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Señor Rumpa's 140

20K views 247 replies 20 participants last post by  army 
#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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#174 ·
Some excess Permatex. I made the oil pan gasket myself and used some gasket maker too. I hope to have the engine in and running today. Got a weekend of family activities coming up so I won't get anything done on this.
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#176 · (Edited)
It's a good thing I like cleaning and prepping and painting stuff. In this case I will just be cleaning it up. My weapons of choice will be a putty knife first, then soak everything with a mix of tranny fluid and acetone, then use my gas pressure washer on it. Just gotta be careful around the hydro parts not to force water in anywhere. I will be doing this after I test install and run the Ford Kohler then yank the engine out again so it doesn't get filthy when i clean the 140 up. Not gonna put any fresh Hygard in it till the transaxle is clean which means I'll have to do it this morning. Once it's all cleaned up the engine will go back in temporarily so the transaxle/pump can be filled and tested.

It's pretty easy to yank and re-install the engine. Just 4 mounting bolts, 2 drive shaft bolts and connect/disconnect the throttle and choke cables, hook up or unhook the gas line, connect the battery and clip the 12V power wire to the coil post, and.. I think that's it but I usually forget something.

It's nice to be able to stand it all the way up so it's easy to work on. I use my 12V forklift, or my cherry picker, or the 3 pt boom for this sort of thing. Depends where I'm doing it.
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#179 ·
Army, when you get the fender pan off, check around the freewheel valves for signs of leakage. Also, there are also a trunnion seal on each side of the transaxle that can leak. I don't think either should empty it though, just make it messy.
 
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#181 · (Edited)
I cleaned the hydro pump/transaxle yesterday. The exposed parts on the front and sides of it anyway. Will have to come out of the tractor frame to get it all. I used a putty knife, some WD40, a rag and compressed air. It will need further attention with a Scotch pad and more WD40 to be completely clean though. I put a new hydro filter on it after this pic and filled the transaxle with some sacrificial Hy-gard. Took about a quart to top it up plus I filled the filter up before installing it. Spilled some it though so I don't think I got much fluid into it that way. I'm gonna drive it around a while then drain the system and put another filter on it ..as soon as I get one. Ran out yesterday. I have a couple SBF oil filters that will work but I don't know if the filter material is the same. My old Ford small block V8's all use a PH8 if it's a Fram filter. There's always discussions about which filter brands are best but generally speaking any new filter that fits is better than a dirty one.
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Engine going in. The Ford Kohler has a new plug but the points, coil and condenser are all original. The engine smoked a wee bit when I first started it up. Cleared up soon after. Wasn't bluish at all so it was probably just fuel smoke.
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Vaaa.. room! You can't tell but it's running in this pic. I jumped it off a battery sitting on the floor. I clipped the 12V coil wire to the battery too. Fired right up and runs really nice. I'd say it's purring like a kitten but I don't wanna jinx it. The new chinese carb is working excellent. It's a huge improvement. I put a new kit in the original carb but the engine still wouldn't run right so I yen'd me a new one off eBay for 25 bucks. My brother thinks he got a bad Asian carb when he replaced the one on his Swisher but he said it wouldn't run right before either so the carb could actually be fine and something else is causing it. He's usually too busy golfing to spend time troubleshooting. He's also single again and is currently juggling 4 possible replacement units. He's 65 now so he might be a bit optimistic with that strategy. He's talking to them on the phone, txt'ing, emailing and FB and has met each lady in person. It's like try outs or something. One golfs so she likely has the edge. Another one was pissy because he called her by the wrong name so that might not work out. :rolleyes::D
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My improvised gas tank worked great as usual. It's actually a WW fluid reservoir with a clear line so I can see if gas is getting through. I can also tell if the tank and gas are clean. The tank has a couple mounting holes which I used to hang it on a tall jackstand with a couple bungee cords.
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The muffler from the 140 Kohler is nice and quiet. Gotta get some black heat paint for it. It's in really good shape. The engine didn't see much idling or putt-putting around when grandpa had it. It was usually worked for a while whenever it was fired up so it likely got warmed up enough to get rid of any moisture.
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Once I had the engine running I shut it down, connected the driveshaft, fired it up again and tested the hydro. The 1/8" drill bit/shear pin worked ok. Gonna leave it like that for now unless it breaks. It will be easy to get the stub shaft off if it does. Edit: easy to get it off but putting things back together would be a royal PITA though based on the issues I am experiencing getting the flywheel screen back in place with the engine in the tractor. I'm likely gonna have to disconnect the driveshaft at the pump and take it out, put everything for the flywheel screen back together, then leave it connected and slide the driveshaft back in when I install the engine. Also, the broken 1/8 drill bit only did the job for the few minutes I ran the engine to test the hydro. The driveshaft was still spinning when I shut it down but the bit must have sheared off on deceleration because the mix `n match pulley hub I'm using spun around by hand no problem without affecting the stub shaft on the engine at all after I shut it down. Not an unexpected event. I'm having so much fun working on the 140. Pure enjoyment because of it's history. Every time I do something to it I feel happy I finally have it.

