Jim L.,
In regards to your question of which Cubs had balance gears, that question doesn't lend to an easy answer.
According to the Cub FAQ data,
http://cubfaq.com/enginespecs.html , the 10, 12, 14, and 16HP engines had balance gears. However, folks that have opened up their aforementioned Kohlers have claimed that not ALL of them had balance gears inside.
A few months ago, we tried to gather balance gear data from the folks here, but the effort didn't go very far....and understandably, because many of our Cubs have had engine work done where the gears may have been removed years ago, they've had engine transplants from other Cubs, they've had newer replacement engines installed. So along the past 40+ years we were not able to generate a true pattern or answer to that question.
The data gathered was not able to determine a pattern relating the presence of balance gears to Cub model or serial #, engine serial or Spec #, etc....... The only visual balance gear indicator (from outside the crankcase) that was determined was the number and location of the oil dipsticks.
OF THE DATA GATHERED, a general consensus was determined to be linked to the oil dipstick tubes, and three groups were determined:
#1) The data indicated that most Cubs equipped with a 10, 12, 14, or 16HP Kohler engines that were fitted with a long, single oil dipstick tube (located on the LH side behind the Starter/Generator),
DID NOT have balance gears.
#2) Of the Cubs equipped with a 10, 12, 14, or 16HP Kohler engines that were fitted with a single, short oil dipstick tube(located on the RH side near the cam cover),
DID HAVE balance gears.
#3) Then finally, there was a smaller, third group of Cubs what were equipped with a 10, 12, 14, or 16HP Kohler engines that were fitted with both the long AND the short oil dipstick tubes, and they likely
DID HAVE balance gears.
This makes sense since the long, single oil dipstick (located on the LH side behind the Starter/Generator) would pass the dipstick through the same location inside the block as where the balance gears were installed. Of the dual dipstick tube engines, the long tube only had a stub stick installed and thus didn't pass deep enough into the block crankcase to interfere with the balance gears.
Ryan Wilke
