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Tinbgith

'99 314-8 Fixer Upper

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SylvanLakeWH

:text-welcomeconfetti:

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953 nut

:WRS:     So glad you pulled the tins off the engine, that mouse condo could have led to the demise of your :wh:. As you begin using the tractor you will want yo use non-ethanol gas, the ethanol will crap up the fuel system in short order.

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Jerry77

That's a good score  !!   Should be a lifetime machine.....:)

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Ed Kennell

:text-welcomeconfetti: to the :rs:

 

                     It looks like there is a real GEM hidden under the 8 years of dirt.     Keep us updated with more :text-coolphotos:.

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oliver2-44

Welcome. Nice score. 😀

once you get it running consider draining and flushing the transmission. You need to lift the front of the tractor up to get the oil and flushing fluid over the hums in the tranny. Also look at the rubber boot over the shifter and replace if cracked 

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TimH

:text-welcomeconfetti:

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FatJackDurham

Clean that pony up and post again! It seems like under the crud it's in pretty good shape!

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Tinbgith

Update 9/19

 

I've spent a bit more time working on the Wheel Horse, got her cranking over quite well tonight!!! Though without the carb installed...

 

Unfortunately, somewhere between the shed and the carport I've lost the choke linkage to the carb. I've scoured as well as I can, but to no avail. One is on order, and should've been here today, but apparently two day shipping really means five (according to USPS tracking). I won't name the vendor yet, but they will be hearing from me as I paid quite a bit extra for expedited shipping since I have to leave tomorrow for work.

 

I gave her a basic wash, looks pretty good considering its 18 years old. See pictures at end of post.

 

Some things I've done the past few days:

- Replaced drive belt

 - Clutch gas strut is a bit sluggish, so I've installed an aftermarket bungie from the clutch pedal to the seat bracket that seems like it will work well enough until I can get the proper spring to connect from the clutch linkage to the transaxle ear

- Removed mower deck

 - Gave mower deck a wash

 - Replaced mower deck belt

 - Replaced blades

- Removed entire blower housing, removed all mouse nests, gave housing a bath while I had it off

- Replaced coil/ignition wire

- Oil/Filter change

- Lubed up every zerk I've found so far

- Removed starter and cleaned all of the oil grass clippings that seemed to be impeding the Bendix gear

 

About that starter...

 

When I first tried to crank it, I could hear the starter moving, but it seemed very anemic. I removed the housing cover to watch the gear, and could easily see the teeth while cranking it. That's when I decided to remove it and found all of the crap that was obviously binding it up. Gave it a good cleanup, and "bench" tested with my jumper box. Spun up very strong, Bendix gear slid up the shaft, perfect.

 

Installed it back onto the engine, and cranked it up. Spun up strong, but did not engage, no matter how many times I cranked it. Decided it maybe needed to be lubed up a little, and did that while it was still bolted on by pulling up the gear and lubing as best as I could. Try to crank, same thing, spins strong, but doesn't move to engage.

 

So now I remove it for a second time. (Good thing it's so easy, eh?) Clean it even more thoroughly, but don't lube it, test it with the jumper box a few times, looks great. Re-install it back on to the engine. Try to crank it again. SAME THING.

 

Then something clicks in my head. That ground cable from the battery seemed the whole time like it was too long and hanging out of the engine compartment too much. I took a close look at the routing of the cables, and realized the ground from the starter was connected to the pos. post on the battery!!! Upon closer inspection, I know how I did it. At some point while hooking up the battery (both cables are black), I looked at the starter solenoid and saw a black and red cable. I then proceeded to absent-mindedly think "oh, well the red cable is positive, so obviously this black cable hooks up to the negative post" and proceeded to hook up the real ground to the pos. post.

 

Once I realized this, I knew that my whole problem with the starter not engaging the flywheel was because the starter  was turning the wrong way and the Bendix gear was unable to advance to engage! I swapped the battery cables to the correct posts, and on the first try (without carb installed) I got I nice "whoomp-whoomp-whoomp"!!! 

