Archive through January 22, 2012

[bnolte]

Jessy,
I am afraid a 73 even with a creeper will have difficulty moving heavy or drifted snow with a blower. It takes all the power I can get out of my 129 to move heavy, drifted, or slushy snow, and I have a hydro to control speed, but on the other hand the hydro sucks more power away from the PTO than a gear drive would. If you have just one tractor and that is the 73, the creeper is a viable choice, but you will pay through the nose for one. Horsepower is king with a blower, and traction is king with a blade, so you might have better luck using a blade, and weighting it down. Putting narrow tires with a deep lug tread or tri-rib design on the front will help improve your steering as well, they will help keep the front end from floating on top of the snow.

 

[dpbauer]

yes, the shaft that is held in place by the large nut. I loosened the nut, and when I pulled the nut away from the engine block, the shaft pulled out of the engine block with the nut. I see from the new part that there is SUPPOSE to be a metal flap tack welded to the shaft. Any suggestions? danWI

 

[dfrisk]

DAN - I "THINK" You can sneek that new shaft in without total engine disassembly. Remove the shaft, make sure you get the part that rubs on the governor gear out, and you should be able to get the end of the shaft and the arm in the hole and into place, then install the brass nut and set the governor. You may have to remove the screw along side the shaft so you can slide the gov. gear on it's shaft to get the new shaft in. Lot easier than pulling the engine and taking it all apart.

Seems like I did that on a K301 in my 129 when the machine shop broke the shaft for me when they bored & honed the block when I rebuilt it 20 yrs ago. The shop wss nice enough to SELL me a new shaft at list price. Haven't been back there since. Very expensive shaft.... for THEM.

 

[dfrisk]

JESSY - I put a QA36 blower on my CC 72 for a couple years when it still had the K181 8 HP engine in it. It would handle about 3-4 inches of snow in 1st gear without a creeper. For deeper snow you just take a narrower pass. Like for 10-12 inch deep snow you may only end up taking 6-8 inches per pass but remember, it beats shoveling!

When I put the K241 in I could handle about 6 inch deep snow the full width. The first pass is always hard since you have to take a full sidth cut.

 

[fcurrier]

Brandon W.: School's in. What's a Kohler 801A engine? All I find for the 86 is a K181. ???

 

[pbell]

Brandon W
Like frank said, an 86 should have a K181 8HP engine, but it sounds like someone may have swapped in a K301, 12 HP. Either way, remove the clutch drive disc (4, 1/4" bolts), then remove the nut (15/16 I think) or bolt (depends on when the engine was built) that holds the flywheel on the end of the crankshaft, and then the hub and screen will come off, and then remove the bolts around the front edge of the flywheel housing, and it will come off. Be easy removing the hub and screen, there is a dowel pin in the hub that fits in the flywheel and you can break the aluminum hub getting it off the crankshaft/flywheel.

 

[dtanner]

I got the steering on my 125 turning smooth now.I cleaned out all the hard grease and put it back together . What a difference a little fresh grease does lol.

Charlie
thanks I see my order of yesterday was shipped today. the super steer mod will go on the 125 as soon as the parts arrive. Thanks to the quick service you give.

 

[mfrade]

Jesse, I use a 73 to move snow with a blade and a thrower. I did add a creeper to allow more choices when / if needed. When using the blade I find second speed most satisfying, when using the thrower, it depends on the "type" of snow as well as the depth. If it's deep and fluffy then it's usually first gear - full cut, as it gets wetter then it's a slower speed and less of a cut. But I do it all with a 73 and the replacement 8 hp and have no complaints!

 

[sblunier]

Gear drive & snow blade.....there's only one gear you need......3rd.....anything less is under-utilized momentum!!!!

 

[bmwitmer]

okay, so i used some pb blaster on the nut holding the crankshaft bolt and used a 15/16 socket to try and loosen it up, but no such luck. The bolt on the crank i noticed has notches in it. What are these for?

 

[dfrisk]

BRANDON - The notches in the crankshaft nut are to help hold the nut to the threaded shaft, the top of the nut is deformed slightly so those top segments grip the shaft threads.

