It's been a LONG road that has required a lot of patience, much sweat, frequent frustration and a chunk of cash but my L275 is FINALLY up and running! Some of you might possibly remember that I bought this tractor back in 2009 for $500 because it had a hole in the engine block (http://www.orangetractortalks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10551). I searched for a LONG time before finally finding another L275 in poor shape that I bought as a parts donor a year ago. I had to drive from Illinois to Austin, TX to get it, but several events sort of just fell in line and the circumstances made it worth my while.
Well, last summer my buddy and I split both tractors and swapped out the engine but the "new" engine smoked like a chimney and ran quite badly. Not being a diesel mechanic and not being able to afford to send it to a shop, it sat for the summer and fall while I tried to come up with a solution. Finally, a local mechanic who is quite fond of Yanmar tractors and is quite knowledgeable on Japanese diesels (he worked for a Kubota dealer years ago) worked out a barter deal with me and I dropped it off at his shop last December. A very long story short (you'd be bored with the details), I brought it home 3 or 4 weeks ago with the knowledge that it still needed a bit of attention to be fully finished.
Yesterday afternoon I took a 1/2 vacation day from work and finally got the kinks worked out and she's running like a champ! My boys are quite excited since it will be a tractor much more suitable for them to learn on, rather than the Allis Chalmers which is not only much larger, but is more difficult to shift, is much larger and also has a loader protruding way out in front. *I* am excited because now I have a tractor much more suitable for tilling my garden. Not only size-wise, but because it a narrower wheel-base which will allow the tiller to cover my tracks and also because has such low gearing. My WD45 did the job, but it wasn't geared low enough for tilling without feathering the hand clutch.
Anyway, just wanted to share my little story. Maybe it will give hope to someone who has an on-going saga with their own tractor and thinks they will never get it going. I sure know that feeling.
Well, last summer my buddy and I split both tractors and swapped out the engine but the "new" engine smoked like a chimney and ran quite badly. Not being a diesel mechanic and not being able to afford to send it to a shop, it sat for the summer and fall while I tried to come up with a solution. Finally, a local mechanic who is quite fond of Yanmar tractors and is quite knowledgeable on Japanese diesels (he worked for a Kubota dealer years ago) worked out a barter deal with me and I dropped it off at his shop last December. A very long story short (you'd be bored with the details), I brought it home 3 or 4 weeks ago with the knowledge that it still needed a bit of attention to be fully finished.
Yesterday afternoon I took a 1/2 vacation day from work and finally got the kinks worked out and she's running like a champ! My boys are quite excited since it will be a tractor much more suitable for them to learn on, rather than the Allis Chalmers which is not only much larger, but is more difficult to shift, is much larger and also has a loader protruding way out in front. *I* am excited because now I have a tractor much more suitable for tilling my garden. Not only size-wise, but because it a narrower wheel-base which will allow the tiller to cover my tracks and also because has such low gearing. My WD45 did the job, but it wasn't geared low enough for tilling without feathering the hand clutch.
Anyway, just wanted to share my little story. Maybe it will give hope to someone who has an on-going saga with their own tractor and thinks they will never get it going. I sure know that feeling.
