Leaderboard

It's been a few months since I put a new starter on the K-181 for the reborn B-80. I purchased the rebuild kit for the old one but have yet to find one with the correct bushing on the gear end. The brush end was correct. This morning I just decided to clean it up, lube the bushings and put it back together. It's just going to be sitting on the shelf as a spare. I cleaned up the important stuff, put new brushed in and reassembled it. Leave it to an old electrician to use a 4" sq cover to whip up a hold the brushes down while you put the end cap back on tool. It worked great. Tested and It's good to go.

My wife surprised me with this for my birthday.

After the walloping we got Sunday into Monday I used Mongo to clean up. Mostly it did great but it started running rich. I think the snow was so fluffy it was getting in the air cleaner. Wanted to use it the next day to clean up the plow berms at the end of the driveway and the bendix wouldn't engage. Took the cover off and there was a nice chunk of ice in the tin. Cleaned that out and still no engagement. I ended up using a propane torch on the end of the starter for maybe 10 to 15 seconds. That was all it took.

The 520H had been acting like it was starving for fuel during the tail end of the last storm clean up. I actually had to leave the warm cab and brave the cold to finish with the 312H. I had installed an epump last fall and she had been running fine till now. Time to find the problem before the next storm that is coming this Sat. I pulled the line off near the carb and turned on the epump and got barely a dribble. Nice thing about the epumps..you don't have to crank the engine to check for good fuel supply. So, I went to the other end and pulled the line on the fuel tank petcock....not even a dribble. from the tank. The petcock was clogged with dirt. A good cleaning of the petcock and flushing the tank and back together and running like a happy ONAN should. When installing this I like to coat it with vaseline then just start the valve in the grommet before pushing the grommet into the tank then push the valve barb into the grommet.

Late post from the weekend storm, but wheelhorse 414 w/ bervac got it done. central jersey, 11" snow with ice cap. 24" drifts against the garage. fun day cleaning the snow. the mailman loves the tractor, bogs down a little when going into the deep wet road plowed pile but as you can see from the picture it makes it happen. IMG_2654.mov

I would say that's a great reason to rebuild that engine. Do it right, and it will last another 40 years. I would spend the money to have the bore reworked, and the valve seats. Also check the crank pin as per the manual. OEM pistons, rods, and rings are hard to find, but there are decent aftermarket ones available. If you download the Kohler manual you can handle the rest of it. Me personally, I would also delete the balance gears. It'll thump a bit more, but you won't have to worry about them destroying that K341...

Ed: Interestingly I have found that debris does settle on top of this valve on several of the TORO model Wheel Horse tractors we have. Seems like gasoline, dirt, dust, leaves, etc sometimes collect in these rear tanks enough that they can block this spot. Cleaning the tank of all gasoline probably a good idea every four or five years.

Ags with wheel weights have performed quite well for me in some fairly deep snow. I will add that I'm on relatively flat blacktop and haven't had to deal with much in the way of ice. I've got nice chains but haven't had a need to use them yet. It's too much work and expense to keep the blacktop in good shape to risk tearing it up with chains.

Has anybody ever looked into Guinness book of records to see if this is the longest running active form on one single topic? Today I was just looking through pictures of summer horses tired of snow and thought of this

Real nice ... wife got any sisters?

No negativity intended here. Just practical real world experienced advice. The front tires you have in the picture above are basically a bald tire with small grooves. I am 99 and 44/100 percent confident that you will not be impressed with the traction of them. They are intended to be used on grass. If you want any hope of steering on snow you need a very aggressive tire. As to the Rears, the ones in the picture will be better than what you have on most surfaces. I still maintain that they are not the answer you are looking for on mud, or snow.

Two theories on that one: First- Kohler installed them in K301, K321, K341. Then in M12, M14, and M16 engines to reduce vibrations associated with a single cylinder flathead engine's combustion cycle. Secondly- When the before mentioned engines reach a certain amount of wear, the gears work well for opening ventilation "windows" in the block. AKA "grenade gears" as they are commonly known. All that being said: When the bearings and shims are replaced as per the service manual (and properly timed), the chances of them failing is greatly reduced. But many don't keep up with the wear on an old Kohler and don't rebuild it until the engine is just about worn out. Those tiny needle bearings don't always last as long as the rest of the components. So to prevent worry in the future, some folks just remove them. I've done it myself and while it will be evident on a K341 it eliminates the worry of destroying the engine if a balance gear decides to change places with the crank.

Especially true of tanks with a fuel level sender. They tend to drop rust...