STEVE B. - Shouldn't you make a disclaimer about "Personal Protection Equipment required to utilize the "Blunier Ramming Speed" snow removal method?

I keep thinking of the night SON & I were finishing up mowing the lawn years ago, I was mowing around the bushes in front next the road, SON is playing around on the 129 just inside the yard, it's almost dark out. Then I see SON turn the lights off on the 129 and the Hydro lever goes WFO forward across the yard. About a minute or so later about 3-4 bushes down the line SON walks around the bush I'm trimming around with an odd look on his face. He hit the vent pipe, a 5-6 inch diameter cast iron pipe about 8 inches tall for our septic tank FULL SPEED. It stuck up just high enough to put a nice half circle almost perfectly centered in the front of the mule drive and no damage to the tractor. I know he had to have landed on the hood! He was probably about 10-12 yrs old then!

 

[sblunier]

Slow down and spin out.......

....BUT, don't use ramming speed with the blade trip locked......AND, never use ramming speed bucking into well established (heavy, wet, or frozen) piles.

Otherwise, let out the clutch and get up some speed....

 

[fcurrier]

Brandon: That nut is pretty highly torqued. An impact wrench is the easiest way to remove it, especially because the crankshaft wants to turn, too.

 

[dtanner]

Frank A. Currier(Northern Maine)

Ge Frank I have used an L handle with a socket and give the handle a smack with a 2x4 . It worked for me . some times you just have to use what you got handy lol.


Skype

 

[bnolte]

When all we had was the 102 and a 42 inch blade, traction was always the limiting factor, but we made the most of it by hanging 2 150 lb Cummins vibration dampers on the back, put my 250 pound self or my Dad on the seat, and sometimes had another person run piggyback for those occasions that needed "Ramming Speed"

 

[dpbauer]

Dennis-
I just gave your tip the "ole college try" with the new governor rod with zero results. Maybe there is a different way to "tip" the metal plate in that i havent tried yet. I do wonder tho... where is the metal tang that broke off the original shaft?

Prolly should drain the oil tomorrow and investigate! danWI

 

[jlgordon]

thanks mike im thinking about finding a 8 hp for my 73

 

[mfrade]

Jesse, I also have a blade on an Original with the 7 hp and it works very well! The "extra" horsepower I don't believe is even noticeable!

In MY humble Opinion, 3rd gear plowing is a recipe for disaster! But I am only trying to do a modest houselot with a couple neighbors. The only time I remember using the creeper is on the first pass out of the garage! After that your just working on one side or the other and you can control loading with the steering wheel, if the motor isn't working hard, steer into the pile! Motor bogging down a bit, steer away from the pile! I usually do this in first gear. Sometimes second. Again, depends on the snow type.

Once you start using your rig, you'll figure out what works for you!

 

[sblunier]

Mike,

When the snow is deep and the windrows get big, slow speeds don't carry enough momentum to keep you moving and you just spin out. Small drives with limited snow probably don't push the envelope as much as big drives out in the wind blown and drifted areas.

3rd really isn't too dangerous, as the tractor still spins out before snow load becomes a big enough problem to be dangerous....BUT don't use 3rd with out a correctly functioning spring trip for those "oops" moments (still not too big of a deal, even WOT in 3rd at 7 mph).

 

[dfrisk]

STEVE - I agree about the spring trip. IH did a really good job of designing the trip mechanism. I cleaned little 1-3 inch snows last winter with the CC 70 & 42 inch blade, probably used it 6 times. It'll push a LOT of snow and clean right down to the concrete but won't trip unless it hits something like a crack/seam in the concrete or the grass on the edge of the concrete.

The big blade on the loader tractor is mounted SOLID so I have to go slow, plus it doesn't angle like the blade on the CC does. If it did the tractor/loader/blade would be 30 feet long!

I normally run the 70 about half throttle in 2nd but did use 3rd a time or two. The fast 19T 2nd like the 72 has would be better for pushing snow than the 16T the 70 has but I'm not putting the blade on the 72.

My drive slopes a little and I always plowed so I rolled snow downhill, and by the time I got half done I had a really HUGE windrow, but even with that little K161/181 whatever it is, it will roll snow.