Archive through August 17, 2009

[tdaugherty]

The bushing in the wheel is shot, but how would i get the steering wheel to come off after i take off the emblem, and nut, so i could replace the bushing? There looks like there is some sorta keylock, but i cant tell.

 

[tdaugherty]

Hey Wayne,
About your 108, check the serial plate on the motor. My 124 has the plate below the fuel tank to the right of the carb, behind the fuel bowl/shutoff valve. It should say the model K-...
Mine says K-301. Most likely, K-301 is what motor your 108 has.

 

[aaytay]

Bruce-
I wonder if this stuff will work to repair your seat?

http://www.biosafe-inc.com/lawn_garden.htm

I've used the "marine" version to repair pool "floaties" for my daughter, and it works well with the stretchy rubber. The repair won't be pretty, but it's consistency is like very firm calk.

 

[mgonitzke]

Tim-

Check out the FAQ...it tells you how to remove the steering wheel. There's nothing other than the nut holding it on; the shaft is splined.

 

[wmiller]

Wayne, If your engine has a sticker instead of a metal tag attached to the blower housing you may have a factory replacement engine. My 126 has one,it was painted black instead of yellow and had a sticker instead of a metal tag and no holes drilled in the blower housing to attach the metal tag. The sticker was silver and sort of metallic looking. I painted it yellow when I restored and o'hauled the tractor and the sticker did not survive. The spec number for a factory replacement 12 HP (K301) with balance gears is 47504. Kohler always wants the spec number and model number when ordering parts.

 

[sheist]

I'm new here. I found this site yesterday while looking for information about a tractor that I am interested in buying. It is a 128. I don't know if it comes with any accessories other than the deck. It is very well used and pretty clean looking. The deck has a 3-5" rust/crack on the top rear of the right side. I assume this could be patched. The owner is asking $700. Does this price sound fair? I browsed on here yesterday but didn't find the same model. I haven't talked to him yet just his wife. She said he's had it for years but got a zero turn.
Steve

 

[mstetar]

well welcome steve, price is all in what your willing to pay and a buyer is willing to sell for now if it were ME that sounds kinda high but thats me... make sure that if you get it you post some pics because

 

[kdortch]

Richard Palmer – Thanks for the complement on my 42 deck. It has its issues like most other things but will work fine as soon as I get a bug or two worked out of it.

Luther Ray Hinds – Okay, thank you! I'll take your word for it and let the pulleys stay as they are. Just seemed a bit confusing to me that the outside pulleys were somewhat tight.

Dennis Frisk – Thank you as well for the complement on my 42 deck. I will, as well, take your word on the pulleys bein' a little tighter with the new style bearings. Sure wish there was a way to loosen 'em up a tad. Your comment on heating up the grease makes since. Maybe when the bearings start to wear some they'll give in a bit - maybe?

Kenneth

 

[tdaugherty]

Steve Heist,
If the deck has a rust crack that is real bad, buy the tractor without the deck, and see if the seller will take $400. Unless you want the deck, or if the tractor is in fairly decent shape, then give $700.

 

[tdaugherty]

Steve,
$700 sounds a little too high, so make sure that it runs real good, and is in good cosmetic shape, before you buy it.

 

[tdaugherty]

Bruce,
I'd get a new universal replacement seat. I've used that caulky stuff, and it doesn't look that great when finished.} A new seat would look better.

 

[csanderson]

Thomas Gue- Welcome. If you go up to the top of this page, and click on the "parts look up" box, then when it asks for your model number put in 127, and follow from there, you can get an exploded vue of your tractor. That might help to start with, and maybe later in the day some of the guys will have better pictures for ya.

 

[hsimon]

Need some help on a 1450 with no fire at the points. I have replaced the Points, Coil, Codensor and plug and still have no fire at the points!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Could it be a bad ground and if so where? I'm pulling what little hair I have left out over this!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[mhomrighausen]

Hugh S. This spring the Keepsake 1650 did the same thing. It turned out to be the ignition switch had enough crud on the connections to cause the problem. The switch was only a couple of years old and ahrdly used. I'd start checking such things as grounds and such.... (or the switch

.)

 

[wshytle]

Tim D & Wayne M - Thanks guys. I haven't had a chance to get back to the tractor since it got a rain cover yesterday. The metalic sticker on the side is unreadable plus another member says the oil pan is flat on the K-241 which should be an easy way to tell. It's a factory replacement for sure and black. This is information I got second hand but came from the original owner. He died about ten years ago so the seller was the second owner. My main concern now is that slop in the gear shifter. Thanks again guys, Wayne S.

