old motors??'s

[mrbb]

OK NOT sure if I am in the right section to post this, so if I;m not sorry
BUT here I go

is anyone here into OLD motor's
have any knowledge about them, values, worth , or?? like info/

I just got an old 1950's (1950-1953) Wisconsin vg4d 4 cylinder motor
trying to figure out what its worth
last ran in the late 80's and then was parked in a garage/barn and been sitting ever since, got some extra parts too
SO< anyone have any feedback?? I do NOT know its its free or not, haven't had time to do anything yet, besides look at the ID tag and get the model, serial number off it, and put some extra parts in the shed I got with it and other things
SO< any help, info would be greatly appreciated
ITS currently mounted on a New Holland Corn chopper, also made in the early 1950's

 

[lantraxco]

If it was under cover and the exhaust capped with that can, the basic engine will most likely be fine. If it wasn't run dry the fuel system will probably be a gelled up mess. Pop the carb off and open it up, might need a kit as the gaskets are obviously way old, might have to put it in the carb cleaner for a few days to get the varnish out of it. Remove the fuel pump and block it off, get a cheap electric low pressure from the auto parts or small engine store. Pull the spark plugs, pour a little Casite if you can find it, or ATF in each hole, like a few spoonfuls, let sit overnight then try to turn it by hand. Should free right up. Spin it a bit on the starter if that works to spread the lubricant and get rid of the excess. Clean the points with a business card, see if it has spark. Install plugs, install carb, put fuel to it, light it.

Should be worth a grand running good I would think, but that's just my WAG on it. There's still thousands of these old engines running out there.

 

[grandpa]

Good lord I almost puked when I saw the pix of that motor. I wouldn't give ten bucks for a semi load of those motors... I spent most of my young adult years cranking on those. I see that one has a starter and most likely a distributor( they were better than the older ones with magneto's). Enough said by me.

 

[mrbb]

thanks for all the insight and info, I'm not sure if I plan to try to get it running or not, as the whole thing is Not at my property, just at a friends for now, and its 50+ miles from me, so getting there to play isn't the easiest for me, and its in a pretty big item, so not like can just grab it and take it home with me
wish it was just a motor and not a whole implement as it is

SO< might see about getting each plug out at least and soaking it, to at least see that part has some give

HOPING to sell the whole thing in one shot, as I just don't really need it
but its some times hard to guess a mate value on things like this

 

[Delmer]

Check the oil, put some gas in it, dribble some down the carb to help the process and see if it'll fire up. I'd think you'd be lucky to get $1,000 for the whole thing, but that's such a unique item that it's real hard to say. I'd say $500 tops for the motor, but you might find somebody that needs one more than that?

 

[lantraxco]

Oh yeah, the cylinder heads are aluminum so it's likely the plugs are corroded in, shoot some penetrating oil on them and give them a little tweak to the right, if you can get each one to tighten even a couple degrees before trying to turn them out it will help break the steel threads loose from the aluminum. Gentle touch here, or it will be insert time.

 

[mrbb]

thanks again for the info
I was offered a price for the corn head before they knew the motor was there, so, just trying to figure them together's value(and then also have the Hay head for this too, making it a pretty complete old item)
as for the spark plugs, YES that too has been a worry of mine as well, them being like welded from time in there
BUT on the bright side, I have an extra head intake and carb for this motor, so if one plug breaks or?? there is a slight plan B to this, due to some extra parts I got with it
NOT sure how great the condition of them , as didn;'t look them over that great, but do have some spare parts in case
But I think I will soak them a while before doing anything
and also, that coke can has been over the exhaust and then there was a water proof cover over the whole thing, plus was again in a barn with a solid roof , so water never really had been a issue unless while using it got caught in the rain, was always kept in a dry building, and then they added the cover when they realized they wouldn't be using anymore as an added deal

 

[Scrub Puller]

Yair . . .

From my experience those little Wisconsins were pretty decent little engines . . . far better on a welder than the Onans.

In Australia anyway I believe they were used as a pilot/pony motor on some of the twin cylinder John Deere tractors . . . I think the one I ran for a while was an "R" model and it sure had a pilot motor.

Cheers.

 

[lantraxco]

I worked on I think it was VF4D and VH4D's, mostly in Bobcat skid steers, they did have their quirks but for the most part pretty reliable and bone simple to work on. Those were all electric start with distributors. The magnetos were always a problem, if you got them rebuilt now and then so the impulse worked right and they had a nice fat spark, they would usually pop off about the third crank. Usually had to choke them hard as I recall, pretty much everything with an updraft seemed that way to me, lots of choke to get the gas up into the intake.

 

[RayF]

My Uncle had one of those on a new holland baler many years ago. It would start cold but a dog if you switched it off and tried to start it hot. A lot of our hay was baled in the night for the moisture content and I can remember some fun (not) times trying to get it started at 1 am. It had iron heads and a 6 volt starter.
I have a friend who uses them on hydraulic power packs for his line boring rig and he speaks well of them.

