Auction 446. The work begins.

[DavidBarkey]

@JSinMO Before you condemn that Onan to having oil usage . Make sure it has the right oil in it . OEM is SAE 30 , but I have found 15w40 Diesel oil to work better and have little usage . All Onan will use some but not enough to worry about if changed regularly.

[Timj]

I'm with Dave on the oil and will add that I noticed some serious difference in different oils when it comes to oil consumption with my Onan's.
I've always ran Havoline 10-30 or 10-40 in my p218 & p216 with little to no oil consumption. I always heard that Onan's always used oil, so I considered myself lucky. 2 years ago I ran some Havoline 10-30 synthetic blend in the p218 sucked oil, was adding everytime time I mowed (3-4 hrs). Thought well, 1200 hrs??. Put 10-30 Rotella in and consumption dropped. Ran 5-30 Valvoline full synthetic for winter last year and into summer and consumption was minimal.
My B48 is to new to me to know, but I've only had to add a little a couple of times this summer and it's been getting a workout. I put 10-30 Rotella in it.
I'm not promoting any brand or type, that might open up a huge debate. This is just my recent experience. Will definitely be trying 15-40 for next summer. (I got 20 gallons out of my bulk tank when I cleaned out my shop).
What I run for this winter is going to depend on if I get the oil heaters put in before winter. Another thing on the list.

Ramble ramble

[JSinMO]

I put SAE 30 in it when i changed oil. I figured I’d use that since I’m planning to use it on the winter. After the little bit of work we have done with it so far I think the engine is relatively healthy. I may switch to the 15-40 next summer and see how it does. As long as it’s running good I don’t mind tipping it off.

[DavidBarkey]

Make sure when going to 15w40 that it is for Diesels . I am not sure what additives are different from reg 15w40 to the diesel 15w40 , but My Onana are much Happier on the diesel formula . I think it makes them fell big and strong .

[Eugen]

I admit that for me, when I just get a tractor,the compression test is more for my curiosity than anything else. You didn't say anything about the exhaust fumes, colour, smell. Another thing you might want to have a look at are the spark plugs. Of course, if it works it works, not necessary to dig into any of this.

[JSinMO]

I admit that for me, when I just get a tractor,the compression test is more for my curiosity than anything else. You didn't say anything about the exhaust fumes, colour, smell. Another thing you might want to have a look at are the spark plugs. Of course, if it works it works, not necessary to dig into any of this.

I checked the spark plugs when I got the tractor going. That looked pretty normal. To your point I should probably check them now that we have been running the tractor. Exhaust smelled normal to me. What I did notice is a puff of blue smoke when I got the tractor under a good load. But like you said if it works it works! I also don’t know how long the tractor had been sitting before we brought it home. The old guys back home used to say, “when you bring a new to you old tractor home, hook a mower to it and run it in the horse weeds till snot runs out of it! Then you’ll know what you have.” To that point some work may be good for it. For now the plan is to use it as is and maintain it.

[Eugen]

I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a cylinder break like that. Do you know what happened?

The outer sleeve of the cylinder is about 1/8" thick and it has two holes at one end, through which the pin goes. The pin just ripped through the cylinder sleeve. It's not meant for high forces or a lot of weight on the sleeve hitch. Mine broke as I kept pulling the plow out of the ground when it went too deep.

[JSinMO]

I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a cylinder break like that. Do you know what happened?

The outer sleeve of the cylinder is about 1/8" thick and it has two holes at one end, through which the pin goes. The pin just ripped through the cylinder sleeve. It's not meant for high forces or a lot of weight on the sleeve hitch. Mine broke as I kept pulling the plow out of the ground when it went too deep.

Well lesson learned. At least you found the weak point in the system. Makes me think maybe it was already weak.

[DavidBarkey]

I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a cylinder break like that. Do you know what happened?

The outer sleeve of the cylinder is about 1/8" thick and it has two holes at one end, through which the pin goes. The pin just ripped through the cylinder sleeve. It's not meant for high forces or a lot of weight on the sleeve hitch. Mine broke as I kept pulling the plow out of the ground when it went too deep.

Well lesson learned. At least you found the weak point in the system. Makes me think maybe it was already weak.

Mine on the 3pt. did the same thing a little after I got it working . The unknown to me PO had "adjusted " the releaf valve as it was full locked down .

[JSinMO]

I tinkered around on the 446 this afternoon. I mentioned before that the blade didn’t like to hold position so I had a look underneath.

I found some loose fitting and I adjusted the linkage. It didn’t help, but I think it stopped the leaks I had. So I think I confirmed the thoughts you guys had on this. Its bypassing internally either at the valve or cylinder. I did find that if I lowered the blade slowly it would hold fine, or if I jiggled the control it would hold. At this point I’m not thinking of tearing into it. I think we’ll run it and see how it goes.

We will be blading our driveway this winter and I really don’t want to be digging into the rock, so I’m going to make some shoes for the blade to ride on. The blade does have adjustable feet but I don’t think they will work well in rock.

Digging around the empire of dirt I found a couple of pieces of steel I’m gonna try. On a side not that little plasma cutter I bought works great. Even plugged into house current at 15 amps.

So this is what I’m thinking of making.

I’ll weld some straps vertically to the shoes and use the bolt hole on the blade to bolt them on.
The hope is they will ride on the rock and keep the blade from digging in. We’ll see how it goes.