V4 Starter[!] Motor

[coldplugs]

Went to see a great collection of old tractors & stationary engines today. I'd never seen the insides of the little V-4 engine that John Deere used (uses?) to start some of their large diesel tractor engines. The owner said it spins to about 6000rpm. It appeared to me to be about 1000cc capacity. The little pistons had valve reliefs in the head & it seemed to be pretty highly tuned.

They use beefy <span style="font-style: italic">aluminum</span> connecting rods with no bearing inserts - just aluminum running on steel crankshaft journals. Apparently they wear out quickly (surprise!) and he'd just ordered 4 replacements at $100 each.

And I thought old <span style="font-style: italic">cars</span> are expensive!

 

[PAUL161]

Caterpillar use to use "Pony Motors" to start their engines, but when electric starters and batteries became more efficient, pony motors were dropped. One great thing about the cat pony was, due to the fact that the exhaust pipe went through the intake manifold of the diesel, in the winter, it super heated the intake air, helping the diesel to start quicker and easier. Problem there was, the pony wasn't that easy to start sometimes, especially when you had to crank it, as some had no starters! Ponies only had one speed, wide open. The nuke plant in Salem New Jersey has a 16 cylinder auxiliary diesel generator, 2 if I remember correctly, that uses 300 hp Chrysler hemis as a starters. PJ

 

[DrEntropy]

So now I gotta go pull the cam cover on th' Alfa and check the cam journals? :smirk:

 

[coldplugs]

So now I gotta go pull the cam cover on th' Alfa and check the cam journals? :smirk:

Yes.

 

[DrEntropy]

argh.