John deere 317-it came home

[Mudrig150 298]

So, crazily, I haven't made any threads about my 317.

I brought it home at the end of February, for 150$. I'd been looking at it since December. The guy said it had a new driveshaft, but it also has a new dash and hitch. He also said it had a blown engine and that was even a bit of an understatement.

The KT17 blew up HARD. It destroyed both pistons, the crankshaft, camshaft, both jugs, and the block in the explosion. It had a 1/4 inch of rust in the jugs, locking the pistons in place. Oof, time for a new engine. That search took 3 months. In the meantime, I had my brother cut the bad 3 point hackery off the back and of course when he did that he cut right through the transmission sight tube. Oh well, it was burned anyway from the welding.

I was trying to pull the steering wheel off to get the column out, but in the process the slide hammer accidentally caught one of the spokes and literally exploded the steering wheel. I put a cub cadet steering wheel on it.

I swapped the flat front tire and really bad rear tires.

Then of course, I cleaned the tractor up, I towed it down to the pump shed then back up just to then realize afterward that the tie rod ends were so worn they were quick-attach. Guess that expedited the plan to swap out the tie rod ends.

I pulled the brakes off, and the right side literally has 0 pad material left, so the pedal goes to the floor.

I bought a K321 to try and drop in, but sadly the poor thing was rebuilt REALLY badly, and it had a destroyed rod and crank. The ridges were so deep, you could feel them with your finger, and even worse with your fingernail. Along with the K321, I also got the one remaining side panel (so I have one now), my brother's 300 that he sold to the guy, a really nice 212 hood with only 1 messed up, but not ripped off mount, and a minty 140 seat. From the 300, I took the steering wheel, rear PTO cover, brakes, and front caps but my brother stole the caps from me for his patio 140 because he previously owned the 300, but he said he'd let me have them back AFTER he, in a couple months, finds a correct front plate for the 140, despite the fact that the caps were off of the 300 that I went to pick up and I asked about. He's still trying to steal MY seat for his 140.

I got a 140 for free, and with that I got a set of free early 212 side panels. They fit and bolt up perfectly, and only need a bit of trimming to allow the fenders to bolt on.

The other day I pulled the harness out to rebuild it, as only 3 wires out off all of them aren't spliced.

Yesterday, after we got done working, we went and picked up a magnum 18 for the tractor, it's sat for a while and it only turns half a turn, so I think it has a stuck valve or two.

[Mudrig150 298]

[Mudrig150 298]

[JCM 9,130]

Always liked the look of the mid to late 80's JD Garden tractors. In 1989 i went to a local JD Dealer in Mass to check out 2 Models, a 318 ,265 and possibly a 420.After i was quoted 3995.00 for the 265, 17 HP with 38" deck, 4895.00 for the 318, 18 HP with 38" deck, both with Hydros I didn't bother to ask about the 420. I almost pulled the plug on the 265 but really wanted the 318 but after reading on here about how difficult they are to work on maybe I did the right thing with the purchase of a new 312-8 WH. I know I made a good decision on the WH but still like the look's of those year tractors.      Good Luck with you project.

[Mudrig150 298]

Well now they've depreciated so much that even I can afford them. Never too late to get one now!

[bds1984 1,429]

1 hour ago, JCM said:

Always liked the look of the mid to late 80's JD Garden tractors. In 1989 i went to a local JD Dealer in Mass to check out 2 Models, a 318 ,265 and possibly a 420.After i was quoted 3995.00 for the 265, 17 HP with 38" deck, 4895.00 for the 318, 18 HP with 38" deck, both with Hydros I didn't bother to ask about the 420. I almost pulled the plug on the 265 but really wanted the 318 but after reading on here about how difficult they are to work on maybe I did the right thing with the purchase of a new 312-8 WH. I know I made a good decision on the WH but still like the look's of those year tractors.      Good Luck with you project.

 

I second the difficult to work on part.  I'll never understand the need to have so many pulleys just for a transmission drive belt.

