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Señor Rumpa's 140

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#1 ·
That's what I used to call my grandfather. It's from the old B&W TV show 'The Real McCoys'. The grandfather on the show was called 'Señor Rumpa' by the Mexican farm hand.

Anyway.. I have this H1 140 now. Was my grandfather's. Never expected to end up with it. I'm pretty happy about it. Got lots of work to do on it. The engine has a busted rod and the rest of the tractor has over 50 years of dust and grime all over it. Hopefully the hydro pump and hydraulic deck lift work ok. No way to know yet.

At some point my uncle put a new tire on the front left. Not sure why he'd do that with a blown engine. Maybe so he could roll the tractor around. My brother said the back tires were flat but they are holding air no problem in the short term. I have some tires/wheels combos that will work anyway. Two pairs of 24x12-12 inchers and also a couple sets of 26x12-12's. And one pair of 28x14-15 ag style puller tires/wheels. They'd be somewhat oversized. That never stopped me before :D but I'm gonna keep this 140 as original as I can though.

My partially formulated plan is to swap the excellent 12 HP Kohler that's in my 1200 Cub Cadet now into the 140 and the original 140 Kohler will go on a shelf. It needs a rod and possibly other internal help. Gonna keep that engine too though and I was gonna sell the 1200 as a roller anyway.

I forget what's different about it but I have a new dash decal for a 140 in my parts cabinet. I think it's for a '71 140 but don't quote me on that till I check. Got it from Mark Smoker (JD140's pa) a dozen years or so ago. It's a repro. Mark had some made up by a decal place because they were NLA from mother deere. I think the difference is the ammeter gauge is on the opposite side to what they usually are (?). Will have a look today.
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The deck appears to be really good. Spindles turn fine by hand and there's no ominous noises. No pitting on the bottom side. Just some surface rust that will be easy to banish with my sand blaster. Haven't pulled the deck cover off yet so maybe some evil is lurking under there. We'll see.
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#4 ·
Subbing. Congrats on getting her!
 
#6 ·
I'm just wondering whether it was towed at some point without using the freewheel relief valve. The knob acted like it had never been used before. Had that snap-loose feel to it when I first started turning it. Like opening a jar of pickles. I didn't ask my brother yet but it had to get from the shed and up on the trailer somehow and it definitely wasn't driven with a broken rod in the K321. He said he used a winch to load it. That's another reason to use the shortblock from the 3 wheeler, for now anyway. I'd hate to put a bunch of cash into rebuilding the original K321 in the 140 only to realize the the hydro is pooched.

Nice!
Yeah I wouldn't worry about the hydro pump either.
I wouldn't worry about the hydro or the lift cylinder. They are pretty robust on these old gals. The old mallrat I had was in pretty sad shape, but with a running motor it worked okay.
 
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#7 ·
The dash decal was actually a '68 only fenderpan decal that I got from Mark Smoker. The decal I was thinking of was actually for a 110 SF that had a one year only dash layout. Makes me wonder how accurate my other memories are.
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#8 ·
The deck is actually mint, relatively speaking. Most decks this age are pretty beat up. Not this one though. I was pretty surprised by that. Some scaling on the bottom side but easily rectified with a light sand blasting. No pitting really. And the top of the deck that was under the cover is in great shape. Just a bit of 50 year old dry grass under there that looked like it had never been wet or even damp. No matting or griminess at all. It looked like dust bunnies made of grass. The blades are good enough to start mowing with. They're covered in surface rust but they feel like they were just sharpened.
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This grass would be excellent for a bird's nest.
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#9 ·
Everything on this 140 looks to still be factory correct. Even the wiring harness. I don't recall ever buying a JD GT that hadn't had the wiring hacked up at least somewhat. I'm gonna have to get a grille but I don't see anything else missing. It's an H1 with no front hyd coupler but it has turning brakes. I had a '71 H1 140 with only the left side pedal.
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#10 ·
The mall rat had sat long enough there was no pressure at all in anything. And I did tow it (slowly), to the back yard. Just keep your fingers crossed, I bet it will be fine.

Plus I have no idea what happened to it before I got it. It could have been towed, it definitely had some poop on it from sitting in a barn. :LOL:

:)
 
#239 ·
Your prediction was spot on Drafter(y). I worked the 140 fairly hard for an hour with my stoneboat and the hydro worked A1. Needs some adjustments but don't we all.
The mall rat had sat long enough there was no pressure at all in anything. And I did tow it (slowly), to the back yard. Just keep your fingers crossed, I bet it will be fine.
 
#11 ·
To me it is funny how small the 100-series JD tractors are compared to later 200-300-400 series machines as they stepped up in size, like small and strong!
 
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#13 ·
Yeah RF’s are tiny! SF’s are pretty much the same size as closed frame 300’s and 200’s though. SGT’s are huge though.
 
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#19 · (Edited)
I put a set of 400 front wheels and tires on the H1 140 I had about 15 years ago just fer grins. I don't recall why I sold it but it was a dumbass thing to do.

My brother actually found grandpa's 140 right away but decided to surprise me when he delivered it. And he did too. I came in my driveway and it was sitting on his trailer. He had dropped it off earlier in the day.



.
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#20 ·
It was kinda like the time Frank disappeared for several days then unexpectedly came home. From my point of view this 140 disappeared for 50 years though. I'm really out of touch with 140 lore. It's somewhat like starting over again learning about them. Gonna have to cram like I used to the night before exams because I'm determined to get this 140 up and running and mowing soon. It's gonna be a great feeling. Grandpa was the last to use it ~50 years ago so even the grass I found under the deck cover is somewhat nostalgic to me. I need to go over the whole thing and check everything. Half a century is a long time for something to hibernate without at least some deterioration to moving parts. Steering is really stiff from lack of use. I had a 212 like that. All the moving parts were crammed with dry old grease. It steered excellent when I was done though. Felt like a 318 w/PS. My 214 steers pretty well now too after some work but not like that 212 did.
 
#21 ·
Pay attention to the big steering pivot down below the engine/DS. It has a zerk, but was often neglected. So the "cones" can wear funny. If sitting, that pivot could dry up pretty easy too.

Easy way to check it, is to get down on the left side, and while wiggling the steering wheel, watch that pivot between the side panel and the engine. You can see if it goes up and down before left or right.

This assumes that all the ball joints are in decent shape. There are 4 on the axle, and 2 up on the drag link.

Go do some reading on the CC/Kohler pulling site for pointers on the steering box.

The old 140's steer pretty well if everything is in good shape, but there's a lot to go wrong and get sloppy.
 
#40 ·
Good heads up. Thx Drafter. My 140 has quite a bit of sloppiness in the steering. Takes a half turn of the wheel before the front wheels start moving. Feels like linkage and ball joints need work.
 
#22 · (Edited)
Edit: I was making some pretty broad (and very optimistic) assumptions when I started working on this 140 a few weeks ago. I am better informed now but I expect more surprises are in store. There always are.

I finished prepping the 14 HP Kohler that's going in the 140. Gonna paint it today. I removed the hood and grille supports on the 140 yesterday. I'm gonna pull the engine today if time permits. If not tomorrow will be along fairly quickly. It's like time is speeding up more and more as I get older. Seriously. It's really flying by.

I used coarse steel wool to clean up the surface rust on the inside of the tin. Then I shot it with flat black.
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I wire wheeled the external side of the flywheel shroud down to bare metal yesterday. Very minor but there's a little bit of pitting. I'll use some glazing putty for that. It's not the original shroud from the K321 that was in the 3 wheeler. That one has some damage around the starter snout opening. Could be fixed but I have two spare shrouds that are fine. I also have a chrome one from a puller tractor. Not using it on this engine though. Not appropriate for the 140's history. The puller tractor is where I got the huge 28x14-15 shaved ag tires and wheels I have stashed away too. The shroud I'm using is from a 214 K321 and has the opening to mount the rectifier. Also the hole for the oval shaped hose to the air filter cover. But I'm gonna use it anyway because I decided to leave everything on the original K321. I was gonna transfer everything from it to the 14 HP I'm actually using but I changed my mind. I'm just gonna pull the original engine and store it as is. Not taking anything off it at all. That way if I rebuild it I'll have everything to put it back the way it was.
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Next the gas tank comes off, then the driveshaft gets disconnected and the bolts holding the engine down come out. Plus the throttle and choke cables and the wiring plug have to be disconnected. Dad bypassed the original wiring plug when he mounted the K321 I'm using on the 3 wheeler. Don't know why. Gotta do some testing to see if the original connector still works properly and if it does I can just use the original 140 plug. If not I'll have to figure out what's wrong and deal with it. I didn't use the 3 wheeler enough to know if the stator was charging the battery.
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I have what looks like the same muffler and pipe config on the 12 HP Kohler that was in dad's LT 120. It connects differently though. It uses studs and is bolted on. The pipe on the original K321 in the 140 is threaded and also clamped, I might be able to use the LT120 muffler and leave the exhaust on the original 140 engine alone but it has a couple holes in it. Odd looking holes actually. There was no rust around them at all when I cleaned the muffler up. This engine has a good 12V PTO clutch on it too. The pulley is too small for a 140 though so I'd have to swap it for the one on the 140 now. This engine ran like crap so I put a new clone carb on it a few years ago and it starts and runs good now.
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#24 ·
Nice work Senor Armstrong...seeing that tank shot flashed me back to my almost-first days with JD garden tractors. I bought a rag case 110 at a show, not knowing what I was doing or buying...just full of enthusiasm. That led me to learn about the 140...and I found one shortly after I let the 110 go. I liked the 140 but couldn't deal with that tank location right between the battery and hot engine...made me real nervous refueling after working it a while, but mine didn't have the filler/spit cup. If you got clumsy you had go-juice everywhere. Then I discovered the 200, 300, and 400 series tractors and their slightly larger size/accommodations...so I let the 140 go, too. Got any shots of Senor Rumpa?
 
