1970 John Deere 110

Yeah that's what I was saying, haha. Interesting, I wouldn't have thought it'd be that simple.

I use to frequent a sears suburban forum and people would come on there and complain, "my starter is turning backwards!"  That was the standard fix.  Swap the wires.

Hmm, appears I was wrong! Happens once in a blue moon

I remember the Cub 100 Series  tractors ran the S/G backwards from normal and I always wondered how they did it, haha.

Huh, that's neat!! Way simpler than I thought. So yeah, I'm totally doing it that way, since it's way easier.

Although I can't start until I get a different one. Dang it.

But I did dig up this old picture of the deere hoisting up my 8 point buck last season.

Looks like Deer vs Deere!

Okay, well, I got refunded! I now have a free 20-pound hunk of metal. LOL.

Yeah, jump it in reverse, it should turn backward.  Glad you got a refund.

Today is exactly 1 year since I went up to Manor, Texas, and dragged a rusty hunk of metal out of a field and brought it home.





I'd say there's an improvement around here somewhere....

And don't worry, there are more improvements coming soon! One big one in the works right now....

Aw man, this wasn't the update I was hoping to see!

Hahaha. Looks good though.

@AllisKidD21 wrote:

Aw man, this wasn't the update I was hoping to see!

Awlright, fiiiiiiiiiine.  I'll let the cat outta my hat. Now I'm just obligated to go through with it, LOL.



What you're looking at is one of the K181s that came off a round fender John Deere 110 or 112.  There is no serial number on it, so I can't tell.  I believe it's from somewhere between 46 and 58.

Anyway, I stripped it down to the block a few days ago.  With massive amounts of help from @AllisKidD21, which I seriously would have screwed it up about 7-8 times more than he even knows about if it wasn't for him, lol.  So thanks a ton dude!  

Lapped the valves, polished the exhaust port, deleted the governor, shaved the head quite a bit but I have no clue exactly how much.  Anyway, I managed to get it back together without breaking anything, and at the moment, all I need is ignition.

The stock k181 that came with the 110 had a coil and stator ignition set up.  The later ones had such a setup.  Other versions on generators and snowblowers and other such pull start engines had a plain coil.  I find it way easier, it has 2 wires on it, 1 goes to ground, the other goes to the points and the condenser.  It can run without constant 12v power.  I need to order the coil and the condenser and then as far as I can tell it should run.

Anyway, if you want to see more pictures of it, here's an album of them.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/6P9MJmoJKK87cs9p6

Good job TJ.  Don't forget to video startups when you get there!

Happy to help! Just uuhh, don't blame me if it asplodes or something on the first startup.

The flywheel mag setup should be alright I suppose, they had a real habit of the outer shell cracking and letting moisture ruin the windings, but maybe the aftermarket one will be made better than the old Bendix ones were. Although if you went with the more reliable 12v setup you could put a racing coil on it and really give 'er some zap! Hahaha.

Looking forward to seeing this in the ol JD!!

what prompted this?

@MightyRaze wrote:

Good job TJ.  Don't forget to video startups when you get there!

I definitely will!

@AllisKidD21 wrote:

Happy to help! Just uuhh, don't blame me if it asplodes or something on the first startup.

The flywheel mag setup should be alright I suppose, they had a real habit of the outer shell cracking and letting moisture ruin the windings, but maybe the aftermarket one will be made better than the old Bendix ones were. Although if you went with the more reliable 12v setup you could put a racing coil on it and really give 'er some zap! Hahaha.

Looking forward to seeing this in the ol JD!!

Haha, if that happens it'll surely be my fault. Eh, I'm not exactly looking for high RPMs. The head and exhaust work improves torque and horsepower, and removing the governor just lets me keep going pretty much. Not looking to go super high. I think it'll be alright, either way, for $15 it's worth a shot compared to about $80 the other way.

@Crazy_Carl wrote:

what prompted this?

I still don't even know myself, LOL. I guess I just felt like an engine build, and the 212, while it is an amazing engine, I would like more horsepower. I've never found its limit, and I've done some pretty crazy stuff with it. I also wanted an American made engine under the hood of a fully American made tractor. Fully American made tractors with American materials aren't made anymore, and my consciense was bothering me a little.

Just ordered the coil and condenser. Supposed to be here on Thursday, and should be ready to go. I'm excited.

@Crazy_Carl wrote:

what prompted this?

It's there in his signature...  #KeepTheKohler  He came over to the light!  

@MightyRaze wrote:

@Crazy_Carl wrote:

what prompted this?

