A 1250 followed me home
 

It is pretty complete, with side covers too. Pretty clean in around the engine and no rust on any surfaces. It was missing a coil and condenser, carburetor was half missing, and clogged fuel line. It came with a 44A deck all in good shape. I went into my spare parts and put all the necessary stuff on it and it cranks and tries to start. I see a little more smoke than I’d like to see puffing out the breather on the side. The carb is suspect, I borrowed it from the 1000 I picked up last weekend. I have 50/50 luck with cleaning gross carbs. This tractor is in overall good shape. It’s definitely going to be a keeper for me.

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Good looking tractor!

That'll make a good mower!:ThumbsUp:

Those crazy carbs with the funny choke lever, I had to static time mine to get it to start. Hope you git it to run, change the oil in before you start it.

Good score on the 1250!

If the engine needs an overhaul I have a standby K241AQS engine that would bolt right in. It has a .020 piston in it. Any issues with power since it’s a hydro if I put that in it temporarily? The 109 had hydro with a K241. It looks like those were pretty effective tractors.

I don't see any problems putting a K241aqs in a 1250 does your 241 have the starter like the quietlines have or is it the starter generator setup. Might be kind of cool like a 1050 hydro QL it would be unique.

It’s a QL K241, with gear starter. No starter generator. I have a k321 block too that needs bored. I might build that up to replace it and have 14hp. Or if it does ok with 10HP maybe I’ll just keep it. I’m going to change the oil first in the engine that’s in it to make sure it has 30 wt in it, just in case someone put too thin oil in it and that’s why it smokes. I doubt that’ll fix it but it’s worth a shot I guess.

It was not the oil, it's a tired engine. I pulled it and dropped in the bored .020 over K241AQS so it's "temporarily" a 1050 QL. I got everything in and connected last night and went to bed at midnight. This evening I'll fire it up and play around with it. Maybe give it a bath and take some glamour pics. :biggrin2:

We have fire in the hole, it runs pretty good. I just need to tune the carb a little. It shakes quite a lot at midrange between idle and full throttle which I guess is normal. I'm going to look over the driveline to make sure that's buttoned up, and check the timing before putting it to work.

I forgot to mention, when I swapped the motor, there was only one bolt holding that K301 in... It has brand new looking iso mounts too.

I've been reading about other quietlines with bad shaking issues. I'm compiling a list to check. Lots of people say these just shake and that's what they're known for. I know what "normal" shaking feels like from Kohler iron. This is quite a bit more than normal. So motor mounting and drive line are the two big places to check.

My question is this, why are these known to be shakers? I had a 1210 briefly that I drove around before pulling the M12 out to use in my Jacobsen, and it had the same mounting system, except it had the cross supports at the front and back. It did not shake at all. It does not shake in my Jacobsen either bolted right to the frame. Also, my 123 has a K301 in it, it shakes some but not terrible. So, it definitely can't be normal to shake like the hood is going to fly off. Maybe I should go to the smooth running M12 in this tractor if all else fails.

My 1250 shakes a bit at idle but that’s about it. It has the cradle mod and aftermarket rubbers from CC Specialies, new driveshaft and flex discs

My QLs don't shake any more than the WFs. Except the 1650, which shakes at low speed. All have the cradle mod and new OEM iso mounts. Even the 1650 smooths out at speed.

Just using the 1450 the other day for the first grass cutting of the season. I thought it wasn't running at full speed, it was so quiet and smooth. I had to put the laser tach on it to confirm it was running close to 3600 rpm. When properly adjusted and the grill and hood snugged down, and the muffler and air duct all buttoned up tight, QLs are actually pretty, well, quiet.

I have investigated the driveline, it had some wobble in it. I had a very good condition engine side coupler and very good condition rubber rag joints so I took it apart and installed those. The driveshaft is perfect, no wobble, but the engine still shakes pretty hard. One thing I noticed is one of the engine mounting holes is stripped out, so only three of them are able to be drawn down tight. Maybe that's it? So, I pulled the engine out again. This is a K241 with an aluminum flat bottom pan, and I happen to have a cast iron flat bottom pan on the shelf from a 100 that's in good shape. So I plan to swap that over and reinstall the engine.

