New member from the Free State of Tennessee

[RealJeep]

I bought a pretty worn out 1450 H, bare bones tractor that some guy butchered by trying to shoehorn a 2 Cyl vanguard engine into. I have it stripped down to the frame and noticed that it's missing most everything y'all talk about on here. Has a manual lift and standard steering. The only hydraulics make it go.
Question: Should I try to rebuild the old 14 HP Kohler of swap in a newer engine?
Serial # 2050670U 620434 I can't find what this serial means anywhere

 

[digger]

I bought a pretty worn out 1450 H, bare bones tractor that some guy butchered by trying to shoehorn a 2 Cyl vanguard engine into. I have it stripped down to the frame and noticed that it's missing most everything y'all talk about on here. Has a manual lift and standard steering. The only hydraulics make it go.
Question: Should I try to rebuild the old 14 HP Kohler of swap in a newer engine?
Serial # 2050670U 620434 I can't find what this serial means anywhere

Welcome to the forum!

Rebuild it!
Questions 97 & 98 will have what your looking for.
http://cubfaq.com/questions.html

Then look up what month and year it was built, you'll probably ask that question anyway.

 

[dxsmith]

Your machine was built Dec 1977 off of the chart that Digger shared above. I would rebuild the Kohler, if it was mine.

 

[wh cc guy]

Welcome form another Tennessean. Good luck with your new toy.

 

[RealJeep]

Thanks for the info and welcome.
I have the Kohler 14HP and it weighs a ton. I'm not equipped to do a rebuild here so I called a small engine shop in town and he said rebuilding it was a waste of money because those engines shook so bad. Now, I'm in a quandary as to what to do. I'm open to suggestions.

 

[hdeloach]

Rebuild it
Find a reputable shop that is Kohler savvy
Be wary of the guy in MO

 

[tkhoffman]

I know you wanted to restore it. Just curious, did the V twin prevent you from putting the hood and sidepanels on? Some Cubs cane with Opposed Twin engines. Did the previous owner have an interface to get the engine to mate with driveshaft?
Making it Stock is great. Making a Worker with what you have is good too. Not sure how you plan to use the Cub.

 

[alan]

Our Cub Cadet 1650 now has an 18 horse Briggs & Stratton V2 overhead valve engine. It sticks out all over so there is no hood or side panels but with all out power it is a real rototilling machine! I am very happy with the power it has. We acquired it from our neighbor's widow after he passed. I don't know what engine was on it originally which may have been changed before this new one installed is I never really looked at that close when he came over and did some rototilling for us. It came with a belly mount mower, small disc harrow and badly beat up dumb cart that we will probably never use as my daughter already had a 4-year-old John Deere with belly mount more.

 

[tkhoffman]

Our Cub Cadet 1650 now has an 18 horse Briggs & Stratton V2 overhead valve engine. It sticks out all over so there is no hood or side panels but with all out power it is a real rototilling machine! I am very happy with the power it has. We acquired it from our neighbor's widow after he passed. I don't know what engine was on it originally which may have been changed before this new one installed is I never really looked at that close when he came over and did some rototilling for us. It came with a belly mount mower, small disc harrow and badly beat up dumb cart that we will probably never use as my daughter already had a 4-year-old John Deere with belly mount more.

Interesting. The V twin is actuslly wider then the Opposed twin? I was guessing that the would went to V engines to save room.
Except Subaru, of course. They still run Opposed cylinder engines

 

[mgonitzke]

Interesting. The V twin is actuslly wider then the Opposed twin? I was guessing that the would went to V engines to save room.
Except Subaru, of course. They still run Opposed cylinder engines

No. A Command V-twin is about an inch narrower than an M18. Not really relevant here though, as the Command and Vanguard twins are both considerably wider at the top than the K-series single that came in the tractor originally. Some creative modification of the side panels will be necessary to get them to fit this particular tractor, but it is doable.

RealJeep,

It will be tight but I have seen V-twin engines put in this series of tractor pretty cleanly. I'd suggest doing away with the ISO-mount rails...the engine will sit FAR too high with them in there, as the crank centerline height of the V-twin is higher than the K-series. This is why the engines in the 82 series (next version after this that came with twin-cylinder engines) are bolted to an angled plate, and the front of the transaxle angled up slightly to match.

 

[Cubbie]

Welcome to the forum.