Archive through August 03, 2009

[mmorrison]

I would like to hear from any of you Canadian members. I am getting tiered of clicking on the classifieds and they are all USA. not to nock this sit it is the best. you are just to far to drive.

 

[kmcconaughey]

Another thought, before flipping or flopping the Kohler over... one might want to remove the sparkplug...

 

[rwilke]

Kraig McC.,
Another big 10-4 on removing the sparkplug first!

Art A.,
I'm sorry, I forgot to thank you earlier for the pics and text!

Bruce N. and Dennis F.,
Thanks for the help and guidance!

Gottcha on the two stub shafts.
Ok, I'll watch for gathering all the shims and needle bearings.
I think what in the pics looks like splines to me were the needle bearings in the gears.

I'll report back on my findings/progress...and, for the record, what dipstick it has.

<font size="+1">Thanks, Guys!</font>

Ryan Wilke

 

[jspicer]

Dang Ken, that green slime turns a nasty shade of rust, kinda like other greens things I'm thinking of

 

[bnolte]

I would add a strong note of caution to anyone considering smashing the balance gears to remove them. By the looks of Art's picture, the gear literally shattered into quite a few pieces. Without taking precautions to protect the rest of the block, a small piece of cast iron could get stuck between the piston skirt and cylinder, or find its way into the oil hole for the connecting rod, the ball bearings, or other tight spot where moving parts slide past each other. Removing the crankshaft is probably the safest approach, as breaking the gear will be unnecessary. It can involve up to several additional hours of work if you run up against a stubborn flywheel or PTO clutch, but you'll kick yourself if a gear fragment damages or destroys the engine soon afterwards.

At bare minimum I would stuff rags inside the block everywhere except where the gears are to prevent shrapnel from flying into critical areas, and I would use a magnet to fish all the pieces out, and make sure I'd account for them all.

On a side note, based on my engine's configuration, it looks like my 125 probably lacks the grenade gears

 

[dwilkinson]

Governor problem? I have disconnected the governor spring, started the engine and operated the throtle by hand to try and determine if my governor is working. I would think there would be some tendency for the governor arm to move as engine speed changes but there is not. Does this mean that there is some internal problem with the linkage or gears or whatever? Thanks

 

[dfrisk]

BRUCE - I think actually wrapping the gernade gears in a heavy cloth like a shop rag, or piece of denim or ??? and THEN cracking/breaking the second gear may be a better idea, contain the mess!

Also, like I said in my post, after You remove the first gear do You REALLY have to remove the second gear? I have gotten the second gear out of a K301 without pulling the crank or breaking the gear but it took a bit of messing around. It was so long ago I can't remember what I actually did. Engine was freshly rebuilt, had maybe a MINUTE of run time on it. I'm sure glad My K241 out in the shop ready to be rebuilt doesn't have balance gears!

 

[bbrigham]

Bruce...Both gears will come out without braking them on the 301's, just takes lots of patience and moving things around.

 

[bnolte]

Dennis,
You might be right on that one, by wrapping the gear rather than the rest of the engine, but we have the same basic idea, which is to contain the mess.

I still think the whole gear shattering strategy is a risky proposition nonetheless.

Gonna head out to power wash and take a closer look at the deck on the 125. The bottom has a thick mat of clippings on it, and I want to see how extensive the rust is. I'll sharpen the blades while I'm at it as well.

 

[sstanton]

I got the 1650 running today! I have had no Cub time for at least 2 weeks until early yesterday before work and most of today. The 106 had a clogged fuel line which was an easy fix. I put a new set of points and a condenser in the 1650 and it fired right up! It ran pretty smooth, although the carb needs some tweeking. I took it out for a test drive and noticed that the hydro whines loudly and the ISO mounts are pretty shot. I did manage to take care of the creeping problem with some adjustments. What would cause the whine though? I'm thinking new filter and fluid would help but this being my first hydro I would rather ask the pro's!

 

[dfrisk]

BRUCE - I agree, shattered spec's of gray iron are NOT what You want flying around inside Your crankcase.

 

[mgonitzke]

Dennis/Bruce-

When I did that to the balance gears on my 1650, I dragged a magnet around in there for quite awhile and swabbed out all the gear teeth with Q-tips. I also put a magnet on the drain plug and changed the oil a couple times before I sold it. There was never anything unusual on the magnet.

 

[jbaker]

When i was young i remember seeing a round wafer shaped magnet on the inside of a transmission pan from a 68 chevelle and was told that came from the factory that way, this was done to pick up normal metal wear. not sure if it was true but it did collect alot of fine "shavings" so should we put a magnet inside the oil pan or on the outside of drain plug or do the drain plugs come magnatized? i am now concerned about my k301 its being rebuilt this winter so ill try to make it untill then

 

[podenbach]

My buddy recently picked up a 125 and is trying to verify the serial number. 145903 is what he gave me but seems to be too low. He is trying to figure out what year it is. Any ideas? TIA

 

[towens]

Porter, The Serial number you provided represents April of 1966. the 125 was only produced from Nov. 1967 thru Aug. 1969. The serial number should be between 218010 and 306085 for a model 125

 

[mgonitzke]

Well, I *think* I figured out why the 800 was smoking...I pulled the piston and rod out. As I suspected, it's a fresh rebuild, .010" under on the crank and .010" over on the bore. The oil ring was assembled incorrectly and sort of stuck. The bigger problem was the fact that as far as I can tell, standard bore rings were used. I put one ring in the bore after removing them from the piston, and the end gap between the two ends of the ring, which is supposed to be a max of .027" on a used engine, was about .045". I'm ordering the correct rings tonight.

 

[dfrisk]

JEFF - Magnetic drain plugs on oil filled assemblies are a good thing, they accumulate the stray metal particles as the components wear while in use. The problem with just attaching a magnet to the side of a gearbox or engine crankcase is how do You flush away the particles?

The magnets have to be on something that's easily removed and cleaned when servicing the assembly. A magnet on a hydro filter, or the rear cover of the rearend of a Cub Cadet would be easy to inspect and clean. But just putting a magnet on a cast iron oil pan on a Kohler engine would accumulate small ferrous metal particles but without removing the engine to remove the oil pan I bet there would still be some particles left after changing the oil. A magnetic drain plug would be the best option there. I think any magnet should be outside the oil wetted assembly, in a place that gets flow past the area where oil accumulates.

A Cub Cadet uses 3/8" NPT drainplugs on all the engines and even the rearends on GD's. I would bet most small engine shops and maybe even good hardware stores would have them. I know I've seen them in catalogs from McMaster-Carr.

My diesel engine in my pickup, a Ford Powerstroke has a magnetic drainplug from the factory and even after 300,000 miles, about 6000 hours of operation there's still some accumulation on the plug every oil change.

 

[kide]

Dennis:
I've bored the end of a drain plug and epoxied one of the small super strength magnets in. As Willie Nelson put it, Those things'll suck the chrome off a trailer h.. - oh never mind that - they are flat powerful, much more than most of the older magnetic plugs I've seen.

Matt:
I believe improperly installed rings was in the list I gave ya... I was close .

 

[mlamar]

Matt
Did I hear you say Cub Cadet 800? I have one that is complete. Is this a project your doing? If so let us (or me) know how it is going and any interesting tips. I plan on restoring mine starting this week.
Mike

 

[aschumacher]

Kendell, I have some of those magnets and wondered how they got chrome plated!