Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1919-03-30
CARING FOR THE TRAC7LRENC|NE |SS|MPLE|F
OWNER WILL FAM|UAR|zE HIMSELF Whit

few minutes inattention to q fault o
r this kind is very likely to lead to a re
pair bill which may well reach from
500 to $500, not to mention the loss o.
much valuable time,
The piston pins, valve tappets, cam.
and push rod heads are case-hardenet
to depth of at least 1-32 of an inch
If they were not hardened they would
wear very rapidly and would have t
be replaced in very short time. There
fore, every precaution is taken to hard.
en- them to a point where they cannot
be scratched with a file.
The main crankshaft bearings are die
cast from a mixture of about the fol
lowing compositions: Tin, SIS per cent;
copper, per cent; antimony, Z pei
cent. This grade of babbitt metal has
sufficient toughness to stand up well
in service.
The above dozen items cover the
vitals of the engine in so far as wear
ing qualities are concerned. On their
composition, design and treatment in
service depends the whole life of the
tractor engine. For instance. the life
of a motor may be. shortened by any
one of the following causes or any
combination of them
/. The engine bearings may be too
small or made from inferior metal.
2. The condition of the soil may be
such that the engine is carrying a
continual overload.
3. Improper or scant lubricating oil
always, without exception, leads to dis
aster.
4. The draining off of worked out
oil Coil is worked out as far as eff
cheney is concerned after Is or 20.
i hours rum and replenishing with fresh
| oil has been neglected.
| 3. Secondary in Importance only to
proper fabrication attention is the mat
ter of protecting the carburetor air
intake from dust by the use of an air
cleaner or filter.
6. Much depends upon the radiator
construction and cooling capacity. A
motor that is heated up to such an
extent that you cannot hold your hand
on the crankcase is handicapped either
through a poor circulating pump, faulty
or leaking radiator, too small fan,
or sediment in the water. Only rain
water should be used in the radiator,
as a scale forms on the water jacket
walls with the use of hard or lime
water. which effectively prevents the
proper transfer of heat from the cylin-
der walls to the cooling water. This
overheatng can also be caused by over
loading the engine, too rich mixture and
running on a retarded spark.
Taking it for granted that the engine
is we'll designed and built of the proper
materials, coupled with careful work
manship in manufacture the life Of n
tractor engine depends almost wholly
and solely on the operator-in a word,
on the care and attention bestowed on
It, It may be several years-and should
be-or it may, with improper care be
shortened to several months, or even
weeks OF course. a certain amount of
upkeep is necessary, such a replace
ment of connecting rod bushings, spark
plugs, wire cables, etc, ABOUT once
year.
1t is the little things that lead to big
things, and if the engine does not re-
ceive proper attention at the time at
tention is necessary, trouble and eX-
pense are bound to follow.
To make it perfectly plain with re-
gard to the practice of overlooking the
engine consider a case like this:
suppose you pun a li''
tractor, in which the motor is set to
run at 900 revolutions per minute, pull
ing three bottoms seven inches deep.
II your particular soil happens to be
about the average, which the tractor
manufacturer took in rating his prod
uCt-well and good. Let us say, how
ever, that your soil is more difficult to
work than the average. with thfee
plows down to seven inches, you VIII
find your engine grunting and snorting
along at a speed of about 900 to 100
revolutions per minute. Here you nave
direct evidence that the engine is car
rving an overload, and you can bet your
last dollar that you will be the loser II
you do not take off one of the plows
With two bottoms you will find the en-
CINE will pick up right away and climb
along steadily at 800 revolutions per
minute all day long with never a whim-
per.
The net result is that you will pillow
your land quicker and better with the
two bottoms than you possibly could
with the three, and you will save the
motor from serious Wracking, entalling
much wear and tear. The difference
between n gasoline or kerosene engine
and a steam engine is that you can
overload steam engine, provided the
boiler is in good condition, without in
curing q great deal of harm--not so
with the gasoline engine; it is rated at
its actual maximum capacity-there Is
very little or no reserve. This point
is made clear when you consider that,
provided the boiler will hold together,
YOU can increase the steam pressure
acting on top of the piston in the steam
engine as far as you like and Its power
will go up as a consequence. With the
gasoline or kerosene engine, the pres
sure on top of the piston is practically
constant--there is no means OF m
creasing it. Therefore, 1t is desirable
to let the engine turn over at the speed
it is intended to operate at and to load
it up to point where the engine does
not show a falling off in speed. steer
clear Of any load beyond this point