John Deere set-up

[Chuck White]

My FIL (Forestry Forum member SAGRAP) has an old (don't know the year) John Deer model M tractor and it has a 3-cylinder gas engine that is set-up! 

Can't turn it with the crank, and don't know for sure how long it has been set-up!

Anybody have an idea how to possibly free it up?

Any help will be appreciated!

[bigred1951]

Fill the cylinders with oil of some kind. We always used either kerosene or transmission fluid or mixtures of stuff. Some people just use wd 40 or pb blaster. Let sit for a few days and either put a breaker bar on the crank or pull it around in gear easing off the clutch.

[Ljohnsaw]

By "set up" you mean frozen as opposed to seized.  I think the usual is to pull the spark plugs and squirt a bunch of penetrating oil down the hole (ATF/Kerosene or other secret recipes).  Let it sit and then put a big wrench on the crankshaft and give it a try.  Might take a few days...

EDIT:  Bigred beat me to it... ;)

[thecfarm]

Blue Creeper

[Don_Papenburg]

If you can fill three cylinders on  a JD M it ain't a JD M  they only had 2cylinders.  I used diesel in my A .Left it sit soaking for a year and then freed it up with a few /many pulls on the flywheel. 

[Remle]

My FIL (Forestry Forum member SAGRAP) has an old (don't know the year) John Deer model M tractor and it has a 3-cylinder gas engine that is set-up! 

Can't turn it with the crank, and don't know for sure how long it has been set-up!

Anybody have an idea how to possibly free it up?

Any help will be appreciated!

IMHO the way to tackle this is to jack up one rear axle after you have soaked the pistons with your favorite juice of choice, then put it in low gear and gently rock the wheel back and forth to see if you get any movement. Do that for several days allowing the juice to penetrate around the pistons. If that doesn't work you will probably need to tear down the engine..

[snowstorm]

some of the old 2 cyl. would leak rain water into the motor freeze then break the oil pump coupling when you try to start it.

[Chuck White]

Thanks for the replies!

Could have gotten his wires (models) crossed up, He also has a Farmall M!

ljohnsaw; What I mean by set-up is, the engine won't turn when we pull on the crank!