Finally decided to freshen up the Rhino 554 engine

[sd455dan]

This tractor has always run and started well ,also runs very quiet compared to my Ford 3000- which when cold sounds like it wants to throw the rods through the block:laughing: and yet the Ford has absolutely NO smoke after running a few minutes...
Anyway the tractor has always smoked (unburned diesel) till she warms up, and then there is still a little smoke ... So here we go time to find the cause and hopefully fix it without spending a bunch of money...

Here's a picture of it running after 10 minutes from a cold startup
and after removing the exhaust manifold and starting the engine the smoke is only coming from cylinder 4. as seen here

So got out the diesel compression tester and - after modifying one of the injector adapters to fit got these #s

1) 33o# psi
2) 330# psi
3) 360# psi
4) 280# psi

dug out my next HF tool (leak down tester) and found that # 4 did have a considerable increase in leakage into the crankcase compared with the other cylinders... @ 25psi 1,2,3 were all under 3% #4 was over 40%
all leakage seemed to be getting by the rings no discernible sound in the intake or exhaust ports.


Here is what may have caused part of the problem... GRRRRR gasket...

Time to pull the head and check out the cylinder wall and pull the piston,

gotta stop- because of me aching back, hopefully dig a little deeper tomorrow...

 

[sd455dan]

Headed back out to the garage -after a break, and pulled the head, - View attachment 390436

thought i might find some cylinder damage but no sign of it yet, measured the bore and came up with 3.750 inches .
If my math is right that works out to 95.3mm. The manual just calls it a 95mm bore and gives no piston specs... The other interesting thing is that # 4 bore and the rest still show cross hatch and is no larger than the rest of the bores?.?
Hopefully the out of position intake gasket letting in (less than clean air) wore the rings, or possibly this cylinder has broken compression rings?. The plot thickens.

Also was interesting to see the pistons internal combustion chamber is a hemispherical design?,
Never heard of a Hemi diesel
oh well i will try and get #4 piston out sometime tomorrow and that should shed some more light on the problem.

 

[Bob Rooks]

Sounds like that #4 cylinder is "dusted". Usually that happens to the whole engine. Even though the cylinders appear to still have the cross-hatch, I would check for glazing. Conversely, also could be that the piston rings never seated or have lost their shape.
Nice work so far.

 

[sd455dan]

thanks for the encouraging words Bob

Yep- # 4 is down on compression, been side tracked on other things but did get # 4 piston out.
the ring gaps surprised me- these were measured down the bore where they sit when piston is almost at tdc

top -chrome ring measured at .010 I had ordered new rings last year and checked one of the new top rings it measured .012? guess the factory installed ring has held up well

2nd cast iron ring measured .032 and a new cast ring @ .009

3rd cast iron ring measured .023 the new one @ .009

oil control measured .021 tried two new ones one @ .010 and the second new one @ .013


So it looks as if the bore has held up well as well as the chrome ring but the iron 2nd and 3rd and oil control not so well.

As far as the bottom end goes I think i will pull the other pistons , and do a lite hone using the finest grit stones I have and then then go through all of the new rings and place them by select fit. - i may be doing some ring end gap filing..

Since there don't seem to be complete specs for these shanghai 3.26 litre engines- i (may) use the closest american design- Massey Ferguson which a large portion of this tractor is patterned after.

massey allows ring gaps for a similar design of diesel

.014 top ring
.011 second
.010 oil control

after thinking about the amount of compression loss , i pulled the head apart and after a good cleaning it seems the greatest wear is the intake valves, as seen here so already have 4 new intake valves on the way, and at a price of $11 each i am not complaining.

Here's the head -the seats will get a retouch- and also have the exhaust valves touched up to. Now to find a new out fit or friend with the equipment to do the job- the guy that used to do it quit the shop (used to build some very fast race engines) and I trusted his work, ( also very reasonable prices) so i am searching now to find a new machine shop

a couple other things- checked the head and block for true, and everything is flat to less than .0015, so happy with that.

also here is a shot of the #4 piston / rod and couldn't help think of Cummins with the under square design and 45* cap set up
also for size comparison is a spare piston rod out of my 4 cylinder volvo penta boat motor 130 cu gas vs 200 cu diesel
the rod journal is larger than the mains in many engines very robust and explains the 2000 rpm rated speed. well that's all that's new for now.
Hopefully start on the bottom end and have it back together by the time the new valves show up . also if lucky will have a machinist lined up for the head/valve work.

cheers

 

[sd455dan]

Well so much for the best laid plans of mice and men...

Got all the pistons out all in good condition- no ring land damage, broken rings or excessive scoring.
Honed the cylinders installed new standard size rod bearings ( clearance now .002 down from about .0025).

New rings added and pistons / rods re installed in block.

Took the head in to the same shop i have been using and had the new machinist touch up the valves and cut the seats.
Installed the head and did a leak down test- slight improvement overall with #4 being most improved, also a cranking compression test improving #4 to 360 psi from 280 psi and # 2 now at 380 psi a 1 and 3 @ 360 and 365psi. These #s probably would be higher but the tractor still has the original starter -although it certainly could spin a little faster..