#42 · (Edited)
Edit: I tried finding some pics of Señor Rumpa but I kept getting distracted by other pics, which I have a shltload of.
Got any shots of Senor Rumpa?
Some more engine pics..

K532 in my blower 400. Tore it apart down to the shortblock and did a prep and paint. Used green for the tin. The cam gear crumbled not long after this pic was taken though. Dammit.
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A K301 I did years ago. Other than the dipstick it was painted correctly. According to my own research anyway. I always do the dipsticks handles yellow so they stand out.
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I do V8's too. (y)
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Not a complete tear down. Just cleaned the engine up and painted the red flywheel shroud green. That's all it needed. It starts and runs sweet. Couldn't ask for better.
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#25 ·
Don't know whose 140 this is but it's definitely the wrong green, incl the engine. Which brings me to a poser I have for you 140 aficionados: did any year or model have a green engine? Just curious. Not gonna do that. Mine will be black same as the original K321.
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#29 ·
I did mine black yesterday. I might go with a green engine if I do a complete tear down some day, in which case Tom would have to modify his personal motto. :ROFLMAO:
 
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#30 ·
JD muffler paint on the fins and head. Just a couple light cosmetic coats. Won't be able to see much of the fins when the tin is all back on but it would bug me to know they were scruffy looking. I wire wheeled the fins first with my cordless drill. I have one wire wheel that has been used enough that it's thin with not a lot of wires left. It was perfect for getting in between the fins.

The block was done with med gloss black. I used to use JD's med gloss black but the Home Hardware store paint is exactly the same now (Valspar) and literally costs half what the Deere paint does. Not a hard decision.

Flywheel shroud and other tinwork was done with med gloss too but the tin and the block have a different shine to them. The tin ended up almost flat black looking but still glossy enough to look different than the flywheel itself, which is done flat black. I really like the contrast. Different shades and glossiness of black paint on an engine make it look factory, to me anyway. I do the same thing under vehicles hoods too.

This kind of work is close to being my favourite thing to do in the shop. I could spend hours cleaning something up and repainting it. On this particular do-over I used Simple Green, paint stripper, sandpaper, coarse/fine steel wool, scotch pads, carb cleaner and lots of compressed air. I sometimes lightly sandblast engine tin too but it didn't really need it this time. I used Kleen Flow on the carb and it's really clean on the outside now but it still looks used. That's ok though. It's not a restoration and it's a really good carb. I have painted carbs the engine color before with pretty good results. Didn't do it this time though. I had to use paint stripper to make the crank vent hose look right. It was half red and pretty scruffy looking. Each end is sized and shaped differently to suit the use so I wanted to keep the hose. I used some steel wool and elbow grease on it and presto. I put new clamps on each end too. Actually the end that goes on the valve cover isn't new, it's been wire wheeled to raw metal and clear coated so it looks right. It's little things like that that make or break a good refurb (in my eyes).
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The flywheel shroud looks the same as the flat black on flywheel in this pic but not in person. It's actually glossier.
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#31 ·
I was gonna use the spare starter I had stashed in my JD parts cabinet but it turned out to the wrong one for this engine. That particular starter is positioned below the two 3/8" mounting bolts and all of the spare shrouds I have are for starters that are mounted above the bolts. So for now I'm gonna have to use the starter off the 12 HP Ford LT 120 engine I have stashed in the shop. It's blue so I'll be stripping and painting it. The back side of it is scruffy looking but the rest is pretty good. The starter that won't work on the 140 engine will be ok to use on the 'Ford' engine if I don't put the flywheel shroud on. So at least I can run the engine if I want.
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