Repowered IH 4-WD Uses 50% Less Fuel

Repowered IH 4-WD Uses 50% Less Fuel REPOWERED EQUIPMENT Repowered Equipment 27-3-28 When the V-8 diesel engine on David and Ken Bense's 1985 IH 4786 4-WD tractor wore out, the rest of the tractor was still in good shape. The Hope, Ind., farmers replaced it with a 6-cyl. Cummins 855 diesel engine out of an IH 4070 cab-over semi tractor. "It was a lot of work, but the repowering job made it a good tractor again," says David. "We already had the truck, which we had bought used several years earlier. The wiring in the truck's chassis was worn out so we sold the truck for scrap but kept the engine. It had about 100,000 miles on it but had been overhauled recently so it was still in good shape." They lengthened the tractor frame and hood 14 in., making the cut up front so the new engine wouldn't sit directly over the welded-together part of the frame. A local machinist bent sheet metal for the hood. The new engine bolted to the tractor's 10-speed transmission without any modifications. They made new engine mounts and had a plate made to adapt the tractor's hydraulic pump to the engine. The bolt pattern on the Cummins matched up perfectly with the original bell housing. The tractor was originally equipped with a muffler that came straight up through the middle of the hood. They fitted the repowered tractor with a side-mount muffler they made out of a 10-in. dia. pipe off an old grain leg. They welded disk blades on top and bottom of the pipe and also fitted it with a chrome rain cap. A chrome guard over the pipe keeps anyone from getting burned as they climb into the cab. To connect the muffler to the engine they bought new 5-in. dia. muffler pipe. The air cleaner on the other side of the engine came off the semi truck, with the air cleaner's stainless steel pipe reworked to fit the tractor. "We even removed some gauges from the truck dash and installed them in the cab," says David. "Larry Thayer, a retired neighbor who worked in the trouble-shooting department at Cummins, helped us do the work. We were able to sell parts off the old IH engine for about $1,000. Our total cost was about $16,000, which was a lot less than buying a newer tractor with a bigger engine. The tractor's original engine is high maintenance and parts for it are very expensive. "We use the tractor for most of our tillage work including chisel plowing and disking. The Cummins engine has about the same horsepower as the tractor's original engine. However, it uses only about half as much fuel." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, David Bense, 10333 North 1050 E., Hope, Ind. 47246 (ph 812 546-5506).

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