Silly K301A carb bowl ring gasket question
 

Hey all,

This one has me feeling particularly dumb:HeadScratch:. I recently cleaned out my Cub 126 carb. I felt it could idle better, so I just removed it, cleaned, and reinstalled.

The next day I noticed that the bowl was leaking. I figured the bowl o-ring or gasket had worn out, so I ordered a rebuild kit.

The kit arrived, but when I went to install it the square ring was too big to fit in the groove. It would hang over the side no matter how much I tried to stuff it in. I tried just installing the rubber baffle gasket, but the carb still has a slow leak - stinking up my garage. :crap:

What the heck am I missing? The carb has a groove for the square ring. I lost/never had anoriginal, so I can't compare it. I could take the bowl off my 129, to look at that one, but I'd like to avoid it.

Has anybody run into this? I tried searching the subject, but couldn't find much. Any help is greatly appreciated. :beerchug:

I'd like to add that this is the Kohler carb, not the Walbro, and the rebuild kit is genuine Kohler, P/N 25 757 02-S

Didja order the 25 757 01-s kit? if so try freezing it.
As a side note... most times it is the opposite, the ring is too small...

Maybe that's what they sent. Figure the ring swelled with ethanol fuel?

Looks like I might have the wrong kit per Roland's post here: https://www.onlycubcadets.net/forum/...ad.php?t=51103. Mislabeled on Amazon's website.

The baffle and ring gasket are the same, it is the needle and seat that are slightly different.

Well crap. The local hardware store has a kit in stock. I'm going to grab it after work and see if the o-ring fits better. They may have sent the wrong size by accident.

Thanks for your help dark.

check to make sure the needle is seating and does not have chit/material under it preventing it from closing tightly.

You can put a very light layer of Vaseline on your finger and rub it onto the gasket when you install it--just enough to give it a shine in the light. It helps it "stick" in the channel.

Cub Cadet 123

If all else is lost and you have nothing to lose....
you can try trimming a section out of the ring with an x-acto knife,
leaving just enough extra that you can squeeze it into the groove.
When you tighten the bowl it should squish the ends together and seal up,
and the baffle gasket would seal it too.

Thanks for all of the advice guys. I picked up a25 757 01-s rebuild kit, and sure enough the square ring gasket was the same size. However, to my amazement, the original ring had shrunk substantially since I last tried to install it. I was now able to easily install it.

I had soaked the ring in fuel and left it that way before originally trying to install it. Not intentionally - just ended up sitting in fuel while I got distracted and worked on something else. I think the ring swelled while sitting in the fuel. These kits say not for use with ethanol fuel. Well, we only have ethanol fuel available. I think it reacted with the fuel and swelled. I work with hydraulics and have seen this happen before. Usually with solvents though. If it gives me trouble moving forward, I think I'll source a square ring made out of a different material.

Usually the rings don't give a problem when installed, as they are captivated in the groove.
Watch that the needle stays seated.
Many times it only takes a hair to cause a seepage when setting unused.
but after some usage usually any "stuff" that gets in the line, works itself through without further problems
The neoprene will tolerate the regular 10% alky,
it it the higher percentage blends they speak of, that causes problems.

I've made custom silicone o-rings like this before, but with an extra step. I silicone RTV'd the two ends together after trimming to size. Worked excellent in my case. It also helps to make the cut at an angle, so the two sides squish down on each other.