O/T - any Wisconsin V-4 lovers out there?

Never heard an engine like it - the governor popped on every stroke of the baler - loaded or empty. Get 'er full of hay and it was a real sonic show.

Lot of memories...

Your post got me to looking thru my Wisconsin manual, and I found one other thing I didn't mention before that I thought might interest you. If the model number has an I after it, e.g., VE4I, that means it has cast iron pistons.

Nathan

The older VH4D the distributor was mounted, on the back, of the gear driven generator. Later ones had an alterntor belt driven, on the flywheel end, or altenator coil under the flywheel.

The last replacement for the VH4D that we installed in a CL30 Ford skid steer, had a different model no. just a four diget no., that I don't remember.

Neighbor had one on a skid steer. It kept melting cylinder heads until they figured out it was running too fast.

I would not recommend hand start a 20 hp for the faint of heart.

What size is this one? The most common is a VE4, which is around 20 horsepower, or the VF4, which is around 30 horsepower. They were made in larger sizes as well; I believe some of them were even 60 horsepower or so. There were also some of these that were overhead valve, but mostly they were L-Head. If the model number has a "D" after it, e.g., VE4D, that means it has Stellite exhaust valves.

If it is a VE4 or VF4, you can usually find an operator's manual for it on eBay pretty cheap, and that will cover break-in, use, disassembly/reassembly, winter storage, and also parts numbers with exploded views of the engine, but it doesn't include all of the rebuild tolerances, etc. As far as a shop manual is concerned, I don't remember the name of the publisher, but the same one that makes the manuals for the small, single cylinder, L-Head, air-cooled engines also makes one that covers 1, 2, and 4 cylinder air-cooled engines, including the Wisconsin.

If you visit the Antique Small Engine Collector's Club website, (I believe it's www.asecc.com or www.asecc.org, but you can google it and find out for sure) you can find out the horsepower, bore and stroke, etc. for the different model sizes of Wisconsin V-4s.

While you're there, take a look thru the gallery, as it always has some interesting stuff, although, BTW, I've never seen a Wisconsin V-4 on there, so if you get this thing put together and get it running, you should post a picture to represent it.

I have a VE4 of my own that I bought from someone, stuck, but I figured I could get it running and use it to repower a very rough running single cylinder garden tractor. Unfortunately, when I pulled the heads off, I found that one of the pistons had been at top dead center and gotten some water, dirt, etc. in there and about rotted it thru. In your case, this obviously wouldn't be a problem. It was too bad too, because otherwise, the engine seemed to have very little wear on it. Oh well! I don't know about any particular weaknesses, but I'm no expert either. I just think they're neat. :) They do seem to have a bit of an attraction about them, don't they?

Sorry for being so long winded, but I hope this information helps. After all, you asked for thoughts, and I got 'em! Email me if you have other questions. I don't know whether I'll have the answer or not, but I'm sure willing to try.

Nathan

We have in Finland a lift truck, where is Wisconsin VF4, serie number: 1687854, Spec. 66597.
And lift truck is Hyster Model 20, QN20FS, serie number: QN65782.
I read all kinds web sides where is Wisconsin or Hyster, but there is not information any Hyster QN20 series. All kind of information is very wellcome to me, i hope this can help to safe this Hyster. I quess that yearmodel is 1951. Thanks for your information.

Sorry my English, but hope you understand this.

The difference between the VE4 and the VF4 is as follows. (There is no such thing as a model V4, that is just a generic term for all of these types of engines in general.)

VE4 Bore and Stroke: 3 x 3 1/4 (91.9 cu. in)
VF4 Bore and Stroke: 3 1/4 x 3 1/4 (107.7 cu. in.)

VE4 Horsepower:
1400 RPM--13.0
1600 RPM--15.0
1800 RPM--17.0
2000 RPM--18.7
2200 RPM--20.5
2400 RPM--21.5

VF4 Horsepower:
1400 RPM--15.0
1600 RPM--17.5
1800 RPM--19.5
2000 RPM--21.0
2200 RPM--23.0
2400 RPM--25.0

"The horse power given in the above chart is for an atmospheric temperature of 60 degrees Fahrenheit, at sea level, and at a Barometric pressure of 29.92 inches of mercury.

"For each inch lower Barometer reading deduct 3 1/2% from above horsepower.

"For each 10 degrees higher temperature there will be a reduction in horsepower of 1%.

"For each 1000 ft. altitude above sea level there will be a reduction in horsepower of 3 1/2%.

"The friction in new engines cannot be reduced to the ultimate minimum during the regular block test, but the engines are guaranteed to develop at least 85 per cent of maximum power when shipped from the factory. The power will increase, as friction is reduced, during a few days of operation."

The easiest way to tell the difference between a VE4 and a VF4 is to look at the instruction tag on the engine and see what the model number is. If this is missing, and you're really curious, you could pull one of the heads and measure the bore to find out, but as long as it's running and getting the job done, who cares, right? :) (That is, until you need parts...)
Hope this info helps,
Nathan

No, I don't know why the skirts would be split, as I said, I'm not an expert, and what I wrote in my post was pretty much everything I knew. I wonder, though, if the split skirt as opposed to non-split skirt would be a difference of age? I would probably feel like you, though, reluctant to use them. If you find a Wisconsin engine that doesn't have split skirts and it seems to look the same, I might go for it, but otherwise I'd be a little leary of it. A piston put upside-down on your desk or something would make a nice pencil holder though. (Plus, if you leave the piston pin in it, you can seperate the pencils from the pens!) :)

Nathan

But, they are kinda neat.... ;)

--->Paul