Anyway.. the pump spins ok and the wheels turn in both directions with the back end jacked up. Reverse is pretty slow so it likely needs adjusting.
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So now I'm gonna pull the engine out again to put the flywheel screen in place and check the new home made oil pan gasket for leaks. Then I'll re-install the engine and hook up the choke, throttle, electricals etc so I can drive it around. Won't be able to mow till I deal with the PTO clutch issue. The 140's original K321 PTO clutch has a 1" bore and the Ford Kohler K301 is a 1 1/8". The diameter is also too small. If I use the Ford clutch I'll have to go with a bigger deck pulley. Size would be whatever it takes to get back to the same drive belt length the deck had before. My math says the deck drive pulley will have to be 2" bigger. That should also make the blade speed the same as it was with the 140's original clutch pulley. It might be a PITA to get the old pulley off the deck though. It's been on there for at least half a century.
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#183 ·
So Army, what were you doing before this project barged into your life? It seems as though it has taken control of you :)
 
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#186 ·
I have a bunch of small tractor wheels/tires but not one will fit on the 140. And I can't use golf cart tires/wheels because somebody swapped the 1" spindle bearings in the hub adapter kits I bought several years ago. I stuck both of them on the shelf for future purposes. They're actually 1 1/18" though and won't work on the 140 spindles. That's happened before. Somebody wants a particular combo in a kit that isn't available so they improvise when nobody is watching. The hub adapter boxes should be sealed but they aren't.
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#187 ·
I made some studs from regular 1/4" bolts to replace the long bolts for the screen so I could put the studs/sleeves in place, then put the flat cover on and fasten it properly. I doubt I will now but if I used them I'd have to make replacement sleeves that are a bit shorter to account for the nut depth where they bolt to the flywheel. The problem with using them is there has to be a spacer behind each hole for the pulley or it tightens up too much and jams the pulley to the flywheel shroud. No way I can do that with the engine in the 140. I'd need fingers like that rubbermaid dude from the Fantastic Four.
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#188 ·
The oil pan gasket works great but the valve cover was leaking. Never did anything to it so it must have been doing it before. Didn't notice it though. Tightened it up so it should be ok now but if not I have a dozen new K series gaskets in my parts cab. Don't know where I got them. Probably a swap meet. This is one of things that takes time working on an old machine that has sat for 50 years. I'm actually using the Ford Kohler but it sat in dad's shed for almost as long. Deck went bad on the LT120 it's out of but the rest was fine. Dad didn't like it for some reason though.
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Homie rolled in as I was going in the house after I took some 140 pics yesterday so I snapped a shot. You can see his bad right eye. His ears are hacked up a bit too but it isn't as apparent in the pic. I imagine he's been in many battles. Gotta mod his hut on the porch for the winter. Not enough ventilation and it was a bit damp in there sometimes.
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#191 ·
Homie must immediately devour everything he catches. He's the type that never brings anything to a picnic. Chappy our fat housecat puts his catch where it'll have the most impact. Like on my wife's favorite porch sitting chair. :D
 
#195 · (Edited)
Don't have many pics prior to when digital tech came along. It was the early 90's when digital cameras became practical and affordable. I have a buddy who is about 20 years younger than me and he asked me one time why I didn't have pics of some of the vehicles I had back in the day. I told him it was because I had to choo$e between buying them or taking pics of them. An exaggeration of course but it actually was pretty expensive to get pics developed back then.
 
