440B Engine Tansplant Update

We made a bit of progress yesterday. We didn't get started until the afternoon as the morning was spent swapping the tires on Mother's Durango.
Here are some pictures of the 20hp Launtop LT620 that will be going in to replace the worn out 18hp Kohler Magnum:



The stock ignition box will have to go (not needed) and the oil filter will have to be remote mounted.
The patient:

Who said moving a dead skidsteer was hard?? : )

We would have used the 773, but we got to build some pallate forks for it (next project).
It is always nice to work on something when you don't have to bend over to do it:

Here is what the stock engine room looks like:

Kohler out:

First test fit of the V-twin:

Yes, I know, the engine bay needs a bath!! Once the fabrication is complete, she's got a date with the pressure washer.
The old engine had a 1.125" shaft, the new one is a 1", so I will be picking up a new taper-lock pulley for it. The crank shaft sits about 1" lower, none of the pump plate holes align and only the right rear base mounting hole will be useable (surprise, surprise).


With the engine in position, the main mounting face sits about 1/4" of of the pump plate, so the decision was made to cut off the tail end of the pump plate and make a new one from 1/4" plate. The new plate will lap over the original and bolt to it.

The removed piece (you have to love plasma cutters):

As stated, new holes were required for the base as well. The new engines base is narrower than the original, so a tab had to be welded on for the left rear mounting bolt:
Before:

After:

Engine test fit number 2, to check the new mounting bolt hole locations. Seems to fit:

The new pump mounting plate will locate off of a 5.75" pilot on the rear of the engine, and utilize the 4 largest holes. Here is the plate under construction:


That's about as far as we got. So far, the only thing that I don't have figured out is the throttle connection, it will probably involve a cable I'm thinking. I am also thinking of seriously simplifying the exhaust, by cutting a hole in the back door and just letting it blast out the rear.
More to come.
Derek

Looks good.
How did you attach your hoist to the wheels? I need to try that with 6000 lb loaders.
I vote for a hole in the tailgate. Gas engine don't need a stack like that.
Ken

skidsteer.ca said:

Looks good.
How did you attach your hoist to the wheels? I need to try that with 6000 lb loaders.
I vote for a hole in the tailgate. Gas engine don't need a stack like that.
Ken

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Funny you mention the hoist thing. Once we had in the shop, I was lining up the arms under the front of the boom and under the rear frame, then Pops comes walking in and says "just stick them into wheels". The wide rims have a very deep offset, so you can just stick the pads right into the rims. This method would definitely NOT work on the 773, thankfully we have not needed to yet!!
We bought the hoist used, and part of the rebuild was to bolt a generous piece of an old truck tire tread cap to each lift arm pad, which helps by not marring up the rims. I am sure that you could come up with a slick way of picking up a bigger machine with a hoist. We have bridged the arms with heavy wall tubing on occasions when the there were no decent hard points for the pads to pick up on.
The rear door is all marked out to receive its hole. I have more pictures from today's efforts. I will post them in the morning. It didn't seem like as productive a day today, lots of fiddley work that seems to take a lot of time.

SkidRoe said:

Funny you mention the hoist thing. Once we had in the shop, I was lining up the arms under the front of the boom and under the rear frame, then Pops comes walking in and says "just stick them into wheels". The wide rims have a very deep offset, so you can just stick the pads right into the rims. This method would definitely NOT work on the 773, thankfully we have not needed to yet!!
We bought the hoist used, and part of the rebuild was to bolt a generous piece of an old truck tire tread cap to each lift arm pad, which helps by not marring up the rims. I am sure that you could come up with a slick way of picking up a bigger machine with a hoist. We have bridged the arms with heavy wall tubing on occasions when the there were no decent hard points for the pads to pick up on.
The rear door is all marked out to receive its hole. I have more pictures from today's efforts. I will post them in the morning. It didn't seem like as productive a day today, lots of fiddley work that seems to take a lot of time.

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Ooops, it's late and I'm tired. I meant to say that the lift method would not work on the 773.
Sorry for the confusion.

SkidRoe said:

Ooops, it's late and I'm tired. I meant to say that the lift method would not work on the 773.
Sorry for the confusion.

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I was thinking of two beams that would drop in the holes that the lift pads drop into. Just drive the tires up on the beams.
Ken

skidsteer.ca said:

I was thinking of two beams that would drop in the holes that the lift pads drop into. Just drive the tires up on the beams.
Ken

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Nice work.
Some days seem to go faster than others, but as long as you do it right, its a good days work. Especially when you need to do lots of machining, things slow right down as it all takes time. Better to take the little extra time than to make a mistake and spend an entire day fixing it.
As for the plasma cutter, i totally agree with you! I'm working on cutting parts out of my bobtach that are worn, i love my plasma! just wish it was pilot arc...

Tazza said:

Nice work.
Some days seem to go faster than others, but as long as you do it right, its a good days work. Especially when you need to do lots of machining, things slow right down as it all takes time. Better to take the little extra time than to make a mistake and spend an entire day fixing it.
As for the plasma cutter, i totally agree with you! I'm working on cutting parts out of my bobtach that are worn, i love my plasma! just wish it was pilot arc...

