Charlie - hmmm, very interesting about the 2 knuckles/spindles. If I read between the lines do I see my name? Honestly, although Steve referred to the one on the right as the "heavy spindle" from CCC/MTD I sure don't like the looks of the weld, and I wonder if the actual steel might be a lower grade/quality so they increased the overall dimension.
Bill - I don't know that I would call your reference "mis-information". It was generally a good reference to the items involved, just a later version. Now, about your 122 - does your engine block happen to be painted black? Maybe even the air cleaner cover? (If so you very likely have a newer replacement engine, maybe just a short block but very likely more).
I'd actually like to see some pics (they are worth 10,000 words).
It sure sounds like you may have a K301AQS engine but it would most likely have have an integrated starter that utilizes a flywheel with a ring gear. Because the flywheel ring gear requires a larger shroud I'm betting someone got the a complete AQS style engine, removed the ring gear flywheel and shroud, removed the integrated starter, installed the original flywheel and shroud, installed the original S/G set up, etc, and left the new carb, governor, linkage, throttle and choke connections in place. They very likely had to come up with some way to attach the 2 little levers for the choke and throttle onto the side of the shroud - probably not rocket science to just copy the AQS attaching method. Ooh, and they would have had to change the pear shaped air cleaner with rubber tube into the flywheel shroud, back to the original air clearner.
So Bill, if you can post some pics I'm sure we'd all like to see how you K301A is set up on your 122. No reason that I can think of that the method I described wouldn't work. If you have the black block I'd feel fairly certain you have a replacement engine. Otherwise, there is no real actual way to tell unless you have a newer style Kohler sticker label on the shroud as well, which a dealer may have had access to, or may have come in the original box/shipment. If you do happen to have a black air cleaner cover it could be your engine is a K301AS with just a different Kohler Spec number that provided the later governor, throttle and choke linkages and cable connections. Now lets see those pics.
Doug - I don't know when the AQS style came out from Kohler but it didn't mean Kohler stopped production of just the A version. It probably was just a matter of ordering the "correct" Kohler Spec number which is where all these details get hidden by Kohler. Most likely the PO of Bill's 122 either got a used replacement engine, or a dealer had an AS or AQS with different Spec Number on the shelf and just used it.
Jeff Baker, ole bud - how come you didn't bite on my comment about the narrow frame drag link steering cap interference issue with the mule drive mount? I mentioned it was a wide frame advantage and I figured we'd hear from you. I think you changed your tag line. Pretty certain it used to say Wide Frame Hydros are the Cat's Meow.
