Archive through September 13, 2012

[wcarmichael]

Someone who owned my 126 before me painted over the Kohler engine nameplate. In removing that paint, I screwed up and also took off most of the black on the nameplate. Does anyone know if you can get a replacement metal nameplate with the same information, including the stamped numbers? I can contact Kohler but thought I'd ask here first. Thanks

 

[hydroharry]

Amy, Amy, Amy - pink! It really won't match well with the attachments. And then when it gets older - well "faded pink", I don't think you'll like it as well.
I don't know why your 3rd pic didn't come thru until this A.M. but I'll post it for benefit of all. I think you're right about grinding off the weld on the shear pin bracket and pulling the shaft, unless the shaft going into the auger will pull out when you remove the bolt.
Now, no one has provided the actual number on their PTO bearing and I'll still see if I can find it some place. If you have to buy new flanges and the bearings it begins to get a little costly. And, although the thrower worked great when you were little, I'm wondering if you realized, the bigger you got the shorter distance it appears to throw snow (when you're little 10ft looks like along way, but when you're bigger 10ft isn't as far). Keep us informed as you progress.

Now, for all the rest of you guys talking about RPMs, no one mentioned the engine shaking at less than WOT. I know the 10s and 12s are fairly smooth through out the rpm range, but once you get to a 14 and 16 they do shake. And as far as the cooling, I don't think IH would have added the side panels in the Quiet Line era if the cooling was an issue - but they did boost the idle speed up to 1500 or 1800 (don't recall what's in the manual) which was discussed as being for cooling. Seems if it resulted in more heat you can throw that theory out. Maybe it was for less shaking.
Now, I'm still waiting to hear from Matt on the tach situation. I sure like my vibra tach - where you rotate it to get the perfect harmonic bounce - really scientific, and right out of the Kohler manual.

 

[hydroharry]

Here is Amy's 3rd pic.

 

[jstertz]

Guys- Im rebuilding my first mechanical PTO on my sons 125. I downloaded the manual and have it disassembled completely. The friction disk was broken into fairly small pieces. The bearing wasn't in great shape either. The pressure plate still looks good. My question is--the new bearing with locking collar I ordered has a small snap ring inside near the "front" edge while my old bearing was just smooth inside--do I put the bearing on the crank until that snap ring touches the crank? Also, how tight does that locking collar need to be? My new locking collar doesn't have a jam nut on the set screw either!?!

I just want to make sure I do this right so I can get many more years of use. Any other tips on reassembly would be greatly appreciated!

 

[kide]

Harry - Which CPE section did you find the CW36 in? I've got most everything that was on here and the other forum..

 

[kmcconaughey]

Joshua, hmmm, not sure I've seen a PTO bearing with the snap ring. The bearing is supposed to be installed with the outer edge flush with the end of the crank. There should be a snap ring inside the PTO pulley/housing that would be a stop for installing the PTO onto the bearing. All the installed PTO bearings I've come across didn't have the lock nut on the setscrew, just a plain setscrew. <strike>Drive</strike> Tap the locking collar on with a hammer and punch then tighten the setscrew.

Gerry, the auger and auger drive parts for the CW-36 are nearly the same as for the BB-36. The BB-36 manual has the parts listing in them.

BB-36 1

BB-36 2

 

[akleyla]

HA HA HA Harry, well the attachments will all be repainted also white with pink hi-lites of course. Last time the tractor was re-painted was in 94' with grandpa. I think this throws farther than 10' believe it or not,but it all depends on how wet the snow is too.Ive used this since 94 when grandpa gave this to me. I figure its 43 years old an the thrower has never been touched except adding grease an new belts for the PTO. I have considered buying another one with a wider housing,but really the driveway an sidewalks here this is more than enough.I didnt get to play last year here in Indiana,what snow we had was so little

I just have a feeling this year its going to get a workout all winter long. This summer with the drought the tractor had a long break since the first of April.I will say though the grass now is growing like crazy so we are mowing twice a week.I love the 42" deck.I wish at times it was larger,but not sure I can put a larger deck on it ?

 

[hydroharry]

Gerry - I don't have my CPE-2 here with me but the CW36 is in the Thrower equipment section, along with all the other throwers. Top of the page says CW36, but the blocked heading says LW36 which maybe a typo.

Amy, Amy, Amy - pink hi-lites? I like to leave hi-lites to my Miller (no, that's Hi-Life). I know the throwing distance varies, but what do you think you average? 20ft? 25ft? When you were riding with Gramps 25ft must have seemed like 50ft does now. I was actually just wondering what distance you get with a CW36. IH did have a few different gears in the gear boxes on these throwers, not sure of the ratio but the later ones I believe were 3:2 (I think the tillers were 2:1). Hey, maybe Joshua S can tell us the actual bearing number on the grease seal of his old PTO bearing. Then you could grab one and see if it fits your flanges.

