Whats your thoughts?

So youve been given a machine and your short on money........................................give it to someone else.

Trying to start it as is, is to my mind bordering on criminal.

Personally i would cut the filters to check for horrors and replace along with the engine oils and fuel, if it then starts change all the other oils, if this seems like to much money, give the thing away and save the heartache. Crawlers are not cheap period, and as my old Dad would have said "Theres no such thing as a free lunch in life"

So youve been given a machine and your short on money........................................give it to someone else.

Trying to start it as is, is to my mind bordering on criminal.

Personally i would cut the filters to check for horrors and replace along with the engine oils and fuel, if it then starts change all the other oils, if this seems like to much money, give the thing away and save the heartache. Crawlers are not cheap period, and as my old Dad would have said "Theres no such thing as a free lunch in life"

Probably good advice above. Nothing is cheap here. M

Like Mike Meyer said, "drain a little out of the bottom of the engine and gearboxes to see what exactly has water and what don't". After 15 years there will be lots of water from condensation so you need to check the fluids for sure. Everyone agrees to change the engine oil and filters. Money is money and everyone is short of it right now, but if you try to shortcut what everyone tells you, then that free tractor will turn to junk REAL FAST!

"stuck in a pond and eventually pulled out"? How deep was the pond, did water get in the engine or anywhere else? Did anyone try to restart the engine after getting it out? That's why loosening drain plugs (and the fuel tank drain valve) to check for water before trying to start is very important here. One other place to check for water would be to loosen the fuel line where it goes into the transfer pump. The list isn't quite endless but I think you get the point by now.

If no more water than maybe a quart or so comes out of the engine drain, the next step would be to release compression on the engine and try to turn it by hand, if both it and the pony can be turned by hand as well then half the battle may be won.

So, I did some more investigating last night and found out from the neighbor that the tractor was buried up to the top of the tracks. From the rest of his recollection, it was there for about a month until they got it out. After that episode, the mechanic neighbor did some work to it in the way of changing out oils. I guess the tractor was running when it was parked there. That always seems to be the case with old equipment. Nonetheless, I will be changing out the oil in the pony and main before trying to start. The pony and main are free to turn by hand. The mag cover has been pulled and left to get wet. I will do all new ignition components. The spark plugs were fairly good condition, but I think I will change them anyway. I did find some gooey crud in the radiator, so I would imagine that the pony water passages are full of it also. Maybe I will pull the heads to verify. I don't want to burn up the pony. I was not advocating being cheap or trying to take shortcuts. As I suspected, You all gave the same general advice that I was expecting. It will be a bit of time before I can accommodate buying all of the parts and necessary fluids, but eventually I will get it done. In the meantime, I will be puttin out alot of elbow grease getting the mud cleaned out from the uc and the rest of the tractor.