55 300 Utility... off to the boneyard?

I never made it. She spun the #3 connecting rod bearing and seized up solid :(

After stripping the engine and discovering that the journal's too far gone for standard oversize bearings, and much searching and research, I've determined that the cost to rebuild the engine isn't a cost effective soultion to the problem.

My questions to you all are:

1) Does anyone know if there's an alternative engine that will bolt into this unit (300U gas)?

2) is there an active market for parts for these units if I decide to part it out? Everything functioned good before the knocking. Wouldn't mind trying to recouperate SOME of my investment.

Any info you can help me with would be great.

They spell their name without the "u".

Also I should have indicated it was the second "u" that wasn't necessary.

Been trying to figure out why I couldn't post a thank-you to Ed for giving me the V-B tip! I kept including their name in the post.

Well thanks Ed! :)

I'm working on a deal with parts man on this side of the border for a crank for pretty much the same price. But I can see where V-B will be an invaluable resource as I move along with this.

Looks like I'll be breathing life back into the old 300U after all!!

I am up in Canada, so send me an email to daveATsurfsidelogic.com if you're still seriously interested.

-Dave

It certainly broadens the scope of my search now. I've sent you an email as well with my email address (I don't post it here simply because of the spam bots that harvest emails fromt hese boards).

We'll see how I do on my search now.... :)

Last crank that sold from IH was $3131.30 CDN. My dealer could only find 2 in existence for me, and they're in Maine, but they're used and they want $700USD each for them. That'll cost me about $1200CDN to get it here (incl shipping), and then I've got another $700 in parts alone for the engine kit, and then the machining for the block and the used crank, and reconditioning the head. No point in going half way now that it's apart.

All in all, I'm looking at about $2500CDN not including my time to put it all back together, which overall probably isn't alot, but given the value of these machines, I have to question the logistics of doing it for a farm tractor. If I was restoring it, that would be a different story.

I can't thank everyone enough for all the help, I'm putting some serious thought into rebuilding it after all now. I had no idea how many other options were available to me for finding parts.

Thanks again!