My 1450 project officially started today - Page 11

ajgross · #**101** 05-15-2011, 02:25 PM

I made a lift bar for my blade by going to the local hardware store and buying a piece of round stock and 2 clevis pins. I cut the round stock to length and welded the clevis pins to the ends. This way I didn't have to take the rod somewhere and have the 90 degree bends done and then drill the holes in the end. I would tell you what diameter of round stock to buy, but I'm not sure what the diameter is on QL's. Mine was on a x82 tractor.

AJ

CC1450 · #**102** 05-15-2011, 03:34 PM

Thanks Allen, I was happy to get it, and even happier to find it fits my cub!

AJ, I will probably go raid my buddy's shop and see what kind of stock he has laying around. A lot of the products they make are like pins for heavy chains so I am hoping they will turn me loose with a couple feet of material. If so I can bend it there, tack washers on to keep it in place and drill it for cotter pins. I don't think there is anything wrong with a cable or chain setup, I'd just like it to appear stock.

I tucked the snow blade under the work bench for now, I will play with it later when it gets closer to snow season. I plan on making a new blade edge for it out of flat stock and repainting it to make sure it lasts forever. When I went to get it, I had not seen any pics of it so I was happy to find no rust holes and overall it was in good shape for it's age.

Just put away some lunch, now I will go out to the garage and find something to work on. I hate working in there with the door closed due to the weather, wish this cold and rain would blow away.

Methos · #**103** 05-15-2011, 05:28 PM

Mark just in case you haven't seen it yet. Roland made this great write up on lift rods.

http://www.onlycubcadets.net/forum/s...ead.php?t=4616

CC1450 · #**104** 05-15-2011, 11:56 PM

Thanks Duke! I didn't even think of elevating the tractor itself a little, I was going to put the plow on and just measure it with the lift arm in the down position. I have some 2x10 lumber left over from a project that will be perfect. I appreciate you guys sharing your tips and tricks, it will work that much better with all the weight of the plow down on the ground and saves me from having to do things twice.

So today I got out in the garage with the intention of tearing into the K321 from the 76. First, I had to clean off my work bench which took what seemed like hours. Slapped the engine up there and got to work. After removing the tins, it was clear it was going to need a lot more than just crank seals. Oil was crusted all down the side with the breather. Taking the breather vent cover off revealed more crusty old oil, lots and lots of it. Around the head gasket, guess what? More thick,dried, crusty oil.

So I pulled the head off. Two of the bolts were so tight I had to use a 2.5' breaker bar and hold the engine against my chest for leverage to break loose. The rest, were barely torqued down and came right apart with a ratchet. Head gasket looked "new".

Now here is where things get interesting. The exhaust valve and surrounding area was crusty, which was the first thing I noticed. Then I shined my light down at the piston. Last I checked, pistons were perfectly round. The one in this engine is egg shaped.

Drained what little oil was in it out of the drain plug and pulled the oil pan so I could get at the connecting rod bolts. Those were barely hand tight too. Not sure what the torque specs on those should be but I have never seen connecting rod bolts that loose before.

Pulled the piston out and this is what one side of it looks like which is why it looked so odd when it was in the bore.

Looks like a bear was chewing on it.

Is it safe to assume this is an aftermarket piston and connecting rod? No numbers stamped on anything, and just looks like cheap crap. This "T" is all I found.

Now you would think with a piston looking like that, the cylinder would look just as bad right? I mean what could have caused that kind of damage to the piston? The bore shines like a mirror, and there is not a single scratch or imperfection that you can feel with a finger or fingernail, it's smooth as glass. The pic makes it look like there may be imperfections but they are all just reflections from my flashlight and the camera's flash.

The connecting rod shows some wear as does the crank, from what I can tell it looks like the connecting rod took the most of it.

What should I be looking for here? Play at the crank bearings? I just cannot fathom how that piston could look like that without killing the cylinder. I am guessing that something foreign got in the cylinder, got chewed up and spit out but I am open to other thoughts. Glad I decided to pull the head off this one.

I was going to measure the bore but the batteries in my digital caliper are dead.

westofb · #**105** 05-16-2011, 12:46 AM

Piston looks kind of rough, it should be marked on the top if it is oversized. Some are marked in standard measurements, some aftermarket ones are marked in metric measurements. Take a wire brush to the piston face to clean off the carbon, it should be marked if it is oversized. Just looking at the piston and bore is not a very good way to determine the health of the engine...when my came apart, the piston and bore looked clean as a pin, no scarring, very clean. I took it to the machine shop (still there, hopefully will get it back any time now), he measured the cylinder bore at numerous locations, my engine had a 20 over piston in it, the bore at places where less than 20 over and at others was several thousandths over 30 over bore. In my case, the only fix was to have a sleeve installed in it to get the bore back within spec.