While I have that engine out, I tried swapping in my M12AQS engine, and it won't work. The flywheel shroud is a little bigger than the K series, and it hits the iso mounts which won't let it sit down all the way to bolt into the rails. I would need about 1/4" spacer or something under the engine but that would probably throw off the driveshaft alignment, which I don't want to do. Or I could eliminate the iso mounts somehow, which I probably don't want to do either.

So the current plan is to put the K241 back in with the cast iron pan and run it, and work on tuning the engine and see if I can get it smoothed out.

After that the next project is a trunnion repair. It's pretty badly worn and the spring is WAY off center. It's really hard to find neutral.

I finally got the M12 in there. I realized the K had indents in the shroud to clear the iso bolts. So I made indents in the mag shroud and it fits. I did the cradle mod also, and I ordered new iso mounts because even though they look pretty new they’re a little chewed and compressed from the bolts being drawn down tight. The issue now is the M12 has a 1 1/8” PTO shaft. So I need to do something about a clutch.

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Well being that a QL has an electric clutch that would be an easier fix than one on a WF. I've had Ariens machines with 1-1/8 dia cranks while the twin cyl powered machines had 1-1/4. When I swapped out a KT for a Magnum twin, the Magnum had an 1-1/8 crank I had a good clutch left from a single cyl powered machine and that clutch hub went right on. Glad to see that you were able to get the Magnum in there good info for later use.
I have a pair of wide base Magnum singles here, one of which I know is drilled for both pans. I have an extra aluminum cub pan here.
Another interesting combo to try.

Winner winner chicken dinner! I have another PTO on the shelf and I got to looking at it thinking it looked similar. It had a 1 1/8” bore. So I pulled the pulley off the rotor and it looks the same. So I swapped the rotor over and we have a 1 1/8” shaft PTO for the QL.

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Coool!!!!!!

Well now another issue popped up. I noticed the top of the shroud is jammed against the firewall. It is more square than the original engine. I haven’t run the engine yet but I wonder if that’s going to be an issue. Everything is bolted in fine but it’s gonna rub for sure and probably vibrate.

Time for the Ralph Kramdon... hamma, da hamma, hammer!

I installed new motor mounts and that made a HUGE difference. They’re the “softer” style from eBay.

It's been a little while but I finally got to work on my K301 from this tractor. The k241 is under powered to run the deck in any kind of thicker grass. This engine did not want to run at all which is why I pulled it, so I started taking it apart to see what was the matter and I found a badly scored piston and a load of carbon in the top end. I also needed a new oil pan because there was only one bolt holding the engine down when I took it out, and the motor mounts chewed up the aluminum. I felt over the bore very carefully and it doesn't seem like there's a any ridging on the top or bottom, so I decided to order a piston (Thanks Lew!) for it and replace that and see what happens. It is a cheap (maybe temporary) fix. It had a standard piston, which measured fine (Except for the top where it was chewed), and measured the bore in several spots. I checked the ring gap in many different places and all measured fine on my non-precision equipment. So I de-glazed the cylinder and installed the new piston. Cleaned the carbon out, and reassembled it with a new head gasket, reinstalled a replacement cast iron oil pan (thanks dvogtvpe) and reinstalled the engine back into the 1250. She fired right up and purred like a kitten after I dialed the carburetor in. No smoke at all, and I didn't see any blow-by coming out the crank vent. I know that's not a "proper" rebuild. I am following the break-in procedure now, and we'll see how long it holds up. This isn't going to be an every day tractor, it's going to pull a cart around and do some plowing, and maybe some mowing.



I am wondering though, where should the governor spring be on this engine? I have it in the third hole from the end of the governor arm and the second hole from the end of the throttle arm. :bigthink: