I probably have cursed myself... But the price is right... In fact the dealer was so anxious to throw this bucket of oil at me, he severely discounted the price. I am starting to get nervious after the fact.

Case is known for strong engines, and their diesels are pretty top of the line in construction and agriculture. They don't do well at tractor pulls because the engines and frames are so damned heavy... That is what I bought, the engine and frame.

It runs, everything works fine... But several large cylinders need to be repacked, it leaks like a sieve. I need to design some hydraulic drive systems for my engine room and awhile back Guy suggested I study how the hydraulics are set up on a digger... What better way I thought, than to own one.

Besides I have to move many cubic yards of soil and rock to put a new place up.

The engine is pretty strong, 4 cylinder diesel, I have not gone thru the manual yet to see what the rated HP is... It does not smoke excessively, the guy said it does not use oil but I figure he does not really know; he's a salesman.

At least he was upfront about the hydraulics leaking and I am going to have to dry things up before I can get serious work out of this machine. Does anybody have any primers on how to repack hydraulic cylinders?  I can get seal kits cheap, and with the leaks dried up this machine can be sold for a lot more than I paid for it when I am done working it... If I can bear to part with it.

But I have never repacked a cylinder before, and this is the first hydraulic system I will have hands on experience with.

I just got back to a computer after a week looking at property. I bought some acreage off-grid.

The access will require a 4x4 and since I will be building I need a pulling truck that can climb steep spots in the road while pulling a load.

Anybody got any advice on what road diesel engines and rigs I should be looking at? Anything I should stay away from?

I want to give some un-solicited advice to new engine owners on what to do, and what not to do, during break in.  I am going to pre-face this by saying I have not received delivery of my engine yet and I have not broken one in.... However I have blueprinted and run-in high performance engines before, and I think I have a pretty good understanding of the Listeroid quirks. My advice comes as a result of some hard won experience.

To the rest of the group here, please feel free to chime in with advice, corrections, or to point out any omissions or add opinions. I am happy to discuss my reasoning here 

To start with we are going to assume that your engine has been inspected, and is in fact clean and ready to run.

1) Do not use synthetic lubricants during break-in. Synthetics are great to run in a working engine that has settled in, but you will cause yourself unending headaches if you start out with a synthetic oil.

2) Do not use a high detergent oil during break-in.

3) Do not use multi-viscosity oil during break-in. My personal recommendation for breaking in a Listeroid would be to use straight non-detergent 30W or 40W and I would lean to the 40W during my own break-in.

4) It helps if the oil is pre-warmed for the initial startup (a small immersion heater in the crankcase could be used), and do not start up a dry engine... You should pre-lube everything. Get a pump oiler, put it in a crockpot with a couple inches of water; once hot shoot a squirt of hot oil into the tops of the cylinders, cam bearings, crank bearings, etc. while slowly turning over the flywheel. Be sure to manually prime the oil pump if so equipped, and shoot some oil on all external moving parts. Make sure the fuel rack is clean of paint or gum and put a drop of hot oil on all the linkage points.

5) It does not hurt to put an ounce or two of oil in the fuel tank.

6) It does not hurt to put a couple of strong magnets in the crankcase to collect metal filings.

7) Do not start an engine without water in the engine cooling jacket. People think that they can fire up a dry engine and run it for 2-3 minutes without overheating... This is a mistake. Most of these engines have "wet" cylinders, and hot spots can form nearly instantly... 2-3 minutes can result in damage without coolant. If you wanted to be really gentle on an engine, you would pre-heat the water as well as the oil.

Do not run a new engine, even for a short time, without a load. Diesel engines, especially new diesel engines, have to have a load on them in order to keep the rings from chattering. The pressure created when a load is applied and the rack is open is essential for seating the rings and ensuring that they stay seated and don't scuff and vibrate in the bore. This is especially important during break-in.

9) Don't grab the rack and race the engine up or otherwise permit it to overspeed... Instead, pile a load on it and gradually work the rack open to develop power... These are not racehorses.

10) After a few hours cumulative running with varying loads applied, drop the oil while the engine is hot, open the access panel and mop out the sump, clean the magnets. You can fine filter (2-5 micron) and burn your used engine oil so don't feel bad about making frequent oil changes during break-in... These engines have virtually no filtration system and unless you have modified things with the addition of a bypass filter system for the crankcase sump you will want to remove metal, water emulsion, and any sand frequently. Let used oil settle before filtering and mixing with fuel, and toss the bottom sludge.

11) I would consider the break-in period pretty much over after 100 hours under a load, but some of these pointers can be applied every time you start your engine.

Good Luck!!!

I just spent 30 minutes at the Purolator-Facet filter homepage and I thought I would post about this process filtration system that I came across. I am not spamming or selling anything, this to me looks like the ideal system to pre-filter raw WVO and it should assist in removing a lot of water with the gunk:

http://www.purolator-facet.com/selfcln.htm#clean2

Here is the page ^^^ - I was looking at the "metaledge" line of products.

http://www.purolator-facet.com/metaledge.htm

^^^ Flash animation showing how the technology works

http://www.purolator-facet.com/pdfs/metaledge.pdf

Spec sheet ^^^

I was looking specifically at the F-190 model for process filtering/transfer of hot oil from drums as a pre-filter to remove particles 25 microns and above. A replaceable 10 micron high flow cartridge filter placed downline would pick up most of the rest without excessive clogging. The oil could be filtered and transferred into the storage tank in one pass at 60+ PSI and 150+ degrees F.

If nothing else... The flash animation is kewl... I bet this filter is expensive, but from the looks of it, you would never need to replace it or purchase a new element.

The final filtration I would set up in the heated fuel line to the IP. Oil would be drawn off the top of the storage tank (where oil filtered to 10 microns would be pumped/stored). The cold oil would be transfered into a heated day tank in the engine house.

http://www.wefilterit.com/

^^^ I think these toilet paper type canisters would work well in-line as the final fuel filter. With this system I doubt you would have to dewater the WVO fuel.

http://www.lindsaybks.com/

This is only like the ultimate library of "how to"