 

[grandpa]

That's right RayF,,, we used to carry cold magneto's to switch out when trying to start a hot motor.... I remember that vividly.

 

[mrbb]

Again thanks guys for all the info, much appreciated

 

[kshansen]

Good lord I almost puked when I saw the pix of that motor. I wouldn't give ten bucks for a semi load of those motors... I spent most of my young adult years cranking on those. I see that one has a starter and most likely a distributor( they were better than the older ones with magneto's). Enough said by me.

You mean you don't want to crank one of those over by hand and have the crank jump off and smack you between the eyes and bust your glasses? BTDT

 

[kshansen]

Lantraxco, We had a couple Bobcats back in the day with the 4 cylinder Wisconsin's. We had a problem with them snapping the crankshaft. Figured it was from the side load of the variable speed belt drive. A couple times we found a machine like the one the OP has sitting out in a farmers back lot. Pull the engine out and scrap most of it then take the crank to the machine shop and have the straight shaft recut to the taper the Bobcat pulley used pop it back together and be good to go.

We also had one of these V-4's with a Marlow water pump on it. That was the hand crank magneto version that would smack you between the eyes with the cranking handle. Di it to me and my father both at different times! This one always seemed to have a problem that if it set for a couple months a couple of the exhaust valves would rust in the guides just enough that we had to pop off the heads and squirt them with penetrating oil. Tap them back down crank over the engine and if they stuck again another tap, repeat as need. Bolt heads back one and it was good to go!

Also had one of these as a Pony motor on a V-12 Cummins in a Bucyrus Erie crane.

Last one I worked on was a wood chipper I borrowed from the brother-in-law of a guy at work. Carb was gunked up big time and the fuel pump corroded right through. Was able to dig up enough parts from the old junk box at work to get it running. That one actually had an electronic pick-up in the distributor! Someone had messed the magnets in that so needed to locate parts to fix it. Oh also the alternator that was part of the flywheel had some broken wires. I think I spent five times as long working on that motor than it took to chip up the branches I wanted to get rid of! Not too bad a deal owner paid 100% for the parts and no charge for the use of the machine and even came out with his big chain saw to slice up the trunk of the tree I had cut down to fire wood length.

 

[lantraxco]

Yeah, the crank popping off was a hallmark of the magneto engines, they would kinda fire just enough to get ahead of the crank... Not from a Wisconsin but I still have the lump in my forehead where the ER quack stitched up the wound from a crank coming off of an old Vaughan single cylinder back in my teens.

We never had crankshaft problems on the old Bobcats that I can remember, you did have to keep the driven pulley clean and lubed, and preach to the operators about having the throttle wide open when changing from slow to go, you needed the speed to help the driven pulley open up as I recall. Seems like I replaced a hundred of those leaky little swivels too! The good old days....

 

[mrbb]

OK a little info I got today back from Wisconsin motor's
I sent then a email asking for info based on model/serial number, and they told me they could maybe get me a build sheet , BUT after sending them the pic's and info, they said, records ONLY show the date made
its a 1954 yr motor, IT has electric start(and a hand crank) 6 vt starter motor(actually have a few extra's too)
and this is what they told me


""" the engine was built in January of 1954. Our build sheets go back to 1958.

Unfortunately I can’t reference a build sheet for options.

Looking at your photos I can see the engine has an electric starter (probably 6 volt) but more important is the engine has a clutch with a gear reduction. The clutch reduction assembly is no longer available from Wisconsin.

As for valve, if you found someone who needed the clutch and gearbox the engine is worth $1500.00 to $2500.00 if it runs.""""

SO based on that, gather its worth a LITTLE more than I expected, and I am ALSO sure they went HIGH on there numbers due to, well its there product and they want it to be worth more LOL

BUt was nice of them to offer the info they did, were very nice to talk to, as well

 

[Old Doug]

I wish they were worth something i scraped a good one last year. I have one left and i am thinking about puting it on my skidsteer. Times have changed i saw a amish guy pull the clutchs and gear boxes from 12 of them and scraped the rest.

 

[mrbb]

well Ebay has a lot of the parts and there NOT cheap, so I gather if your a guy that likes tro sell on Ebay and likes to take things apart, you can make a few bucks off one
If I don't sell it soon, Its going to a friends farm auction and there will a LOT of Amish at it, so I expect it will sell there if NOT before hand
will update as it goes
really wish I'd sell the bigger REO speed wagon truck, as it too is now outside as NO room under a roof for it?

 

[old-iron-habit]

WE had a hand cranked V4 on a new Holland 77 baler when I was a kid. We had to pour water on the fuel pump ever time it was shut off when hot due to vapor lock. The crank was about chest high on the baler and what a bugger to crank. Then we got a JD with a 2 cylinder motor and I loved that one.

 

[FSERVICE]

IMHO its worth it to NOT have it around me!!! scrap the thing as a unit!!! if someone want the head make them a deal & give them that "boat anchor" for free I have had lotsa problems with them over the years cranks, heads, mags!!