I'm guessing around noon. I can call when we are a half hour out if you want?

Edb - if the fuel level is down, say quarter of a tank, will we be able to successfully bleed the injection system and the torque convertor if necessary?

Sounds like we need a few gallons of main engine oil Fred. When the engine is at rest, the level should be above the full line. Pony sounds ok but if you're heading to the store anyway, you could get a couple of gallons of regular 30 engine from Tractor Supply or similar. We should probably change it unless it looks clean. If there's an opportunity to get the fuel truck up there, it'd be good to get more fuel in it since the torque convertor situation is unknown, but if not, we'll try with what you have. I'm guessing the tank holds 100 gallons (someone will correct me) so you might have 35 in there. If you can fill it, that would be ideal.

That's great info thanks Eddie. If I understand correctly, we should check/bleed the t/c before the injection system, if either is necessary. Or would you recommend just attempting a start first. My reading of the instructions say that if there is a minor amount of air in the t/c, it will purge itself after a few minutes.

Righto sounds good Eddie, will do. I forgot to ask before whether the pony has the shared oil system or is standalone, and if shared, if there are any special precautions to take. One I will be taking is to take the hornet spray.....

Norm and I visited Fred's place yesterday and checked the tractor over. It appears in generally good condition. The rollers have wear and best I can estimate are down 1/8 from the radius at the side. The rails are right on 5" if someone could please restate that in % worn. The sprocket segments are new. The grousers have been built up and are in good condition.
Norm drained the sediment and maybe an ounce or two of water from the main fuel tank, while I checked the pony.

Unfortunately the last person to run the pony threw a rod in it. The pony starter would not roll over the engine so I removed the clutch adjustment cover and the spark plugs, and was able to roll the pony crank backwards. The back piston moved. I hit the pony starter button momentarily and the pony turned over then stopped with a clunk. There are no smoke relief holes in the pony block so the best case is that only a rod let go and the rest is intact.

How it got into this state is another example of where a lack of knowledge and intuition can lead to problems. Someone removed the throttle and choke control rods, and installed the choke control rod into the throttle rod position, presumably to control the pony rpm. In doing this, the governor control rod was removed from the throttle. I suspect that this led to an over-rpm situation and hence the thrown rod. A competent mechanic familiar with governors would know that this would require very careful manual control of the throttle and erring on the side of low rpm.

In other areas, the underside of the main engine oil fill cap showed no sign of condensation and there are no obvious oil leaks on the machine, including from the finals. The oil was down the stick about an inch and a half - the oil could stand changing. The coolant was full and bright green. All the gauges were intact. The pony fuel valve was replaced by an elbow so there's no current way to shut the fuel off. The light switch was stuck but I didn't see any lights anywhere on the machine - maybe the gauges have lights? The torque convertor bleeder was slightly open and dry. I didn't open it right up to see if any diesel would flow.

The powershift control level would not move, even with the safety off - Eddie, should it be able to move through the gears with the engine not running?

The cutting edges looked new, the blade skin has been patched and there's a small hole in the lower corner that needs a patch. The blade joints looked reasonably tight. The blade has manual tilt arms which do move.

So, to get the tractor going, the pony needs the thrown rod and whatever else in there is broken repaired/replaced. The basic sequence that I could see to remove the pony is:
1. Drain the coolant - how many gallons?
2. Remove the mag and carb for safety purposes
3. Remove the two coolant pipes
4. Remove the main exhaust pipe
5. Remove the hood
6. Remove the main engine air cleaner and the pony air cleaner
7. Attach lifting eyes to a couple of pony head bolts (I think there is a lifting jig description on the forum)
8. Carefully bar the pony and transmission forward away from the main engine flywheel housing. As it comes forward, tilt the pony up to clear the filter assemblies.

Question - there is a 2" diameter pipe that looks like a coolant (or fuel) pipe that runs alongside the pony. Does that have to be removed to remove the pony? It is not solidly fixed in place so has a bit of movement available.

I've offered to Fred if he can get the pony to me, I'll fix it. I think the only way that tractor will be sold off the property is if it is running, because the only other feasible option (outside of taking another D8 up there to drag it on to a lowboy) is to see off parts. In that case, Fred will inevitably be left with a carcass that for sure will never move unless scrap turns to gold.