 

Still need to do:

- Install carb and air filter assembly

- Replace gear oil

- Replace fuel filter and line from tank to filter/pump

 

One question:

I'm not sure how far the attachment lever is supposed to move, in the attached pics it is in the full back/up, and then the fullfull forward/down positions, as far as I can tell. The lever only has range of about 20-30 degrees (definitely no more than that). Just looking for advice on whether that's the normal down position or whether I need to look closer to see if something is binding it up.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

-Dan

 

Edited to show different handle positions

IMG_0683.JPG

 

IMG_0686.JPG

image1-1.JPG

Edited by Tinbgith
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Thor27

That sure cleaned up nice!  There should be significantly more movement than I see in the pictures.

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953 nut

59c246dd3cc5b_111.JPG.bb7190b38c6c5bc5bbfd1f0368e31fed.JPG

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Ed Kennell

Those antique eyes are still pretty sharp Dick @953 nut .              :handgestures-thumbupright::handgestures-thumbsup::thumbs2:

 

Looking good Dan......that deck looks NOS.

Edited by Ed Kennell
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doc724

It is a shame the way people treat these machines. You did all the right things and it cleaned up quite nicely.  I have a 1998 and I recently had to add a conventional clutch return spring because the gas strut was getting tired.  Make sure you get the air cleaner back on before the mice move back in.  Also, mine had a slow oil leak on the right side engine cover.  Kohler used RTV in lieu of gaskets on these engines.  I had it repaired-not really a functional problem, I just like my machines to be as perfect as possible.  You will like your tractor (except for all the blasted safety interlocks).  Although, I must say, my wife cannot drive this tractor with the brake engaged :-)

 

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Tinbgith
On 9/20/2017 at 5:46 AM, 953 nut said:

59c246dd3cc5b_111.JPG.bb7190b38c6c5bc5bbfd1f0368e31fed.JPG

 

Thanks! I read that section in the manual before, but must've stopped paying attention when it said in the first sentence "The Dial-A-Height control (Fig. 14) is used to limit the downward travel of attachments other than mowers."

 

However, looking at it again, it says to turn it all the way to the plastic thread cap for mowing, should have read the whole paragraph before! I tried yesterday to turn it all the way, but I've still got at least 1.5" of thread left to go until the thread cap, and I can absolutely not get it any farther by hand. I'm going to assume that either something is binding up the threads, or there's something further down preventing movement. Looking at the parts diagrams, I believe I now understand how the dial control works with the lever.

 

Hoping to get back home this weekend, should be able to pick up the choke linkage from the post office and hopefully get the thing running, and have a closer look at the lever issue.

 

Also checked the shifter boot yesterday, and will need to change that out when I can get the part, as well. As far as I can figure, to remove the lever there's just a jam nut and set screw to remove the lever, swap the boot, and reinstall?

 

On the note of the transmission, just shifting it around while sitting I can get it into High/Low/R-1-2, but the lever doesn't want to go into third. It doesn't seem that the big metal spring on the console faceplate is getting in the way, and I watched the video on how the trannys work last night. Is it possible that the 3rd gear/pinion is just a little stuck, and maybe a good cleaning/flushing/fluid change might get it moving/shiftable again? Or am I likely to have to open the dang thing up and do some real work?

 

Thanks for all of the advice and words so far, glad I found an active forum with so much knowledge on these machines! Just tinkering around with this one (never had a riding mower/tractor before), I can tell why people like them so much, though the youtube videos I watched about removing the mower deck took some liberties to make it look much easier/quicker than it really is... all the ones I saw don't mention anything about removing the PTO belt. They all just said "push this button, remove this pin, and slide it out!" ....not quite that simple, but it's still not bad at all.

 

-Dan

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570 Productions

i have a 312-8 same year as your 314, I replaced the gas strut for the clutch pedal with a conventional spring. That cleaned up very nice good luck with it.

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Ed Kennell

You may have to roll the wheels slightly to get it into 3rd.

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doc724

One last thing I thought of.  Carefully pull off the foot treads and clean off all the junk under them.  If you are lucky, there will not be any rust lurking there.  If you break off the plastic fasteners, most autoparts stores have them

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ohiofarmer

You mentioned the gas strut clutch thingy, so that is my reference. As part of your regular maintence, at least a couple of times a season, make sure where the swing arm for the clutch comes through the tunnel housing, just use some motorcycle chain lube.

