Archive through July 12, 2009

[jdiederichs]

Kraig,

Good advice on the condenser, however Kohler did have some bad coils that reached the field stock as well. They were heat sensitive and broke down as the engine warmed. Some simply stopped working all together after a few hours.

As far as the K161, I know it is hard to believe but these are still in production in Kohler's Mexico plant (KOMEX)! They sell every one they can build. They are used extensively in South America to repower older generators, pumps etc.
North America does not allow them at all anymore due to emissions regulations.
Most K161 repairs can be made using later series 161 parts 2 15/16ths bore instead of 2 7/8" (same as K 181) For restoring purposes this allows the use of the stock block etc.

Back to the Komex story for a moment; the K series are still being produced there regularly according to Komex's director, Mr. Padilla. K-301's lead the demand after the 161, but it is common to see new K-341's as well. Too bad we cannot access these. While I worked at Kohler, it was common to see skids of K-series short blocks, complete engines, pistons etc be hauled outside and smashed to scrap lately. As the economy staled, Kohler removed a huge number of cast iron engine parts from "the books" as they were not high movers, how sad that was! Part of the reason was to make room for their diesel parts stock, moved from Ga. to WI.

 

[aaytay]

Richard-
LOL! Maybe you and I owned the same 100....both spindles were locked up so tight on this one, I had the tie-rod ends unbolted, and could barely rotate them by hitting them with a hammer!

You'd think if someone went through the trouble and expense of replacing the steering gear with a new one, they would have addressed that little spindle issue...

<font size="-2">..Which is probably what caused the original steering gear to fail in the first place!</font>

Jim-
Sad news...

 

[rpalmer]

Don Blake,

This is only me but this is one of the things I look at.

If I were to buy on Original it would half to have a 7 HP Kohler. To me this gives it value and is correct. I know some out there have an 8 HP and I still would pass on them. But I'm just a grouchy old man.(who spends money on what he wants)

BTW. Charlie I'm still trying to get my money together for my hydraulic pump order but the starter went out on my HD and it's still summertime.

 

[mfisher]

Lotsa' text around here. Time for a couple of photos to break things up.

 

[sstanton]

Still havent been able to find the main needle seat in my carb! Does anyone know where I could get one? I was also wondering if I have to drill or use a dremel tool to get the screws out of the butterflys on the choke shaft. I normally stay right away from carbs but I wanted to do the entire 104 myself so I could say that it was totally mine! Any pointers in the right direction would be awesome! Thanks ahead!

 

[pdorow]

Frank S.

Ignition timing could be off a bit causing overheating thus making the exhaust valve stick. Or the exhaust valve is just sticking from carbon etc. on the valve stem.

Add some marvel mystry oil to your gas to desolve any carbon deposits.

 

[rpalmer]

Scott Stanton,

To get the parts you have to call/look for the correct thing. You have a main jet. Not a main seat. You have a seat for the needle but not a main seat. Needles (one) and seats (one) come with Kohler carb rebuild kits. The main jet does not. You can get the main jet from Brian Miller. Google his name or see the June 10 postings for his link.

Awhile back there was talk about Cub Cadets having "self polarizing" starter generators.

Very basiclly this seems true. But it's the way the units are externally wired and not because they are totally different from other generators.

If your starter generator has two wires on the A terminal (the one from the starter solenoid) here's what's going on. The two wires are 1.) battery voltage from the solenoid. And 2.) the generator wire. When you start the tractor you get the battery voltage applied to the generator wire and it should be polarized as it starts.

If you have only one wire on the A terminal it is the battery voltage from the solenoid. The generator wire on there tractors is connected to the solenoid where it gets it's battery voltage when the tractor starts. Thus making it appear that they are self polarizing. And depending on how you want to look at it maybe they are. But don't assume they are and that you will never need to polarize yours.

 

[bflyons]

Frank S.

I agree with Paul Dorow. A couple years back I had a problem with my 147. It would overheat after about 20 minutes and then start losing power. Eventually it would stall. Turns out that my timing was not just off, but that the points themselves were broken! I have no idea how the old girl managed to start in the first place. A new set of points and corrected timing and I was back in business. I see you've already changed the points, but I would check the timing to be sure. Also keep in mind that these things can be quite iterative. You start out thinking it's one thing and change something. Then you change something else but forget to change back the first thing you changed. It's possible you have more than one problem and that a "smoking gun" may not be found. Just my 2 cents.

