I'm in the Witte club!!!

[Tom Reed]

Picked up this sweet heart of a Witte BD-9RDA manufactured in 1968. It came with a manual, electric start and genuine Murphy gauges for temp and oil pressure

[LowGear]

Congratulations Tom,

I'm sure you're aware of all the great features of these engines.  Made in the USA and the giant oil tank are what pushed me over the edge.  I picked up a scanned copy of the owner's manual and under fuels was: "Use No Crude" as in crude oil I presume.  Now that's "Roughy - toughy" talk if I've ever heard it.

You have a bit of work ahead of you so please keep us posted.  Does it turn over?

Casey

[veggie]

WHAT !!!

Do you guys have giant cranes at home ?
There's no way I could play with something like that.
I would get a hernia just lifting off the valve cover. 

[Tom Reed]

Congratulations Tom,

I'm sure you're aware of all the great features of these engines.  Made in the USA and the giant oil tank are what pushed me over the edge.  I picked up a scanned copy of the owner's manual and under fuels was: "Use No Crude" as in crude oil I presume.  Now that's "Roughy - toughy" talk if I've ever heard it.

You have a bit of work ahead of you so please keep us posted.  Does it turn over?

Casey

It turns over fine and even has a bit of compression, the injector squirts instead of sprays. Even better there is a genuine Frantz oil filter installed on the engine. Read the manual last night and the sales brochure from around '72 that I plan to scan and post here soon. Covers the whole Witte line.

[Tom Reed]

WHAT !!!

Do you guys have giant cranes at home ?
There's no way I could play with something like that.
I would get a hernia just lifting off the valve cover. 

I have a 3 ton fork lift here which didn't even grunt when lifting off the truck. When it's on the truck, does that make it a portable generator? I have an old generator trailer that had a 25kw generator with a flat head jeep engine in it. I may try to mount it on there if it fits.

[mike90045]

What a great find. Lucky you.

[Tom Reed]

Just scanned sales brochure from Witte celebrating 100 years. Lots of good info. Download here http://programmertom.com/download/Witte100Years.pdf

[Henry W]

I like the looks of the engine. How much does it weigh?

[Tom Reed]

It's about 1400 lbs including the base and generator. Full details in the sales brochure.

[Henry W]

That is heavy. Have to mount it in place than build the generator shed around it. Please be careful moving it.

[Tom Reed]

Fortunately I have 6000lb forklift.

[LowGear]

The really good news is that these guys run absolutely smooth when kept in their designed speed range.

Pun alert!  When it's cold a bit of propane really sparks their interest.

[Tom Reed]

Did you get the pdf I posted, its really good.

[LowGear]

It looks mammoth for only 1400 pounds.

Shouldn't it have a condensation radiator?

[Tom Reed]

Agreed, seems like it would be heavier, however the specs say 1150 for just the engine and 1400 the whole generator. Looks like mine is the tank cooled version.