Click to expand...

Here are the pictures from Day 2:
Another test fitting: the pump plate is semi-complete.

Marking the holes to attach the new pump plate to the original one. I welded captive nuts to the new plate, as they would be just about impossible to get to.

The location of the oil filter would also be nearly inpossible to get to, so I made a set of adapters to allow it to be remote mounted.

Engine in again, pulley installed. The stock pulley was a 6.25", the new one is a 6.5". I will be installing a shorter belt. The crankshaft is about 1" lower, moving it closer to the tensioner, and makes the stock belt too long.

I removed the ignition switch box that came with the new engine and simplified the wiring. With a little adaptation, the original Bobcat wiring will interface nearly seamlessly. I am going to install a Flat 4 trailer connector in the interface between the engine and the machine, as I want the engine to come out easily for servicing, particularily setting the valves and changing the sparkplug on the forward cylinder. The oil filter will be mounted in the rear right corner of the engine bay.

With the ignition switch box out of the way, I could now see how far away I am from getting the rear door to close. There was basically just enough room for me to stick the camera lense in to get this picture. The only thing holding it up is the tailpipe. You would almost think that this engine was made to fit this application.

Another beauty of digital cameras: They can go where your head can't!! I snapped the next two pictures to check out the clearance on the front side of the engine and see how much clearance there was for the oil filter lines. The piece of rubber trim on the firewall will be notched to clear the spark plug boot. The fuel line connection was pretty straight forward. Tons of room for the oil filter lines.


Just need to connect the oil filter and the wiring, and it should be ready to fire up. Still figuring out the throttle linkage....

SkidRoe said:

Here are the pictures from Day 2:
Another test fitting: the pump plate is semi-complete.

Marking the holes to attach the new pump plate to the original one. I welded captive nuts to the new plate, as they would be just about impossible to get to.

The location of the oil filter would also be nearly inpossible to get to, so I made a set of adapters to allow it to be remote mounted.

Engine in again, pulley installed. The stock pulley was a 6.25", the new one is a 6.5". I will be installing a shorter belt. The crankshaft is about 1" lower, moving it closer to the tensioner, and makes the stock belt too long.

I removed the ignition switch box that came with the new engine and simplified the wiring. With a little adaptation, the original Bobcat wiring will interface nearly seamlessly. I am going to install a Flat 4 trailer connector in the interface between the engine and the machine, as I want the engine to come out easily for servicing, particularily setting the valves and changing the sparkplug on the forward cylinder. The oil filter will be mounted in the rear right corner of the engine bay.

With the ignition switch box out of the way, I could now see how far away I am from getting the rear door to close. There was basically just enough room for me to stick the camera lense in to get this picture. The only thing holding it up is the tailpipe. You would almost think that this engine was made to fit this application.

Another beauty of digital cameras: They can go where your head can't!! I snapped the next two pictures to check out the clearance on the front side of the engine and see how much clearance there was for the oil filter lines. The piece of rubber trim on the firewall will be notched to clear the spark plug boot. The fuel line connection was pretty straight forward. Tons of room for the oil filter lines.


Just need to connect the oil filter and the wiring, and it should be ready to fire up. Still figuring out the throttle linkage....

Click to expand...

Had a few hours on Sunday afternoon to work on my project.
Got the wiring straightened out. Had to relocate the voltage regulator to get the rear door to close. All connections matched up to the funtion of the original harness and were made through a trailer connector for ease of engine removal.

I finally cut the hole in the rear door for the exhaust. I am planning on repainting the machine and appling new decals, when I do, I will shift the "bobcat" decal to the left to clear the muffler hole:


The original 49" belt was replaced with a 47" belt:

So, on to the throttle linkage. The engine came set up with a constant speed governor, and a bag of extra parts. I elected to install a cross shaft that will run from left to right to actuate the throttle. This will connect to the original throttle rod (with some modification). I like this set up as it will not require the use of any cables. Here it is under construction (sorry for some of the blurriness):



Getting closer....

SkidRoe said:

Had a few hours on Sunday afternoon to work on my project.
Got the wiring straightened out. Had to relocate the voltage regulator to get the rear door to close. All connections matched up to the funtion of the original harness and were made through a trailer connector for ease of engine removal.

I finally cut the hole in the rear door for the exhaust. I am planning on repainting the machine and appling new decals, when I do, I will shift the "bobcat" decal to the left to clear the muffler hole:


The original 49" belt was replaced with a 47" belt:

So, on to the throttle linkage. The engine came set up with a constant speed governor, and a bag of extra parts. I elected to install a cross shaft that will run from left to right to actuate the throttle. This will connect to the original throttle rod (with some modification). I like this set up as it will not require the use of any cables. Here it is under construction (sorry for some of the blurriness):



Getting closer....

Click to expand...

Must be getting anxious by now!
Ken

skidsteer.ca said:

Must be getting anxious by now!
Ken

Click to expand...

Seems like Sunday afternoon's are the only times that I am getting to work on the project.
This past Sunday, she got a bath. The weather was pretty mild, so she got put up in the air on the front end loader. I think this is the first time in 18 years that the bottom had ever seen the pressure washer, or the light of day for that matter! I never realised there were tie-down points down there!!
With the bath done, "final" assembly started. I had painted all of the fab'ed parts the previous Sunday so the paint was nice and dry. Everything went pretty well, and we were even able to fire the motor up, runs good. That was when I noticed I had a couple of oil leaks from the remote filter set up. I was optimistic that a gasket would hold back the pressure between the engine block and my porting adapter, but that was not the case. Out came the motor, and the porting block went onto the mill to receive a set of O-ring grooves. I put it back together and put the motor back in, but that was as far as I got. Pictures are still on the camera.

SkidRoe said:

Seems like Sunday afternoon's are the only times that I am getting to work on the project.
This past Sunday, she got a bath. The weather was pretty mild, so she got put up in the air on the front end loader. I think this is the first time in 18 years that the bottom had ever seen the pressure washer, or the light of day for that matter! I never realised there were tie-down points down there!!
With the bath done, "final" assembly started. I had painted all of the fab'ed parts the previous Sunday so the paint was nice and dry. Everything went pretty well, and we were even able to fire the motor up, runs good. That was when I noticed I had a couple of oil leaks from the remote filter set up. I was optimistic that a gasket would hold back the pressure between the engine block and my porting adapter, but that was not the case. Out came the motor, and the porting block went onto the mill to receive a set of O-ring grooves. I put it back together and put the motor back in, but that was as far as I got. Pictures are still on the camera.

Click to expand...

Okay, so finally after long last, ITS DONE!!!! Work and life have been nuts. Went at it last weekend only to find I had a another leak, this time in the right hydro drive hose off the top of the pump. Thankfully not to hard to get at, just not a lot of wrench room down by the drive motor. I have a buddy with a hydrulics shop, so this hose was a piece of cake. He had some 4000 psi hose with a built in abrasion cover, but I put abrasion sleeving over this hose and the other hose as cheap insurance. Throttle linkage turned out to be super easy and works just like it was factory. All of the original air deflectors & heat sheilds fit with no modifications too.
Pictures:
Bath time:

Nice and Clean (and Rusty)

Inside too

One new hose and some abrasion sleeving:

Engine in and running w/ no leaks - Finally!!

Throttle linkage, rebent and shortened the original rod, added a cotterpin and welded a washer to it to keep everything in alignment

After its first test run, moved some big blocks of wood over a little closer to the out door furnace. New rims and tires are emphasising the need for some fresh paint - hey at least it runs!! The 20hp motor seems to have plenty of power, does not bog at all, just keeps on humming.

SkidRoe said:

Okay, so finally after long last, ITS DONE!!!! Work and life have been nuts. Went at it last weekend only to find I had a another leak, this time in the right hydro drive hose off the top of the pump. Thankfully not to hard to get at, just not a lot of wrench room down by the drive motor. I have a buddy with a hydrulics shop, so this hose was a piece of cake. He had some 4000 psi hose with a built in abrasion cover, but I put abrasion sleeving over this hose and the other hose as cheap insurance. Throttle linkage turned out to be super easy and works just like it was factory. All of the original air deflectors & heat sheilds fit with no modifications too.
Pictures:
Bath time:

Nice and Clean (and Rusty)

Inside too

One new hose and some abrasion sleeving:

Engine in and running w/ no leaks - Finally!!

Throttle linkage, rebent and shortened the original rod, added a cotterpin and welded a washer to it to keep everything in alignment

After its first test run, moved some big blocks of wood over a little closer to the out door furnace. New rims and tires are emphasising the need for some fresh paint - hey at least it runs!! The 20hp motor seems to have plenty of power, does not bog at all, just keeps on humming.

Click to expand...

Excellent Thread. Did your 440B come with wide tires and is the bucket as wide? I bought mine used and it came with wide tires and bucket. Most if not all units i've seen this size have been equipped with skinny tires/bucket to fit through a 36" gate.

TOWPKG said:

Excellent Thread. Did your 440B come with wide tires and is the bucket as wide? I bought mine used and it came with wide tires and bucket. Most if not all units i've seen this size have been equipped with skinny tires/bucket to fit through a 36" gate.

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Thanks TOWPKG. Yes, we bought it new with the 42" bucket and flotation tire options.

SkidRoe said:

Thanks TOWPKG. Yes, we bought it new with the 42" bucket and flotation tire options.

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Wow, nice job and great updates on your project. The NH 120 I am currently repowering is quite similar in size to the bobcat you have repowered. After seeing the bobcat motor mounting in sideways, I am wishing this New Holland mounted the same, but no luck there. You have inspired me to keep a photo collection of my work in progress, but time is of the essance, I need it to start cleening manure in the very near future. Paul