It's ALIVE!!!

[ObsoElitist]

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.

[eliwhitney907]

congrats!!  sounds like you got a solid platform to build on.  have you checked the final drive fluid?  I just bought my OC-3 and when I was checking it out I looked for final drive leak "track marks" and found none. that was because there was no fluid in them and probably had not been for long enough to fade out all evidence of leaks. lesson learned but no matter mine is solid in many other ways, I may have negotiated more on the price had I known though. 

hand start you say?  my company shipped an old hand start tractor one time... only time I have ever met one.