Funny you mentioned that. I went out to the tractor to put a tarp over it (rain tomorrow). I took a closer look at the fan, and noticed that one of the blades was stuck or very close to the enclosure the fan spins in, and on the other side the blade is about a half inch from that enclosure. That means the fan had to move, caused by a bad water pump bearing? Don’t know yet.
What I do know is that it’s not just the radiator that’s going to need to be replaced, which looks to be fairly easy to do. If that water pump needs replaced, that’s another $200 at least, but taking that thing off would be a bear. The fan looks like it’ll need to be replaced, another $50 or so.
If you haven’t moved the tractor yet (sounds like you have but) be sure the water level is up over the head before you run the engine. You don’t want to run the engine, load or not, with no coolant in the head. If you do to any extent, you’ll be putting a new head gasket in too.
Should be easy to check the water pump, take the fan belt(s) off and spin that fan by hand. It should spin without binding and the shaft/fan should not have any slop (side to side or up/down) in it. If it binds, drags or has play, replace it. If you don’t you’ll need another radiator shortly. (I’d guess from the damage that the WP is shot and that’s what caused the damage in the rad)
Also, while you may not NEED antifreeze now, its good to use it year round. It has better heat transfer than plain water, and it lubes the bearing in the water pump better than plain water too. You’re going to need it before winter so…
Another way to check the water pump is to grab the fan and give it a hard wiggle and a bad pump will thunk back at you.
Do you have any tractor salvage yards near you? That would be a good place to find a fan, etc. In Iowa, you can’t swing a dead cat and not hit a tractor salvage yard.
@Steve333, and @Chikn, no, I haven’t moved it since I shut it down earlier today. The fan is still embedded in the radiator grille, so it won’t move, I tried to, and it’s in too deep. I’d have to take off the radiator to test the WP bearing. Doing that ought to be simple enough. If the WP is bad, how difficult would it be to get that off? Seeing those big bolts in there makes me think they won’t budge easily. Plus, there’s a bunch of stuff attached to it, making it that much more complicated.
I’ll ask around about some salvage yards. We’re in a rural area, so I might be in luck as far as the fan goes. Prob not recommended to take a water pump off a junk tractor?
Also, sorry for repeatedly altering my post, but so y’all think there would be any engine damage? The coolant temp was still in the high green range, and not red, so I don’t think it got too hot. Obviously, I’m not going to move it now until it’s repaired, other than maybe having my BIL tow it into the barn to get it out of the sun.
Dood, the engine is probably fine. In modern tiny car engines, with Al heads, the head gaskets are much more prone to failure than the old, big, all iron engines. If the temp gauge was in the good range, it’s likely fine.
In addition to tractor junk yards, if there are still any radiator shops near you they would likely be able to replace the core (finned part) and reuse the tanks (metal top and bottom or sides depending on which way the tubes flow). Might be worth checking that option out too, as a good shop can rebuild a radiator as good or better than new…
If you need a new WP, get a new one (or a remanufactured/rebuilt one more likely with something this old). Not worth the trouble of replacing it twice. Also check the new one (spin it and check for wobbles) at the shop before you head home. Even new stuff can be bad. Auto stores may have one too. Bring your old one with you to compare and whomever will want the old one as a core to be rebuilt.
Thanks for the suggestions. Looks like I’ll be ordering a bunch of parts, prob off eBay. The ballpark costs for the rad is ~$250, for the WP, ~$100, and the fan ~$50. Plus, coolant and hoses. Not cheap, but not as bad as I originally thought. Just hate to be out of commission for at least a couple weeks, really need to get the discing done, it’s already pretty late in the season. Maybe my BIL can help us out. He did our plots the first couple years before we got a tractor.
Well, just ordered the parts from a place in Michigan, thru eBay. The total cost wasn’t as bad as I thought it’d be, but still pricey. Total parts cost was about $375 and $35 shipping for a radiator, water pump, fan, upper and lower rad hoses. All the parts are new. Since I ordered so late in the day, they won’t ship out until Monday, and should be here in 4-8 days. So, hopefully I’ll be back online in a couple weeks. We can’t get the tractor in the barn out of the weather/sun, so it’ll be repaired where it croaked.
I had my bro-in-law over yesterday, and he concurred with my friend’s earlier diagnosis. He offered to disc my other garden plots without me even asking him, so that was nice of him. It’'s good to have neighbors that are willing to lend a helping hand when needed.
I have an old Massey Ferguson 1250 tractor that I’m trying to find front axle seals for. So far I’ve had no luck using the google and searching for used tractor parts.
Does anyone have any favorite sites for old tractor parts?
Hey Bart, I’ve looked at a lot of sites, and can’t find that part. Your tractor isn’t that old, from what I’ve seen, maybe 25 years old at the most, so there ought to be parts for it somewhere.
As you can see up this thread, I had to order parts for my 1981 John Deere. I got them thru eBay. The vendor I used was Reliable After Market Parts Inc out of Michigan. Call them at 1-888-672-7876, they might be able to help you out.
I ordered a radiator, water pump, hoses and fan from them on Apr 29. I got the rad on May 4, still waiting on the other parts, should be here over the next few days.
@Bart, were you able to find the part you were looking for? It seems like it’s not a common part, but maybe I wasn’t looking in the right places. Are you still able to drive it? Is the seal just leaking or blown out?
I’m happy to report that the rest of my parts came in yesterday- water pump, fan and radiator hoses. But, it’s raining today, and will be over the next few days so I can’t work on it, it’s out in the open by one of the plots. So, maybe this weekend.
@Bart if you’re still looking, you might find an industrial seals and bearings place. Most manufactures don’t invent special new seal (or bearing) sizes for their stuff, they pick from existing and easy to get standard industrial sizes. If you can find a shop that deals in these things they should be able to match it up. Although you may not be able to order it by application (eg for your tractor), rather you would need the dimensions and type of the seal.
I’ve made some calls to used tractor places, and haven’t had any real luck yet, but I have a couple leads.
The first thing I learned is that these parts will be metric not the other kind (!). I also learned that some of these used parts guys can’t wait to get off the phone with a potential customer (!!).
A couple of the guys suggested that if I had the part number, I could probably easily get the seals, but I don’t have the manual and apparently they go for 50 to 75 bucks!
I did have a bit of luck at “All States Ag Parts”. The guy I talked to had to do some research and is supposed to be calling me back. I have my fingers crossed.
Check out http://www.tractorbynet.com They have a pretty good forum on my brand of tractor (Satoh/Mitsubishi) and have quite a few others, but I can’t say how good they are…
Well, my bro in law is I town visiting, and he offered to help me repair the tractor. It’s sitting out by the tater patch in high grass and mud. Very messy. It’s been out there a month, so the grass is getting quite high around it.
It took us about an hour to get the radiator, fan and water pump, no real problem there. But, we seemed to hit a snag. The pulley that’s on the old pump is pressed on and I or no one around here can get removed. I called my other BIL, and he said I’d need to take it to someone with a pulley press.
Anyone familiar with one of these gizmo’s? Anyway, there is a tractor dealer/service center in a nearby town, and they prob could do the work for me. I’m calling them tomorrow to see if they can do it.
Thanks. I called around today, and either dealers were closed, or the guy that does such work won’t be back until next week.
My wife suggested to take it to a retired diesel mechanic who lives down the road and see if he can do it. It took about an hour, but he got the job done. Ended up pressing out the old shaft thru the pulley. He then pressed the pulley onto the new water pump shaft. He wouldn’t take any cash for his efforts, but I saw that he likes Mtn Dew, so I went down to the general store and got him a 12 pack and dropped it off on the way back home. I had to go down there anyway because we’re still under a boil water advisory, and we needed some bagged ice.
Me and my BIL would have put all the new stuff back on the tractor today, but it decided to rain another inch. Was 82 and mostly sunny at 3:00, and now at 7:30, it just now stopped raining. I can’t stand this weather. It’s supposed to rain more tonight and in the morn. Which is bad because we have a the big annual family reunion to go to at noon tomorrow. We’re under a flash flood warning for now.
Plus, I was planning on replanting my strawberry plugs today, and the tomato plants tomorrow. Now that and the repair will all have to wait another 2-3 days minimum. It was just starting to dry out a bit after all the rain earlier this week. I think we’ve had about 6", not counting today. Hate it, I think I’m getting webbed feet!