John Deere 60 Teardown - Part 1: Front Axle, Steering, Radiator, Intake/Exhaust, & Fanshaft Removed

Disassembly of the John Deere 60 has resumed after a nearly 3-year hiatus, now that it has been moved to my shop and is under cover. I have been tinkering with it as time allows on the weekends, with the goal of getting all the components stripped from the chassis so we can have the frame, transmission, and rear end castings bare to strip for paint. I had removed the sheet metal, fuel tank, steering, and dash a few years ago, but now I can start digging into it deeper and seeing just how bad it looks internally.

As mentioned in the video, my "strategy" for this teardown process so far has been to work from front to back. I started by removing the generator and its mounts. I then removed the wide front axle and am still working on loosening up the front bolster/pivot bracket assembly from the main frame, which is currently being held in place by nothing more than two rusty alignment dowels. This part of the casting where the axle pivot attaches had been buried under 3" of solid rust, dirt, and mud accumulation, so it's not surprising those dowels are rusted into place. I may end up having to drill or punch them out to get that axle bracket off. I then removed the power steering column/valve with the help of my engine hoist, and set them aside to be rebuilt later on.

Removing the upper and lower water pipes revealed a lot of rust inside the engine block (which I expected). I also removed the oil-bath air cleaner which still held Havoline Green-Lube engine oil, still very green in color and with an awful smell. This was my grandfather's go-to engine and hydraulic oil for the two-cylinder tractors on his farm, and while it had accumulated a lot of debris from the intake air, it did not seem to have any moisture in it. I removed the rest of the intake along with the carburetor, which looks OK at a quick glance but I am planning to ship it out west to be professionally rebuilt. Due to years of heat stress (and rust), the shutterstat (hot/cold valve) and the mounting bolt heads for the intake and exhaust had welded themselves to the manifold castings and would have likely rounded or twisted off if I had tried removing them with a wrench or socket. I picked up a new intake and exhaust manifold from a collector a few hours away, who recommended that I cut off the old bolt heads and use a pry-bar to remove the manifolds. This did the trick and I was not worried about saving either of the original manifolds since they had cracked and broken apart from ice in the past. The fanshaft had to be removed in order to access the manifolds as well.

I also unbolted the first reduction gear cover and removed the clutch linkage and engagement fork. The clutch disks inside the pulley were all damaged and full of rust due to exposure without the clutch pulley cover in place. The clutch driver disk/gear and engagement dogs were in bad shape as well. I have a plan for a custom puller tool that will help get the clutch driver assembly off, then we should be able to remove the pulley from the crankshaft. You'll see in the video that I also removed the flywheel (which came off pretty easily once I removed the locking nut and cinch bolts). Once the pulley is off, I plan to remove the seal and bearing retainer on the flywheel side so we can gain access to the crankshaft.

Next on the list will be to pull the valve cover, rockers/pushrods, and cylinder head to see what the inside of the cylinders look like. I also plan to remove the governor housing and then disconnect the rods from the crankshaft, as the rods/pistons will have to come out with the block all together. At this point, the chances of being able to break the engine loose while still in the frame are next to none - I'll be better off in the long run standing up the engine block and pressing the pistons out.