 

[bnolte]

Art and others:
I might give the Goop a try. It reminds me of another product called Shoe Goo, which was marketed to people like hikers who wore the soles of their shoes out quickly. The area to be repaired is underneath, so if the repair is sound but a little ugly it doesn't really matter. I pretty much struck out trying to find sheet rubber locally. If that doesn't work, I'll see how well the other seat on my parts 102 cleans up, but right now the tractor is being defended by a battalion of yellow jackets, and the nest is somewhere on the underside. Perhaps a new seat is my best option!

On another front, I got some good news from Binder Books yesterday. The decals for the 102 are on their way

 

[bnolte]

Hugh,
If you have a voltmeter or a 12 volt test light, check to see if you are getting 12 volts on the + terminal of the coil with the ignition switch on. Make sure the points are open. Move the negative lead around from the frame or engine ground to to the negative lead on the battery terminal, which might help you diagnose whether the problem is switch related or ground related. If you get 12 volts with the ignition on at the + terminal of the coil only if you have the negative lead on the negative terminal on the battery, suspect a ground problem. If you can't get voltage with the ignition switch on even with the negative lead of your meter or test lamp on the negative battery terminal, you probably have a bad switch, or bad wire terminations on the switch.

If you get 12 volts from the + terminal of the coil to ground with the points open, then the ignition switch is probably ok. If so, check to see if you still have 12 volts on the points side of the coil to ground. If you don't, then the coil is probably bad. If you have 12 volts on the points side of the coil, rotate the engine by hand until the points close. When the points close, the voltage from the points side of the coil to ground should pretty much go to zero. If it doesn't, then you have issues with the points.

Hope this is helpful

 

[wshytle]

Bruce N. - Aren't yellow jackets a wonderful thing? It's the only wasp, or bee I know of that will get you from both ends stinging and biting and come back for seconds. I mowed over a nest the other day, unknowingly of course until I came back around. I got tagged by only one before I found third gear. If the nest you have is underneath the tractor I'd get a long chain and pull it a few feet to make sure they're in the ground and not taking over the underside of the deck. I let the jackets calm down and watch to find the hole then return in late evening (or even night) with about a cup of gas. Don't light the gas!!! It's the raw gas that kills them instantly. Once it is in the hole you won't see another jacket and they won't ever come back to that spot (so I've been told). It's not the most environmentally sound way but it works and a cup of gas, I think, will be filtered by earth and not even make it to ground water. I'm sure you knew this but maybe there are some readers that didn't.

 

[rpalmer]

Wayne Shytle, I freaked out when I found wasps or bees underground. I went to move an old compost heap with my hands. Out they came and off I went. My neighbors thought I was nuts running around trying to get to the other side of the house. Until that time I never knew that they lived underground. And even now whenever I go to move something that has been sitting on the ground for more that a week my heart starts to race and I mentally prepare to run.

As for sheet rubber. A thrown away semi tractor inner tube works great. And the price of free can't be beat either. Hope this helps.

 

[dfrisk]

KENNETH D. - YEARS ago my 38" deck had some looseness in the spindles that I couldn't adjust out. I "Carefully" sanded/filed the spacers down just a bit to take out the looseness in the tapered bearings. A couple years later I was working with two Engineers at a food processing equip. company that both had Cub Cadets. The one engineer, probably the smartest Engineer I've ever had the pleasure of working with told Me the angle ground into the races of tapered bearings is a 7 to 1 taper, in other words, for every .001" I removed from the side of the spacers I was tightening up the bearinggs .007". I kinda got the bearings just a bit too tight and the bearings would run REALLY warm.

Another thing I think makes those decks pull hard is the internal friction or hysterious (sp?)of the rubber in the belt driving the outer spindles. That also reduces as the belt warms up.

Nice thing about those 38" & 42" decks is once they're adjusted in and mowing nice they seem to mow really well and they're made heavy enough they hold their adjustment for ever! My 38" deck I've mowed with most of the time this summer mows great, and I performed the "Blue-printing" Steve B. describes in the FAQ's over 20 yrs ago. I keep the blades sharp & balanced, keep the accumulated grass removed, couple shots of grease on each spindle every time I mow. It does seem to be a little harder on mule drive belts now than it was with the K241, but then mowing weeds as tall as the hood will do that.