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I pass through Lodi, CA fairly often, but rarely when Bill Bechtold's shop is open or when I am not in a hurry. I dropped in hoping to find a local parts source in case i break anything and see what he had. Good thing I hade 3 hours to spare. Quite an impressive collection as I am sure some of you know, and Bill and Doug took the time to show us everything.

When I test drove my crawler the governor seemed to be non-functional, and it required throttle control just like driving a truck with a manual transmission. I am doing some work on it and took the governor out and found nothing wrong with it. Is it possible the exterior spring has changed due to age enough to become the problem? It could even have been changed out to whatever the PO had handy. Does anyone have tension specs for it?
I guess I had better call Mr Z in the morning.

I didnt have time to stop and identify it, but does anyone know anything about the M series tractor sitting by the highway just outside  of Delta, Utah?

I started work on  the starting system today. This tractor has a pre waterpump HG driveline and a mixup of parts from various models. The hand crank starter is belt driven and the upper pulley spins on the shaft. Inspection finds stripped keyways and a hogged out center hole. Also, is it normal for the crank pulley to be pinned in place? Good thing I am a machinist.

I finally got to drive it round for an hour today and moved a few buckets of dirt and ground asphalt, and ripped out some concrete.
The rams leak, but not  bad..

Major issue, governor is not working, some feedback might help me out. I have the instruction manuals for the HG and OC3 and the parts book for the OC3. My governor is the earlier non-bumper spring type., and I set the rod 1/4 inch forward of the hole  according to the manual. The tractor has no "quadrant" like it did stock, but a different arrangement but still operates by moving the lower governor lever.
I have installed a Zenith carb and can set the throttle arm anywhere I want. When facing the engine from the right side,  full throttle is clockwise. Is that correct? If I am wrong that would explain the problem.
Also, with  the stock carb, what is the distance from the center of the throttle shaft to the center of the throttle rod hole?
If thats not it, and I take the governor out and find problems, does Zimmerman or anyone have parts for it?

Someone said my crawler may have HG tracks, they are not the same as in my new OC3 manual for serials 3500000 and 1W000 and up. There is no tag on the starterless bellhousing, and I have an engine that is marked as both 4 cyl gas, waterpumpless Hercules Engines. Does this show HG parts, or just 1939 Oc3, as the engine indicates?

My issues are
1, instead of having on the final drive cover an iron bearing cover with a fill plug as on page 41, there is only a stamped bump on one side and a flat surface on the other. Did they make one with no outer axle bearing, and should I find plugs on the main cast iron housing when I crawl under it?

2, I have no waterpump, is there a thermostat?

3, since the seat and gas tank block the transmission fill plug,  there is a1/2 inch bolt I can access on the top rear of the differential housing in the center, pointing down. If I pull it, will something let go inside? I may just have to fill through the level plug, sure to be a very slow process.

Do any of you have the OC3 or HG manual? I need to know the capacities for the engine, transmission, differential and final drives so I can get them changed. Do the final drives use the same oil as the differentil and transmission?

We tow started the Johnny Cash OC3+ a couple of hours ago.  Fired off as soon as I let the clutch out. The engine runs well enough and loud without the muffler,  popping from one cyl tells me either a tight or burned exhaust valve. Ran it for an hour, even without a waterpump the radiator was dropping the temp from 125 to 80 degrees., measured by infrared, so no clogged tubes or blown gaskets..  All three hydraulics work, and most importantly, it runs in all gears, stops and turns. I have a list of things to do before doing any work with it, but now I know I have a solid and functional machine to spend time on. First item will be dismantling the front pully driven hydro and belt hand starter system and figuring out what kind of monkey business has to be corrected.

I am missing the idle mix needle and the spring for the  choke flap. Anyone have a parts carb and willing to mail the two parts?

My crawler appears to be a mix of all three with an engine tagged as an IXA3 and stamped at the deck as an IXB3. The carb is missing. My updraft box had nothing useful, so I found a Marvel Schebler TSX 948 on an M-H tractor and a Zenith #11487A on a Wisconsin generator in a quarry yesterday. Both fit the flanges and I will have no problem with throttle/choke connections. What do you think will work best on mountain terrain and why? Does anyone have an internet location where I can compare jet/venturi sizes amongst the various TSX series carbs? Thanks.


 

I just brought home an odd Oliver, and have an MF-30 Industrial, a D-2, 3 early Koehring-Dandie 4 cyl concrete mixers, and a bunch of old trucks. I'm a mechanic, machinist and welder, and have a hard time passing up something wierd and rusty.

Hi folks. I just brought home what I believed to be an early Oliver OC46. I have a background as a master auto tech, Journeyman machinist, and welder, with a lot of experience with vintage cars and trucks, European exotics, and some construction and mining equipment.
I am having trouble identifying it. I bought it a month ago and have been waiting for mud to dry to get into the field and recover it, looking at pictures and getting more confused.
The grill is not like any I can find on google.  It has a 4 cyl gas Hercules engine stamped IXB3 with # 668215 with an "A" stamped between the # and the engine lines. It has no starter or external water pump. There appears to be no place to install a starter. There is an ammeter but no generator, and a battery was used with light wiring for the headlights but it has two switches and a push-button like a starter would need. I have not chased the under-dash wires yet. This is much different from the Hercules ZXB in one of my concrete mixers. The fuel tank is under the seat. It has a Ware 3HI loader, and an odd ripper bar lift with one cyl plugged and apparently used as a damper? The track system has 3 bogies per side and what must be an earlier front wheel. The hand-crank starter is also odd, since the hydraulic pump is in-line with the crankshaft, it has a gilmer toothed drive pulley under the pump shaft that transmits the power to the pump pulley, and then to the crankshaft through a coupler. This does not work, the coupler is not turning, perhaps a bad keyway or loose screw on the pump pulley. I'll figure it out after a good cleaning, but I can turn the engine by the fan and it feels OK. This has a 3+1 transmission, 3 forward gears and one reverse. The carb is missing, what carb is correct, and what else works?
I spoke to someone at Zimmerman's and he told me to find the ID plate on the sheetmetal on the dash, but nothing is there, and I cannot find anywhere the three rivet holes that would indicate where it was.  I need to order manuals, please have a look through my photo album and let me know what you think I have here. It could be a mix of parts put together by someone with skill, , an early production or a prototype model, or just something the web is mute about?
Photo album is at  http://s221.photobucket.com/user/arborigine/library/Oliver%20OC46#/user/arborigine/library/Oliver%20OC46?sort=6&page=1&_suid=142121484435306223292101472331

Bonus question, can anyone ID the trenching machine I got with it? And on the Johnny Cash theme, also on the trailer are doors from the Sacramento County Jail, not far from Folsom Prison.