Archive through April 25, 2009

[pbell]

Jason
The battery was not in when the pictures were taken. Although there is a starter on it, it was started with a pull rope. The battery will be located in the box under the grill. The tractor is not finished paint wise, but you can see the battery box in this picture. The tractor is behind the Cub Lo-Boy. Right now it has some engine issues. Seems the carburator has a foam float in it that does not like todays gasoline with ethanol in it. It causes the float to swell and hang up on the float bowl, so I need to find an older carb that has a brass float.

 

[jmburge]

Paul
Check your local army surplus for a brass float. I'm not sure how common teledyne parts are in Kentucky, but I find complete, new in box, teledyne motors for around $500 in alot of the surplus stores here in Michigan. So if you check there you might get lucky and find the float your looking for.

 

[cmccall]

I have searched without much luck finding any info, I could be using the wrong search terms though. I'm in the process of putting a Briggs and Stratton Vanguard 18 hp in my cub 1450. What I'm working on for the moment is the two biggest problems I have to overcome. First mounting the engine, I was thinking of using the original mounting system minus the rubber mounts, however I will make my own bushings (like the replacement steel bushings made out of steel) so that I can make them as small in dimension I can to keep the motor height down, I don't see any need for the rubber bushings as the B&S should not have any vibration problems. Or I guess I could use a solid steel plate, any tips here I would appreciate. I have the K 321 so I can still put that back in to get my shaft layout. I will also be making an adapter from a 3" piece of aluminum to connect the PTO shaft ( the one that bolts on to where the screen was/is I have already purchased) this should be pretty easy I hope. Not sure how much yet, but I will have to shorten the PTO shaft to get it away from the steering shaft etc.

Next has anyone relocated the gas tank under the seat, and the battery under the hood. that's the only option I have to getting anything close to a decent size gas tank, the B&S already has a fuel pump, I would love to find some type of plastic gas tank that would fit under the seat with little to no modification.

Any help, tips, pictures from anyone that has done this would be really appreciated.

 

[gerickson]

Clint, if your briggs 18 is a V twin you can just mount it on a solid plate. That is what some of the guys are doing when they use Kohler Commands. It will be smooth enough and not shake too bad. You may end up notching for the starter. Try a gas tank from a 109 series or one from an original. I've got a small briggs from a snowblower and the gas tank is pretty thin. Taller that it is wide. Good luck and post lots of pics.

 

[proessler]

Clint A diesel 782D, 882, & 1512 have the fuel tank under the seat, I don't know any of the details , maybe someone will chime in... that's more knowledgeable ! A fuel tank from a 782D sold yesterday for $40 on Eb...

 

[ldunlap]

Clint,
I had a 16hp Vanguard in a 1000 puller. I used the steel motor mounts from Brian Miller's website with the original rails to mount the engine. However, I drove directly off the flywheel using an adapter that Midwest Super Cub sells. My engine did not have a pto on the flywheel side. I had to notch the frame slightly for the starter, and then made a oil filter adapter extension using a gasket as a pattern or I would have had to severely notch the other side. I did notch one of the motor mount rails and tractor frame to install a pipe nipple for oil drainage. I didn't have any vibration issues at RPMs well past the factory governed speed. You might contact www.jimsrepairjimstractors.com. He has been installing them in several models of tractors and may have some tips. Good Luck on your project. LD

 

[cmccall]

Done some work to the 1450 today, took me much longer making the bushings than I thought. One thing that threw me a curve I expected the original cradle to be level, however it is not, so I had to go back and make another set of bushings/ steel ISO mounts. I made mine two piece, I made a center bushing that fit into the frame hole where the bolt goes is a (~.385" diameter on the bushing) then .8" diameter to slide into the cradle hole where the ISO rubber mount goes. I then made a spacer I will have to post specs on that later.

What threw me the curve was I made all the bushings/spacers the same, then when I mounted everything up it was not level, so back to the lathe to rework the front spacers, there is a big difference in the front spacers to rear spacers to get the cradle level. I started to leave it like it was, however thinking about the long haul I expect it will be much better on the drive line to keep everything level.

