ISO mounts questions

[Jeff in Pa]

Originally Posted by Alvy

I think that there also has to be argon involved to create the death smoke but at any rate yes, good disclaimer none the less.

Why take the chance?

[rdeyoe]

Whoa Jeff! Thanks for that. I was brazing, not welding but still good info. I'm sure all traces of cleaner were gone by the time I started heating it, plus it was on the grill for a good half hour (open grill, vented) and no argon involved. But if i ever get into aluminum welding, i'll definately keep this in mind. Kind of like welding galvanized and the breathing problems / gasses it makes. I have welded some galvanized steel, but i try to get off as much as possible and only do small pieces in open spaces.

Reminds me of my time in the military. I was in aviation and to clean teflon bearings, the recommended chemical was MEK. After two years of using that stuff, then they decide you shouldn't even touch it because of all the health risks. It kind of disappeared from inventories after that, but they say the effects are long term. I'm still around for now though. Heard that the photography industry used it a lot for developing or something. When i started working for a govt. contractor on aircraft, they were much more serious about MSDS sheets and had to sign off on everyone reading and following them.

Got my hydro fan on tonight and started fitting the flex couplings. I think i'm going to have to double the back ones. The shaft fits on the centering ball fine, but the coupling mount was too far away. Made the new rag joint too wavy. Looks like i have enough space for a second one. I don't think the mount on the driveshaft has been moved and i'd rather double up than drill another hole. I've heard of some people doubling them and i think i saw a post that the x82's were built that way.

Also got the cradle finally mounted and oil pan back on. Gave the motor a bath so I can see oil leaks if they happen (i think i have some bad breather gaskets, not a big problem). Took some slop out of the axle, shimmed it. It's ready to be put back together. Hopefully in a day or so, maybe the weekend.

[twoton]

Originally Posted by Alvy

I think that there also has to be argon involved to create the death smoke but at any rate yes, good disclaimer none the less.

My understanding is that it has nothing to do with argon. Remember ‘inert gas’. The issue is that when you have incomplete combustion you create carbon monoxide. When this CO combines under high temperatures with the chlorine containing hydrocarbons found in many industrial cleaners the result can be phosgene gas.

Remember Yo Mr White in the camper when he took out Crazy 8 and his buddy with phosgene gas?

[rdeyoe]

Luckily, i took another look at my brake cleaner...was using non-chlorinated anyway so no probs there.

On the plus side, finally got the motor mounted with some new bolts and lockwashers. The cradle is solid and no metal to metal rubbing anywhere. Everything lines up very well, but i will be pulling it again. I didn't put the bolts in the front rag joint before putting the shaft in motor (ugh, didn't even think about it!), so I'll have to remove / slide it forward when I replace the front coupling. I used both my new couplings on the rear of the shaft and will order another one for the front. I put the old rag joint on it and used some shorter bolts from the backside and square nuts to hold it for now.

Got the motor started up and noticed a lot of black smoke. The carb adjustments were all wacked out. Throttle stop was backed way out doing no good. Idle mixture and high speed mixture were backed out too...too much fuel flowing at all rpms. Leaned out the high speed until it just sputtered and then back about a quarter turn seemed to smooth her right out. Ran the throttle stop screw all the way in and brought it down to idle. Was kind of high, but i could adjust it down pretty slow. Adjusted the idle mixture pretty much the same as high speed and she's a nice solid idle now. There's still timing to do, but she's running pretty good right now (where the heck is the timing window???)

Now for the real reason for this thread; the experimental, cheap ISO mounts. With the engine at idle, it's an earthquake! I'm attributing that to a single cylinder, 14 hp motor. It really thumps at a very slow idle. I can really feel it when i crank the throttle stop out and have it barely running, but that's too slow for normal idle anyway. With that said, some of the bouncing is being taken up by the mounts. If it were a solid mount, i think the entire frame would bounce, but the frame vibe somewhat softened.

Roughly the same at mid throttle. There is quite a bit of shaking, but it's still softened by the mounts. You can see the difference between the engine movement and the frame movement. Watching the carb against the frame, it's easy to see the difference.

