[Vwdiesel] JD 140, I have the engine numbers now

[Joe]

"...From what I could see it looks like this tractor was made by John Deere
as a heavy duty lawn tractor..."

You are of course free to believe what you wish, but if I were you I
wouldn't step into a room of hard-core John Deer enthusiasts and suggest
that John Deer ever made a lawn tractor with a VW engine, industrial or
otherwise.  

I did a quick search and You Tube has many videos of John Deer JD140's with
all kinds of crazy engines.  Apparently this is quite the enthusiast's
tractor for customizing.

Personally, from the pics and the video I believe this is a tractor
customized for either lawnmower racing or pulling (hence no mower deck), has
a generic VW air-cooled engine with a Type III fan shroud because it fits
under the "hood" (the Type 1 beetle fan shroud would not), and was done by
someone who had an excellent eye for detail and a great deal of abilities.
(possibly of German descent)  Since as you claim the person who built it is
no longer on this earth, it's exact origin will have to remain a mystery.

Oh, and the Winnebago Rialta was made on essentially a "front clip" of the
VW Eurovan, and has the same drive train as the Eurovan marketed in the US.
It's predecessor was the Winnebago LeSharo, which was based on the Renault
Traffic van, a van never marketed in the US.  Part of the reason Winnebago
changed to the Rialta was because Renault left the United States market
altogether in the 80's.

Please go to the Type 3 forum as I suggested before and ask them for more
info on this air-cooled VW engine.  I'm sure they will have more info than
we do.  Or you could try other air-cooled VW forums.  

vwdiesel at vwfans.com is dedicated primarily to VW water-cooled diesel
engines.

Joe
 

-----Original Message-----
From: vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com [mailto:vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com] On
Behalf Of William J Toensing
Sent: Sunday, January 03, 2010 5:52 AM
To: vwdiesel at vwfans.com
Subject: [Vwdiesel] JD 140, I have the engine numbers now

I haven't seen any discussion of this yet, but I suspect that VW has an
industrial engine division or dept. that modifies their automotive engines
for non-automotive use such as portable generators, boats or other
automotive application. Volvo does this with their Penta engines for boats,
I have also seen Ford flathead V-8s modified for use as a heavy duty
portable air compressor & wind blowers to protect orchards against freezing.
I know Winnebago made their Rialto Motorhome with a VW truck chassis that VW
has not otherwise marketed in the USA. From what I could see it looks like
this tractor was made by John Deere as a heavy duty lawn tractor. Maybe some
other tractor manufacturers in the world that are not marketed in the USA
use VW engines. I don't know & this is just an educated guess, knowing that
GM,Ford, Chrysler, Isuzu, Volvo, & others have marketed "industrial"
engines. Model A Ford engines were copied & made in the former USSR well
after WW2. I have heard a few Russian Model A engines have found their way
back to the USA & installed in Model A's,  & from what I have heard, had
upgrades that made them better than the way Henry built them. I understand
the Soviet GAZ jeep used Russian Model A engines.
Bill Toensing, Nevada City, CA.
_______________________________________________
Vwdiesel mailing list
Vwdiesel at vwfans.com
http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/vwdiesel