1923 RUMELY OIL PULL 20-40
Monday September 09, 2002 - I've been on a quest for a Rumely. At first it was any Rumely, then I questioned if I'd be happy with a lightweight but still desire a heavyweight. I knew the answer was yes so I figured I'd better wait and get what I'll be happy with. So I kept waiting, saving, and looking. After a few years of saving and about 9 months of looking, luck was on my side Saturday September 7, 2002. A SEL member passed on the lead via the SEL the week before and I checked into it. Ends up being a nicer Rumely than the ones I've seen sell at auctions over the past year and cheaper to boot. I have to wait a couple weeks for it to be transported to it's new home and it will be a LOOOOONG couple of weeks.
Here are some pictures I took on Saturday September 7, 2002 of the 1923 Rumely Oil Pull Model G 20-40 I just purchased at the previous owner's house.
I had it hauled home from western Ohio on a semi towing a removable gooseneck trailer. It was delivered on September 18, 2002. Here are some pictures of the barn I'm building just for the Rumely, taken on October 12, 2002.
A few more pictures taken on November 3, 2002 showing the progress of the barn for the Rumely Oil Pull.
Below are a couple pictures I took in December of 2003 showing a couple windows I installed to let some light in as it is awful dark in the back of the barn.
With the barn finished toward the end of November 2002, just as the snow started to fly, it was time to focus on the Rumely. The engine in a Rumely has a high compression and is cooled by oil instead of water. This allows the engine to run hotter so it can burn heavier fuels than gasoline. The oil level in the radiator was very low so running the engine for extended periods was not an option until I filled up the radiator with oil. I found a good quantity of used crankcase oil in January 2003 and added approximately 10 gallons to the radiator to bring it up to par. The engine is started on gasoline to warm up, then is switched over to a heavier fuel. I burn kerosene. A heavier fuel tends to knock or pre-ignite when run under a heavy load. To solve this problem the carb is designed to inject water along with the heavy fuel to delay the ignition of the heavy fuel. I have heard that when they really used to work these tractors hard they would burn about 50% fuel and 50% water. The carb has 3 reservoirs with 3 needle valves. One for gasoline, one for kerosene, and one for water. A good overall picture of the carb is shown in the 6th picture at the top of this page. I attempted to use the starting bowl (gasoline) and when it was filled the fuel ran out, leaking past the packing nut. It needed some packing material under the packing nut the needle valve passes through.
February 2003 - Below in the first picture it shows the needle valve and packing nut removed from the body of the carb. Second picture shows the tube that the needle valve screws into. Third and fourth are looking down into the bowl of the carb. The tube extending to the right in those two pictures is supposed to be pointing down. I rotated it so it was visible for the picture. That tube projects down into the fuel. The fuel travels up this tube, into the other tube the needle valve passes through, and into the venturi area of the carb where the fuel is atomized.
Below is a close up picture of the governor oiler. The top rotates and the slot lines up with another slot underneath to allow filling of the oiler. I filled up both governor oilers and after a couple months of sitting, the oil level had not went down at all. There is supposed to be some wicking material inside of these. My wicking is either missing or saturated with gooey stuff so no 'wicking' action takes place, thus no oil getting to the governor mechanism. Not good. I plan to replace these with the typical brass and glass mechanical oilers or try to fish some new wicking material inside and down the central tube of the original oiler shown.
This past Saturday, March 8, 2003, it was a fairly nice day in Michigan with temps around 32-35 F. Just after lunch I spent a couple of intimate hours greasing and oiling up the Rumely Heavyweight 20-40. I put a couple gallons of kerosene into the fuel tank, cranked the mechanical oiler about 70 times, dumped some gasoline in the carb bowl and pumped up the fuel pump. Needle valve opened up a half turn, full choke and opened up the compression releases. Rolled her through compression on the first cylinder, second cylinder came up and let out a little chuff, Kept rolling her through exhaust until it came back up on compression again. I went around and opened up the choke to 1/2. Came back around, embraced flywheel, pulled nice and easy through compression and she breathed to life. Played for about an hour then it started snowing like crazy so I pulled it back in the barn. Below shows the 8 pictures I took on that day.
In April 2003 I removed the fuel tank and sealed it up with some Kwik-Poly. It wasn't leaking real bad, more of a weep that dripped once in a while. The second picture shows some brazing that the previous owner did around the fuel filler nipple.
Here are a couple pictures showing the hole pattern on the rear wheels for cleat mounting.
In June 2003 I took the clutch apart as some of the revolving bits were making contact with the non-revolving bits. Some form of breakage was bound to happen. After removing the clutch parts I noticed the clutch pad was worn so much the rivets were exposed and riding on the inside of the belt pulley. First pic shows the clutch assembly. Second picture shows the two points that were making contact. Third pic shows the big throw arm removed. Fourth pic shows the part that forces the pads against the inside of the belt pulley removed. Fifth picture shows all parts removed except the part the clutch pad attaches to.
After disassembling everything and cleaning all the parts in a parts washer I started to do the repairs. The first two pics show the collar that slides on the crankshaft. The 1/4" pin in the second picture wasn't even there. Third and fourth pics show the new pads installed. Fifth pic shows the two square pins that engage with the collar in the first two pics. The pin on the left is before welding and grinding back down to size, the pin on the right is finished.
The half ring shown below had a very worn pin. I welded that casting back up with some Weld Mold 706 rod and grinded it back round. I was very pleased with this rod and recommend it to any novice welder! Welds cast very nicely.
I've been rushing around to get the clutch finished up on the 20-40 so I could have it hauled to it's first show. The show is this weekend Friday and Saturday (July 18 & 19). I tried driving it up the ramps off the back end of a low boy semi trailer. I got the front up and the back started to climb and it died. I was still running off the start side of the carb and all the fuel ran away from the pick up tube. I backed it back down and had the driver remove the goose neck portion on the front of the trailer. I drove it on the easy way then. I figured I could drive it down the ramps on the back side of the trailer when we got it there, even if it died I could still roll off. I will not do that again. As I drove it off the ramps on the back end of the low-boy trailer the angle was to great for me to handle. I was breaking with one foot and riding the clutch with the hand waiting to find the spot where she wanted to roll down on her own. Started on her own and I applied the foot brake, didn't really slow down, I literally stood both feet on the brake and still went down at a good clip. I thought I was going to do a nose dive. Like VERTICAL. I damn near shit my pants! It was unloaded safely, but not calmly. I will not drive it down ramps like that again. I thought it might snap the whole front axle right off, but I probably worry a little to much. The following pics show it at the show grounds on the trailer and the last pic shows it in the field all by itself. When I get there Friday morning the field should be full of engines and tractors.