I have that truck too. along with the box.

it certainly was a mess clearing the 15 inches in the Hudson River Valley of NY -- plus, now we have forecast for possible second storm this weekend -- YUK - my body is just thawing out from last Sunday!! Thankfully, the C175h handled most of it -- but i did need to use the walk behind Ariens blower for some of the piles, edge rows etc --- needed to create some space for February and March !!!!!!!!!!!!! oh yeah, plus the end of the driveway was 4 ft high from Town plow --- so blower was needed for some of that -- didn't want to abuse WH as bulldozer.

luv the SEAT !! I have read threads on fb that advocate for Ags for snow use - - cant imagine them being functional - - which you confirmed -- yes, maybe ags for tiller doing gardening in dirt but doesn't seem logical for snow -- i will make one suggestion tho --- suggest you put treatment on blade so you don't have that volume of heavy snow stuck to blade -- especially since you have to manually lift the blade -- use car wax - or pam -- or non stick snow treatment product - or wd 40 - fluid film, etc? if blade has lots of rust -- suggest you sand off rust and paint it so you have smooth non friction surface so snow slides off - Good luck !

LED tail light ready to be installed. Cover has been removed for assembly. LED tail light showing how wires had to be routed. Wires will pass through the outside set of holes in the fender. Tail light hardware ready to install. Fender ready for tail lights to be installed. Tail lights loosely bolted to fender with wire out through the outside holes in the fender. Tail light ready for ground lug to be soldered on. Tail light ground lug soldered on. Tail light ground lugs heat shrink installed then they were bolted on. All four tail light screws tightened. Tail light wire soldered then heat shrink installed. Tail light wires soldered together and wire installed that plugs into tractor wire harness. Heat shrink installed. Tail lights powered up using a test battery. Tail lights covers installed.

TRI-RIB tires. Much different than the wide slick type tires you posted.

Most of us use those tires on the front of pulling tractors especially the tri rib ones. I would recommend a good set of snowblower tires in the front.

But wait, there's more! The crankshaft journal may need to be ground - if not at the max limit now. Doing so requires a new rod to match.... Important note - If going the full rebuild route, the machine shop needs the new parts in hand before any boring or grinding can be done. This allows them to machine to the proper clearances...

Jim Morrison

One of my wife's brothers turned me on to these guys recently. Curious, who does this song remind you of?

suggest you start a petition of Forum members signatures supporting a cab purchase for you to show your wife from all of us - show her all the names - and at the least she will have a giggle - and at best, she will buy it for you as next birthday or christmas present -- or just because you're a good guy!

Trina uses these year round on her Military Tribute Tractor, Millie. Traction is excellent. IMHO - "good in snow" is a stretch. That said, the tri ribs have a raised center bead. It cuts into ground surface FAR better than a standard turf tire.

Maybe go with a tire for a walk behind snow-blower up front? I have these on mine.

I would consider how much work? A regular mowing tractor all summer?

Some K341 engines unofficially can be bored much more. That'd obviously be up to the rebuilder to determine. Not something I'd do without proper scanning equipment.

Solid advice. The old saying "The more you look, the more you find" comes to mind. The source of the oil consumption is not limited to the rings - the clearance between the valves & their guides may now be excessive - if so best to replace both. Do this first - when you pull the head off, look for the "STD" marking on top of the piston. IF it already says ".030", you will most likely be looking for a different rebuildable engine... If it says ".010" you can still go to .030 over - IF that is enough to clean up the entire bore after reboring. Accurate measurements are required to determine this... You say you want this to be a worker - .010 over may be your best bet.

Vredestein.

For turf duty, my C-195 had severe understeer with the old, dried out, original turf savers. I swapped them out for for some 5 rib tires from Miller Tire. Can't remember the brand right now, but it started with a V. Haven't driven this tractor in the snow yet, so I can't comment on how well they would work. They are an improvement on turf, though. Others have installed a length of #35 roller chain around the center of the tread on their front tires to improve snow performance. The chain is a tight fit with the tire deflated, then when air is added, the tire expands inside the chain and hold it on. Said to be very effective.

As usual Eric wasn’t very clear about how he feels about chains . In my opinion two link chains on turfs will out perform Ags or the All-Trails. The All Trails are a good all around tire that are a great choice if youre against using tire chains. My recommendation is to get the All-Trails AND get 2 link chains that you can install if the going is too difficult for the All-Trails.