It's there in his signature...  #KeepTheKohler  He came over to the light!  

Lol Was expecting it to take at least a few days to notice that!

It's as if we've been right all along!!!

@AllisKidD21 wrote:

It's as if we've been right all along!!!

Gotta rub it in, eh? Haha.

So I've got a bit of a story to tell here.

I've decided to lock the diff in this rig.  So yesterday I pulled the rear end.  But while that was going on, I did something really stupid.



See that gap between the frame/fenders and the rear trans support?  Yeah, I decided it'd be a good idea to stick my head in there while there was nothing holding the frame up but rust.  Okay, it wasn't that dumb, I was trying to remove the tensioner spring from the belt tensioner.  Anyway, the frame (I'm guessing what it was weighed about 150-200 pounds) came loose and slammed into the top of my head.  The area right below my nose hit the back plate and the frame tried to squish my head.  Initially, I said a certain thing that I'm not allowed to say here, and then pushed the frame up as hard as I could in that awkward position and pulled my head out.  Then I fell backward onto the ground, I was very dazed, although I remained conscious.  After a few minutes, I got up and walked inside.  My nose was bleeding from inside even though my nose didn't contact the metal, and nobody could see where I was bleeding from.  After a few minutes, I felt fine, and the bleeding had stopped.  My mom was a mom about it and she insisted on taking me to the ER.  The doctor's exact words were, "Well, it seems like you got away with one."  He diagnosed me with a minor concussion, although I still may not actually have one.  He couldn't tell without an X-ray, and at my age, he said the radiation would double my chances of getting cancer as an adult, and since I wasn't vomiting or had any other signs of concussion, he decided not to do an X-ray.  Anyway, I feel fine, but I'm not "supposed" to do any heavy lifting.  I did cheat a bit and I finished pulling the trans, propped it up on one end, and poured wd40 into the cup on the hub.  So...yeah.  That was an adventure.  LOL

In other news, the coil and condenser came, installed the coil last night.



The points wire is way too short, so I'll lengthen it today or tomorrow.  I should be able to work on the trans again in 3 days or so.  LOL.  Yep, that's what it's like being inside my idiotic head.

UGGG! Sounds Bad! I'm sorry for U!

@SebastianAlbrecht wrote:

UGGG! Sounds Bad! I'm sorry for U!

Thanks, it didn't feel all that great. But I'm fine now, just my nose is really sore lol.

Man, I cannot wait to hear that engine run!

So this tractor has been sitting since the last update.  Why?  Shear laziness, and lack of time.  I have a lot of things going on in the ranch world this time of year, what with weaning and whatnot, and the road is in horrible shape, the only thing that can get off the ranch in wet weather is the rover.

Anyway, today it was pouring and I couldn't go do any work on the road or anything so today was the day to get to work on it!

So since the last update, I've gotten the 990.  Since the 990 is going to do everything I was trying to do with the John Deere and better, I'm going to change the plans of the 110 pretty drastically.  Still keeping with the k181 when I get around to ordering points and a carb, still keeping the ags for now, but I may put the ATV rack on it, no sleeve hitch, and a much more violent pulley swap, putting a 4" on the back instead of the 8".

There are several reasons for this, and the main one is that the belt likes to come off, and you can't put it back on without unbolting the rear pulley from the hub because of clearance issues, and to do that you have to remove the tensioner spring, and to do that you have to unbolt the fenders!  It takes a simple job and makes it take take over an hour.  So this smaller pulley will just be pop the belt back on.

I had this one laying around, had to drill an tap a set screw in it.



The carport is very full right now, LOL!



Forgot to take pictures, but I put the trans back in and measured for belts, and bought belts. Somehow I ended up being like 10" off on the rear belt, so I need to buy a different one. The engine still runs, drained the gas out of it when I let it sit.

A 4" rear pulley is nothing crazy ordinarily I know, why I called it a violent pulley swap is because of the ratio I will now have due to the variator. I have a 6" front pulley, going to a 2x induction at most variator, going to a 4" pulley. Basically, one turn of the engine equals 3 turns of the transmission. Hope I don't break anything, lol, we'll see. I'm hoping to see 23 MPH or so, before it did 14.

1 way to find it out... BUILD IT!

Need to take some pictures, but I got it all finished yesterday. It goes 20, it may have more in it, and it wheelies at 16 mph. Pretty sketchy, I need to change the ball joints out for hiem joints, right now it has so much play it's hard to keep it on the road at 20. I'm going to name this 212 the little engine that could lol, it just keeps chugging along like a train no matter what I throw at it.