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Showing results for tags 'K181 Rod Piston Rebuild'.
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Having finally finished with all the leaf cleanup, last week I took the TracVac to the river house for the winter. So Saturday was one of my favorite "Red" days of the year....the ceremonial dropping of the deck, and installation of the snow blade. At the end of the day, just as I was about put her away, I snapped a photo on my phone to send to my "Partner in Wheel Horse Crime"....something we regularly do just to let the other know whenever we're tinkering or getting some seat time. So I snapped the image above, but figured before I sent the image along with a text message something to the effect of "look what I'm doing but you're not", I figured I'd put the tractor away. So about sixty seconds after snapping this image, I'm backing the tractor into the shed next to the ZTR when suddenly there's a short, curious sound from the engine, which then just stops firing, but continues spinning until it finally stops. Hmmm...that didn't sound good. I briefly hit the key, but no ignition happening. Pulled the plug and a quick check showed I had good spark. I'm no mechanical genius, but I had a really bad feeling. Suspicions seemed confirmed when I was able to spin the motor by hand much easier than what I expected. Pulled the head and sure enough, the valves were pumping up and down, but the piston just sat there. Did the tear-down last night, and this is what I found.... This is NOT what I was hoping for for Christmas! Going to make lemonade out of these holiday lemons though, and go ahead and do a full rebuild. After 36 years, I figure the 'ol girl deserves a few new parts! Need to get the cylinder mic'd to determine what size piston I'll need, etc, but once done I figure I'll have a brand new K181 worth another 30 or 40 years of service! (I say this with my fingers crossed, as this is the first rebuild I've ever done!) Probably won't get to this before Christmas, but will update as this progresses. In the meantime...and I can't believe I'm saying this....let's hope the snow holds off in Richmond.... Merry Christmas all!
