Engine manufacturer for M151A2
 

Facebook is good for something other than finding old high school chums and trading silly memes. It has been quite practical for contacting some special interest groups. One fellow posted an illustrated parts manual that seems to answer lots of questions.

It seems the engine in the M151A2 was made by White, as a Hercules G1600. And Caterpillar relabelled it as a 1404 for installation in small machines and forklifts.

They were good engines....much longer life than the M38A1 engines, but man they were uneven. The vibrations from the engine would cause the mirrors to shake so bad you couldn't see out them.

LETE actually did a project to install one of these engines into the M38A1. Adapters were made, the engine installed and tested, then everything packed up into a crate and into the warehouse.

I did not know that. AFAIK that engine was the Ford L142 - a 4-cylinder 2,320 cc. unit delivering 72 bhp. at 4,000 rpm. Over the course of it's long production run, most likely the engine was built by other manufacturers too, as was the jeep itself. During 1964-1983, production contracts of the M151A2 were awarded to Ford, Kaiser Jeep and the AM General Corporation (of Wayne, Michigan, U.S.A.), while bodies were built both by Fruehauf and Budd .

Read my webpage on the M151-series (a bit outdated as there is a load of broken links, but still relevant): http://www.mapleleafup.nl/fordm151/

H.

Is there a link to the manual, aformentioned?

The parts manual is TM 9-2320-218-20P . A quick google of that number leads to several places where the manual can be downloaded.

Unless Terry is talking about a different manual....

Here's one on identification

https://www.foleyengines.com/tech-ti...-pZviTcXMGInik

and this is the illustrated parts manual.

https://www.wincogen.com/wp-content/...chFwllw3g8QH2A

One thing that interests me (as a matter of pure engineering interoperability) is this engine has both gasoline and natural gas variants. Although I don't plan to lug around a big blue tank for fuel especially in cold Canada, it is intriguing nonetheless.

Other than changes to the carburation, the engine is the same. Any petrol engine can run on a mixture of air and natural gas, LPG (or petrol). It's all about hydrocarbons...

H.

Thanks Terry

I don't have a 151, but have the option to buy an engine package....don't even know why I want it, but...

Charlie, don’t overpay. M151 engines are a dime a dozen, especially in the US

I took apart 30 M151A2s back in 87. I would sell off complete running powerpacks for $125. Otherwise, I would sell the alternator and the distributor components and make just as much. I still see the odd powerpack show up from somebodies shed for $500.

Re alternate fuel sources, propane is very hard on valves and seats....some engines more than others. I got to experience a lot of that first hand when the military tried to run propane vehicles back in the 80s. It was definitely not the right fuel for this climate, and not the right fuel for multiple users.

Petrol engines can be duel fueled but like anything, an engine functions better when designed and built for a specific fuel. I remember seeing a new Ford crate engine (D series Ford- English commercial) in the parts department of the local Ford dealership. It was a dedicated gas engine. Likely the valves, guides, maybe the head? and pistons were different. Essentially a diesel engine re speced for LPG.
At one stage here in N.Z. possibly 15 percent of cars on the road had been converted to duel fuel, either CNG or LPG with petrol. It was a whole new industry, which died as quickly as it started.

On the Caterpillar thing. Have they bought Perkins?
When I was working in Kalgoorlie (Australia) We had small diesels that were black and labeled "Perkins" and the yellow ones were labelled "Caterpillar" they were all the same and I was told Cat had bought Perkins?

Perkins
 

When I was working we had sidewalk ploughs with Perkins and Caterpillar diesels. The engines were the same except for some sensors and programming. In 2015 when I was still working Caterpillar wouldn’t sell parts for the Perkins and vice-versa. The dealers were unable to look up the engine model and serial numbers unless they were the licensed dealer for the make. We had the same trouble with Mercedes industrial engines. The on-road dealer couldn’t even read the diagnostic engine codes.

