Archive through August 14, 2007

[bcorn]

Paul: I have tried it and did not like the results, the concept (smaller pulley) is a good idea but I had troubles with the drive chain.

Now that said my issue could be the drive chain itself. Or I might have gone with too small of a pulley. Charlie, you got a measurement on that pulley you changed?

I know it is early for snow thinking but I love to play in the stuff. I am in the process of designing an Ingersoll 54 inch snow blade to fit on my loader after removing just the bucket on my 7264. In the plans is a design to use the dual controls for lifting, lowering and swinging the blade left and right. Sorry thinking outloud!

Back to the old Cubs, got to rebuild the old Cub snowblade to attach to the 1650. Son in law needs sonething to use at his house.

Pops

 

[digger]

Pops,
I found that a 3 1/2" works very well for the QA36A.
I have not tried it on a 42 though, so I can't say which one will do the best for the larger thrower.
I know I tried 4 sizes down from the standard 4 3/8" to get the one that I thought worked best for me.
3" is WAY to small, I do know that!
And I switched to a cogged belt.

 

[dfrisk]

COLIN - Dad's '51 M had "Tuning Problems" ever since He put the M&W Add-Powr' sleeves & pistons in it probably 40+ yrs ago. I don't think the mechanic put the carb & distributor kit in the old girl and when You cracked the throttle it would go WAY lean and cough & sputter but when it finally got under a good load would run right. Last summer Dad wouldn't let Son & I "Adjust" things for drivability but after about two hours off the trailer when We got it home We had it purring like never before. Son has a Wide Band O2 sensor and We're going to have to get that old Girl on a dyno somplace and do some fine tuning with a test exh. pipe on the engine to make sure We don't get Her set too lean. It's a bit cold blooded now and I think it needs to be richened up a tad but it'll idle for HOURS without missing a beat. It's not like I pull a three bottom plow with it every day or grind feed....It's a glorified parade tractor. I know the later 6-cyl. engines were more touchy to tune. But when things are right they will PULL! Start with the basic's, good plugs, points, condensor, & plug wires, check the timing & centrifugal advance...make sure You don't have vacuum leaks and make sure You have clean fuel & air filters and adjust the carb. so it accelerates smartly, pulls good, and idles smooth. Those old updraft IHC carbs aren't that sophisticated.

 

[rwilke]

Dennis F. / Matt G. / David K.:
Thanks for your replies and advice!

Is there a way to visually determine if a K301 has the balance gears in them from just looking at the exterior of the case while it's in the tractor? Anyone with a pic or two?

Dennis K.,
If I'm understanding you correctly, you would recommend that at rebuild time, IF I don't plan to add the necessary counterweight to my crankshaft, then you'd recommend I replace the needle bearing and stub shaft associated with the balance gears & shaft. Because it's your opinion that the reason behind the destruction of most balance gears is linked to a worn out needle bearing and stub shaft rather than a faulty balance gear design or such, correct?
Ryan W

 

[kmcconaughey]

KENtucky, it's not only Charlie that throws snow in front of himself, one has to work WITH the wind! I often end up throwing snow directly in front of myself for at least a portion of my driveway as the prevailing winds just happen to line up with a some of the driveway. Also sometimes you don't want the snow thrown off to the sides, looks like there is a driveway to the right of Charlie in that photo.

 

[kide]

Dennis:
Are the stub shafts and needle bearings available from Kohler? - I thought they discontinued the parts for the K series...

 

[mgonitzke]

Kendell I.-

That was a rumor about the K-series parts being discontinued. They should still be available.

 

[kmcconaughey]

A few K series parts have been discontinued, the K341 cam shaft for one, but I believe most are still available.

 

[mgonitzke]

Kraig-

Wasn't it the K361 cam that was discontinued?

 

[jcrews]

Boy did I have a heck of a time this weekend. I decided to sharpen the blades on the 782 and that went fine but I realized that I never sharpened the blades on the 104. Since the 104 had been rarely used over the last 39 years and boy did I have to fix some bugs, I assume this was the first time for sharpening the blades. Man I wish I were 20 again, at 43 with bad hands it wasn't easy , has anyone ever had to use a vise grip to hold the wrench on the nut by clamping the wrench to the blade? That was the only was the wrench would stay on the bolt when pressure was applied. I then had to use the tube of a towing hitch as a cheater bar. I hope I don't see that kind of thing again.But it sure runs well thanks to Roland's advice.

