The Classic Machinery Network

I've found the this forum really useful so I thought I'd share some of what I just done:
I bought a KH66 with a non-starting engine some time ago for a realistic price, with a mind to get it going or referb the engine. I discovered that the heater plugs had failed the fuel filter blocked and given the state of the piston rings and the cracked across the piston ring grooves copious amounts of easy-start had been used to start the machine.
After discovering how expensive Kubota pistons together with the associated engine parts can be and not knowing how worn the rest of the engine had become and given the opportunity to use a Perkins 4.108 for a fraction of this price from a friend, I thought I'd investigate the feasibility of transplanting the motor onto the existing pump with a minimum of other changes.
I took my time to measure all dimensions there was nothing to lose. We centred and mounted the kubota drive coupling to the existing Perkins flywheel, a local engineering firm machined the bell housing plate and I made or modified engine mountings and other bits and bobs. The intention was to get the machine up and running to discover what else might need doing, temporary cooling, electrics, exhaust etc will follow when I get a few moments..
Turns out that apart from some lever pivots being seized the machine is in fairly good shape, perfectly capable of the work I need it to do.... for an initial test to highlight any fault I removed some old tree stumps.

Pictures to follow

More pics:

Thats what i like to see, a proper bit of fitting

Great Job ..

Thanks very much both

I'll post a few more pictures soon.

Now I know the machine is in fairly good shape, the engine seems well suited to the size of the machine and seems to pretty ecconomic. The current to-do list includes :

Change track
Fabricate exhaust
Refurbish cab
re-wire electrics, pumbing, gauges and controls
Dipper bushes
Boom ram bushes
Seat
Paint

Hope to get round to it shortly, though it can't be out of service for very long as the job list is growing fast.

Iv recently purchased a Kubota KH-66 its a rubber tracked machine that needed plenty of tlc. We gave it a good service, replaced the track rollers and all bearings in one of the final drives.
Yet it is still very rough when tracking so much so that Iv had to remove the cab as it was falling apart because of the vibrations coming from moving the machine, especially on hard surfaces. Any possible causes or what should I be looking out for? Also where would I come across a service manual for the machine? Any help appreciated.

Welcome to the forum cmccabe

Kubota KH-Series workshop manual

Hi cmccabe,

Did you discover why there was excessive vibration?
Was it only one one side or both?
What kind of tracks are on your machine?

Have you tried removing the track and spinning the sprocket, how about alignment of the rollers, idler and upper fixed guide. The undercarriage was worn around the idler slides on my machine causing the idlers to wobble. Tracking seems relatively smooth on my machine

Al