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OK, this did not go as planned. Nuts are seized. 2 days of getting spritz with ATF / Acetone every hour (daylight hours) while I did other tasks and they wouldn't budge using 4' wrenches. Next I guess I'll have to borrow an air impact wrench.

Two days of waiting for the nuts to loosen let me spend quality time with the rest of the OC-3:

Got the Track Roller oil buttons uncovered. Very likely they've not seen use in a couple of decades.

Other points on the track assembly have zerks where the Service Manual clearly shows buttons. The crud I chiseled away from the zerks tells me they've been using grease, not oil, meaning there's probably no lube getting to all points in the part.

A number of nuts are "backed off" so that I can spin the lock washer with my fingers. The nuts are corroded in that position such that I can't get them to move with hand tools + cheater bars.

The right idler assembly ran in to something stronger than the Oliver. It's been straightened so the idler lines up with the rear, but the track tension fork-assembly is curved. The adjusting nut has been bubble-gum welded in place (looks like about 8" of rod was used).

The fan belt tension adjusting ... call it a sleeve, I guess ... is corroded. Two weekends of regular doses of ATF / Acetone hasn't convinced it to move. I guess the next step is to pull the water pump and carefully use heat on the sleeve.

The electrical system isn't providing any juice. Need to get the engine running (fill full of oil; air cleaner reinstalled) before I can trouble-shoot that. Was hoping to get better tension on the fan + generator belt before doing it.

On the plus side a friend that rebuilds old cars looked at the drawing of how the throwout bearing gets oiled while I asked him for a good local source for oil cup caps said "use a drinking straw until you rebuild the clutch". Brilliant. Better than no oil at all.

I think it's time to retire so I can spend the necessary amount of time stripping this thing to the frame.

New twist in the oil discussion ... diesel engine oil. I talked to a wholesale supplier tech-support yesterday, and I just got off the phone with the Conoco /Kendell tech support line. I read the specs to him and explained the vehicle, including bronze / brass & leather parts. He went to his engineers and called me back a couple hours later. They recommend diesel engine oil for the track & transmission ... everywhere except where the steering bands are.  Their products are PowerD (Conoco), TSX (76), Super 2 (Phillips) and Super D3 (Kendall). The diesel oil won't affect the bronze or leather parts, but has superior lubrication capabilities compared to mineral oil.

I didn't write down the exact numbers but he explained how a 20W-50 SAE engine oil overlaps the 95W mineral oil for "viscosity". I guess the ratings are different scale.

http://www.enerquip.com.au/msds/conoco-hydroclear-power-d-engine-oil-multigrade.pdf   conoco

http://www.conocophillipslubricants.com/documents/kendall/fleet_commercial_engine_oils/Ken%20Super-D%203%20Multigrades%20TDS%20Web.pdf  Kendall

I asked the distributor about using non detergent in the engine .... something i thought we were supposed to do but didn't know why. He suggested that didn't make sense. The detergent will help get the dirt to the filter. They used ND oils "back then" because that's all there was really. He said the real spec to look out for was the GL number. GL 1 through 4 would be OK, but GL5 could be harmful to OEM seals from that era. he said when current oil technology was introduced there was some damage to older equipment. "Detergent" was prominent on the label so that got the blame, when the real culprit was sulfur and potassium (covered under the GL number).

I know some of you have strong opinions on one oil or the other and i'm no expert. I'm sharing what I learned today. Unless one of you yell "heck no and here's why" I think I'll give the diesel oil a try. It's readily available, and should be a better lubricant than straight mineral oil.

Working on this Oliver has been a real journey, and it's just started.

Little different spec in the OC-3 manual ... SAE 40 for 32F to 70F, SAE 140 straight mineral gear oil above 70F.

I found an oil products distribution company about 5 miles from me that lists mineral oil as one of their products. I'll give them a call tomorrow.


Thank you for sharing what you all have already learned.

Cletrac recommends SAE 50 wt non-detergent motor oil for use in the upper and lower track wheels, idlers, final drives and transmissions. Ray Zimmerman has done some research and found an equivalent gear oil that will work too.

I've been using the 50 wt that I can get in 5 gallon pails.

Blake

From the BG Products web page, "There?s a common misconception that crankcase oil and gear oil share the same numerical nomenclature (i.e. 20W-50 and 75W-90). What?s worse, standard OEM manuals further the confusion by specifying grades of crankcase oils for gear oil applications. The information gap is an industry-wide problem. However, knowing how to use a viscosity classification chart, can keep you from getting lost in translation."  http://www.bgprod.com/blendr/viscosity.html

Also note that Permatex makes a different gasket-maker for applications exposed to gear oil because the additives "eat" the gasket-maker for engine applications ("gear oil has friction modifiers that break down normal RTV and cause leaking"). http://www.permatex.com/products/Automotive/automotive_gasketing/gasket_makers/permatex_gear_oil_rtv_sealant.htm

All that tells me that putting modern gear oil in the rollers should be done with reservations. I don't know if the additives would impact the life of the Oliver seals or not.

I haven't found 50W ND motor oil locally yet. Lubriplate makes it ($40 case + shipping) but so far I'm afraid to ask what it costs to send a case of oil FedEx.  What did you find, Blake? 

Next weekend I'll give it a go.    Thanks.

Bump this topic as I have the same question. I have a '56 OC3 with 42" track-base (Model OC-3 42). That means I have a tie-bar as shown on page 30 of the service manual; not the simple threaded rod used on OC-3 31", 60" or 68" as shown on page 29.

When I drained the oil it came out in clumps. Previous owner did the classic "throw the stem away" trick on the oil filter so for some unknown number of years this engine hasn't had a working oil filter. I imagine the screen in the pan is a solid mass. The drain plug had brown solid cake on the inside face. Problem is there are two frame member in the way of dropping the pan. One is a beefy 2" tube that came off the frame with four bolts. The other is the tie bar. The picture in the manual doesn't do it justice. There's no way the oil pan comes off while that tie bar is still on.

The directions to remove the bar sound deceptively simple, except this bar holds the track springs in place. I don't find any documentation about alignment.

1. The manual says about reassembly,  "Be sure support spacer is installed under main frame between support brackets." As it is now, the spacer is loose ... has about 1/8" play between the main frame members. I'm thinking this is OK as there's no way I can make the main frame members move inward. OK?  PS: that 2" bar mentioned above was just in front of the tie bar, making that part of the main frame solidly tied side to side.

2. The manual says about disassemble "<jack the front of the tractor up> just enough to relieve the weight of frame and engine from track frame main springs."  I'm guessing the actual amount is "just right" so the tie rod isn't bearing any weight (via the track springs) or suspending the tracks. Sound right?  Are there any gotchas for driving the rod out? Or back in?

Thanks.