1981 350cb loader motor stopped

[Tonylsr]

Hey guys could use some direction advice I have an 81 350c loader with about 2000 hours machine was working great but I didn't know it had gotten low on engine oil. As I was just compacting some soil it shut down really hard everything stopped and now the engine wont turn over I think maybe a bearing but any advice would help thanks. and yes I should have checked the oil I know I blew it

[LeonardL]

Sorry... I screwed that up!!

[LeonardL]

Okay... well you're right... you did blow it. But as they say... Poop happens. I'm not going to be that guy who tries to make you feel worse than you already do. While mowing the grass I just threw a rock through our picture window on the front of the house!! There goes a thousand dollars that I don't have!!!

Your only option at this point is to pull the motor and tear it down. See what you have left. I would think you will find multiple bearing failure on both the rods and main bearings. You may have even ruined the rods, crank and cam shafts.

If you're lucky and it stopped before ruining everything, you might be able to have the crank turned and the rods checked and then go back with oversized bearings. Check the cam as well and hopefully it will be okay. I've only seen one cam shaft seize up on these older Deere motors.

Good luck and keep us posted on what you find.

[Tonylsr]

thanks that's my plan bought the manual and have a Kubota to help pull it apart

[Tonylsr]

Update was able to pull the motor after getting the loader up in the air good news is it wasn't low motor oil that made the engine stop the flywheel had a bunch broken parts from the isolator that let lose of all the springs for the clutch so some pieces where logged behind the flywheel on the motor side once removed the motor turns over the flywheel has three of the five spring attachment bolts completely sheared off. should i just go ahead and replace the flywheel and isolator and springs or should I try to remove the broken studs and reuse the flywheel thanks in advance for the help!

[LeonardL]

Glad you lucked out on your motor. But... sorry the isolator gave up the ghost. I would check here with Lavoy first to see what he has available. If your isolator is original to the machine, then hose bolts will need to be heated before you try to remove them. Deere used "Red Loctite" on the threads and they will be stuck pretty darn tight. Use just enough heat to make the loctite melt. Usually you will see it begin to bubble up around the bolt as it melts. So you don't need to get them cherry red with heat.

If the isolator was changed sometime during the machines life then those bolts may or may not have the loctite. I would put a little heat to them just to be sure. Again... check with Lavoy and see if he can fix you up on what you need.

[Tonylsr]

thanks again for the good advice I talked with Lavoy parts have to come from Deere springs are $111 each and bolts and misc. on flywheel are still available total cost for parts around $1100 I'm glad you let me know about the heat all the bolts have to be removed from flywheel but it will be ok to reuse.

[Tonylsr]

Update I'm not a mechanic but I was able to pull the motor using my Kubota l45 and I found all the parts necessary for this repair the isolator I found on ebay with very little wear to the friction ring $500 I had the flywheel turned and balanced at the local machine shop $600 I did have to use a time sert for one bolt on the flywheel for holding the spring on. time sert is amazing about $200 bought all the other parts directly from Deeres web site about $1000 all parts were less expensive going direct to Deere my local dealer in Sacramento was adding about 20% extra and would not match the web site prices. After putting the flywheel back on and checking all the bolts on the engine for correct torque which most were a little loose and changing the oil and filter I used the Kubota to put the motor back in the machine I did need help at this point very difficult for one guy to get lined up and 4 bolts back in with a little work we got it back in and I was able to button up everything else by myself. Total repair cost around $2500 Machine works as it should and shifts very smooth now that I know this part usually fails after 2000 hours I will be sure to be more careful when using machine as a compactor going forward / reverse as this is what caused the springs on the isolator to let loose. Thanks for the support it was helpful!