 

If that wear bushing fails[ plastic, I think]  the arm will wear an egg shaped hole in the thin metal tunnel in short order and shorten belt life by excessively vibrating. DAMHIK

 

I also like to use a bit of synthetic oil on the [ if so equipped] bonnet clutch bearings on the pto and also a few drops where the steering wheel goes through the tower to keep the steering tight and easy on effort

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Tinbgith

Well, Chaps, she runs!!!

 

Was able to get back home today and install the carb/air filter assembly, and replaced the main fuel line/filter, and drained what was left in the tank (not much came out, probably less than 1/2 cup). 

 

Accounting for the fact that the fuel pump had to draw fuel from the tank to the engine (empty line), it started right up! Drove it around a bit, eventually could get it in all gears, high and low.

 

Installed the mower deck back underneath, and it runs well, too. The lift lever issue seems to be a non-issue for now, as the mower deck seems to get low enough as is.

 

The one oopsie for today was that the engine didn't turn off with the key... eventually remembered that I didn't connect the ground to the coil when reinstalling it. Just took the blower cover off again and connected it, ops check good.

 

Still have to do the transmission fluid, lever boot, etc.

 

Also have to check the brake, when the tractor is in gear it's like there isn't a brake at all (not that I'm going to make a habit of braking while in gear), though it does stop the tractor otherwise. Hoping just a quick adjustment will do the trick.

 

Next project after this is to replace the wheels on the trailer that they also left behind, though I'm thinking a quick trip to TSC and a few minutes swapping out should be about all I need for that.

 

Thanks again for all of the advice.

 

-Dan

 

Edited by Tinbgith
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953 nut

:woohoo:            Glad you got it running well.    :handgestures-thumbupright:            One thing you probably need to keep in mind is that ethanol will foul your fuel system, use non-ethanol gas only.

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wrightorchid

You might want to replace the fuel lines, and flush the tank.  If you use a 1/4" drill or rod, you can connect the new line to the old so you don't have to try to fish it when it wants to curve from being rolled up.   looks great!

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oliver2-44

when you flush tranny refilling through stick shift hole is easier than the fill tube. 

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Tinbgith
9 hours ago, wrightorchid said:

You might want to replace the fuel lines, and flush the tank.  If you use a 1/4" drill or rod, you can connect the new line to the old so you don't have to try to fish it when it wants to curve from being rolled up.   looks great!

 

Already replaced the fuel lines, only took a few minutes to thread it through the tunnel/clips. I had uncoiled the new line a week ago while working on the carb, so it was as straight as you could hope to get. However, that's a really good tip, I can see that it would work well (and will hopefully remember it for the future). 

 

On 9/24/2017 at 5:45 AM, 953 nut said:

:woohoo:            Glad you got it running well.    :handgestures-thumbupright:            One thing you probably need to keep in mind is that ethanol will foul your fuel system, use non-ethanol gas only.

 

I do understand about using non-ethanol gas, I just have to find somewhere nearby that has it. I haven't noticed anywhere yet, but I'm in a pretty rural area and have seen off-road diesel a number of places, I assume there has to be somewhere around here that has non-ethanol gas.

 

7 hours ago, oliver2-44 said:

when you flush tranny refilling through stick shift hole is easier than the fill tube. 

 

Thanks for the advice, I'll keep that in mind when replacing the boot, and try to do it all at the same time.

 

-Dan

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953 nut
9 hours ago, Tinbgith said:

 

I do understand about using non-ethanol gas, I just have to find somewhere nearby that has it. I haven't noticed anywhere yet, but I'm in a pretty rural area and have seen off-road diesel a number of places, I assume there has to be somewhere around here that has non-ethanol gas.

Two good places on the internet to find a station that caries it.

buyrealgas.com

pure-gas.org

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CasualObserver
9 hours ago, Tinbgith said:

I just have to find somewhere nearby that has it. I haven't noticed anywhere yet, but I'm in a pretty rural area and have seen off-road diesel a number of places, I assume there has to be somewhere around here that has non-ethanol gas.

 

If the websites Richard listed don't come up with anything for you, check with your local fuel oil/propane company. They probably have it and are probably delivering it to farms around you.

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