Fixing up '76 2040. First tractor, have questions.
- Thread starter curdy
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Tx Jim
New Member
If radiator cap doesn't hold specified psi then it needs replacing. Most good repair shops have a radiator &/or rad cap tester gauge. Radiator boiling over can be caused from weak rad cap,compression getting into cooling system(leaking head gasket or pin hole in liner) or dirty radiator(inside or outside) or stuck thermostat.
Discovered last night that there was a decent amount of debris had been sucked up against the radiator. I'm sure this was from when I was mowing around some heavy thistles. The tractor is missing its side screens which doesn't help much either. I'm still going to flush the system since who knows when it was ever done before. I figure with replacing the thermostat and radiator cap at the same time will rule out those as potential issues. Then if I still have an issue, I can start to look into a possible head gasket leak.
To help, I'll wait until later in the year to mow around the areas with so much feathery debris. I certainly have enough other things that need to be done around here anyway!
Can I take the cap into a shop to be tested, or are you saying they sell a tester? I'm still new at a lot of this stuff...
Tx Jim
New Member
curdy
First thing you need to invest in is side screens. If you don't install them you'll never keep the engine running cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
First thing you need to invest in is side screens. If you don't install them you'll never keep the engine running cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Haven't updated anything on here in quite a while...a lot going on (which I'm sure is no different with anyone else on here right?). Here are a couple of updates on what I've been doing.
I ended up replacing the radiator with an after market unit. I had to pull the old one out to clean it because it was just packed tight with hard junk and there was no other way to clean it. I found it was so rotted out and beat up that I figured it was just easier to replace it. While I had the cooling system drained I did end up putting the 205F thermostat on. I took all the hoses off to check things out and discovered a few chunks of metal partially blocking one of the smaller fittings. I cleaned that out and flushed everything real well. I feel much better knowing that's cleaned out and clear.
I came to find that I had a fuel leak somewhere near the tank. I had my fingers crossed that it was just a loose connection or cracked line. Pulled the tank and it was pretty obvious right away the front of the tank was rotted through. Previous owner would get a little carried away loading mulch and let it spill over in between the front plate and the fuel tank. Then with salt loading in the winter getting on it, and sitting out in the weather...its only a matter of time before it rots away. I took it to a welding shop that came highly recommended to me and we determined that there just wasn't a solid enough flat spot around the leak to make a patch economical. In other words, to weld a patch, we would have to start bending the patch to fit the existing tank surface and that would get pricey. We stared at it for a bit and I realized all of the important parts to the tank were on the back and only the front of the tank was bad...so I threw out the comment/question "hey, I bet if you cut the whole front off and welded a plate on it would work right?" The guy smirked and said "ya know what, I bet that would work!" That's exactly what he did and for less than 20% of what it would have cost me to replace the tank. He did tell me he thought there was a tiny pin hole leak along one of the welds that he just couldn't seem to track down. So I went ahead and lined the tank with RedKote and everything works great. I'll post some pictures of the tank a little later.
On the list of things to do now are to get the sheet metal fitting back on a little better so I can put screens on.
I also need to get a ballast box made. Can anyone recommend a weight goal I should have?
I ended up replacing the radiator with an after market unit. I had to pull the old one out to clean it because it was just packed tight with hard junk and there was no other way to clean it. I found it was so rotted out and beat up that I figured it was just easier to replace it. While I had the cooling system drained I did end up putting the 205F thermostat on. I took all the hoses off to check things out and discovered a few chunks of metal partially blocking one of the smaller fittings. I cleaned that out and flushed everything real well. I feel much better knowing that's cleaned out and clear.
I came to find that I had a fuel leak somewhere near the tank. I had my fingers crossed that it was just a loose connection or cracked line. Pulled the tank and it was pretty obvious right away the front of the tank was rotted through. Previous owner would get a little carried away loading mulch and let it spill over in between the front plate and the fuel tank. Then with salt loading in the winter getting on it, and sitting out in the weather...its only a matter of time before it rots away. I took it to a welding shop that came highly recommended to me and we determined that there just wasn't a solid enough flat spot around the leak to make a patch economical. In other words, to weld a patch, we would have to start bending the patch to fit the existing tank surface and that would get pricey. We stared at it for a bit and I realized all of the important parts to the tank were on the back and only the front of the tank was bad...so I threw out the comment/question "hey, I bet if you cut the whole front off and welded a plate on it would work right?" The guy smirked and said "ya know what, I bet that would work!" That's exactly what he did and for less than 20% of what it would have cost me to replace the tank. He did tell me he thought there was a tiny pin hole leak along one of the welds that he just couldn't seem to track down. So I went ahead and lined the tank with RedKote and everything works great. I'll post some pictures of the tank a little later.
On the list of things to do now are to get the sheet metal fitting back on a little better so I can put screens on.
I also need to get a ballast box made. Can anyone recommend a weight goal I should have?