Archive through December 22, 2004

[sblunier]

$15 Vibra Tach from Briggs or Tajunksee will let you dial in your rpm...they work real well, but are a tool, not a gauge for everyday use.

 

[tgolding]

Gentlemen,

just to say thanks for all who replied via the forum and in emails. I got my rebuilt K301 running today. I took some advice that David K. gave me in an email after I re-read it and went over to my Dad's house (slip'n and a slid'n on that small road too) and stole a S/G off his Cub.Put it on, cleaned all the cable connections, made sure they were tight, checked the CR and it fired right over in about 3 turns. Now I got to go back up there and pick up the tach that I left out on the work bench so that i can set it to the proper levels.

I took "My" S/G and took it apart and cleaned it out, looked it over well and found that the brushes are about gone, and it is very "loose". I mounted it on my bench hooked it up to a jumper pack and it turned over....and smoked more than a smudge pot. So I think I will take it down to my local electric motor shop and get it rebuilt.

Oh, and just to be on the safe side, I started it three times today. now I shall cross my fingers and hope all the bugs are gone for awhile.

 

[dbellamy]

Zac-keep the faith man your so close. Now I'm not the one to be giving advise here but I was experiencing all that you have gone through and then it happened it came to life,I do not have a manual so personal experience is my only shot here I may get flamed.My carb was pukeing gas out an overflow hole? I took the bowl off & managed to remove the float gave it a shake yep there was fluid in it, I bought a new one and installed it you need to remove the carb to make the proper adj but I just tryed to make it look as close as I could by eyeball & put it back together,my spark plug looked ok, I used my test lite to make sure there was spark at my points, that was ok,next I used a feeler gauge .20 thou and set my point gap this was I think my key to success and viola fire in the hole. I have since rebuilt my carb & it will still leak fuel once in a while. I'm can't wait for this thing to run Keep smiling

 

[kweaver]

Todd G when you take your S/G to the shop besure to tell them the direction of rotation as they are backwards to other S/G's used on engines started from the flywheel end of the crank. They get rebuilt to turn the wrong direction sometimes.

 

[pdorow]

Great job Todd!!!!

 

[pbrouillette]

Todd, excellent job. That is one sweet machine. Paul B

 

[tturner]

John S.-
DON'T BUY A TINY TACH!!!!! I have had a very bad time consuming experience. Those are overated pieces of junk.

 

[tturner]

Todd I want that tractor; excellent job. How many tractors got robbed in the making?

 

[bmcmeen]

Tyler T. -

Many here will tell you exactly the opposite. In fact, the owner of the company that makes the Tiny Tach modified mine (for FREE) with a large noise suppressor to deal with "electrically noisy" Quiet Line engines.

Besides, a vibratach is a much better tool for the job in question.

<font size="-2">Judging from The Vault, there's not much that ISN'T an overrated POS to Tyler

</font>

 

[kmcconaughey]

Todd, awesome job, that is one beautiful Cub!!! Feel free to send more photos to me, I'll resize them for you.

 

[kweaver]

It aint fair , just aint fair !
Northern Ky got 24" of snow (4-5' drifts) and I got a dusting of ice ... it aint fair I tell ya

I used a borrowered Tiny Tach on my Miller Bobcat welder and it worked fine as frog hair on the Onan. I need to get one of those whenever I can think of it

Todd M after looking at your Black Stripe&#153; all night I went and eye balled my 129 ... it would look good red wouldn't it with that 20 Kawasaki mounted in it...

 

[tturner]

The owner of the company was a very nice guy and has sent me two replacements- it still isn't working so I gave up. The guy said that there was alot of electrical static that make the tach go funky. But oh well.

Also I keep forgetting to say something about my 123. I purchased a 123 from my next door neighbor and it has one of the decals on backwards. My next door neighbor repainted it, but just taped over the decals. I believe that he was the first to touch the hood (because of the paints condition) and think that it came from the factory that way. What do you think?

 

[dkirk]

The TinyTach is actually a very accurate and reliable instrument. The problem with using it on a Kohler with battery and coil ignition is the circuit resonance, caused by the coil (inductor) and condenser (capacitor). Installation of a PointSaver will eliminate the resonance as the condenser is removed, and the TinyTach works perfectly without any modifications. Another benefit is breaker point life is vastly extended and cold weather starting is much improved.

I just couldn't pass up this opportunity for a product plug.

 

[tgolding]

KENtuck: I took a white paint stick and marked the rotation before I took it off my bench...lest I forget which way it turns. Now I just need to go clean that maple bench top off from all that dust that came out of the S/G! What a mess!

 

[dkamp]

Tyler- as Cap'n Kirk noted, the coil-battery ignition system generates a substantial amount of harmonic content in both the primary AND secondary sides of the ignition coil. Using a resistor-type coil wire or resistor-type plug, as well as making sure your condenser is top-notch, will cut down the RF hash noise considerably.

BTW... I'm sure you read the directions, but for anyone else that ends up with a small-engine tachometer- there's two types- types that hook directly to the coil (-) or 'magneto kill' wire, and types that wrap around one plug wire. Doesn't hurt the former to hook it directly to the coil, but hooking the latter will cause the tach to fry.

The latter type that just wraps around the plug wire... that's called an 'inductive pickup'. I believe the Tiny Tach uses inductive pickup exclusively.

Consider an 'inductive pickup' to be nothing more than a radio antenna, and it's listening for the magnetic field generated by a sharp pulse of ignition energy. If you'd like to 'hear' what this sounds like, hold an AM radio next to the ignition system while the engine is running.

As an aside note, when someone challenges me with a poor-running boat, the first thing I do, is turn on an AM radio, and listen to see how the electrical 'health' is. Alternator whine and ignition noise tell me an awful lot about what's happening under the hatches... especially on multi-engine boats. Can do the same for small engines!

 

[rleo]

Been out sick and am catching up. As I am reorganizing my archives, it dawned on me that I now have a Dave Kamp file.

Dave: thanks for all your comments.

 

[bwatson]

That 149 looks terrific! Here's what I've done with the 1450 hydro. It has had all of the linkage replaced. That helped considerably with creep and steady speed. I ended up welding the 2 links with the coil spring. Welding eliminated most of the unsteady speed issue. The main concern is that it can't hold a steady speed at less than full speed. I have changed the fluid and filter with a genuine C.C. filter and Hy Tran. My thoughts are that the charge pump is weak. The hydro pump block and motor block are the axial type in that they require fluid under pressure to initially move the plungers. Seems like I've heard that the lift uses the lift pump for power. Since the lift is slow all the time, especially in cold weather, thats how I'm thinking.

 

[jbliler]

Merry Christmas to all!
Thanks to B&B for the seasonal gift to all.

 

[echilton]

im new to forum i bought a 149 hydro with pto
hydralics deck lift what do ineed to convert to
3 pt cat 0 i have a sleeve hitch

 

[bmcmeen]

Ray L. -

I'll bet the FBI does, too

Was out sick til today, too. Went around the corner to the newish (about a year old) sushi place at 9th & Michigan and could see the Field from the window. If you're up to it, let's try it some day.