Tomorrow I will try to snap some pics, I have to make some tops to bolt the cradle down, I will also go ahead and weld a cross piece to the cradle, once that's done I should be able to mount the engine, then on to making an adapter for the rear PTO shaft I purchased for the B&S to the drive shaft rag-joint (that may take awhile as I don't have any 3" aluminum round stock)

Doing one thing at a time, however I may hit a big bump in the project after I get the engine mounted, and drive shaft adapter made, the gas tank will come next...and I still don't have a clue what I'm going to do on that. The only option I see at this point is to make, or have someone make a stainless gas tank custom sized to where the battery went under the seat, I will move the battery to the front where the gas tank was mounted... I just can't see using a small 1 gallon gas tank when the B&S came with a fuel pump already on it... Been a interesting project so far, and the entire tractor has been more work than I ever imagined !! I spent a good bit of money on new wiring harness, ignition switch etc (I'm 99% sure the factory ignition switch etc will not work with the B&S spark system) only to find my motor was shot, and needing a sleeve to rebuild at that !! I also rebuilt the entire drive shaft assembly using stainless ground bearing shaft, I should be able to use my stainless shaft, however it will need to be modified with the B&S, but it will be shorter if anything.

 

[cmccall]

Thanks for the info so far, very helpful. I decided to try the original engine cradle mount on the B&S, so far it's been a lot of work, however if I ever do decide to go back original, well I guess it makes me feel all warm, and fuzzy to keep the original cradle mount even though it will be modified for a B&S !!

I have the oil filter blocked off with a factory OEM block off, it was pretty cheap around $20, however everything is adding up !! I purchased the PTO shaft that bolts on the B&S where the flywheel is off ebay for $45, daddy purchased one about a year ago new it was $100 (maybe just over) and I'm using what stock I have for the ISO steel bushing/mount modification.... Not sure of steel, however it was originally some type of shaft inside a big gear box, outside was hard, once through that pretty easy going... but a whole lotta chips as it was a lot bigger than what I needed !! The B&S looks like it came off a generator or something, it has a key ignition on it, so maybe I can mount that ignition switch in the place of the OEM on my 1450. I will also need to route the oil drain before I mount the engine to the cradle/frame. I'm still open to pointers, if anyone has any pointers, information etc, or anything I missed please let me know.

I sure hope all of this is going to be worth it, I keep reading that the newer motors are over rated in HP, do you think the B&S 18 HP Vanguard V-twin will have more power than the K 321 14 hp ? I plan to use the tractor for mowing, plowing, pulling a trailer, it will be my sons when it's finished as well... he has burned holes in both sides of my ears talking IH Cub Cadets !! However it may be ours as much work as we have put in it, and he has a nice 149, and he is only 9 years old at that !!

 

[dfrisk]

CLINT - I think it's a great effort Your doing to get a newer engine into Your 1450. In regards to Your question about how the 18 HP Vanguard will compare to the K321 I think You will be happy with the results.
The V-twin will run much smoother than the old single, even with the solid mounting of the engine. IH went back to solid mounted engines with the red tractors, saved a lot of head aches from the deterioration of the rubber bushings.

The old Kohler makes more torque at lower RPM than the Vanguard but dyno charts from Kohler that I've seen show the K321 wasn't the strongest engine of the series compared to displacement. I think it had something to do with the large carb & exh. valve Kohler used in them. But with the Hydro and infinite speed adjustment You set the RPM and vary speed with the hydro. For yard work it will more powerful than the K321 and nicer to run.

 

[cmccall]

One step closer today !!

I finally got all the bushings, spacers, and caps made today, bushings, and caps I determined are made from stainless, the spacers under the cradle are made from phosphorus bronze, or aluminum bronze, good stuff, and turned like a dream compared to the stainless shaft material... I hope this combo will do away with any rust problems. Also I had to do as posted below from Larry I had to notch one of the engine cradles for the oil drain plug, I will have to remove about 1 more inch of material to sit the motor where I want it. the front of the motor ( I assume this is the crank case) will be in the exact position compared to the original Kohler motor, this should keep everything positioned for the front PTO, I'm glad I have the electric PTO in this case.

Now I didn't expect this, I made the spacers so the engine cradle would just clear the cross member of the frame, about 1/4" space. Now the motor sits about 1" higher than the drive shaft. I have read about the use of a universal joint in this application, I was wonder if anyone has run into this problem, and how they solved it.