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Deere 4 cyl Deisel in pickup

D

Doug - Iowa

Member
Probably like every one else I've wondered what a 4 cyl ag deisel in a pickup would perform like. I might have the oppurtunity to find out, my son got his grandpa's '78 1/2 ton chevy pickup with a bad in line 6 motor. The body is in great shape so he's wanting to repower it with something difffernt. I'm not too concerned about the physicals of installing the motor, we have a fairly complete machine shop, but I'm wondering about engine RPM and speed. Assuming a 3:73 rear end and std tires we need about 2100 RPM to make 60 MPH. The Deere engine out of a 3010 has a rated RPM of 2200. I'd like to get that down to around 1800 to give it some room and not run right against the stops. That means I need to overdrive the trans or find a really tall rear end, something in the low 3's which I don't even know exists. Looking for anyone's experiance with this idea..Thanks!
 
Interesting project. I can remember reading back in the late 1970's and early 1980's about guys putting in Deere 329's and 404's and having worked out well. I always wondered if guys with other brand preferences tried something with their favorite engines. Is the 3010 motor something you had lying around? I would be interested in knowing if somebody has tried anything with the newer generation Deere engines like the 239 or 414.
I think there would be greater interest today in repowering if the major light truck manufacturers had not developed relationships with certain diesel engine builders.
 
A Dubuque 300 series four
cylinder is a more compact engine to clear the hood and still have ground clearance.
Industrial applications rev the engines way over 2200rpm. With that old of an engine new valve springs would be a good idea.
2750rpm wouldn't bother a Waterloo or Dubuque engine.
Using a TH700R4 trans. The OD and lockup torque convertor will make it driveable. Pheonix makes off the shelf adapters.
The 3010 NA engine is going to be a gutless wonder needing moped pedals to get up to speed. Use an industrial TI Dubuque 239 or 259. Sell the 3010 engine to somebody with a 3010/3020 requiring a replacment balancer.
 
With about 55HP and 254 cubes it ain't gonna be a speed demon, but it MAY be fun for putzing around!

As to the gearing, "10 bolt GM corporate axle original gear ratios were 2.41:1, 2.56:1, 2.73:1, 3.08:1, 3.43:1, 3.73:1 and 4.10:1".

I've read quite a few writeups about projects where guys have used the Cummins 4BTA 3.9's, less cubes, but turboed with up to nearly 4 times the HP, I think about 120HP is COMMON.

You might pull a couple of those stories up on the 'net and see how it was done and how it worked out as sort of a "baseline".
Axle info
 
we had a local farmer who put 4cyl international in a 1955 chevy car --it would run 55mph got 50 mpg--- had to put an up-right exhaust thru the right rear fender as it would not get rid of the fumes ---this in 1968----
 
Thanks! I picked the 3010 motor beacause it was simple and no computer, we don't have one so I'll be on the hunt for the 300 series. What would it have been in, tractor, backhoe, etc?

The posts above look like I can get the rear end geared up so we can use the std trans, so this might actually work. Son wants a Deere (cause I run all IH and you know you have to test Dad once in a while).
 
years ago i had a Doug Nash overdrive unit that gave me street gears [overdrive] so i could drive my '67 Cougar race car to and from drag strip...it was an antique back then...you mite check Hemmings Motor News or some of the other older hot rod sites.
 
Unless the 4 speed has a creeper gear. Using a 2.72, 3.08 or 3.23 gear set. 1st gear is going to be too fast.
The steps between 2,3 and to 4th will be very short. As the diesel has a only a 1000 rpm power band compared to a gasser engine with a 3000-4000 wide usuable power band.
There are six speeds laying around from late 90's to early 2000's cameros and firebirds. There isn't the salvage yard demand there used to be for used engines, transmission etc. Most vehicles just gets the sheet metal salvaged and rest gets shredded for scrap.
 
That certainly isn't the case around here. Healthy market for autopart recycling. They will hang onto stuff forever unless its neon/cavalier/tempo stuff.
 
Don't know about the engine and all but I do know my 1980 Chev 4X4 pick up has 307s in it and I can do 55 plus in what is called 3rd with no problem. Has a 4 speed with granny low
 
I can rember going to a Deere field day when 8430 and 8630 tractors came out. The field day was at Jacksonville Illinois at the airport. We had 2 2655's that we used to plow in the river bottom. They had a couple of 1972 GMC tandems with a freight box to haul their show stuff. The hoods were tilted forward and there were a couple of 404,s with turbos for the power plant. Very interesting at the time, I wonder if they are still around?
 
(quoted from post at 14:37:08 04/15/11) I can rember going to a Deere field day when 8430 and 8630 tractors came out. The field day was at Jacksonville Illinois at the airport. We had 2 2655's that we used to plow in the river bottom. They had a couple of 1972 GMC tandems with a freight box to haul their show stuff. The hoods were tilted forward and there were a couple of 404,s with turbos for the power plant. Very interesting at the time, I wonder if they are still around?
Click to expand...

They were 359 T Dubuques.
 
I am not trying to be a smart axx, I just wondered is your transmission a 5 speed. I have seed some shift knobs that had l then 1234 never knew why l was not 1. just wondering
 
(quoted from post at 10:56:20 04/15/11) Even if you don't change the gears, I doubt 50hp wil get that truck to 60 mph. Maybe on flat ground after a mile, or 2.

L.
Click to expand...

Lloyd, don't believe those outlandish TV and magazine ads claiming 300 horsepower from a 3.1 litre V6. The engine MIGHT capable of producing that figure, but only if the RPMs are somewhere above the 4,500 to 5,000 mark which will destroy it if sustained for very long.

Take that same car and drive it down the highway at legal speeds and the engine will be producing only about 30 to 40 horsepower or maybe even less.
 
Ok thanks now my brain is wondering your transmission truley does have 5 speeds, it's just that someone at factory wanted to be confusing to asperger types like me. If any of you watch the big bang theroy on television you will see why friends call me sheldon. I can not help it to me you have a 5 speed transmission. By the way asperger's is a mental condition where there is no middle of the road something is either or !! Hummer me!!!
 
Im glad you asked and the responses are interesting. I'd been toying with the idea myself only using a crate Perkins turbo diesel for the donor in something like a ranger, dakota, or s10.
 
to further explain my thinking I recall an incident years ago where a fellow was angry at me ,however I was trying to be helpful. This gentelman stopped at my trucking office and asked directions. after a time he returned from the oppsite direction and realized he had made loop. He thought I had misled him Upon asking him just how he had went I asked when you came to what he was calling a stopligh I asked just out of curiostly was it green or red. After thinking a bit he said green,, what difference does that make??? Well that is not a stoplight (at least to me) it's a traffic signal, you should go on down the road to a blinking red light which is truely a stop light!!. It works both ways as when I need to ask for directions some times i have to try to think very differenty. It's like some one asking in spanish or french and getting an answer in english
 
It only has 4 forward gears unless you count the fact that the transfer case has the hi and low in it then you would have 8 forward gears. Reverse is never counted as a gear but yes if you did count it which people do not do then ya it would have 5 gears but reverse does not count
 
Folks are putting Cummins 3BT diesels into Broncos and VW car diesels into Suzuki Samurais right and left. Just google those words and you will see a ton of work, good and bad, and see a lot of good ideas. Paul
 
I put a Yanmar/Deere tn478 in an s-10 chev couple years ago. 73 top end, runs good and gets 50 mpg. have put 30000 miles on it. It is DI and I put a turbo on it. Will start like summertime down to 8 degrees which is the coldest it got here last winter. Fixin to put a tn484 with a factory turbo in a 84 S-10 with a 700 auto.
 
Don,t want to steal the thread but I have a 46 HP Kubota deisel that I could push to about 56 with turbo. I know where there is an older scout 4 cyl manual tns think it wyould make a decent driver or better to find a Susuki. ??
 
Must be a different climate etc there?
Unless it's a restored classic or muscle car and only between Easter and Thanksgiving.Uncommon to see a 15+yr old vehicle on the road here. A 20+yr old vehicle is exceedingly rare.
Just no demand for drive train components. Except for the mini vans and FWD cars that keep blowing head gaskets and smoking transmissions.
Demand is almost exclusinvely for rust, crash repair parts after hitting deer or having a wreck during a blizzard.
 
I do hope that the major manufactures get a small diesel in a 1/2 ton to market relatively soon although it appears many of those plans have been delayed due to meeting EPA costs. You know meeting the EPA regs is costly when companies like Deere have even considered bringing gas engines back for the small 30 hp tractors that appeal to the small hobby estate owner as they can provide them several thousand dollars cheaper than a diesel.

Additional food for thought: While all this talk of adding a tractor engine is truly fascinating for an interim backyard solution for better fuel economy. Keep in mind that you will more than likely be sacrificing crash safety if you swap the engine out on a relatively modern vehicle to a different engine altogether. On a modern vehicle, even the engine is precisely engineered into the crash structure of the vehicle. On an older vehicle it may not matter as much as they were crude in regards to crash safety to begin with. Heck even the transmissions are precisely engineered into the crash structure of a modern vehicle, which is the reason you see manual transmissions being deleted on many models. Manufacturers have dropped manuals in many cases altogether because the limited demand to sell the manual was not sufficient to cover the cost of engineering and performing the safety testing in the crash structure of the vehicle with the manual. Of course some people do not consider crash safety important, but you really should.
 
I owned a Ford Ranchero that had the 6 cylinder engine out of a Ford 6000 tractor in it. The block was the same as some of the inline 6 cylinder gas engines. It got good fuel economy. One thing you will need to do is take the pump and have the governor changed. Tractors use a constant speed governor. In the Ranchero I had you would go into a curve holding the accelerator peddle in the same position expecting the drag in the curve to slow you down some. ( I am talking slight curves) The injection pump governors would all of a sudden give it more fuel because it was slowing down. About caused a few under ware changings. You had to anticipate your power demands more.

Also we turbo the engine and it was putting out about 90 hp in the tractor before we removed it. In the Ranchero it was doggy with a five speed over drive. Your half ton truck would be just as heavy.

I would not use a JD 3010 or 3020 engine. They used a crankshaft driven balancer. It is in the middle of the oil pan. They would not take over speeding much at all. As others have stated use the motor out of 2020 or 300 industrial.

Truthfully a better engine would be a 4bt Cummins. Much better power to weight ratio. Compared to a tractor.
 
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