Very sweet toy that you have there, when I was young I use to play with them, today at 71 years of age I came across with this outstanding video, a big smile came across my face, I stock like glue to it, it was music to my ears, my most expensive thanks to you for sharing it with us, blessings to you and your love ones, from the endless summer paradise Puerto Rico Jesus Torres.
Had one on an air compressor years ago. It was a beast. Never failed me and I used it alot. Sometimes it ran all day long in both 90 degree heat and below zero temps. Kept the oil changed and oil bath air cleaner serviced regularly. I never did anything to the mag or spark plugs either. They just don't make anything like that anymore
I live in the town that all current production Wisconsin engines are built. Not much going on anymore but they are still building them. Very neat engine designs that have proved to be reliable for decades.
Ya know I wondered about them. I run across this site for Wisconsin every once and a while and was curious as to whether they were still producing. Looks like they still make the V4's and the THD's. Now I just have to find out what they cost... wiengines.com/product_listing/legacy
Man you have no idea how much I appreciate this video, I have a Lincwelder 180 that has a Wisconsin powering it and I couldn’t find any books or information on it! I got what I been looking for from this video appreciate it, and will be subscribing!
Awesome, Marshall! I also have an older Lincoln 200 amp, but AC only unit. Same engine. If I knew which diode sets to upgrade from the original selenium rectifier unit, I would restore. Engine runs fine though, cracked exhaust manifold though
I found one of these at work on a Target brand concrete saw. Cant wait to get the engine home and get it chopping along like this beast right here. The revs sound amazing. All my small engines are single cylinder so a twin is gonna be really fun to mess with. I subscribed too man
I have one currently being Balky, its sitting on a 1963 Heckendorn tri-mower, has been running very good. It has a bendix carb, and F&M mag, getting spark (might be weak), has compression, I cleaned the fuel feed bowl but think I need to go into mag, and carb can get it too chug on occasion but refuses to fire over. It was just running well 2 weeks ago. Nice upload!
Nice little engine mate you did well. I fix small engines in my spare time now I'm retired. Lots of fun getting these old engines running.again. I also fix small old outboard motors. Kind regards from Auckland New Zealand.
Picking 2 of these up today. Cant wait to do exactly what youre doing in this video lol ive been searching for even one of these motors for a while now.
Great job brother, that engine sounded fantastic after that valve freed up for you. Those old twins have a very cool old sound. Great work ethic and very methodical approach to small engine problem solving, many fall short at that stage. You should be very proud of yourself mate. I can't wait to see what's next for you. Your skills definitely have my attention, from the central coast N.S.W Australia. 🤠👍🤝
Alright, Australia! Out of everywhere to travel outside the USA that's still at the top of my list for some reason or another. Maybe one day I'll be able to make the trip out there... Thanks Benny, with any luck I can keep the videos going in between work!
@@5Tractorguy agreed, I have a kohler m18 in it now I’ve been sorta surfing the internet trying to find one for a decent one price, I found an old Wisconsin aenld for free and got that, haven’t tinkered with it yet.
I stumbled on this video while looking for old gas engines, and i wasn’t disappointed at all. Apart from the interesting engine, you sir should get a job on the radio, you have a wonderful baritone voice. could listen to you talking all day......
Great video & good job Jake ! Love the WI two cylinders ! I'd been wondering when you'd have another video out. As you promised a few months back, you'd be getting at another WI soon. It was a joy to have it show up today !! You got a real steal on it for $35. I've had to pay north of $100 & north of $200 for the last THD & TJD respectively I bought this summer. The THD I got didn't come equipped with electric start & I have yet to get it started via the crank. I had to mount a pulley & used a belt & a Kohler K91 to start it. Didn't want to risk a broken wrist or arm via it kicking back. It runs ok, but won't idle down like it should. I've cleaned the carb thoroughly & replaced the carb to manifold gasket (eliminating the vacuum leak possibility there) to no avail. I'm thinking another attempt at either cleaning or replacing the points might be the fix ? Any thoughts ? On the subject of point cleaning, I've had pretty good success removing the points & lightly sanding them with a drum sander on a Dremel tool. I just did a 13hp cast iron Briggs I just picked up that way & she purrs like a tom cat in a meat house. The THD I bought came with the factory side mounted fuel tank. I'm still working on the TJD (pre start prep, like you did here). Fortunately it came with the electric start option, but no fuel tank. A side note on telling the THD"s, TFD's & TF's apart from the TJD's is those 3 have (when equipped with magneto as opposed to the ones with a distributor) the plug wires directly across from one another on the mag cover, whereas the TJD the plug wires are diagonal from one another. You might keep an eye peeled for an old Power King tractor (50's - very early 60's vintage ) for your THD, as some of them came with either a THD or TJD. Thanks for the great informative video & I hope you've had a good summer & had some time for your own projects (trucks, etc) now & then between shows & work. Keep the videos coming !
