[lspencer534]

I have a New Holland 3930 tractor, 3 cylinder diesel, 55 HP. I bought it in 1993 and have had very little trouble with it. However, it's time to paint the hood sections. It's easy enough in principle, but the muffler goes trough the hood, and unless I get the muffler off, the hood doesn't come off.

It's obviously corrosion where the muffler joins the exhaust pipe; penetrating oil is pretty useless since it has to travel uphill. Do you know of any tricks to separate the two?

Or should I just unbolt the exhaust manifold from the exhaust tail pipe pipe and pull off the hood with the muffler and tail pipe attached to the hood? Thanks!