OC-3-31 Engine

Kevin Aschenmeier · March 08, 2010, 05:24:32 AM

Hi.
I just saw an OC-3-31 today with an engine with a distibutor rather than a mag. It appears in every other way to be the correct Hercules engine. Did they use distributors on some engines?

Kevin

oliverchris · March 08, 2010, 09:15:46 PM

I have one too on my OC3-31 city sidewalk plow! Must have been standard issue as there is what looks like a factory-issue plate above it to protect the distributor from slush and rain. It is mounted down where the mag would be. Hercules made their IXB and IXK generator engines with distributors - although those were mounted higher up nearer the water pump, if my memory serves me right.

oliverchris · March 08, 2010, 11:43:43 PM

Oh, I almost forgot, there were after market distributors available for HGs too. Just swap out the mag and bolt it up. I have one that I took off a '47 HG42. I will see if I can dig it out and post a photo of it.

DeLong1 · March 09, 2010, 12:17:13 AM

Here is a stock distributor on my 1948 1xb3 that came out of an avery tractor. Where the mag mounts there is a stock hydraulic pump that was hooked to the belly cultivator on the avery tractor.
C.M. DeLong

Robert Barbour · March 09, 2010, 04:27:25 AM

Lets remember two things, first the IX engine is a Hercules engine. That means Oliver bought them from Hercules. Hercules made engines to sell to anyone that wanted one.
The second thing is the newest IX in an Oliver is from 1958 or 62 years old. Lots of things happen to tractors over 60 plus years!! In all of my Oliver books for the HG, OC 3 and OC 4 I have only seen the IX with the MAG. None of the books talks about a distributor and none of the parts for that setup are shown in parts books. I have a Hercules book on the IX and they were made in 3 and 5 gear setups, both with the distributor and both with various Mag's, 20 degree and 34 degree. Oliver only shows reference to the 34 degree mag for all the models.

walter hudson · March 10, 2010, 03:29:35 AM

More than likely you have a engine out of wheel tractor such as moline , Leader or BFAvery . They used dist. ign .and had hydraulic pumps mounted where the mag could mount .

Blake Malkamaki · March 10, 2010, 03:53:44 AM

We used to have a Leader tractor and it used the IXB-5. The distributor and hydraulic pump were both on the left side of the engine. It had a gear driven generator where the mag would have gone.

Blake

Kevin Aschenmeier · March 10, 2010, 05:39:49 AM

Hi:
I think Robert and you others are right. It must be an engine swaped in from another machine.
I will have to check it out better next time I see the machine. My father just bought it. He was buying spare parts for his OC-3-42 IND. This bunch of parts turned out to be an almost complete OC-3-31 in parts. He has a bunch of spare parts from his last purchase. Probably enough to put the 31 back together. He also has an AC Andersen dozer, the ugly one with the single cylinder over the hood. I wonder if it will fit the 31?

Kevin

Kevin Aschenmeier · March 22, 2010, 04:19:52 AM

Well I looked closely at the engine today. It is close to what DeLong1 posted in his picture. Minus the hydraulic pump. The engine is a 1XB-3. It has Oliver cast into the manifold, just as the one on my father's OC-3-42. Of course the manifold could have been swaped. ASide from the distributor, all other parts are as in the Oliver parts book. Mind you, it has funny spark plugs. They are massive. The holes are big enough to put a finger in and feel the valves go up and down. You do not need a bore-scope to see the pistons.

The distributor has a weird method of setting the point gap. It has a set screw with a lock nut on it. Rather than move the points around, you screw the set screw in or out!

Kevin

John Schwiebert · March 22, 2010, 11:23:27 AM

Older IX engines had heads that used the larger spark plugs. On the block on the opposite side of the manifolds is a flat spot milled in the block. The serial number of the engine should be stamped there. What is it?

oliverchris · March 26, 2010, 06:55:46 PM

Sounds like you might have an IXK head on that? They had the bigger spark plugs I think.

ianoz · March 26, 2010, 10:25:35 PM

Quote from: "Robert Barbour"Lets remember two things, first the IX engine is a Hercules engine. That means Oliver bought them from Hercules. Hercules made engines to sell to anyone that wanted one.
The second thing is the newest IX in an Oliver is from 1958 or 62 years old. Lots of things happen to tractors over 60 plus years!!

Hey Robert , I am a 1957 model and i am defineatly not 63 years old :lol: .Ian .

Robert Barbour · March 28, 2010, 03:47:58 AM

Yes Ian, I added an extra ten years!, noticed that about 2 seconds AFTER I posted it!! I thought someone would notice it before 13 days!! But then it really doesn't matter 50 or 60 years, both are old for a tractor!

Blake Malkamaki · March 29, 2010, 02:35:43 AM

Quote from: "oliverchris"Sounds like you might have an IXK head on that? They had the bigger spark plugs I think.

The IXBs that I have seen also have 7/8" spark plugs. I like the big plugs as they don't foul quite as easily and they don't break off when you try to get them out.

I just wish Ford realized that with their stupid 5.4 liter truck engines.

Blake

Kevin Aschenmeier · March 30, 2010, 04:19:20 AM

John:
The serial number is 2482540.

Thanks, Kevin