 

[rwilke]

Mike F.,
That sure is a sharp-looking Cub!

I'm no expert by any means, nor am I too proud to ask: Is that a 129?
If so, what month/year of production was it?

The reason for me asking is I see that it has the "flat bar adjuster" for the deck belt tension below the front grille instead of the spring....like my 129 has.
My CC 129 is serial #450895, so it's my understanding that makes it manufactured in October 1972.

Keeping the yellow & white faith!
RWilke

 

[sstanton]

Richard Palmer, thanks for clearing that up for me! As you can tell I'm no carb guy! Ironically I did find Brian Miller's website and will be ordering that part from him. I must have googled twenty ways to Sunday before I got the right combination of words right!! Overall I found a ton of sites but none of them offered what I needed, and I had no idea how much a new carb was till today! Lets just say I could buy every kit for the carb and not even come close to cost of a new one. Hard to believe somthing the size of my hand could be sooooo much!!!

 

[rbarnes]

Mike, is that a trailer light harness on the back of that 149? ...

 

[rbeem]

I got some new jewelry for my "148" plow tractor that I have to share.
Man I've fought "like everybody" for a place to stick my wrenches at plow days. Aaron Schmidt came up with this and its Sweet!

It comes bare metal, so I thoroughly de-burred and sandblasted it.
I painted it with Rustoleum clean metal primer (white) and an MTD spray bomb and then top coated with some Krylon clear.
I also added a couple of drain holes in the bottom as well as the IH emblem and door edge chrome "anti-rattle" strip.

As you can see,the Brinly hitch straps are an area to watch. Mine are at the max up in the pictures. Any hitch adjustments will have to be watched closely.
I also added a couple of clear buttons on the seat mount to act keep the lid from banging on it. All in all, I'm very pleased. Except now it my tractors paint...really looks crappy.

 

[cmccall]

Dennis Frisk
The stainless shaft I used is unknown alloy, however it's about $240 for 3', it's used in a high stress, high corrosion environment, I have never seen one rust, and never seen one fail other than bearings locking down and wearing a groove. It's a ground shaft, so knowing that I didn't want to alter the diameter using a lathe, no problems on just cutting, drilling, facing etc, just don't play easy with it as I'm sure you know stainless needs to be cut with a good depth of cut or it will work harden. On the drills I work with some crazy stuff, and like you have the drills to show it... however now all I order is screw machine drills for the majority of my work, I even go one step further to the cobalt, they last so much longer, and the short length makes them a lot stronger as well.

 

[rpalmer]

Rick beem,
VERY nice job. I foresee a newly painted 148 in your futire.

 

[wheinsohn]

Ryan W.,
You probably have either a 42" or 48" deck where Mike has either a 44" or 50" deck. That is one of the differences in the mule drive for the decks.

 

[rwilke]

Wes H.,
Yep, I do have 42" decks on my 129. I didn't know that was a trait of a larger deck.... Thanks!

Richard B.,
Are you referring to Mike Fisher's Cub... that it's a 149 and not a 129?

RWilke

 

[mgerecke]

I am not sure this is in the right spot. What is the best way of shipping a 109 Cub from Arizona to St. Louis MO economically? I called a freight company and they wanted $600. Any ideas?
Thanks,
Mark

 

[mgonitzke]

Here's a dumb question...who's got a picture of #6 in this drawing? I'm sure I have one somewhere, but I gotta know what I'm looking for...Thanks!

 

[rwilke]

Richard P.,

I have only one wire on my A terminal at the starter/generator on my 129.

How do I determine if I need to polarize it?

What are the symptoms of it NOT being polarized?

After doing a SEARCH, I located these instructions on <font color="ff0000">HOW TO POLARIZE YOUR S/G</font>:

"The easiest way to do this is to take a short jumper wire and touch one end to the BATT and the other to the GEN terminals at the Voltage Regulator.
At the same moment of contact you should see a slight spark.
The spark indicates that the Starter/Generator is now polarized."

Do those instructions sound correct to you?

RWilke

 

[mstetar]

for anyone who is interested, this is the first (test!) page of my identification site let me know what you think feedback is greatly apprecated, i know a few things are going to change for sure but for now this looks pretty good to me.
http://www.exedown.us/?page_id=50