Most everything I have read, if the rod was undersized they usually have a small hole drilled through the rod's center near the crank journal (where the "t" is located on your rod). You may be lucky and have a standard bore cylinder and crank, that way the machine work will be minimal in re doing the engine....sleeves are kind of expensive, going to almost double my machine shop charges! I ordered my rebuild parts from ebay, they were made by stens rotary, I got a complete overhaul gasket set, piston with rings, rod, spark plug, and points shipped to me for about $90.00...I have not got it put back together yet so I don't know how it will turn out, the machinist thought the parts looked good, I trust his judgement on this.

CC1450 · #**106** 05-16-2011, 01:24 AM

Thanks Jeff I will clean the top of the piston off tomorrow and see if it is marked in any way there. I hope it has not already been bored out. I did not see anything but there is a lot of carbon build up on it. No matter what, that piston is not going back in any engine of mine.

I once had a jeep cherokee with a loud engine. Everyone told me it was a rod knock so I tore the engine down, and found one of the pistons was "domed" or warped, allowing it to rock back and forth in the cylinder, you could move it around by hand in ways it should not move. I got lucky there and put a standard bore new piston in it, and a buddy of mine is still driving that heep today. I am wondering if this is not a similar thing. You can see the area below the rings was contacting the bore, it's clean in the one spot and blackened from age everywhere else.

ih nut · #**107** 05-16-2011, 05:33 PM

I'd want to say that they ran it hot, but then the whole side of the piston should be marked up from skirting. Might have been dentonation or just been from the corosion/rust being pushed around when you disturbed it from its rest? As far as the engine goes, the cylinder and crank are hardened where as the piston and rod are not. So no suprise that the cylinder and crank look so good. You should not have any up or down play in the bearings. If it were me I'd replace them as you probably aren't gonna ever get any closer to replacing them any time soon...... especially if you plan on keeping/using the mower.
hope this helps,
Robert

CC1450 · #**108** 05-16-2011, 06:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CC1450

I did not see anything but there is a lot of carbon build up on it.

I must be nearing the age where I need to get my eyes checked, there are numbers on it. 237406. I also noticed my digital caliper has measurements on it, for cases such as this when the battery is dead.

Piston measures approximately 88mm in diameter across the sides without damage. I am not able to pull anything up by those numbers, and the piston part number on parts tree does not match that number on the piston I have at all.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ih nut

I'd want to say that they ran it hot, but then the whole side of the piston should be marked up from skirting. Might have been dentonation or just been from the corosion/rust being pushed around when you disturbed it from its rest? As far as the engine goes, the cylinder and crank are hardened where as the piston and rod are not. So no suprise that the cylinder and crank look so good. You should not have any up or down play in the bearings. If it were me I'd replace them as you probably aren't gonna ever get any closer to replacing them any time soon...... especially if you plan on keeping/using the mower.
hope this helps,
Robert

That is solid advice Robert thank you. I'm still deciding what to do but I am thinking there is no point hoping for a quick or cheap fix for this mill at this point. I've got it this far apart, may as well do it right if I want to run this for any length of time.

ih nut · #**109** 05-16-2011, 06:13 PM

When I rebuilt my last kohler, I used stens parts that I bought from a guy on ebay. He is listed in ohio. Was very satisfied with the quality! As far as the bearing go, I'd honestly go on ebay and buy a set from there. I can get you item numbers if you send me a pm. Do you own a hone by chance?
thanks,
robert

westofb · #**110** 05-16-2011, 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CC1450

I must be nearing the age where I need to get my eyes checked, there are numbers on it. 237406. I also noticed my digital caliper has measurements on it, for cases such as this when the battery is dead.

Piston measures approximately 88mm in diameter across the sides without damage. I am not able to pull anything up by those numbers, and the piston part number on parts tree does not match that number on the piston I have at all.

That is solid advice Robert thank you. I'm still deciding what to do but I am thinking there is no point hoping for a quick or cheap fix for this mill at this point. I've got it this far apart, may as well do it right if I want to run this for any length of time.

I think the stock measurement for the piston in standard measurements are 3 3/8" or 3.375", I don't know what that converts to in metric measurements.