Rt. 1, Greenville, WI 54942
I recently bought a 435 Diesel. The tractor has a 2-53 Detroit
Diesel in it, and has the smallest calibrated injectors I found
listed in the engine manual. It closely matches the gas engine
430.
Even though the engine is 25 years old, I got all the parts at a
local truck garage. This is the same brand of engine in today’s
trucks, and were in the trucks at Foremost Dairies where I
worked.
I was wondering if John Deere was testing the acceptance of the
diesel engine, because the new generation tractors were offered in
both gas and diesel. The cylinders were not, except for the two
largest ones.
I pulled this tractor out of a snow bank in winter, and it was
really in sad shape. The previous owner said he didn’t run it
for about ten years because the oil was gaining on it, which means
the antifreeze was getting into the oil. When I started overhauling
it and pulled the head, there was about 1 cups of water in #2
cylinder. I dipped that out, and put penetrating oil in both
cylinders for two months. After that the pistons were still stuck,
so I hammered them out and compressed the cylinder liners out and
started at fixing everything.
The head got all new exhaust valves and valve seats in it, and
the head was milled to remove the rust pits in #2 cylinder. Some of
the rust pits were so deep that they couldn’t get them out
completely, so they are still in a little bit. The engine also got
all new bearings, pistons, and liner kits, 35mm injectors and
gaskets. I have done all the work I could at home that didn’t
require special tools.
After I got it all painted I sprayed clear lacquer over it for a
really good shine. Now it looks too good to take into the
field.
I also made a photo album with 80 pictures of overhauling the
tractor so when I get to the old tractor shows I can show what went
into it. This tractor is the final evolution of the model
‘M’ that Robert Hamilton of Paris, Ontario, Canada, from
GEM Nov-Dec 1983 has. Keep on puttin’.
