Archive through December 11, 2010

[aaytay]

This isn't good...

I just got home after picking up my wife from work. (I brought her to work in the Suburban this morning because her car is too low to the ground to do well in the snow)

As I'm pulling up our driveway tonight, (curvy, uphill, and about 120yrds long) I see tracks that were not from my truck. Halfway up the driveway, I see where someone had gotten stuck and dug themselves out. As I get to the top of the driveway by the house there is a Mid Sized SUV "parked" across our driveway with two people outside of it trying to dig it out (again). They made it to the top by the house, tried to turn around and then got stuck.

It turns out the single neighbor lady, who lives next door, needed a ride home from work (her car wouldn't make it through this snow) and when the kid who brought her home couldn't get out of our road he decided to use our driveway as a "turn around". (???)

Scratching my head, I didn't understand WHY he was in our driveway, so I asked and he said, "I thought maybe if I got up here there would be a clear place for me to turn around, but there wasn't."

HUH????????????????

Shortly after I arrived (and got stuck in my own driveway because he was in the way) his dad shows up and proceeds to get stuck in our driveway behind my truck, which is behind his kids truck.

Long story short, we got everybody out, but now my driveway (I planned on clearing it in the morning if the howling winds died down) is 4" of solid packed snow.
(16" of snow + packing = 4" packed snow)

Now I'm going to need a hammer and chisel to clean the driveway tomorrow. Sigh!

 

[kmcconaughey]

Tim, any chance you could post a photo of the sub frame on that snowthrower? Does it look like it's been modified?

 

[kmcconaughey]

Art, bummer! There should be a way to bill people for being stupid...

 

[aaytay]

Chris! Good to see you post!

That sure is a PURDY tractor.

 

[adonohue]

well you guys will probably be happy with my decision to NOT part out and junk the 147. there are already too many of this generation of garden tractors, no matter what manufacturer either in the junk pile or headed for the junk pile. today i bought a rebuild-able block. its a k301, i know that it is a 12 hp, but the guy i bought it from said that it can be bored out to fit a 14hp, k321 piston. i looked in the book and the only difference is the size of the bore between the k301 and k321 engines. i have know this gentlemen for a long time, he was my former boss from the first job i ever worked. my first job was at a small engine repair shop. considering that this guy has been in the business for 30 years, i consider him to be a reliable source. he sold me a complete k301 block, good crankshaft, and camshaft for 100 bucks. i already have the block torn down to a bare block and he is going to send it out for me monday to have it bored out. he also has in stock stens/rotary rebuild kits for k series engines. im also trying to determine if the mower deck pan on the auction site is the proper pan. i emailed the lister and told him to get me complete measurements.

 

[aschumacher]

Art, just throw your tiller on the back of your tractor. It will make you think Spring is near!..

 

[canton]

Art, It's hard to feel sorry for someone who has a 755 with a FEL on it to fix that snow packing problem...LOL!

 

[canton]

Thanks for the info Kraig. I guess it may just come down to try finding a parted out QA36A...??

 

[kmcconaughey]

Andrew, why bother boring that out to K321 specs? That just makes it less rebuild-able in the future!!! The K301 in my 125 was rebuilt by David Kirk to his "Killer Kohler" specs, it's just a standard .030 oversize with LOTS of other mods. If I recall, David calculates that it's making around 17hp, though that's not from a dyno, just calculations on paper. (If it is making 17hp that could explain why I keep wearing out PTO clutches.) If I had had it over bored to a K321 I would not be able to rebuild it as many times. Also I'm not so sure that all K301 blocks are the same as K321 blocks, soooo you may want to verify that before you go over boring it.

Here's the specs of my K301 that David provided to me:

<blockquote><hr size=0><!-quote-!><font size=1>quote:</font>

KRAIG McCONAUGHEY’S KOHLER K301 ENGINE BUILD SUMMARY

Block- Intake and exhaust runners ported and polished, all corners radiused
Intake port chamfer filled and matched to carburetor thermal isolator
Intake and exhaust valve pockets relieved on deck surface
Bored .030 oversize to 3.405 diameter
Total displacement = 29.594 in^3

Head- Decked .045
Spark plug hole radiused and blended in combustion chamber
Compression ratio = 7.55:1

Camshaft- Reground “Cheater” cam supplied by Madson
Lift* – Ex =.285 In = .312
Duration* – Ex = 254º In = 282º
Overlap = 50º Lobe center separation = 105º.
*Measured seat-to-seat with lash set .009 in, .014 ex

