B6000/ZL600 Engine Rebuild - What I learned

I will admit to reading a great deal of the B6000 information shared on this forum and while I haven't participated in many threads, I thought I would share my learning from a recent overhaul of our B6000/ZL600 4x4.

We have had the tractor for almost 20 years. We use it for landscaping and tending to our modest parcel of space here in Southern California. Occasionally we have loaned it to friends. The last couple years it has been getting difficult to start, making it hard to use and loan. So it was time for a rebuild.

Well, we just got it up and running this weekend and it starts right away, runs smooth and no longer smokes. Yeah!

While most of my time is spent fooling around with British cars, it was enjoyable to work on what appears to be a very well designed and efficient engine.

The link below takes you to our local vintage motoring web site and that is where I documented the teardown and rebuilt. It spans just two pages and there is no need to "log in".

http://www.vintagemotoring.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2717

Enjoy. Please do let me know what I missed and thank you all for posting good information that allowed me to tackle the rebuild.

Dean

Thanks for all the kind words and encouragement.

That's original paint! If I paint it will lose 40 years of hard earned original patina, and what will the concourse judges say? "It it only original once."

There are no good cheap E-types hanging around the barn/shop anymore. Sadly, those days are long gone. The good ones are not cheap and the cheap ones are no good.

I probably have a use for the CCW PTO that you guys haven't seen before - Wheel polishing. I'll post a few photos once I get the rig back in position. It is good for a laugh and keeps my son busy.

Dean

patjsimpson said:

That was a great read. I am curious if you could share what the total damage to the pocket book. Also did you mention where you got the rebuild kit from ? (company)

thx
Pat

Click to expand...

Pat,

Unfortunately for the ZL600 no one stocks a full rebuild kit. You can find the kits for just about every other model, so you have to piece it together yourself. If you want new wet liners, you can't go to the traditional Kubota resellers as Kubota does not stock these items anymore.

I bought the bulk of the internal parts (pistons, liners, bearings) from Stavros Savva in Cyprus. ($550) The rest of the items (gaskets, seals, etc) came from Messicks. ($~200)

The only part I could not find was the front main crank bearing shell. It is a full circular light press fit into the block. It is not a split shell. Fortunately, I was slow in removing it and it was undamaged, so I left it in place.

I had the head rebuilt by a local BMW friend who wasn't afraid of making new guides (way too expensive from Kubota). We did install new valves that ran up the cost and we machined the lifters and polished the crank. ($350)

All told I probably spent a little over $1,100.

Way cheaper then anything else in the garage!

Hope that helps.

Dean