 

[kmcconaughey]

Matt, I think you might be correct, I can never keep the K3x1 numbers straight, except for the K301, I know that one.

 

[dfrisk]

JAMES - Buy a cheap air impact wrench. You can ZIP all three blade nuts off in about 30 seconds.

KRAIG - Wyatt & Don were the ones who posted on the Pulling forum about the K361 cam going NLA. Of anything I did to My K321 I think I like the cam the most. Wouldn't do it to another one however. I don't need that much HP in All My Cubbies. Son's laid claim to the old 70 when it's done. It's going to get a K241 version of Your K301 up at Dave's.

 

[kmcconaughey]

Denny, yep, I found out about the K361 cam going NLA back in February when I tried to order one for the K301 rebuild. Oh well, a regrind of my K301 cam to the K361 cam specs was less money anyway.

 

[rwilke]

Dennis F.,

What do ya mean, "...Of anything I did to My K321 I think I like the cam the most. Wouldn't do it to another one however. I don't need that much HP in All My Cubbies."

What is wrong with some extra HP? Seems to me that our Cubbies wouldn't need to work as hard if they had HP to spare?
Ryan W

 

[kweaver]

Dennis - I don't know about the "buy yourself a cheap..." , even my CP wont do it sometimes and I have to use a breaker bar (a good! one) to get blades off.
Like I think I said here once before, my neighbor years ago (b4 I moved) twisted the bolt off on one of his blade spindles with an impact. Be cautious and use anti siege !!

 

[mgonitzke]

Ryan W.-

More horsepower generally means higher fuel consumption. And clutches and mechanical PTO clutches have a more limited lifespan on engines with more horsepower. The 108 with a 44" deck I had cut the lawn just as well as the 1811 I had with 44" deck, but with half the fuel consumption. Ask me how easy it is for me to slip the clutch on my 18 h.p. 582. When you increase the horsepower of the powerplant, other things must be beefed up to cope. Suddenly projects get expensive this way...BTDT and my 582 needs some clutch "upgrades".

My opinion on that at least.

 

[dfrisk]

RYAN - Like most engines with longer duration cams You loose the low RPM torque and the smooth idle the Kohler's have. I used to use the 72 to pull the cart around the yard because of the faster 2nd gear and now I use the 70 all the time. If a really tired 8 HP K181 can pull the load I really don't need 14+ hp.

KEN - I Installed all My mower blade nuts with My CP with plenty of anti-sieze so it has no problem taking them off. I wouldn't think of using Son's I-R.....it would twist the threaded studs off the spindles.

 

[rwilke]

Matt G. / Dennis F.,
I gottcha now. Thanks, Fellas, for your imput and insight!

Carry on, Gentlemen!

Ryan W

 

[jkoenig]

Ryan,

On the balance gear I.D.: If an engine runs, you can take a vibra tach to it and determine whether it has balance gears. I can't remember which is which, but one will cause a bigger swing of the wire than the other for the same RPM. Don V will prolly turn up to 'splain it as he's done for me.

Oh, yeah, if you go to buy a vibra tach, both Tecumseh and B&S sell them. The Tecumseh used to be a couple dollars cheaper for the same unit.

 

[wheinsohn]

Matt, I big to differ on the fuel consumption. When I overhauled my K301 from my 129, the machine shop told me the cam showed some wear and they would regrind it to the K361 specs. I also sanded about .020 off the head to make it flat. I took it to a couple plow days the next spring and was surprised to be able to pull up on 1450's and could run with 1650's and some 782's. It turned into my main mowing unit and everyone told me I was nuts to put a 50" deck on a 129. It handles it just fine. I didn't know how well until I bought a 149 with a 50" deck. The 129 will mow faster and out powers the 149. It also uses less fuel than my 149. Now since the piston broke in the 149, it will also get a reground cam put in during it's overhaul and maybe a few more killer kohler mods. You don't have to use the power but it sure is nice when you get to the tough spot when plowing or the spot in the lawn where it is a little thicker or taller and have the extra umph in reserve.