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#196 ·
An exaggeration of course but it actually was pretty expensive to get pics developed back then.
Plus you had to wait a couple of days to get them processed and hope they looked good and in focus. No instant gratification.
 
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#198 ·
Zero progress again yesterday on the 140. Busy mowing and cleaning up the shop. Things were getting pretty unorganized (by my personal definition anyway) and it was costing me too much time looking for stuff. Not that I don't have the time to look. I just get aggravated when I can't locate what I want in a timely fashion. Also if I look too long I get distracted by something else and end up screwing around with that instead of what I was doing to begin with. I found my 420 blades while I was cleaning up though. They were under my sand blaster tank with some other items on top of them.
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#199 ·
Zero progress again yesterday on the 140. Busy mowing and cleaning up the shop. Things were getting pretty unorganized (by my personal definition anyway) and it was costing me too much time looking for stuff. Not that I don't have the time to look. I just get aggravated when I can't locate what I want in a timely fashion. Also if I look too long I get distracted by something else and end up screwing around with that instead of what I was doing to begin with.....
I sometimes forget what I'm doing while I'm doing it. I'm easily distracted by outside stuff like my wife, the cat, my sore foot, the TV, etc.
 
#201 ·
Got back to getting the 140 in driveable condition. So much for my crazy plan to quickly get it mobile though. Everybody who thought it would actually be that simple put up yer hand :rolleyes:. I gave it a bath with my gas power washer yesterday. Avoided a direct blast of anything that water might be forced into so there was a bit of de-greasing to do by hand. Gotta go over the tires again. Man they were dirty. I'll spray them Simple Green first next time and let it soak a bit. I just hit them with water yesterday. The customs guys at the border would never let them pass if I was bringing the 140 home from the US. They fear dirt with foreign bacteria in it. It's pretty silly IMO. Bacteria don't care where the border is or how they cross it.
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The tractor was very well preserved where it was caked with an oily sludge.
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There's a small hydro leak at the bottom. Looks like a gasket issue. So that's likely where all the Hygard went. I don't know if the level was kept up properly. Grandpa was a workhorse guy. He didn't want to make the transition to the new fangled horseless tractors at first. He eventually did but he still didn't give a hoot about mechanical stuff. Dad used to fix everything for him so I can see him not thinking to check the hydro dipstick. A rear wheel was turning when I tested the transaxle so I think it's ok. They weren't touching the floor though. There's another small leak from somewhere in the filter area too. It got a new JD filter 2 days ago and it's tight. Not gonna worry about a couple small drips at this point though. I always have cardboard under some vintage vehicles and tractors. My son said why don't you fix the leaks? I told him because it's easier to just put cardboard under them and bitch about it. :D.

Neither yoke will come off the shaft so I'm gonna prep and paint it and the end cover as a complete assembly.
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#202 · (Edited)
Pretty sure the Ford engine will be staying in the 140 for a while so I'm gonna re-furbish the blue tin in black. Edit: nope, I used the blue tin as is. When I eventually do a makeover on it it'll need some wire wheeling, paint stripper and elbow grease to be nice. Also a careful masking of the spec decals by my better half. She's still really good at that after years of working with paste up type graphics. She worked at twice the size of a matchbook cover, which is still really small.
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#204 ·
The rear wheels are original. They're mint on the outside. A bit of corrosion on the insides. Nothing serious though. Fronts are caked with petrified grease. Grandpa must have over-greased the bearings.
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#205 ·
Today I'm gonna refurb the driveshaft then connect it and the flywheel screen to the engine then install them as an assembly. The driveshaft was really easy to remove and should go back in the same (I hope). Not much to it. Just clean it, wire wheel it and paint it black. Paint will be dry enough to work with after a few hours.
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#206 ·
Rained quite a bit Sun and it was really humid the rest of time so the paint took longer than usual to dry enough to (lightly) handle. Got the driveshaft and screen assembly mounted on the engine eventually though. The engine is ready to install in the 140 now but I expect some on the-the-fly geometry to take place getting it in there with the driveshaft already attached. Gonna use the swivel hook from my cherry picker boom so it can rotate horizontally and my load leveller will be in-between the engine and the forks so I can adjust the front to back angle. It should just slip right in there, right? :rolleyes::D
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