovering at about 20-22psi at 1,000rpm) Im wondering if this is a problem or if thats just happens when the engine gets warm. What do you guys thing about it? i'm thinking about possibly restoring it, but not sure if its worth doing or not. Any opinions or information would be greatly appreciated

Thanks!
Ryder
 
If I remember right, Ford first offered the diesels in '58. The 801's were made through '61.
I'm more familiar with the '65-up diesels, but that seems like low oil pressure to me. I'd be checking things out before running it much - verify with another gauge, drop the pan and check main and rod bearing clearances, etc.
 
Ooop one think i forgot to mention. Im not sure if this would make a difference but my friend put on an aftermarket oil pressure gauge/line. The line is about 2 and 1/2 feet too long and is just coiled up inside the main hood. Not sure if that would affect anything but in case it does....

Thanks
Ryder
 
If it was a brand new engine I might say it's low, but for a old tractor with many hours I would not worry, not dangerous low or anything.
 
Generally, I'd agree... but I seem to remember some guys on the Ford forum, who have considerable experience with these engines, saying these early diesels need more oil pressure that comparable gas engines.
 
Just an idea here, but is the gauge one of the real cheap ones? Sometimes the tin metal Chinese ones can be real junk. If it "looks" like a decent gauge it might be ok, otherwise you may want to go to a parts store and get a little better one. The coiled up line shouldn't be affecting anything unless it is being pinched under there. However, having all that extra line coiled up sure doesn't look real neat, I'm sure you noticed that as well.
 
I had one that ran like that. Crank snapped one day. Got costly after that. Runs great now after a rebuild.

Vito
 
I took it out to the pasture today with a landscape rake on it. Spent about 3hrs going hard, pressure got down to about 18psi at 900rpms. everything seemed to run smooth and right... not sure what to think. gonna keep using it and see what happens :D

Thanks
Ryder
 
a177207.jpg
 
Whew! that makes me feel a little better, its for sure lower than it should be but i'm sure this tractor has tons of hours on it and is very tired. I will probably do a rebuild if something catastrophic happens. But until that day I will just continue to use it and be careful. By the way, john where did you get that pic from? I have the original shop manual for this tractor and it does not say much about the oil pressure in it.

Thanks again everyone!
Ryder
 

I have the reproduction version of the shop manual and it has that saying in it.
The oil pressure on my 881 is low like yours, about 12 psi at idle, 30 at pto speed, I'm using Delo 400 15w40.
I'm thinking about dropping the pan and changing oil pumps, I'm pretty sure Ford upgraded the oil pump later on, dads old 850 would make 60 psi cold, run 40 psi hot and 20 psi at idle, oil pump wasn't the original.

My 881 is a 62 model, last year of the 801 series, in 63 they painted them blue and called them 4000
 
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