Deere 5020 Tractor Repowered With Cummins Diesel Engine

Deere 5020 Tractor Repowered With Cummins Diesel Engine REPOWERED EQUIPMENT Repowered Equipment 30-6-4 David Agle, Collins, N.Y. repowered his 1968 Deere 5020 with a used Cummins 903 cu. in., turbocharged V-8 diesel engine with about 325 hp. The 5020 originally had 140 hp. "I use this tractor mostly just as a big play toy and often take it to tractor shows. I've also taken it to a couple of tractor pulls, where it did quite well," says Agle. "I built it because one time when I was in Canada I saw a Deere 5020 repowered with a V-8 Cummins. They had chopped a hole in the hood and mounted the air cleaner on top of the engine. It didn't look very nice and I thought I could do a better job. The engine on my repowered 5020 looks like it was installed by the factory. I polished the valve covers on the Cummins engine to bare aluminum so it really stands out." The project started after he bought the tractor from a neighbor who had already removed the engine. He bought a worn out Cummins V-8 for $250. The engine originally had 280 hp and had come out of a Kenworth cabover semi tractor so it was equipped with an automotive-type governor. He sent an injector pump out to a diesel shop in California, and they put a variable speed governor on it. With the engine totally rebuilt, he started looking for a push-type clutch and bought one from a military surplus company. "I wanted a push-type clutch so I could use the Deere tractor's existing bell housing, throwout bearing and linkage without having to buy new ones," says Agle. "I installed a spacer over the original throwout bearing so the bearing can reach the clutch fingers. An adapter shaft was made to fit the transmission's 1 3/8-in. by 21-spline, connecting the input shaft on one end and the clutch's 2-in. spline on the other end. A 1-in. adapter plate was made between the transmission and engine bell housing." New 1 by 6-in. frame rails were made, one of which had to be bent around the engine's oil cooler. Next, the tractor's existing hydraulic pump was mounted between the frame rails. The pump is driven by a shaft with two universal joints and a slip mounted onto the crankshaft. He removed the tractor's fuel tank from under the hood and mounted an air cleaner from a Kenworth semi tractor in its place. Then he installed fuel tank fenders off an Oliver tractor. "I made a shroud to go over the fenders so they look more like Deere fenders than Oliver fenders," says Agle. The tractor is equipped with 30.5 by 32 rear tires off a combine, and new 14L - 16.1 front tires. "To install the tires, I widened the wheel rims out 7 in. on back and 4 in. on front," says Agle. The frame and hood had to be lengthened about 6 in. The air cleaner is out of the same truck the engine came out of. The exhaust stack is a length of new chrome straight pipe. The air intake stack and exhaust stack are in line with each other, and both exit through the hood. A metal pipe with a sharp elbow in it leads from the air cleaner, over the top of the radiator, and to the intake side of the turbocharger. "I didn't want to chop a hole in the side of the hood and have the exhaust stack coming out there, because it wouldn't look like it belonged," notes Agle. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, David Agle, 2915 Rt. 39, Collins, N.Y. 14034 (ph 716 532-1408; babysteiger@aol.com).

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