Hood Removal, Fuel Tank Cleanout on Ford 881

[Soundguy]

save the coke and vinegar and instead use CLR or lime away or driveway rust remover. most of those use phosphoric acid.. works good on iron oxide. won't hurt the clean metal.

 

[sleuth]

Hooking up the tank again, and realized the front carriage bolt is the wrong #@#$ size. I can't tighten the tank down until I get the right size so that the slot on the front of the tank will capture the carriage bolt.
Meanwhile, I inadvertently figured out how to remove the fuel sender unit. When I took it out, I found that the float had a bunch of holes in it, which explains why it might not be working.

What's the best way to repair that? Can I just remove the plastic float that's on there and replace with a piece of cork? Thoughts?

 

[Soundguy]

cork may not work.. does the float have enough integrety so that epoxy may patch the holes?

 

[sleuth]

I went out to get a new carriage bolt to retain the front end of the tank and turns out it WAS the right size. Now I'm wondering if the tank is not original to the tractor. I cannot get it to tighten down in front because the little square part under the bolt head is too small to catch the sides of the slot on the tank. Darn thing just spins. In the meantime, I strapped it down with bungee cords but would rather that not be the permanent fix.

Well, the tank is clean. Cleaned the tank valve. Added an inline filter. Replaced the old cracked hose. Cleaned all the nozzles between the tank and the carb. Fired the thing up and it didn't change a thing. Mostly - the only difference is it seemed to start a little easier. Ran great for about 3-4 minutes then died. Fired it up again, died after 1 minute. Again, 1 minute, died. Again. Battery dead. Hooked the battery charger to it and called it a night. I guess the next step is a carburetor rebuild. Was hoping I wouldn't have to do that - I just need this thing to WORK!!!

I have so much work this is keeping me from!

Can anyone point me to the right carb kit? Will post a picture shortly.

cork may not work.. does the float have enough integrety so that epoxy may patch the holes?

It might. But it looks worn pretty thin.

 

[sleuth]

Here's the pic of the carb. I also discovered no filter in the sediment bowl. So the inline filter I added is definitely a good thing.

View attachment 385463

 

[sleuth]

2, round hole thingy? post a pic.. not sure what you are talking about.

The round hole thingy. I'm guessing this is my air intake and there should be an air filter. There was an opening in the hood to access this. I just noticed yesterday when I was moving the hood that there may be a filter attached to that access cover - didn't look at it closely.

 

[sleuth]

Here's a pic of the other side, just because.

 

[sleuth]

Forgot to mention, that once I let it sit for a couple hours, it fires back up and the cycle starts again.

 

[Soundguy]

The filter is under that hole..

 

[sleuth]

Can anyone identify that carburetor? I'm trying to figure out if I can pick up a rebuild kit at Tractor Supply.