Miller Trailblazer 55G update...sob....

You can isolate the water pump and generator easily enough by removing the fan belt. If seized, they can prevent the motor from turning if you have a good tight belt. You can put a lot of torque on the crankshaft in both directions by removing the starter and prying against the ring gear. Of course you can also break a tooth off the gear. There are a lot of possible seizure areas. I have a Farmall Cub tractor which was seized from rust in the timing gears, but that is very unusual and I doubt that the governor or magneto would be seized. I would put the probabilities as piston(s) first, valve(s) second, main or rod bearing(s) third, and generator bearing(s) fourth. If stuck valves is the problem the engine would likely back up some before stopping again. If so, do not try to force the valve(s) very much. Lubrication through the spark plug holes and valve side cover along with patience can prevent a lot of damage, such as a broken camshaft. If there is a removeable end cap, you could check the condition of the generator bearing. Good Luck!!

Don Young

I suspect..that its piston #1..and dont know why, but it seems to have more crud and rust than the other 3, based on a bright light and a mirror inspection. Maybe a head gasket?

Gunner

Perhaps just open exhaust valve and rain getting in while it sat?

I think I may have paid too much for mine, too. But it came with a full cutting set, welding tips, tools, rods, a trailer, a tool box, a vise, and lots of goodies. I gave $300. I'm into it now for a total of just under a grand. I saw one the other day for sale locally for $1700.

The old boy I got my SA 200 from said it had sat for three or four years. Luckily, the engine turned. Point is, these are very tough engines, and unless it seized, it should come unstuck. IIRC, you said he said it was running when he put it up. Maybe you could get by with just pulling the head. Still, disconnect the belts, then try the big socket thing after soaking with Kroil or PB Blaster. Let us know if you ever find out what the problem was.

Steve

I once worked on a Packard from the early '50s that had sat in a field for awhile. The engine didn't turn over, so we pulled the head (straight eight). We soaked all the pistons in penetrating oil for awhile, then took a piece of wood and a hammer and, using the wood as a drift, tapped on each piston in turn. After awhile, it broke loose. Then we put the head back on, used a bunch of starting fluid, and fired it up. It ran at that point, at least long enough to get it back to town to the rebuilders.

Can't quite believe you can't get it to turn over, Gunner. I think you just gotta want it a little badder.

Grant

I would really like to buy something like this non-running Trailblazer or D40 for cheap and try to fix it, kind of like I did with the compressor. Would be a very fun project.

But no luck so far. A lot of sellers of such things lie a lot, like "you just need a $7 carburetor part from autozone". and say "it is like new but does not run: Yeah right.

Or they say "ran perfect when put into storage XX months ago" and then you get there and the thing is missing the carburetor, alternator, starter & battery. Arghhh ...

To me cheap is cheap, like $100 or less. People selling a broken gas-powered welder from the 1970s for $600 are dreaming, and wasting people's time.

Grant

Yep.

Absolutely. Wasting their own time also.

And they think that they are sitting on a pile of gold.

Looked at some antique Lincoln with an Onan motor on it. This thing was OLD, or at least it looked it. He wanted $1400, and I was thinking of $200. Some people.

Steve

And I do the nastiest meanest thing I can. I take my money and walk, and don't give them a clue that they are clueless. Had they been reasonable at all, they might have made a sale. I may have bought a lemon or a jewel.

Steve

Steve

I've used PB Blaster to free more than one old engine. If after a few days of soaking it still won't turn I would pull the head. My experience with these small tractor type motors is that they either set up from cylinder wall rust or because water ran down into the exhaust system and rusted a valve in place.

The machine itself looks clean, remarkably free of oil spew, with just the right amount of cobwebs, old oil in the proper places under the hood, and only a tiny amount of storage rust on the machine anywhere.

Paint is faded, looks to have been on a truck or trailer for most of its life. Wireing looks very good, nothing sagging, cable tied properly in the harnesses and so forth.

It has a couple stickers from a construction/industrial company that I believe is long out of business on the outside...shrug...the general good condition, abilt faded paint etc is what caught my eye. It wasnt a hammered piece of shit in the slightest.

Genny looks good, with just the right amount of dust and no rust noted.

Shrug...looks to be in pretty good shape for a 20 yr old welder, and one assumes that 2300 hours isnt all that much for this type of machine?

I pulled the cover off the side, that covers the valves, no sludge/nasty stuff, and lifted the valves one at a time, all seem to be free, and the cam followers (?) all turned nicely, with evenly polished sides.

Shrug Im giving it the old college try though..hope to learn something.

Thanks

Gunner

Political Correctness is a doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical liberal minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.

For further reference

The fine folks at

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Gunner

Political Correctness is a doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical liberal minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.

Dad had a 4 cylinder power generator on his 28' Dodge camper. (old class - where the frame was a large truck frame and the wheels were semi-class wheels.)

One summer he came down from North Dakota - he was re-designing and installing a massive Radar up there... - the generator was frozen.

He put in head cylinder oil through the spark plugs and put the plugs back in. He drove the 'truck' 2500 miles and we went to the local Semi tractor service center that was in town. We got a massive box wrench - the generator had a hex shaft out one end and the generator on the other...

We put it on and rocked it slowly CW-CCW and then it rotated freely. Took off the wrench and pressed the start button. It ran for years when asked to run after the fix. He kept the big wrench in the cargo bay under the chassis with the truck chains but never needed it.

Martin

Mart> >

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If/when you get to that point, removing and replacing the head is very basic on the Continental. If nothing else, I noticed a real difference in power and idle recently after replacing a leaking head gasket on my Continental powered forklift. I removed a ton of carbon with a cordless drill and rotary brushes. All things considered, I was glad it began to leak. Just took a few hours.

You would need a gasket. Got mine from NAPA. I'd recommend a can of K&W Copper Coat spray as well.