[Mudrig150 298]

A 318 and a 265 are two totally different beasts. The 265s are not as good, but the 318s are as you said, hard to work on. It's not that they require special tools, its just everything is so cramped its difficult to try and do anything. An early 300 series is better.

The 318 has a lot of easier to put on parts, the 265 is way too tedious. One thing wrong and everything goes haywire.

Edited June 5, 2019 by Mudrig150

[Mudrig150 298]

Pulled the heads off, found out the reason it only turns over half a turn is because there was a crap ton of rust in the cylinder.
Got that cleaned out and now it's good. 3.122 inches, so it's pretty close.
Got the magnum 18 set in the frame. Just need to get a key for my driveshaft and get the head bolts torqued down. Wiring still needs to be done.

Headlight switch was an absolute nightmare to get out.
Last night I got the 300 seat swapped and fenders cleaned and bolted down. This seat was AWFUL. All 4 bolts are ripped out of the seat pan so the PO of the fenders removed the padding, flipped the bolts, then added a bunch of washers.
The fenders are super nice, and so are the side panels I got for the tractor, which, by the way, didn't fit. To get the side panel to fit, I ended up just breaking off one of the tack welds then peeling the air scoop off the side panel. Guess it works. Just need to get the fuel tank in and hooked up.

[Mudrig150 298]

Wow, 88 days since my last update...

Oil filter is in, motor is in the frame, did my trans fill tube mod, got fluid in the transmission, set my motor in the frame, and a whole bunch of other stuff.

 

All that time and still not running. But hey, it has a set of literally brand new brakes in the back, stole them from the 300 parts tractor.

Edited October 4, 2019 by Mudrig150

[Mudrig150 298]

Nice. Thinking about mounting the remote oil filter above the air cleaner. I'll be able to just put a catch pan in the base, and any drips will just oil the precleaner. Do you guys think I'll be able to run the 210 side panels? I don't see why not.

[ACman 7,618]

If I remember correctly @Goldann520 is a John Deere guy  . I’m not a big green tractor fan  but do appreciate all old iron that was built to last . My cousin owns the holy grail of JD gt’s . A 1963 110 that his grandpa brought brand new . It’s the 138’th off the line.

 

 

Edited October 9, 2019 by ACman

[Mudrig150 298]

8 hours ago, ACman said:

If I remember correctly @Goldann520 is a John Deere . I’m not a big green tractor fan  but do appreciate all old iron that was built to last . My cousin owns the holy grail of JD gt’s . A 1963 110 that his grandpa brought brand new . It’s the 138’th off the line.

 

 

That's really nice.

[Stormin 9,981]

On ‎10‎/‎8‎/‎2019 at 1:59 PM, Mudrig150 said:

 Do you guys think I'll be able to run the 210 side panels? I don't see why not.

 

If they fit, I don't see why not.

[Mudrig150 298]

5 minutes ago, Stormin said:

 

If they fit, I don't see why not.

Everyone says that they help with cooling but I'm not seeing it. Air comes from the back of the tractor and up through the belly screen, then most of it goes into the flywheel shroud and is pushed over the heads, while the rest resumably escapes around the front then goes under the muffler shroud and out the bottom of the frame. Don't see why allowing it to go out the front will hurt anything.

[Mudrig150 298]

Wood waxed. Gonna pull the body panels off and clean em all real good, then pull the motor back out.

[Mudrig150 298]

Got one head off the M18. All the bolts were half falling out and the head bolts are all coated in crap. Gonna swap heads over from my other M18 to deal with the stripped plug threads.

Got steering column out to deal with the play, which then escalated to pulling the loose hydro control lever out. Managed to easily get the roll pin out of both levers. Now to swap gas cylinders, levers, and the steering column.

[Mudrig150 298]

I found out my spare steering column is junk, all the balls from both bearings are gone, and the grease is almost solid. I ended up just flanging the tube for the original column out, hitting it in as hard as I could, flanged the end of the box in to add more grip, and added some blue loctite just for good measure. We'll see how it holds up.
 

