5020 Kinze Repower Restoration - 8V71T Detroit Diesel

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Today's video is all about out 5020 Kinze Repower! Back in the 70's, John Kinzenbaw was known for his repowers, and made kits to outfit 4020's, 4520's, and 5020's with either 6V71 or 8V71 Detroit Diesels. This 5020 is equipped with one of his kits and has an 8V71T as its engine donor. The "T" in the "8V71T" stands for turbo, and since restoring this tractor, I have only found one other tractor with this configuration. The turbo increases this engine's horsepower from 318 to about 350 horsepower. To start the restoration, we first removed the cab. This was not challenging at all, and Jake and I had it off within a couple of hours. We also removed the LP tank on the side that they used as an extra diesel tank, and removed the tank off of the front. We knew this tractor had transmission problems, and in the sake of time and money, we knew it would be cheaper and faster to find a donor tractor for a new rear end. A friend of ours had a 5020 back in the day and went through the transmission, and shortly after that the crankshaft broke in the tractor. Since then it had been parked, so we called him and bought the tractor. With the help from a dealership mechanic, Jake, and Grandpa, we had the tractors spilt and put back together within an afternoon. The engine was in great shape and the only thing we did was loosen up all of the injectors so they did not stick open and make the engine run full throttle. We then addressed the radiator situation. In order to put a 5010 fuel tank back into this tractor, we had to remove the second radiator they put in this tractor, and the oil cooler as well. To accomplish this, we removed the smaller front radiator and 5010 oil cooler from the tractor, left this radiator out, and replaced the 5010 oil cooler with one from a 4030, which has a much slimmer profile. We also had the radiator rebuilt and had the put an extra core in place of the old unit. Under a load for a long period of time, it is very hard to get this tractor over 190 degrees. We then addressed the rear tires. Since this tractor was so unique, we decided we needed to do something that very few people have done. I cut two rims and welded in 16 inch wide bands to make the rims wide enough for 900/60R32 rear tires. The shear size of these tires alone is something to be amazed by, and really makes this tractor stand out. To help these floaters hook when pulling a plow, we used a 300 pound cast iron weight on each side, then added an additional 140 gallons of windshield washer fluid to each tire to add additional weight. To match the behemoth rear tires, we put a set of 16.5-16.1 Firestones on the front. This makes the tractor sit very close to level and matches well with the rear tires. We were also very lucky to find a set of Wheatland fenders for this tractor. Our friend Lance Little stopped by one day with a set and Grandpa looked at me with a smile on his face and said, "those are not leaving." And through some negotiating, they didn't! From day one he wanted to put those fenders on this tractor and boy was he happy when Lance sold them to us. We had to seriously repair and customize the hood on this tractor to make everything work. This included filling in the hole where the front radiator used to be, adding a hole for the new 5010 fuel tank, and welding in a small LP tank to fit around the turbo. The tank turned out great and really adds to the customized look of this tractor. The hydraulic remotes used to sit where the turbo is now, so before we got the tractor they moved the remotes to the back of the tractor and hooked then up to levers in the cab. With the cab now gone, we took a console off of a 4520 and I made linkages to then hook up to the hydraulic remotes and 3-point hitch control. We also found a quick hitch for the tractor and although it comes very close to hitting the fender, it doesn't, and wraps up the rear end of the tractor quite nicely.

If you made it this far or watched the whole video, I want to thank you for sticking around. A ton of work went into this tractor, and I am extremely proud of the outcome and being able to share it with you. For more on this tractor you can check out the first video I did on it, or come to the Half Century of Progress Show in Rantoul, Illinois where we will have it there hooked to a 6-bottom plow!

Thanks for watching, and I'll see ya on the next one!