Sorry to ask such a simplistic question, but since John is wherabouts unknown and since he was the only other one who started this D4 when he brought it here (I was in the seat with either), and the fact that I have zero documentation for it... nor do I know anyone else that knows...

So far I haven't been able to keep the pony running long enough to play with it (running too rich... loads up and stalls out... choke appears to be fully off... first thing I checked... might still have to open up the carb and clean and adjust things)... I sure I'd know by their actions when the pony is running, but thought it better to ask anyway.

Which starting lever does what to engage the pony? I know one engages the drive pinion, the other is the pinion's clutch. Believe the vertical one on the left (as one faces the side) is the clutch and the horizontal one (on the right) is the pinion engagement?

Thanks putting up with silly questions, but I'd really rather do that than break something.

Dave

Yes, that's right on the levers.

Hold the clutch lever to the back of the tractor,HARD! to brake the pinion so it doesn't grind much and then lift the pinion lever to engage the pinion. Once it's engaged, it will (should) latch and the lever can flop back down.

Then with the decompression lever pulled out and main clutch disengaged/transmisssion in neutral and throttle off (forward hard), engage the clutch and turn the main engine. Once it turns over and the pony settles down, release the decompression and turn the diesel to warm it up. Check for oil and fuel pressure. Depending on temperature, let it warm up a minute to 15 minutes turning the diesel under compresssion and then open the throttle. It should make a lot of white unburned diesel smoke from the exhaust and then black puffs as the cylinders fire.

To adjust the pony carburetor under load, the "load" needle is on the float bowl and works horizontally to lift a needle inside by way of a small crank and pivot, SO,,,,,,,,,,,,,turn it IN to richen the mixture and OUT to lean. The idle needle on the carburetor body is sort of backwards from most common carburetors as well, so,,,,in to richen, out to lean idle mixture.

The pinion will disengage by itself as the diesel takes off. Close the gasoline valve to stop the pony motor so it doesn't put gasoline in the oil.

You're good to go!

Forgot to say, you should turn the main engine as soon as you can to keep the coolant circulating through the pony motor better. It has only small connections and doesn't do much just with thermosiphon type circulation. the lower connection in the clutch housing tends to be the one that gets sludged up and doesn't flow at all, so if your pony motor doesn't seem to cool properly, you may have to lift it off or otherwise flush the cooling system to restore some circulation.

Also whenever you have to add any large amount of coolant or the pony seems to get hot quickly, bleed the air off the top of the pony motor cover by opening the bleed cock on the right side of the top of the motor.

On the carburetor, running rich might also mean the float is stuck or damaged in the carburetor. More of them run out of gas from trash in the lines and carburetor than run rich in my experience, but I had one that went from starving for gas to flooding and it was just that the float was stuck/trash was on the seat, never knew which it was.

Thanks CCjersey (what is your first name by the way? PM me if you'd like). I wondered about coolent as the unit has historically (at least the relatively recent history I know about) been drained each winter. While there is some coolent in it... its not at the top of the rad... am going to fill it the next time I work on it. As such I wondered about the pony as it apprently shared the coolant... and yes it did seem to get warm quick... figured the coolent level to be below it.

I wondered if I'd have to bleed trapped air it and also how/where that was accomplished. Thanks.

I think just because it probably is always a neglected item... I"ll pull the carb and do a through cleaning of it and the fuel system... just on the priciple of it. Thanks for the info on the adjustments. Anything else I should know when removing and disembling it... (remember I have no manuals at least yet)?

When Trakson built the loader around this D4 (called an HT4) they sure made it tough to access the pony. Need more joints and a few extra forearms in my arms to get at things. But heck, I'd tie myself in a knot then and really be messed up huh?

Too bad your so far away... be nice to have someone with your knowledge to eyeball this old girl.

Dave

There's probably an equally addicted person close by somewhere that could come over and help (talk) .

The carburetor has as you say frequently been sorely neglected utill it simply won't run any longer. Good place to start if you like to keep what hair you have left. There's folks who have taken them down to the bare castings, removed all the soft plugs and really cleaned them. I haven't gotten that ambitious, but all mine actually do run, they just each have a secret combination to get them to go. the best thing I have done is to reline the gas tank to start with. The ones with rust seem to have an endless supply of it until you properly clean and reline the tank. I've got one on the best running pony motor we have that has pinholes in it that the relining kit will certainly fix.

Have fun.

Jim Rankin
Cedarcrest Farms, Inc
Faunsdale, AL USA

When I resurected my MM U tank was pretty bad inside with rust. Shook it with pea gravel until my arms were ready to fall off several times a day for a week or so... then rinsed it out the best I could... but best trick of all was installing a screw-on line filter (like for a farm yard tank)... large capacity... only had to change it once in 8 years of running.

I've had a pony tank on the old 9U D6 that was so full of rust that it would plug in the outlet of the tank before it could even get to the sediment bowl. I agree that filters are a good idea. It gets challenging to find a place for one on the CAT engines, but you can usually find a section of the line that can be cut and an inline filter (even if it's a tiny one) installed.

I have heard of putting the tank with water, gravel and sand in it on a lathe turning at slow speed or fastening it to a lawn tractor wheel and mowing the grass with it tumbling. The one I did, I just shook it like you did, but not for so long. Even with a bunch of hand cleaner in the water along with the stones and sand, it still had some gasoline vapors in it that I could see burning off when I dried it with the torch after cleaning.

there's room for a large filter like you used in the diesel line, and it's a great idea. The threads aren't anything too standard, but with the right fittings, it can be done. The transfer pumps are expensive and the rust and debris from the tank will get to them pretty quickly if there's any in the tank or line to the transfer pump. I believe the discussion of the fittings etc was on the old board.
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