I was surprised he said yes when I offered that. And pretty dang happy! He also had a V4 powered Lincoln welder there too but with my lack of room I didn't offer anything for it. How does the throttle butterfly look on that carburetor? The carb on the THD that came off my Hobart had a worn throttle butterfly from being rattled back and forth for so long. Even backing the screw on the bell-crank out all the way out it wouldn't idle down because it was still sucking air/fuel past the worn portion of the butterfly. That would be my best guess. If not that, the idle circuit is clogged in the top half of the carburetor, or the idle tube in the center of the lower portion... one with the brass tube pressed into it (not the main jet that comes out at an angle). Good to know! Now that I think of it I always thought TJD's came with a distributor, but I guess not! I have been looking for an Economy for a long time now but everyone around here wants $1000/+ on average for them. I'd like one but not that bad! Time has been scarce, this has been a very busy/good year for work/business, but I do have to start taking some time for myself this fall. As long as I can keep things moving during the week I may make an effort to get some projects rolling on the weekends for video material. But we'll see!
Got one of those old beasts. It sat for ages and somehow got water down in the case even though there was no sign of having rusted up. The oil pump housing has some bad corrosion though. Has put indefinite hold on doing anything with it. Missing the ID plate and haven't had the head off. Is the crank start. Have a 1cyl crank-start version of this paired up to a JAGER (sp) cement mixer...obviously not factor since it pokes out well beyond the cabinet. Thinking might have an intake leak since it's a pain to start even after the carb rebuild...won't stay running w/o partial choke & won't idle. Also has blue flame coming out the exhaust when run at night. Been a long time since ran it...really need to get it going so can use the mixer it's attached to. Can churn out more concrete in 1 go.
Down here in southeast mass there are a lot of these old Wisconsins used on the cranberry bogs for bog sanders and harvest equipment, all in home made custom built stuff that the local farmers have come up with, they are great old motors rock solid, electric start is kinda rare, imagine hand cranking one of these on a bog ice sander on a cold day in January
Pretty neat they are still running them! Of course it's different equipment, but I've seen a lot on line over the past few years that have been removed from hay balers so guys can convert to PTO drive. These tend to be a bit thirsty with fuel...
Working on one currently that is going to power a Yazoo mower I'm converting to a off-road machine doing the works to it changing the carb out to a mikuni style port polish and reseal the whole engine also going to gamble on deleting the governor on it which shouldnt be an issue given that with the different carb setup throttle controls will be completely manual also won't have a need for an overzealous fuel pump at higher rpms
I've got this same passion about old engines, nothing more pleasing than to bring them back to life and just listen to them purring away. By the way l notice you got exact same screwdriver, did l lend it to you 🤔 😁.
Yep yours is in much better shape than the one i just came home with. Been doing time as a wood splitter. Mice nest helped rust that bottom plate. Any one need parts?
I have a model TH, without stelite exhaust valves. It has the 6v Autolite starter and gear driven generator and distributor which runs off the cam gear where the mag would go. The serial number puts mine at 1957 and I have a cast iron Zenith carb. I think all of the older TE, TF and TFD engines had cast iron carbs. I would guess this engine is a later THD since it has an aluminum carb, if it's the original. Also the provisions for flywheel alternator probably rule out the earlier motors as well. The timing advance marks on the fan shrouds are different too. The TE and TF series have a 27 degree advance. The TH and THD have a 20 degree advance. Those are the only differences I know of.
You know it's a well built motor when that little 2 cylinder sounds like a Farmall H when it's running lol Great save Jake! I was thinking the same thing, how cool would that be in a Sears Suburban lol
Plug wire orientation is easiest way to tell whether even or odd fire on the mag, or distributor caps. Another easy way is to take a lengthy piece of welding wire, or the like, and stick it down each bore. This will not, for example, tell you the difference between a TD and a THD. The "H" specifies steralite valves. Crank speed will tell you if early lower HP model.
