90cummins
Veteran Member
Several years ago a neighbor asked if I could check his 1910 Ford that was over heating.
He drove it over with the temp guage in the red and steaming.
The water pump bearings were so bad the fan tips moved perhaps 1.5"
So off comes the water pump to be rebuilt. I installed the rebuilt pump & filled it with coolant but it still overheated, I found the head was cracked in several places so off comes the head for repair.
I found pitting in the cylinders, this and very hard starting suggested the cylinders & rings needed attention.
Additional issues I found were;
loader was broken & repaired a couple times.
The loader control linkage was worn almost to the point of not functioning.
Oil was darker & thicker than any oil I've seen and the transmission oil was milky.
Overall it was very, very beat!
When He came to see the problems I asked him who he bought it from.
He said I bought this brand new and never leave it out side.
Since then I have done most of his repairs.
Fast forward to last week!
I went over his house to check his 2120 Ford hand throttle cable.
While there I spotted a large Kuhn EL35 (date of Manu 1988) rototiller on the bank & asked what痴 up with this?
He said that would stop turning when it was dropped to the ground.
He said I致e really used this hard and it broke while my neighbor was using it, you can have it providing I can use it for my garden.
My response was OK but you won稚 beat the #@%& out of it anymore!
He agreed.
The symptoms sounded like a slip clutch and sure enough that was the primary problem.
Clutch friction material was GONE and there were signs that a u-joint had broken which spread the slip clutch yoke resulting in loose u-joint caps.
The gear box oil was full but milky.
The hitch was broken & welded in several areas as well as the tiller tine shaft which had several weld repairs.
Also of the 6 large bolts (14mm or 5/8") that attach the 3pt frame to the tiller 1 was missing on each side and the others were loose and partially sheared which allowed the tines the hit the guage wheels.
This tiller has 36 tines and perhaps 10 were broken and the outer ones were worn down to perhaps 4" straight shanks. All tines need to be replaced.
I have repaired his vehicles and equipment for the past 5 years and have never seen vehicles & machinery so neglected, abused & broken.
The good news is mechanically it runs great, the gears are smooth & quiet when tilling and it will once again be a great tiller.
This is my first exposure to Kuhn and I must say it has to be extremely well built to survive this abuse & neglect.
Needless to say he will never operate it again, I will do the tilling with it on my machine if he needs it.
I will post some photos when I get a chance.
He also had a bailer with a twin cylinder Wisconsin engine with a damaged air cleaner with a tattered tarp that once covered it.
I walked over to it and grabbed the hand wheel to spin the engine expecting it to be stuck, to my surprise it was free.
I gave him a bit of a lecture that you can稚 leave this here! This is one of the best engines ever made and should not be allowed to go bad. I told him I would take it off and store it inside for him just to prevent damage.
He responded that it always started right up & ran great. I told him you can稚 do this!
Tim
He drove it over with the temp guage in the red and steaming.
The water pump bearings were so bad the fan tips moved perhaps 1.5"
So off comes the water pump to be rebuilt. I installed the rebuilt pump & filled it with coolant but it still overheated, I found the head was cracked in several places so off comes the head for repair.
I found pitting in the cylinders, this and very hard starting suggested the cylinders & rings needed attention.
Additional issues I found were;
loader was broken & repaired a couple times.
The loader control linkage was worn almost to the point of not functioning.
Oil was darker & thicker than any oil I've seen and the transmission oil was milky.
Overall it was very, very beat!
When He came to see the problems I asked him who he bought it from.
He said I bought this brand new and never leave it out side.
Since then I have done most of his repairs.
Fast forward to last week!
I went over his house to check his 2120 Ford hand throttle cable.
While there I spotted a large Kuhn EL35 (date of Manu 1988) rototiller on the bank & asked what痴 up with this?
He said that would stop turning when it was dropped to the ground.
He said I致e really used this hard and it broke while my neighbor was using it, you can have it providing I can use it for my garden.
My response was OK but you won稚 beat the #@%& out of it anymore!
He agreed.
The symptoms sounded like a slip clutch and sure enough that was the primary problem.
Clutch friction material was GONE and there were signs that a u-joint had broken which spread the slip clutch yoke resulting in loose u-joint caps.
The gear box oil was full but milky.
The hitch was broken & welded in several areas as well as the tiller tine shaft which had several weld repairs.
Also of the 6 large bolts (14mm or 5/8") that attach the 3pt frame to the tiller 1 was missing on each side and the others were loose and partially sheared which allowed the tines the hit the guage wheels.
This tiller has 36 tines and perhaps 10 were broken and the outer ones were worn down to perhaps 4" straight shanks. All tines need to be replaced.
I have repaired his vehicles and equipment for the past 5 years and have never seen vehicles & machinery so neglected, abused & broken.
The good news is mechanically it runs great, the gears are smooth & quiet when tilling and it will once again be a great tiller.
This is my first exposure to Kuhn and I must say it has to be extremely well built to survive this abuse & neglect.
Needless to say he will never operate it again, I will do the tilling with it on my machine if he needs it.
I will post some photos when I get a chance.
He also had a bailer with a twin cylinder Wisconsin engine with a damaged air cleaner with a tattered tarp that once covered it.
I walked over to it and grabbed the hand wheel to spin the engine expecting it to be stuck, to my surprise it was free.
I gave him a bit of a lecture that you can稚 leave this here! This is one of the best engines ever made and should not be allowed to go bad. I told him I would take it off and store it inside for him just to prevent damage.
He responded that it always started right up & ran great. I told him you can稚 do this!
Tim
