Reroute Kit For Muffler, Air Cleaner On Deere Tractors

REROUTE KIT FOR MUFFLER, AIR CLEANER ON DEERE TRACTORS TRACTORS Accessories 21-3-4 Deere 8430 and 8630 as well as 40 series 4-WD tractors have a large oval exhaust muffler and 6-in. dia. air cleaner stack on the hood which causes poor visibility and a real "pain in the neck" when one looks around these obstructions all day. Ramey Pottinger, New Haven, Ky., "modernized" his two Deere 8430's by discarding the original muffler and replacing it with a standard 54-in. truck muffler, mounting it on the right hand fender along with the original air intake stack. By relocating the stock air cleaner on the fender with the exhaust system, he was able to minimize the visual obstruction much like the newer series Deere and the popular Kinze repower units. "The muffler and air cleaner stack line up with the right hand cab post so they're hardly visible from inside the cab. I now have a much better and safer view of the work area ahead of me," says Pottinger. "We made the modification on our own two 8430's and also on a neighbor's. We even have an 8430 scheduled to be shipped in from North Carolina after planting season to be retrofitted. We recently decided to offer a kit that will sell for $950. It includes instructions and all the materials necessary to do the job." Pottinger bought a new 54 in. diesel truck muffler and off-the-shelf exhaust parts to make up the exhaust plumbing. Heavy-duty elbow materials make up the sharp turns necessary to make the system adapt to the turbo outlet. He routed the exhaust and air intake plumbing to the right-hand fender. This also necessitated moving the fuel filter system to the front of the tractor, where it's easily accessible behind the right front screen, and mounted on the old air cleaner bracket. "The fuel filters are now protected inside the screen, which can be quickly dropped down for easy æwalk up and service' access," notes Pottinger. "Once we figured out how to put everything together, it was a relatively simple job. The first 8430 we did cost us about $2,700 including labor. We found that by using off-the-shelf parts from lo-cal suppliers we could fabricate our own turbo-to-exhaust adapter (Deere's 50 series adapter costs about $300) and use stock air intake parts, we could put together a fairly economical package that really compliments these Deere work-horses," he says. To fill in the holes left in the body by the modification, Pottinger welds plates under the holes and fills in with fiberglass, then adds a fresh coat of paint to the hood. He recommends sending the hood to a lo-cal body shop where these repairs can usually be done for less than $100. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Ramey Pottinger, Rio Vista Farms, 135 Howardston Rd., New Haven, Ky. 40051 (ph 502 549-3628).

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