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Old Wives Tale Part II....reverse rotation

chrisk1500

chrisk1500

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There was another thing that I always thought was bogus - can the diesel engine be run in reverse rotation? Damn straight it can!

I was loading bales a couple of miles away from home with a late 60's Case 930 tractor. The batteries are no good on it so if you stall, you have a long walk home.

Needless to say, I stalled the tractor while hauling a bale up an incline. I put in the clutch and started rolling slowly back down the hill. The tractor was still in a forward gear. I let the clutch back out to push start the machine and lo and behold - a huge puff of black came out of the intake! The tractor continued to run quite well with the exhaust pouring out of the intake bowl and all of my forward gears were actually reverse gears and my reverse gear made the tractor go forward.

I shut the tractor off so that I would not overheat it being that the water pump would run in reverse as well.

I always thought that a diesel would not work backwards and that it would behave like a gasser with a distributor out 180*. Not the case on that old Case....:confused:
 
Dad told me a story about one of the guys in the Army with him. It was over in Nam and this sarge asked him if he ever seen one the duece and halfs do 40 mph backwards!!!!!!!!!? Dad said nope didn't think they could. SO the sarge said stand here and watch this. He backed the old girl up a incline and "pop" started it rolling forward but in reverse. then low and behold he went by dad doing about 40 with the old girl blowing exhaust out the air cleaner. Prolly wasn't to good on it but it worked.
 
LOL.

You haven't lived until you've done that with an oil-bath air cleaner and a white truck...
 
Did it several times with dad's old semi when I was a kid and he'd take me on a run up to Milwaukee from Chicago on Saturday nights. He'd let me pull out from the drop trailer and hook up to the new one. If I was late getting the clutch in (I was) it would turn over backwards. He'd just laugh and pull the comp release and fuel shutoff. I finally got it right after a bunch of tries. That definately taught me clutch feel and I've never lost that touch.
 
I happened to me a few times with my 2 stroke detiots. Exactly that, smoke comes out of the air cleaner. If that happens you better shut it off real quick. it's also sucking the oil out of the motor instead of pushing it in. Most diesels can run backwards depending on setup on purpose. Some can by accident. Any Detriot will start up backwards.
 
Ya ace those old 2 strokes are very different breed. Block is the same front or back. Marine applications loved them mainly for twin screws you have to have one prop turning opposite the other one or you will go in circles. Some used a reverser box but most dropped in 2 strockers alot easier and took up less space.
 
625fireman said:
Ya ace those old 2 strokes are very different breed. Block is the same front or back. Marine applications loved them mainly for twin screws you have to have one prop turning opposite the other one or you will go in circles. Some used a reverser box but most dropped in 2 strockers alot easier and took up less space.
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Yep. All the ferries here still run them.
 
Most will run backwards,but not for very long as the mech fuel transfer and oil pumps run backwards as well wil starve it for fuel if the brgs not give out first for lack of oil.

Yea,the detroit 2 strokers can be configured any wich way you want.The engineers who designed them in the thirties? did an awsome job. I still use an 471 in a old cat and a 453 in a tractor,never had them turn turtle on me though.

Only one i ever seen running both directions quite happely was an old 15 horse lanz tractor with a 1 cyl 2 stroke with fuel gravity feed and a spoon on the rod cap for oiling,hmm ,must have a sometimer,( cant remember what you call that type of lubricating)

One day a new guy was send out with that tractor with a 6' sickle bar to mow a couple acres of hay,when he came home that night he was quite confused as the thing had 3forward gears and 1 reverse before lunch and only 1 forward and 3 reverse after he fired that engine again. Was funny to see the unbelief on his face.
 
I did it by accident in a 20 ton wrecker with a 6-71 Detroit. Foot slipped off the clutch and stalled, was rolling a little and I pop started it quick, but then when I let the clutch out again I took off going forwards when I was trying to back up. Scared the crap out of me, kept double checking the shifter and it was definitely in reverse. Motor didn't sound good so I shut it down. Sat there for a minute thinking about what was going on and finally figured out it had to have fired over backwards. Started it and it ran forwards again.
My brother had an ancient Evinrude snowmobile with reverse, to engage reverse gear you shut it off, shifted to reverse then restarted it and the motor ran backwards to give you reverse. Always thought that was pretty neat.
 
Detriots can be setup to run backwards.
Pusher busses run backwards.

While at tech school, the warning was constant on the DD671: becareful, it can start while barring the motor over & it can and will run backwards.
 
Detriot, alot of older golf carts use the setup for reverse as that ol sled. You time them at 0* TDC so they will run both ways.
 
This must be how they do all the chase scenes in the movies where a car is driving backwards down the highway and passing traffic like it is standing still.
 
my grandpa has a dump trailer and we would haul small tractors in it. well when we rolled the tractor backwards after raisin the trailer i would pop the clutch and the tractor would start
 
Monarkman said:
This must be how they do all the chase scenes in the movies where a car is driving backwards down the highway and passing traffic like it is standing still.
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Thats most likely because the other traffic IS standing still if not doing 25 or less mph. Gassers can't run backwards. Distributor will be 180 degree's out. Diesels(the older ones) can pull it off because compression is what is igniting the fuel. And some older diesels like the detroits have there injectors opened by the cam, not fuel pressure.
 
Ski-doo was the 1st snowmobile mfg to actually reverse the engine instead of having a reversing transmission. The other mfg. have followed suit. They actually reverse while running.
My dad had a 69 mercedes benz diesel that was having trans trouble. While testing it they told him to put it in reverse at 40mph. It was SUPPOSED to have a safety to stop it. It didn't work and the engine ran backwards.
 
BigBlueChevy said:
Thats most likely because the other traffic IS standing still if not doing 25 or less mph. Gassers can't run backwards. Distributor will be 180 degree's out. Diesels(the older ones) can pull it off because compression is what is igniting the fuel. And some older diesels like the detroits have there injectors opened by the cam, not fuel pressure.
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Distributor is still dead on, ATDC maybe, for a gasser. Just no fuel from the carb in reverse.

Damn this must be a real diesel forum! :thumbsup:
 
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