Valves- Stellite exhaust valve, stock intake valve, both polished and lower seat edge radiused

Crankshaft- K-321 (large counterweights)

Piston- Style “D” Mahle brand with supplied ring set

Con Rod- Kohler forged aluminum rod, P/N 45 067 18 (for K-361 engine)
Rod shank polished and oil holes chamfered

Breather- Billet aluminum breather cover with extended draft tube

Carburetor- Kohler brand with venturi machined to .875 diameter for 15% area increase

Ignition- Bosch “Blue” ignition coil triggered by PointSaver module via production breaker points. Ignition advance = 20º btdc.

Assembly Clearances –
Cam endplay .004
Crankshaft endplay .007
Top ring end gap .018
Second ring end gap .019
Rod to crankpin .0012
<!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote>

 

[mgonitzke]

Kraig is right...they are not the same block. The K321 block has a thicker cylinder to account for the larger diameter piston. A thin spot might be created if the K301 block is bored to a K321 bore. If the block has 'K321' cast into the PTO end it'll probably be fine, though. Otherwise, I wouldn't risk it. A good, strong, rebuilt 12 hp is probably better than a 35-year-old 14 hp. If you punch it out to a K321 bore, no one will ever be able to rebuild that block again.

 

[kmcconaughey]

Jeff U., hard to say from the photos which side is wrong. I'd have to go dig one of mine out to compare it to in order to be sure. Here's a photo of some of my deck subframes from last summer when Art did some welding on them for me. From the looks of them with the fork end laying on the floor, both the front parts should be up. The one you have appears to be down on the left side (right side when looking at your top photo. Soooooo, I'd have to guess that the left side (right side in your top photo) needs to be bent up.

If you have access to a press you might be able to tweak that. Just go easy. UPDATE: PLEASE SEE MY POST ABOVE, THE POST RIGHT ABOVE CHARLIE'S POST.

 

[digger]

Art!

BTW, you guys down by the cities and points east, I'll trade you some of my temps for some of your snow!

 

[kmcconaughey]

Jeff U., on second thought as I look at those, the two parts on the right, (left side in your top photo) should be parallel where they are welded. Sooooo, I'm going to change my mind and say that the the right side is, er, wrong.

Charlie, feel free to come and get all the snow you want. Might want to drive that big dump truck/snowplow you have.

 

[sblunier]

Chris,

Emailed you about the chute.

For extra reach, you might consider dropping a driven pulley size (1/2"-3/4" undersized diameter), provided your thrower is in good solid shape and the driveline is solid. This can really add to the throwing distance.

Also, run it as full as you can (harder with a gear drive) to maximize performance.

782 with 1/2" smaller driven pulley on QA-42A a couple years ago....

And.....just for Kraig & Denny....

"Ramming Speed"

 

[kmcconaughey]

Steve B.,

But for proper ramming speed one really should have a Blungineered Ramming Speed &#153; lift rod!

 

[kmcconaughey]

Jeff U., like this:

All three parts should be parallel in this view, the rear most part in this view is rotated clockwise in this view.

Say, is that a Peavy amp I see in the background?

 

[dhess]

just picked up a 782 with mower and blade. Will the wheel weights Sears sell fit on this tractor? Don't want to pay shipping on something this heavy. If not any other idea's?
thanks

 

[kmcconaughey]

Daniel, if the Sears weights are for a 12" diameter Garden Tractor rim they should fit.

 

[sblunier]

Kraig,

That was the first year I owned my house and the first winter with my 129 (no hyd. lift, etc).

First snow storm out of the gate was New Years, '98/'99 and we got 16" with lots of wind.

The "Blungineered lift rod" was invented a few weeks later due to that storm experience

I also vowed to have a snow thrower the next winter. Picked up the hyd. lift parts and a nice (almost new) QA-36B from Don Vogt on Fourth of July 1999

....A lot has happened since then....

1999

Ramming Speed #2...

 

[dross]

Andrew, Kraig, Matt, About a year and a half ago that same question came up. From the blocks I've had acess to, if the block has 301 cast into it, it can be bored out. If it doesn't have 301 cast into it, it was built before a certain date and can't be bored out past 30 over. Using calipers the thinest part of the finned area is at the base. The blocks I mesured (10, 12 and 14 horse blocks) were vertually identical in this area if the 301 was cast into it.