MIKE - I've had my 982 either ten or eleven years. It was like a whole new tractor when I got it. Fresh rebuild on the Onan, all new tires, all new paint, two new mufflers, new drive shaft, new intake manifold. new dash panel, seems like there were some more new parts. PLUS I paid for all those new parts in the price.
I haven't used it much, about 325 hours, been my main mowing tractor last summer and so far this summer and a few times each summer before that. And I've NEVER been happy with the way the engine responded to increased load. If the load came on slow and gradual it would pull the engine RPM down...and down...and down, but if I gave the throttle lever a quick jab wide open that Onan would BARK and wind right on up against the governor.
Well, about two-three years ago the throttle got real sensitive, expecially when it was hot. It would wind up really fast when the load was reduced and I'd have to throttle down. It was like the throttle lever was connected to the throttle blade in the carb, not to the governor. I started visiting the OTHER Brand's website since the other brand used a L-O-T of Onan engines. Turns out the poorly designed governor on the B48G engines is a plastic ten fingered wheel just pressed onto a shoulder on the cam drive gear with five 1/2 inch dia. ball bearings flying out against a conical shaped steel disc and the plastic finger wheel gets hot and expands WAY more than the cast iron gear and slips which makes the engine "THINK" It's running much slower than it really is so it keeps the throttle blade in the carb open farther, increasing RPM. To repair it the way the service manual recommends is over $700 for parts plus requires COMPLETE engine disassembly. You have to install a new cam drive gear on the crankshaft, new driven gear with governor on the camshaft, and all new gaskets & seals.
Someone on the other site made a plastic block about a half inch wide, 3/8" thick and two inches long that fits between two of the ten fingers on the govenor wheel and sits in a recess cast into the governor/cam driven gear.
The plan is to pull the engine and install a block in my Onan later this summer when the grass stops growing so fast.
With the tens of thousands of welder/generators powered with these old Onan opposed twin cyl. engines I can't believe they didn't have a better designed governor than that. Plus about every 30-40 hours I have to reset the points gap. There is NO WAY to set ignition timing with a timing light like on a K-series Kohler. Parts are unbelievably expensive, and most inquiries at my local dealer result in laughs & chuckles from the parts guy before he says "NLA".
I really like the tractor, it has all the options, Cat O 3-pt, rear PTO, aux. frt remotes, & steering brakes. I spent some time several months ago researching Duetz air cooled diesel engines. I know somewhere there's something like a Ditch-Witch trencher or something that has a 2-cyl in-line air-cooled Duetz diesel for power than I would drop in that 982 in a second.
