2014 at the Hammond Barn

[Bob Carriere]

So much easier to work on the truck inside the barn where it is 60F rather than outside even if the weather is mild.

So I need to drive out the farm tractor/snowblower from the barn and fetch the Cab 11 from the sea container

Engine had not been runned for at least a month so it needed the choke and cranked a few trun before firing up. Now running the engine inside the steel sea container is always a bit loud but this morning the valves were clacking exceptionally loud...... close the choke and drove her out slowly...... still clacking but not as loud once outside the can. Drove to the barn and that cold morning clack just did not go away.

Drove it out of the barn so I could let it idle without posioning ourselves.

The clacking did not go away... played with the throttle but higher revs just made more noise... in front somewhere.

Popped the valve cover and promptly lost one of the original screws in the mud.

Took me a minute to restart the engine and walk around to the driver's side.... there she was.... a loose push rod.... loose hell half the top ring was missing.
Turned the engine off and carefully fished the missing part with tweezers.... must have just happened as the part could have rolled down in the head drain holes right into the pan.

Never seen a push rod fracture like that. Clean break and seemingly a fresh break.

Grant and I scrambled to see what spare parts we had...... found some badly rusted.... found some too short... then in the attic wrapped in plastic was a full set of the proper lenght.

Removed the old one, cleaned the replacement and dropped it in place. Did not want to spend a lot of time readjusting all the valve setting so I eye balled it, fired up the engine and adjusted the play by feel...... with the engine running you can see and feel the push rods spinning between your fingers so I adjusted, by comparaison, until too snug and too loose until she behaved like all the others. Will probably redo all the valves setting in the spring when I can get the engine properly hot.

If interested it was the intake rocker cyl. 2

Somedays you are just lucky enough to break something in your own driveway with all your tools handy.

Cheers