Paul

Slightly reorienting the conversation, there is a movement in the US for farm equipment buyers to be able to access the coding that runs their pricey tractors, loaders and combines. The big manufacturers are resisting because they will lose the economic advantage of tying a buyer, who is really not much better than a renter, to their servicing contracts. It sucks, but that is how sophisticated some equipment has become and how competitive is the industry. Hmmm? Does anyone remember the old Belarus and Progress tractors on the Prairies? Simple and rugged beyond belief.

The M151 engine is like the honey badger
It don’t give a shit what you through at it
60-65mile an hour all day long
Lol

https://youtu.be/4r7wHMg5Yjg

Best Jeep engine ever

We had a 151 73 Sigs (Ismalia) DR section that did a lot of runs to Cairo...still it wasn't the favoured truck there.

The engine I've been offered is a wall hanger in a friends shop, and wont be more that beer money. Rad hoses to drive flanges.

Rob - are many parts of this engine compatible with otherm series?

The salvageable stuff is the sending units (oil and water temp), the 60amp alternator (2920-00-909-2483), the coil and cap, and the spark plugs. As well, if the distributor has the electronic ignition, the electronics can be adapted into the M38A1 distributors with a little work. Also, the distributor housing itself can be adapted over for either the M38/M38A1, or for the M37.

The clutch pressure plate is also exchangeable with the M38/M38A1 series.

That is about all I can come up with from the top of my head.

M151 engine driveline
 

Pardon me for an abreviated message, 3rd time ive typed it on
this GD computer ...
- M151 under rated and getting a bad rap, have been involved in help scrap
200+, biggest issue lousy carburetion- running rich then starving, when sold to
locals military carb is scrapped and an updraft or downdraft installed- then
work just fine
- some design flaws on engine, exh manifold, starter location etc
- have had M151 running on propane using pipe plug ports in the intake
manifold, no issues
- transmission is heavy duty, seems well designed but often criticized, anyone
got horror stories?
- I do have a jeep with an M151 engine and trany attached to original
transfer case. It was an easy fix esp by removing rear transfer case portion
and using the long output shaft. Cut and welded original gear onto centre of
jeep transfer case gear and added 3/4 inch adapter plate. Need to have a
shorter driveshaft made up for the rear. Reposition motor mounts etc.
- Have not had it driving yet.
BP

There was nothing overly heavy duty about those transmissions. Failures seemed to occur starting at around 25000 miles.



When I built my M151A2, I used the best components out of the 30 that I had salvaged. I used a fairly freshly rebuilt transmission which had been rebuilt by Wes-trans out of Winnipeg. It started to fail after less than a thousand miles. On tear down, I found that while everything still fell within specifications, they were all at the outer tolerances, and combined together, it just didn't work out.



The main weaknesses I always found with the M151A2 were all those u-joints (and operators who thought it was somebodies else's job to grease them), and a big weakness was the poorly designed rear suspension hangers. They were basically a 3/8 bolt going through two 1/8" plates. The holes would elongate, causing a dangerous slop in the rear suspension.

M151 engine driveline
 

So Rob, what kind of transmission failures did you (or others you are aware of) find most often? Again I have seen caarping about theses transmissions on other sites but my limited experience has been favorable. How does it compare with a standard jeep 3 speed ? I do agree that the mounting of rear suspension is underwhelming!

Sorry Bob, but too many years have passed since I was dealing with the M151s, but in my memory I was not overly impressed with those transmissions. One of the things I do remember was that as they wore, they would howl like a banshee. I saw one Mutt get it's rear differential replaced twice before they figured out it was the tranny making all the noise.

I had one transmission failure on exercise in Valcartier. I got an MRT call that the transmission would not shift into any gear. It was getting dark as we arrived and quickly found the jeep. As always when starting a manual transmission, I pushed in the clutch, main switch on and went with my right hand to make sure the tranny was in neutral. First pass with my hand, not there. Ok then, its in gear. Tried another location, nothing. Looking over, there was just a hole in the floor where the shifter was supposed to be. I found the shifter after a brief search, on the floor in front of the back seats! Not the usual location, but I guess that is where it ended up as someone shifted into high gear and it came out with his hand. :doh: