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Stuck!

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George

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My son bought an International H two years ago to restore just for fun.

Did a great job. I guarantee with the new paints that are available it looks better now than when it was new. Ran just like new as well!

He left it at a commission lot for sale ( was asking $1,200.00 ) last spring.

I wanted a small tractor to pull a hay rake so I went to get it. Still looks better than new ( sheet metal perfect, paint perfect ) but they said I would need to jump it as they thought the battery was dead.

Jumping did no good and got to checking the engine is stuck! I loaded it up and pulled the plugs and filled the cylinders with PB Blaster - - will let it sit a few days and see if I can break it loose!

Local dealer says to fill the cylinders with Pepsi as they free stuck engines with Pepsi on a regular basis! Have any of you had success with this?

Have any of you got any good tips for me if the Blaster does not work?

I'm thinking of hooking up a PTO shaft and using a jack to hold pressure while it soaks. Has any one done this? will it help?
 
I have heard lots of ways of unsticking engines. One guy told me to use hydraulic pressure. Machine out a spark plug so you can attach a hydraulic hose to it, then plug it into another tractor. Others will tell you to soak the cylinders with diesel and then hang a weighed pipe wrench off of the PTO.

Unless the exhaust was left uncovered, all you should be dealing with is surface rust, so it shouldn't be too bad.
Good luck
 
have a massey 25 that has been restored, but two years ago even with the exhaust covered between parades it came up stuck, turned out the exhaust pipe goes into the manifold rather than over the top of the manifold,rain water run down the side of the pipe into the cylinders. tried coke, tried penetrating oil mixed with automatic transmission oil, tried diesel fuel,all of these over a period of weeks. finally just pulled the head, cleaned up the offending surface rust, whacked the top of the pistons with a 4x4 and a big hammer and it broke loose. had it running in about 3 hrs versus weeks of treatments. it doesn't sit out at all now :!: :!:
 
hayguy said:
have a massey 25 that has been restored, but two years ago even with the exhaust covered between parades it came up stuck, turned out the exhaust pipe goes into the manifold rather than over the top of the manifold,rain water run down the side of the pipe into the cylinders. tried coke, tried penetrating oil mixed with automatic transmission oil, tried diesel fuel,all of these over a period of weeks. finally just pulled the head, cleaned up the offending surface rust, whacked the top of the pistons with a 4x4 and a big hammer and it broke loose. had it running in about 3 hrs versus weeks of treatments. it doesn't sit out at all now :!: :!:
Parade in Blackie at 9 on the 1st, pull at noon. Not too far from you just the wrong side of the river. 25 would look good with the 44's and 55's that will be there.
 
Per, previous commitment's will keep me from attending, but thank-you very much for the invite and good luck to you and your 55 :wink: :D :D
 
George
I know this sounds crazy but an old salvage yard for farmalls used to tell me what they did was dump water in the cylinders and they would almost always come loose. I tried it on an old Super H once but it had bigger problems. Water had ran down the manifold gotten in the cylinders
and froze and broke a couple sleeves. We just resold it to that salvage yard.
 
After 4 days of pulling and pushing the tractor back and forth in 5th gear with the cylinders full of PB Blaster it broke loose. I then pulled it about a mile and still could not get it to fire but if I stop it it is stuck again right away.

I will have to run a compession check and check the spark and see if I can get it going.

If I pull it in any gear lower than 5th the tires will just skid - - - even 4th but in 5th it will spin and then I can spin it with the starter but if I go away and come back in 30 minutes it is stuck again. Pull it in 5th and then I can spin it with the starter.

I have freed stuck engines before but never had something like this happen. It just seems very tight. The oil is thin but I'm sure that is because some of the Blaster made it past the rings. If I can get it running I will change the oil and filter twice in the first few hours. Well it will probably sit a few days as other things are pressing.
 
Maybe pull it again, to make sure you can turn it over. Then pull the plugs, put some motor oil in each hole and turn it over slowly, with plugs out. Then I'll bet you can let it sit and it won't freeze up. And pretty good odds the oil will boost the compression enuf that it'll fire--if you got spark. I'd try to spin as much oil out first, and might have to clean the plugs a couple time. I'm thinking it's a magneto? If mag needs work, there's a guy here who's excellent and got tremendous stock of parts.
 
I had the cylinders full of PB Blaster when it broke loose and threw oil all over my wife's golf cart when it broke loose.

New spark plugs but I think the points might be bad as no spark - - not a mag and we put a new coil on it last year but I will check all out.

What confuses me is the engine getting stuck shortly after turning over I pulled the plugs again and filled the cylinders with 10 W 30 to sit untill I get back to it.
 
Are you sure it is sticking in the cylinders? Almost sounds to me like maybe either the bearings are to tight, or you have some thing in the clutch. I have never heard of an engine sticking after you got one freed up.
 
Is the tranny stuck also even with the clutch disengaged? We mow with a couple H's and sometimes when shut off the starter locks up some how. All you need to do is unbolt the starter and pull it out of the block off the flywheel and roll the tractor in gear several foot then put starter back in place. If thats whats wrong its good to go. Hope you get it running they're a handy tractor.
 
I thought of the starter and removed it - - - still locked up - - - after I get it free I put the starter back and it will spin the engine sometimes then if it won't you have to pull the tractor again and the tires will just slide in all but 5th gear.

Once you get it spinning it will still slide tires in all but 5th - - - for some reason it is very hard to spin even with all plugs out and oil in the cylinders.

I feel it should spin in the lower gears - - - - but this is the fist small tactor I have played with in about 40 years - - - I feel I will get it figured out but it is just driving me nuts!
 
is it a sleeved engine? could it have pulled a sleeve? i still feel that the fastest way to find out whats going on is to pull the head :wink: :D
 
Nope no sleeves - - - Got a couple of Dozing jobs to do then I'll get back on it.
 
Does it start to show any oil pressure when you are towing it? I'm thinking tight bearings on the crank could be the problem. One time I accidentally turned a little Honda motor over in the middle of an oil change. The rod bearing almost stuck too much for me to turn it over and get some oil in it again and free it up.
 
I had a little time after baling today so I drug the tractor the length of the gravel pit and back ( about 2 miles )- - - - It is trying to run but back fires thru the exhaust ( I now believe the exhaust valve for #2 cylinder where the water was is stuck open )

Oil pressure comes right up and after I pulled it that far it is freely turning now.

If I get time in the next couple of days I will pull the valve cover and make sue all the valves are operating correctly then go from there.
 
Had a little time today - - - - pulled the valve cover off and the exhaust valve to the #2 cylinder was stuck open as I thought it would be and the intake push rod for the #3 cylinder was bent.

Freed up the valve and strightened the push rod and now seems to run fine. I filed the points the other day so I will pick up a new set. If I keep it around I'm going to get a 12 Volt alternator and a ballist resistor and update the tractor. None of the lights work so I will put new 12 volt lights on and a solenoid so that it will start with a key switch instead of a pull switch and push button.

I have never had an old international before - - - boy it sure is geared slow - - - I guess the John Deere H I had in high school was probably not to fast either. I did buy an Allis Chalmers WD in 1971 but I thought it was faster than this International H - - - I think 4th gear is about 4 MPH wide open and 5th must be about 10 MPH I guess if it will pull a hay rake in 5th it will be OK to have around but it is still for sale!
 

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