JIM - Yes, the engine in my 982 was freshly rebuilt when I got it. I didn't see the receipts, but it got new O/S pistons/rings, rods, bearings, intake manifold, carb rebuild, complete tune-up. The bill was close to $2000 in 1999 Dollars by a guy who had rebuilt several hundred of them. It ran really good when I first got it, but I'd like to get more than 125-150 hours out of $60 worth of points & condenser. I think that's more a Low Cost country problem than an Onan problem actually... last set of Kohler points/condenser I replaced had about that same numbers of hours and running issues.
I really haven't had the finger wheel in my hands, but I've read every word in a l-o-n-g topic, something like 400+ posts on the other forum, which included lots of high resolution pic's. So I can't say yes or no to the fiber reinforced plastic material, but this is the first time anybody has mentioned fiber reinforcing and the finger wheel in the same post. I have heard of several of them breaking which I would not expect of a glass fiber reinforced part.
Several posters asked if Loctite would stick the wheel to the cam hub well enough, guess the answer is yes. The new finger wheels have a longer finger that goes in the recess in the outer rim of the gear where the teeth are hobbed to positively drive the wheel. One poster posted a pic of his new parts.
We used a lot of different plastic materials at the food & chemical processing equipment co. I worked at. But in food equipment, glass filled & reinforced material is not used in product contact applications, and I'm not sure using it inside an engine is wise either. It's VERY abrasive. Lots of the radio controlled vehicles SON raced years ago were made with glass reinforced materials. A glass filled plastic gear wears out the cut steel spur gear it runs against! By design, the finger wheel should not wear, but if it spins enough on the hub of the cam gear, glass fibers could get into the engine oil and wipe out the bearings in short order. I had a company mechanic drop a tiny piece of fiberglass insulation off the dog house into the top of the open cylinder head on a 1978 IH S2200 semi-tractor, and the 290 HP 855 CID Cummins ate itself up in about 10,000 miles. It Didn't quite get me home one night... My Wife had to drive 65 miles one way to rescue me.
The critical temp. on my Onan is around 40-45 degrees, above that temp the finger wheel gets warm enough to expand and slip, below that temp I have a governor. I have a piece of plastic that followed me home from work that I'm going to use to repair the finger wheel some day... the convex plate the ball bearings push against is removed, a small flat piece of plastic is shaped to fit into the rectangular recess on the cam gear and lock the finger wheel so it can't slip, then the plate is installed and keeps the plastic piece in place. Simple and effective repair. The governor has never really worked well since I had the tractor. I noticed ten-twelve yrs. ago that the engine would slowly loose RPM when driving into taller grass, but a quick jab on the throttle and the engine sped right back up... and while turning on the ends of the lands I was mowing, the engine would over-speed.
Supposedly, Onan/Cummins no longer services the parts of the governor separately, only the complete cam gear with the governor installed is available. Guess so they can charge more.
I REALLY like my 982... wish it had power steering, but for most mowing it steers fine. My 982 had more hours on it when I bought it than I thought... the trunnion had been worn almost completely out and fixed by installing a cotter key to hold the springs... When the cotter key broke and I had NO speed control or ability to stop... I repaired it with a nylon tie strap and ran it for 5-6 months that way. I've fixed it correctly now. Cork gasket leaks a bit when the hydro is full, doesn't leak when it's low. Never had a seconds trouble with the tractor other than the trunnion.