Thanks for the "mention" Bill. I saw this thread earlier but couldn't take the time to answer. @Alrashid2 See how I separated the lines above? I drive equipment for a living. We live on a mountainside like you. I have A LOT of experience and training in this subject. Like it or not - you're asking for resolution on two VERY different tasks. For mud or most sand NUTHIN beats good AG tires. Period. For snow - hands down best case scenario is a turf tire with chains. WEIGHT is your friend. Fluid filled tires are HIGHLY recommended. More weight is more friction is more traction. My recommendation to you is get turf tires AND 2 LINK CHAINS. Trina uses those year round on her 867. Definitely the way to go. On any garden tractor with one wheel drive there are NO tires that will be satisfactory for use on snow covered hills without chains. Get the chains. ⛓️ Get the chains. ⛓️ Get the chains. ⛓️ Get the chains. ⛓️ Get the chains. ⛓️ Get the chains. ⛓️ Get the chains. ⛓️

It your tires are still good and holding air I would go with wheel weights and chains, I just pulled a set of tires like you have from 87 and 2100 hours and they were shot. Off of my mower tractor. My plow tractor has old tires but chains and weights and it is unstoppable on 2 very steep asphalt drives I do out of 4 all together. If you get chains get the double link.

Ventilation for a belt guard ala @cleat with a Greenlee punch. Bit different pattern Cleat but should work. Coulda had the spacing a little closer. Deburred with a step bit. Speaking of step bits... @Pullstart was here...

Well a little bit of thawing seemed to really help. Wet concrete grips better than frozen. So got a couple driveways done. Then my friend and I got a Wheel Horse Man Date in as we plowed the parking lot for small school. Mine is the 416-8 and his is the 417-A. We were plowing after dark for a few hours. First time I needed the headlights for work. Was glad I had them though. Parking lot lights were out. But we got it cleared off pretty good.

I woke up this morning to the sound of my neighbor firing up his Kubota. All the driveways were packed tight with 3-4 feet of snow from PENNDOTS plowing. He used the Kubota with the FEL to remove the packed snow so I could get in with the 520H to plow the driveways. We just finished all seven driveways. We had about 10 inches of snow then several hours of sleet creating one of the heaviest snows I had to plow.

Haven't seal coated for quite a few years Yup! " Don't aggressively spin the rears. Mostly unnecessary since the traction is always good " They just ride on the top of the frozen asphalt and ice and don't do any damage because it's very rare to spin them. We get lots of ice on a large section from the melting water and freezing overnight. The other types slip on that ice much more often and actually cause spinning which hits the dry spots too. Not so much with the V bars. I don't run them across the driveway in the heat of the summer time as they would sink into the soft asphalt.

VERY COOL

Nice! Looks to be NIB too...

I run the scraper all the way down, 2 link ice grip chains on the rear, #40 roller chains on the fronts and also scrape with plow blade. All on an expensive asphalt paved driveway 2 1/2 cars wide by about 120 ft long. Yes it may leave some little scratches in the surface but they are gone come spring time and become completely unnoticeable that they were ever there. Don't aggressively spin the rears. Mostly unnecessary since the traction is always good Don't keep driving if the fronts are sliding, Lift the blower or blade and it will instantly steer again. Be mindful of the rear tires riding up high on snow piles like as that will tip the tractor and could dig the corner of the plow blade down into the driveway.

It has been a few years. But as I recall I was at the far end of the field when the C-141 just sputtered and died. No clicking from the pump. I agree one thing I like about electric turn the switch on listen to clicking when it changes bowl is full and it fires right up. Incidentally trying to tow a C-141 with a front mount mower several hundred feet is a real PITA

Section 7 is your friend

Got between 8 and 10" Did most of it with the 953 but it had already started to compact itself so the Village and State boys leftovers were a challenge. Got out the Ariens and was hitting the top of the trees but it only made it about 10 ft and it stopped blowing. I had to adjust the auger belt all the way out. Got new belts ordered. I think they are original 1990 vintage. Pushed all the piles back with Elvis. The hydraulic system did not like this cold weather!

@My_horse Weight, turf tires and chains and you will be saying to yourself “This thing is amazing!” It’s well worth the effort to add these things to your tractor for the winter. That and some wax or nonstick spray on the blade will help as well. Nobody can deny the cool factor of the look of ag tires, but in the snow it’s turfs,chains and weights.

Here in northern Indiana we probably got 3-4 inches but I get drifting bad on my place so got drifts up to about 16 inches I have a snowblower but I just don't use it because it's always windy whenever I have snow to clear. So right now using this back blade.

+9F with a stiff 15MPH East wind that is drifting the fine snow. Just on the leading edge of the storm now. As it moves Northeast the wind will shift from the North and pile up some snow. About 3"s down now.

I had cataract surgery about 10 years ago. Quite an improvement, especially with night driving. But I still have to wear progressive lens glasses. I sit 15 feet from my 50" TV and still can't read the closed captioning. Doctor says I have 20/20 vision. I am going to go to a different opthalmologist next visit.

Well done Bill. You're right but mine came in with 1/2" studs. They were two inch thick. I do keep the information handy in my notes if you want it.