I have 3 hydro control handles, one from the 317, one from my painted 300, and one from our rusted 300. 
The 317's handle has its bushing so compressed its worn into the actual handle pivot, and its locked up. The actual handle part is also hella worn and rusted.
The painted 300 was a pain to get the handle out of, the roll pins were all a PIA to get out, and the handle is definitely locked up. 3 days of PB blaster and a 4 foot pipe on the end of the handle ended up just bending the handle. It went in the trash.
The rusted 300's handle is a bit rusted, but amazingly the roll pin came out real easy and the shiny part of the handle isn't stuck inside its pivot. Pulled out the bushings and drilled the holes out to 1/2". I'm going to put a steel or bronze bushing in, which'll hopefully hold up better than the plastic bushings.

[Mudrig150 298]

Bunch of new parts for the 317, I got a new choke cable, oil pressure gauge, ROF gasket, key switch, and handle bushing.

 got a new bushing in my hydro handle, got it freed up, and installed it. Fits snug on the shaft and moves nicely and with just a bit of resistance, didn't even have to tighten the tension bolt. Got my dash back on with a new choke cable, oil pressure gauge is in, nice working light switch, and donated battery tray. Put the Magnum 18 back together a bit, found out my coil is bad and so is the used replacement, so new coil is going to get ordered. Got the right head off, donor head and piston cleaned, and head is swapped, still need to do the left side.

[Mudrig150 298]

[Mudrig150 298]

Remote oil filter on, head torqued, key switch in, belly screen on, tested PTO switch, solenoid, and found out the oil sentry port isn't 1/16" NPT like Kohler said, it's actually 1/8" NPT. That makes everything a heck of a lot easier. Gotta swap the other head, replace the coil, and put the engine in.

[Mudrig150 298]

Test fit- Air cleaner fits. That's it for now.

 

Can't upload pics, sadly. All the pics are too big.

[Mudrig150 298]

You know everything's coming together when the engine that's been troubling you finally is ready to go in. Got the spark issue fixed, some stuff tightened, now to drop her in today or saturday.

Also, found the original fuel tank for my 140, pictured below. Looks like it's got some pretty good patina on it yet (and overspray). Ooh man, the original tank is going to look great on there. The fuel tank thats on it is off our patio 140.

[Mudrig150 298]

We're getting closer. Rolled her outside for the first time since november. All the cables are hooked up, and the stock fuel pump bypassed. I buttoned up my harness and got the fuel pump in. Fuel pump works, engine turns over, now to put the fuel tank back in and see if she runs! 

[WVHillbilly520H 10,373]

12 hours ago, Mudrig150 said:

We're getting closer. Rolled her outside for the first time since november. All the cables are hooked up, and the stock fuel pump bypassed. I buttoned up my harness and got the fuel pump in. Fuel pump works, engine turns over, now to put the fuel tank back in and see if she runs! 

Those "Quiet Line" Cub Cadets were some of their finest garden tractors albeit no twin cylinders but ALL cast iron and steel (except the dash) they were the precursor to the "82" series that actually came fitted with the KT17 series 1 & 2 (682/782) and the 982 with Onan B48G as well as their first diesel powered 782D Kubota 3 cylinder.

[Mudrig150 298]

11 hours ago, WVHillbilly520H said:

Those "Quiet Line" Cub Cadets were some of their finest garden tractors albeit no twin cylinders but ALL cast iron and steel (except the dash) they were the precursor to the "82" series that actually came fitted with the KT17 series 1 & 2 (682/782) and the 982 with Onan B48G as well as their first diesel powered 782D Kubota 3 cylinder.

 

Yep. I owned 1, a 1250. Best running tractor I ever owned. We've owned 2 1250s, 2 1450s, a 1000, a 1650, and a mystery tractor that's not quite 1250 and not quite 1650.

Anyway, to get back on track...

https://www.youtube....h?v=-LACObIt9uA
It runs! Not well, but it runs! Gotta sort out an issue with the carb and fix an oil leak on the remote filter line, but it runs. Builds good hydro pressure, moves, and the only leak seems to be the filter line. I think I just might have myself a good worker! 

Edited March 10, 2020 by Mudrig150