Archive through February 07, 2018

[dropte]

Decals are just on the opposite sides of the hood. Someone who had my 782 before me did the same thing

 

[mgwin]

Christopher,

I agree with David. Go see the guy you bought it from and see what he has. The correct column and steering wheel may be laying somewhere amidst those "projects" he has. He may even have it on a JD "project".

The column in my pic goes on another 100 I plan to restore later.
Give me a few days, and let me see what I have.

 

[hydroharry]

Geez, I've been away a few days and got a lot to catch up on here.

Shultzie - I couldn't get your link to work.

Jeff B -

Charlie - is that your brand new ship "floor" in that pic???

Christopher Y - Welcome to the Forum. This is the best place to get all your info on IH Cub Cadets. I agree with the others. Hopefully you can get your correct steering column from the previous owner. Otherwise, there are at least 3 or 4 versions (different lengths) for IHCC units and it's hard to know which length is correct without having the original.

 

[ekincaid]

Christopher Y looks to me like your decals are on backwards I’m pretty sure the “hydrostatic”scripting should be near the stearing tower and the “cub cadet” script should be towards the front of the tractor

 

[digger]

Harry,
Never had a new floor after the fire, just used the old one. The one in the pic is the shop up the hill.

 

[mfrade]

To quote Jim Storma, "Got a replacement crankshaft for the 169. I'm not doing any performance upgrades, but just wondering if it's worth the money to dynamically balance this? Would it cut down significantly on the vibration to the operator? Also, is it worth the money on a steel leaded bearing insert? I would think it would save the crank pin from needing to be reground next time an overhaul is needed.
What do you experienced Kohler engine guys think?"

I can't say I'd consider myself "experienced in all things Kohler" but I did overhaul my 169 a year or two ago and I decided to try Mr. Kirks balance weight and it has left me wanting, The vibration level is just un-satisfactory so if we were in different positions, I'd be having the complete rotating assembly neutral balanced in an attempt to keep my feet and hands from going numb. It vibrated that bad. On the other question. If you do this rebuild properly will you really have to worry about wearing it out again?

 

[dkirk]

Jim Storma,

Here are my thoughts on dynamically balancing crankshafts for single-cylinder engines – in summary, it is a waste of time and money. The typical single-cylinder engine inherently has unresolved inertia forces that will cause vibration of the engine structure. The best compromise that can be made (without resorting to complicated, counter-rotating or reciprocating balance masses) is to strive for a 50% RBF (Reciprocating Balance Factor). The mass of the piston assembly and upper end of the con rod constitute the reciprocating mass. The lower end of the rod, crankshaft crankpin and throws, constitute the rotating mass. Ideally, the crankshaft counterweights are sized such that their mass counterbalances the rotating mass by 100% and the reciprocating mass by 50%. This results in the least amount of transmitted vibration into the engine structure, and in turn, into the surrounding vehicle.

These K-series engines were typically underbalanced – that is the RBF is around 27%. Reasoning is twofold:

1) Underbalancing allows the engine to shake more along the vertical (cylinder) axis. Vibrational forces oriented in this direction are felt less by the operator in a vehicle application such as a tractor.

2) The K-series engines are fitted with balance gears for certain applications. These balance gears effectively increase the RBF to 50%.

The balance gears have proven unreliable in high-time engines and when they fail, they usually cause severe damage to the engine block. The general consensus is to remove them and live with slightly increased vibration.

There are ways around this, however. You can drill the counterweights and install tungsten plugs (heavy metal) or buy a counterweight plate from me that will substitute for the balance gears and restore the 50% RBF. Another thing to be aware of is the mass of the piston assembly. If you are rebuilding your engine and using aftermarket parts, beware of the increased mass of the piston and especially the wrist pin, when compared to the OEM (Original Equipment Manufactured) parts. I’ve found that the Stens pistons are close to the OEM Kohler part, but the wrist pin is almost double the mass of OEM! The aftermarket pin has very thick wall section, whereas the Kohler pin is quite thin. It is the mass of the recip assembly that is the principal generator of these recip inertia forces and must be kept as light as possible. I advocate reusing the Kohler pin in the new piston after you measure everything up and check that it will fit dimensionally.

Assuming the engine is now at the 50% target RBF, will it run as smoothly as an opposed-6 or V-8…absolutely not! There are still going to be unresolved forces that will cause vibration, but the engine will be perceived to be smoother just because these internal forces have been minimized, thus reducing the vibrational amplitude. Now you could take the crankshaft to a balance shop and instruct them to dynamically balance the assembly to a 50% RBF. This would entail making up a correctly sized bobweight to affix to the crankpin, spinning up the crankshaft, and removing or adding metal where needed. This may alter the RBF by 1 or 2%, but this small change would have almost no effect on the total transmitted vibration from the running engine. As a matter of fact, there is no discernable change in vibrational amplitude felt by the tractor operator if the RBF varies from 45 to 55%. This is why I feel that dynamically balancing crankshafts for these engines is just a waste.

Hope this hasn’t been too long winded. This is a moderately complex subject that I’ve hopefully hit on all the key issues.

 

[mgwin]

Anyone know how long the steering "tube" is supposed to be on a 127?

The "gear" housings appear to all be the same length.

As Harry mentioned, different model cubs have different lengths of steering columns.

 

[jstorma]

Mike Frade,

Nothing last forever! You found that out because you had to rebuild your engine like a lot of us.

You can do the best job ever, but there is only so much you can do to prolong it's life. I was hoping balancing and the rod insert would help prolong it's life and help save a crank shaft that is NLA.

Dave,

Thanks for the explanation. As always very helpful! Would you recommend what Mike suggested; a neutral balance?

I would be using an aftermarket kit, I used one in my 1650. I did not know the piston pin was different. My 169 appears to have had an aftermarket kit installed at it's time of it's last overhaul.

 

[kmcconaughey]