Nice sound. I saved a thd from the scrapyard today. Mine has a distributor though and generator beneath the carby. Also has a reduction gearbox of 3-3/4 to 1 with 5 belt grooves on the pulley. I'll need to panelbeat the cowl as it was thrown into the junkheap. Had to remove the head to free the exh valves- all good now, noticed the piston tops very clean and no ring ridges visible so should be a good runner. Serial no is 3631917- any clue how old it is? Have had no luck chasing sites with this info. Greetings from South Australia!
I keep all i can off parts machines, especially fixings, like the screws nuts and bolts i undo to pull a part at the wreckers. How many times do you go to get something going and find bodgy fixings or no fixing replacing ones that someone has lost at some time. Glad to see you on, its been a while lad. Business and them gals keeping you busy lol. Nice engine, wasnt hard to get going either.
Thanks Phantom, hope to be back here more often. Haha! I'm usually business before pleasure, but every now and again you gotta get out and have fun! I'm the same way here, when I strip a bad machine all usable parts come off. Can't tell you how many times I've had equipment come in with botched fixings. Yep, luckily someone stored this one properly.
You bet. Nothing so far. I had a line on a 5 acre lot with a massive building a town over, but it sold before I could contact them. Market it pretty dry here now so hopefully something shows up this fall or next spring. Can't wait to get into a bigger place....
I don't know if you said but do you know what horsepower that engine is rated for? I'm thinking about 15 hp, but don't really know. That would make a strong go-cart engine.
Very nice and I would love to find one of these I’ve seen them around but never stopped to ask it would be cool to find one with the original piece of farm implement that it was on I would restore both that Foley And the implement it self
I'm going to work on a pair of twin Wisconsin one is tfd other is thd both have been sitting over 25 years. I want to hear them run before investing much money into them. Is there a way to prime the oil pump without removing the sump and having to replace gaskets on what could be a worn out engine?
If they have a small 1/8 pipe plug on the carburetor side of the block, that should be a port for a oil gauge. And direct access to an oil galley. You can try pumping oil in with a can. I've never had an issue with these getting prime though.
@@5Tractorguy I couldn't tell if oil pump was working till I removed the crankcase vent check valve because oil would spit out or get sucked in Once I removed the check valve oil was flowing out oil port no problem. I didn't think about shooting oil into the fitting with an oil can will do that when I get to the THD thankyou for the suggestion👍 B.T.W. I did test fire the TFD and it runs good going to buy parts to complete the THD soon😉
What a cool little engine. My Grandfather’s Gibson, out of Longmont, Colorado in 1948 has a Wisconsin single cylinder. So when it first started I thought; that’s a familiar sound!! But when you got it running on both man what a difference. Do you have any idea what the HP of that engine is?
5Tractorguy My Granddad’s was about 7 hp. The mag constantly failed due to a gas leak from the carb which had been cracked and repaired several times. My Brother-In-Law replaced it with a 9 hp. I believe. It’s running great. Right now he’s looking for a snow plow blade for it.
I recently picked up a Wisconsin that looks similar to this. It too is missing the tag. What is the small lever thing on the side of the block, just above the oil fill?
I have a small farm and I'm not really in the market for a regular tractor, but I've become fascinated by these 2 wheel tractors. New ones are too pricey for me. Where would you suggest I look for an old one to refurbish? I'm handy with small engines and I can weld, if that matters.
Hey Mark, keep an eye on Craigslist or Facebook market place (if you're on FB). The majority of the equipment I have I found on CL and by word of mouth. By late spring/early summer hopefully more stuff will be showing up for sale. And if you're from New England, I can probably fix you up with one. -Jake
Boy if I had a dollar..... I do, but I'm getting very picky what I take in now-a-days since I have so many. If you want to get top dollar you may want to post it online for sale. If not I may be interested, I'm in central MA though...
Matt, shoot me an email through my secondary email address at fretwater@yahoo.com when you get a chance. I'd be interested, spare parts are always good.
What is it with Wisconsin engines, being so cheap? Some of the easiest and best quality motors out there to work on. I would love to find one with electric start, but when set up right, they do hand crank easy. Good job, I too have a pallet of old good running Wisconsin's and a old Novo
I don't know, couple people tried to give me some V4's lately but I have no room for them! They are great engines, very well built and industrial. Handy to have around for projects too.
