Hey Guys,
At the behest of a couple members of the forum, I've made a new thread to detail the ongoing saga of my 1430 snowblower conversion...
My neighbor sold me his mom's old 1430 last year. It had an issue with backfiring and stalling, which I later found to be a broken fuel pump, but not before I naively bought a whole new engine and installed it (the new engine had a bad fuel pump, too, so I wound up needing to get more parts anyway. Talk about irony). After getting my hands on a better lawnmower, I wasn't sure what to do with the 1430. Then, I impulsively got the idea to use it as a dedicated snowblower, because my driveway is pretty big, and using a tractor is way better when you have the room and the volume of snow that I deal with every year.
I bought a used craftsman 38", single stage, complete with chains and wheel weights, for less than $300. In order to install it, I will have to remove a bunch of the parts under the mower, and also fabricate a few parts to use as screw mounts.
Now, I will start at the beginning. At this time, I have done the following things:
1) Replaced Kohler MV16S with Kohler MV20S (19.5HP off of a GT6000). This was a ~2 day project. Nothing really challenging about swapping out a motor, just a lot of cleaning, wrenching, and tedious digging for nuts/bolts. One of the engine mounts had a seized bolt in it with a snapped head, and I spent the better part of an hour drilling it, starting with a 1/8" bit and progressively building up until it finally chunked and fell out. The Makita was pretty relieved to have a rest after the whole endeavor; I could tell from the unsettling smell of burnt electricity that was starting to work its way through the shed.
3) fixed/started engine (First Light! as we call it at IBM litho). Tuned the carb to run a little rich, call it cheap insurance.
4) Repaired and setup the choke/throttle... the choke cable was extremely gritty, so I straightened the end, pulled it out of the jacket, and blasted it with liquid wrench. It worked splendidly and the choke cable is great - saved me a few bucks, too.... which I wound up needing, to buy a third ignition coil
because apparently something is just not right with the wiring setup on this engine. I would blame the other guy who was working on it, but he doesn't exist.
5) Finished installing drive/PTO belts. Mower runs and drives well
6) repaired/lubed deck and reinstalled for testing -- cuts great, but I don't need or want it so I took it off after 1 day. BTW it's for sale -- 38" deck, asking $100.
7) Removed Tranny, changed fluid, and readjusted the lever assembly for the hydro, to yield higher top speed. This was easily the least enjoyable project; the tranny was absolutely filthy, to the point where I wound up having to change into a "cleaner" pair of dirty work pants after I finished.
8) Removed lift linkage/assembly for mower deck. Removed belt tensioner for PTO. Also removed the foot rests to aid in the installation of the snowblower utility.
9) Replaced stator with working part from original engine. Wired everything up for the rectifier and magneto... then, blew up my last good ignition coil, and considered myself dead in the water for a week or two.
10) Decided to install push button and toggle switch to circumvent the troublesome grounding/current issue that keeps killing the ignition coils. I started to investigate the wiring system for the tractor, got fed up with the whole mess of filthy, sticky wires (peeling electrical tape), and finally went through with a pair of wire cutters and completely removed every wire that wasn't related to the starter and battery.
So yeah, now I am looking at wiring diagrams and trying to figure out what the hell I did to myself, and wondering why I got into this project in the first place, although I am still thoroughly enjoying it.
I've decided to remove the seat switch, and also to eliminate the safety interlocks for everything except for the PTO/Brake relay that lets you start the engine. Once the engine is running there will be no other safety features, especially not the obnoxious click switch that kills the PTO when you try to reverse.
Photos coming tomorrow, I hope... I'm not good at taking photos, I just keep working and never get around to it.
At the behest of a couple members of the forum, I've made a new thread to detail the ongoing saga of my 1430 snowblower conversion...
My neighbor sold me his mom's old 1430 last year. It had an issue with backfiring and stalling, which I later found to be a broken fuel pump, but not before I naively bought a whole new engine and installed it (the new engine had a bad fuel pump, too, so I wound up needing to get more parts anyway. Talk about irony). After getting my hands on a better lawnmower, I wasn't sure what to do with the 1430. Then, I impulsively got the idea to use it as a dedicated snowblower, because my driveway is pretty big, and using a tractor is way better when you have the room and the volume of snow that I deal with every year.
I bought a used craftsman 38", single stage, complete with chains and wheel weights, for less than $300. In order to install it, I will have to remove a bunch of the parts under the mower, and also fabricate a few parts to use as screw mounts.
Now, I will start at the beginning. At this time, I have done the following things:
1) Replaced Kohler MV16S with Kohler MV20S (19.5HP off of a GT6000). This was a ~2 day project. Nothing really challenging about swapping out a motor, just a lot of cleaning, wrenching, and tedious digging for nuts/bolts. One of the engine mounts had a seized bolt in it with a snapped head, and I spent the better part of an hour drilling it, starting with a 1/8" bit and progressively building up until it finally chunked and fell out. The Makita was pretty relieved to have a rest after the whole endeavor; I could tell from the unsettling smell of burnt electricity that was starting to work its way through the shed.
3) fixed/started engine (First Light! as we call it at IBM litho). Tuned the carb to run a little rich, call it cheap insurance.
4) Repaired and setup the choke/throttle... the choke cable was extremely gritty, so I straightened the end, pulled it out of the jacket, and blasted it with liquid wrench. It worked splendidly and the choke cable is great - saved me a few bucks, too.... which I wound up needing, to buy a third ignition coil

5) Finished installing drive/PTO belts. Mower runs and drives well
6) repaired/lubed deck and reinstalled for testing -- cuts great, but I don't need or want it so I took it off after 1 day. BTW it's for sale -- 38" deck, asking $100.
7) Removed Tranny, changed fluid, and readjusted the lever assembly for the hydro, to yield higher top speed. This was easily the least enjoyable project; the tranny was absolutely filthy, to the point where I wound up having to change into a "cleaner" pair of dirty work pants after I finished.
8) Removed lift linkage/assembly for mower deck. Removed belt tensioner for PTO. Also removed the foot rests to aid in the installation of the snowblower utility.
9) Replaced stator with working part from original engine. Wired everything up for the rectifier and magneto... then, blew up my last good ignition coil, and considered myself dead in the water for a week or two.
10) Decided to install push button and toggle switch to circumvent the troublesome grounding/current issue that keeps killing the ignition coils. I started to investigate the wiring system for the tractor, got fed up with the whole mess of filthy, sticky wires (peeling electrical tape), and finally went through with a pair of wire cutters and completely removed every wire that wasn't related to the starter and battery.
So yeah, now I am looking at wiring diagrams and trying to figure out what the hell I did to myself, and wondering why I got into this project in the first place, although I am still thoroughly enjoying it.
I've decided to remove the seat switch, and also to eliminate the safety interlocks for everything except for the PTO/Brake relay that lets you start the engine. Once the engine is running there will be no other safety features, especially not the obnoxious click switch that kills the PTO when you try to reverse.
Photos coming tomorrow, I hope... I'm not good at taking photos, I just keep working and never get around to it.