Re starting the engine the oil pressure is now about 50 psi at idle warm , about a 10 psi increase...

Now for the not so good, still seeing some smoke from #4 exhaust port

at this time the engine only had about 20 minutes of run time, decided to check exhaust port temps and #4 is down about 20*f, at this point it seemed like it would be worth re checking leak down .
# 4 showed some leakage which could be heard into the crank case and also thru the intake valve, re-checked valve adjustment which i set at .013 and it was still .013. I sure hope the (New machinist actually cut those seats!!) although the cranking compression for #4 now checked at 365 psi ??..??

Anyway had a thought that maybe the injectors being switched from the highest temp exhaust ports to the lowest temp ones might help, so after moving them and removing the exhaust manifold again, now the cylinders all have a very slight amount of exhaust color and the engine is running smoother than it has in the past....

I need the tractor to finish getting all the remaining fire wood done and all the blow downs- grapple work( from the 2 wind storms 70mph +) that we had this summer.
So i have re-assembled the sheet metal and loader and will re visit the engine next summer... It is possible that #1 cylinder should have had a new liner and piston installed- although there is only a 15 psi difference between the highest and lowest cylinder pressures and the jury is still out on the head work...


The engine is definitely smoking less than it did before tearing it down , so hopefully the trend will continue.

I was just really wanting to start it up and have absolutely no tinge of smoke after 5 minutes of run time. The total cost of parts ( gaskets, rings, rod bearings , new intake valves and machinist labor) was under $400.

I still feel that these Chinese tractors New OR used are still some of the very best bargains as far as HP, weight and the work per dollar spent that they deliver :thumbsup:

 

[Bob Rooks]

Do you know if the machinist did a three angle grind on the seats or not? Or if he checked the new valves for concentricity and surface ground the faces? I have found that even some brand new valves are not perfect.

 

[sd455dan]

Not sure on the 3 angle although I would hope so especially if the seat does need a back cut or top angle cut to keep the seat width and area of seat contact within reason.

He did say he cut all the valves since he had to do the set up.

I hand lapped the valves before taking the head in and most of the seats showed a concentric ring (no more than a 1/4 turn each way) . The main reason to take the head in was the contact area was to small- some less than a .035 seat contact width, and that # 4 intake seat showed wear and could not get a concentric contact .

I did tell him to leave the head disassembled so i could reassemble and check out the work -but he said it was ALL good So he re-assembled it.

Should have taken it back apart at home but was in a hurry to get the tractor running again so I went ahead and put it back together.

If by next spring, after winter plowing and the other fall jobs the unburned diesel smoke is still present, it will come back apart .

It is smoking less each time it gets run - time will tell- but my gut feeling is it will be torn back down in the spring.

 

[rusjudy2000]

Where did you find the parts for your Rhino 554 I am needing parts and my need a block call 8303262262

 

[sd455dan]

Where did you find the parts for your Rhino 554 I am needing parts and my need a block call 8303262262

I Bought everything from Farm Boys tractors in Tennessee.
I do not know what happened to them. After COVID hit their website disappeared as did all advertising.

Their website ad actually had a picture of at least 8 new complete 495A Shanghai engines in stock.

I did check and Tim said he had brand new heads in stock as well. quoted me about $500

They had parts for all of the Rhino branded tractors and there is demand for parts in the US. Hopefully Farm Boys will either resurface or sell the Huge inventory of parts they had.

I updated my starter to a gear reduction PM style and was able to source it from alibaba. starter was only $88 but the shipping was about $180. There are some SNH Shanghai New Holland suppliers on alibaba.

At one time the Shanghai tractors were selling at ~70% to all other 47-75 HP tractors in the home Chinese market.
imo it is a very heavy and strong built tractor in the 55 HP class.
Base tractor weight is well over 5200lb- before adding an FEL,ROPS or rear wheel weights/ fluid.

I did a quick alibaba search and found the Shanghai 495A"G" for generator use

New Shanghai Stationary Power 495ag Diesel Engine For Sale - Buy 495ag Engine 95ag Engine ethiopia 495ag Engine Spare Parts 395ag 495ag 295ag 395bg 495bg Engine Product on Alibaba.com

New Shanghai Stationary Power 495ag Diesel Engine For Sale - Buy 495ag Engine 95ag Engine ethiopia 495ag Engine Spare Parts 395ag 495ag 295ag 395bg 495bg Engine Product on Alibaba.com

www.alibaba.com

ps. Wow Time Flies...

I was going to re-pull the head and grind or replace the valve seats myself since I bought the grinding equipment valves and spare seats- and it was later admitted to me by another employee that the shop had NO seat grinding equipment.
Apparently the machinist that did my previous head work at that shop owned most of the equipment including the seat grinding tools, stones, arbors etc.


The 554 has had almost 10 years of fairly hard use since then and while number four still has a bit of unburned diesel the tractor still runs plenty strong.
It has no problem running an 87 inch wide inverted snow blower with a 20 inch impeller and 27" fan... but if I ever get some free time I will pull the head and grind or replace seats as needed. Would be nice to have it at 100%
30 years of Great service already and there is more left in it.

OP
I Hope you get your 554 up and running, they are a Very capable tractor.