At WOT is where it gets really nice. Still a little bit of high freq 'buzz', but not bad at all...really pretty smooth. I test drove without the deck and with the deck. I can feel the belt shaking with the deck on and PTO turned on. At least i can notice those shakes now...i couldn't hear/feel them before. It's no cadillac, but the isolators are doing their job. I suppose I could loosen up on them as I have a lot of play space there, but that may let a lot more movement in to tear them up. I haven't put the grill/hood or sides back on and those might give some damping too, but quite frankly it's a pretty good ride as it is.

Back in the day, i worked on helicopters, tracking and balancing rotor systems. It gave me some good insight into vibrations and minimizing them. I realize that this motor (i'll bet the K341 is a real shaker!) has a lot of mass moving in the worst directions as far as comfort goes, but I think these mounts give a pretty good compromise. For $20, it was worth a try and I'm pretty happy with the results. I'll try and get a video and maybe someone can give some comparisons with other mounts.....

[twoton]

Come on Ryk, where's the pictures!?...

Just kidding, good to hear about your progress.

[rdeyoe]

Hehehehe...ok, ok. Didn't have any the day i put it in, phone died. Got some today though and while I was taking them I noticed that the front ones seemed to be pretty squashed. Looked like the cradle was swallowing a side of one. The right front was the worst, others looked pretty good. I decided to lift the motor up over the lower mounts and put some washers to help center and distribute the weight. Worked out much better. Also took some of the torque out of the assembly to keep the crush down. Have a couple of hours on them now, plus a half acre of mowing duty and they feel real good, but that squashing concerns me....will have to see what kind of durability they have.

Also got around to trying to straighten the steering out (turned sharp to the left, not to the right). I looked up the procedure for adjusting the drag link there and when I took the drag link off the steering gear, the ball joint came apart in my hand. The local Rural King had some on the shelf so I got it changed out and got the steering centered much better.

Had to replace the spaghetti noodle deck belt that frayed and tore through my PTO wire. Put a male/female blade on the PTO wire for quick disconnect if I remove the engine again. Took my old belt to Rural King to get a belt (that have all kinds and gauges to measure old ones). Somehow read the gauge wrong and got a belt about 9" too long. Wound up with a 1/2"x80" (i know it's supposed to be 3/8", but no one has those and I have grass to cut). Suprisingly, the notches on the mule drive tensioner went right to the center and the belt ran smooth. Mowed with it and it's working great.

One piece at a time, but it's really turning into a nice machine. I have a video of the engine running at low/mid/WOT. I'll see if I can get it on the youtubes and add a link if I can.

Got it sorted, video link: Kohler K321 run.

[rdeyoe]

Welp, got her all back together tonight. Did a little tuning on it, but can't really see the timing marks. I'm going to have to pull the points cover and use a multimeter just to locate the marks...get some paint on the mark when i find 'em.

Found out my meter also has an rpm function so i could get the idle/high speed right. Put the hood and side panels back on. It was dark when I got finished, so i figured it would be a good time to test the recently fixed head / tail lights

It's now amazingly smooth! Not the knocking / banging / rattling pile of parts i brought home. At full throttle, it feels like a twin engine. I've got some governor adjusting (seems to sag and hunt a couple times on PTO or hydro load, but does stabilize) and the timing to get right, but very comfortable and super quiet. The panels / hood and that huge cast iron damper of a grill have really smoothed it out. The only real rattle i hear is the mule drive tension release lever bumping around

I'm a bit leery on the durability of these mounts, but they sure seem to be doing the job...for now.

[rdeyoe]

Ok, well the jury's in on these. Two months in and they're complete crap! The two front ones are completely crushed, the rears are still there but also crushing. The motor isn't completely down on the frame....the rubber hasn't torn as far as i can see, but it is down about half the original thickness of the mounts. Since the motor isn't hitting anywhere, they are still isolating more than my original Cub ones that came with the tractor and it still rides pretty smooth but i feel it's it's only a matter of time. Oh well, it was worth the try. I may think about solid ones, that's a heavy motor....

[mortten]

Just saw this thread. They looked pretty squished to me in the install pics. I just installed some aftermarket ones from CC Specialties in my 1250. I'll see how they hold up during snowballing season.

[rdeyoe]

The one in the front right wasn't so much squished as "falling into the hole" some. The holes in the cradle were kind of swallowing some of the iso mount. I put some large washers between the mount and the iso mount to distribute the weight a bit better and it worked really well, for a while. I'm thinking the weight of the motor is just too much for these soft mounts. Think I'll give the Moog k5252 sway bar mounts a shot next.