57.2F and partly cloudy @ 06:45, headed up to a high of 83F supposedly.
Got valves set and oil changed on the 'bota yesterday. Still need to do the fuel filter but I'll need to run to the dealer to pick one up.
Will probably go a little faster next time around ...
Glow plugs came out fairly easily - ferrous cylinder head (thankfully NOT aluminum) and PB 'blaster. Anti-seize compound when I put them back in.
The first real complication was there was a clearance issue in removing the valve cover - it was hitting the muffler when I tried to lift it off ... so I had to remove the muffler and tailpipe assembly. That had the potential for not going very well, as the muffler was bolted to the exhaust manifold with 4 studs and nuts ... 15 (?) years old and never been off, repeated heat cycling, very rusty, etc. ...
But I just hit them with some PB 'blaster and they broke loose and came off fairly easily, although one of the nuts didn't and instead the whole stud (with nut) came out. Anti-seize compound when I put them back together.
Next issue occurred when I went to lift the valve cover off. In my excitement, I tried to just lift it off ... without removing the 4 copper sealing washers laying on top of the cover under the hold-down nuts. One fell on the head itself, one hit the floor, one stayed on the valve cover ... and the 4th one was MIA ...
After that I gave my neighbor (who is a heavy equipment mechanic) a call to help me locate TDC. He was eating when I called but came down after he finished about 15 minutes later.
The sight window for the flywheel/timing marks is in a very bad location ... just in front of the brake pedals, behind a pipe and a number of hoses (fuel, hydraulic) ... and to add insult to injury, it's pretty much impossible to see the letters/numbers thru the window.
Near as I could tell from the Workshop Manual there are three marks, each with a line: 1TDC, 10, 20. The only thing that's easily visible is the tip of the line/mark for each one. But knowing the order that they occur on the flywheel is how we determined which one we were on.
Got No. 1 set on TDC on the compression stroke and started checking clearances on the valves. They were a little loose but not real bad ... set the first group and then rotated the engine 360 degrees to the overlap position and did the rest of them. Then started putting it back together and buttoning things up.
Told Jeff about the missing sealing washer and we spent probably 10 minutes looking for it ... engine, floor, etc. ... finally he, being the voice of experience, asks ...
"Did it end up sticking to the bolt/nut ... ?"
Sure enough ... it was stuck to the bottom of 4th acorn nut ... :thumbsup:
About that time The Woman showed up on her way out wanting a progress report ... so we gave her an update on all the fun we'd been having, fired it up ... and then sent her off for beer.
When she got back with the goods we spent about an hour or so just chewing the fat and solving the World's problems.
After he left I drained the engine oil, changed out the oil filter, and refilled it with Mobil 1 0w40. In doing that I discovered that the plastic cover for the drive shaft going to the front axle was broken ... probably got punctured by a stick mebbe. So that's another item that will have to be addressed ... not looking forward to it, as it looks like it could be a PITA.
Last thing I was going to do was change the fuel filter. Pulled it and it was seriously crudded up. I had an aftermarket filter I had picked up from TractorSmart awhile back but it didn't seem to fit in the plastic bowl and I ended up breaking it trying to push it in ... so I'll be heading to the dealer first thing this morning to pick one up.
After that, probably put the MMM on and mow the front.
Last thing I did before leaving the shop and locking up was kill a seriously large wasp/hornet that had appeared and was buzzing around the lights. A good squirt of carb cleaner put him down. Thing was huge ... probably a 2 1/2" - 3" wingspan ... the stinger looked to be around 3/8" long ... nasty.