Joshua S - any chance you can look at your old PTO bearing and give us the bearing number stamped into the grease seal??? (This isn't the bearing part number, it's the actual bearing number used by the bearing manufacturer).
Also, I see Kraig already responded to your other questions. Yes you need to remove that snap ring on the inside of the bearing itself. I've seen that on some bearings and it's not for use in this application. You need to follow the install instructions in the Service Manual, which I believe requires you to slide the bearing on until it's flush with the end of the crankshaft. I've also seen the jam nut on the set screw for the locking collar. Not sure why the replacements didn't use this. It's kind of extra safety but I guess not necessary. Kraig said to "drive" the collar on using a hammer and punch. "Drive" sounds to me like you have to really hit it. Although I generally agree with Kraig I would not suggest you "drive" it. You will want to be able to remove this again about 20 years from now, so I would suggest you "tap" on the locking collar with a hammer and punch, in that little dimple area, so the collar rotates on the eccentric area of the bearing. Make sure you rotate the collar in the correct direction (per the Service Manual). If I recall correctly, the collar only rotates about 3/8" from it's unlock position (less than a 1/4 turn). As long as it's "locked" to the bearing that's sufficient. Then tighten down the set screw to lock it in position. I never tried reusing the old allen screw and jam nut but you could if you like.

 

[kmcconaughey]

Harry, I did not intend it to be really hammered on, I meant drive it as in "rotate" it, thus, I have edited my post to read "tap" not drive.

 

[dfrisk]

MIKE F. - That was TWO years ago? My... Time does fly when you're having fun!

GERRY - Yes, LUGGING does do bad bad things to engines, especially when at very low RPM. Case in point, the old JD R diesel Dad had back in 1964 only had two main bearings, 416 CID governed to 975 RPM, you weren't supposed to lug them down very much, the crankshafts would break. Full load was fine, but don't pull them down to 600-700 RPM.

Typical definition of "Lugging" is operating an engine at such a speed & load that the engine can NOT accelerate, gain RPM when additional throttle is given. So techincally, full load operation, WOT is lugging. The engine can't produce any more power to gain RPM, so can't accelerate. Any additional load would slow the engine RPM. Years ago the old 70 with the K161 spent a LOT of time at full load, I guess that's why we had to rebuild it every three years. The added heat and cylinder pressure did bad things to the life of the engine. If anyone else has a different or better definition of Lugging, would you please share it with the rest of the class?

You read the info on different garden tractor pulling sites and they ALL say that 4000 RPM is the point you enter the "Twilight Zone" for flywheel explosion on a Kohler engine. There were pic's posted here ten yrs or so ago of what was left of a CC that blew up a flywheel. You guys have probably seen the video of a FARMALL 1206 that exploded a flywheel in a tractor pull last spring, completely cut the tractor in two. The centrifugal force trying to explode the flywheel increases at a squared rate to the increase in RPM, If 4000 RPM is the limit, why would you run 3600 full load and 3800 no load RPM if you don't really need to? You're just flirting with disaster IMO. The weak spot on Kohler's is the conn rod. It's experiencing the same added stress from increased RPM, and they do break frequently. Running that fast when a rod lets go just guarantees you'll be looking for a new block when the broken rod punches a hole in it. That's not to say a Kohler can't run a long time @ 3600 RPM, but the fatique life of the rod is finite, and un-needed stress on it doesn't seem like a good idea to extend the life of the engine. Have a good friend who's grandpa gave him a CC 107 back around 1978 or so. Ran fine, then one day he started it, idled it a minute, moved the hydro lever still at idle to back out of the garage to mow, and the engine went... "BANG" and stopped. Broke the rod. He bought a new rod, put a new head gasket in, couple other gaskets and traded it in on a brand new off-topic green tractor, never even started the CC after he repaired it. So rods can break even at idle speed.

So it seems the factors we have to consider when running our tractors, in no specific order, are as follows; 1. Engine cooling air flow; 2. Implement performance; 3. fuel usage (at $4/gal gas you HAVE to consider it!) 4. noise & vibration (want to keep your neighbors happy right?) 5. life expectancy of the machine/engine;
Any others?

If you're mowing with a small HP tractor, 7-8 HP, you'll probably be running closer to wide open most if not all the time. With higher HP tractors, not so much. I can't really imagine there's much difference between Michian grass and Wisconsin grass, but my mowers do a fine job of mowing when they're sharp around 2400-2600 RPM, some places they won't cut all the grass even if I ran the engine 10,000 RPM, so I end up making a second pass over that area.

One question I do have for those of you who mow WOT,.... You don't engage the PTO clutch at that engine speed do you?