401 Suburban Resto

[squonk 46,040]

6 hours ago, kpinnc said:

 

I'm a bit too big to comfortably drive a Surburban, which is why I sold my RJ and my 551. 

 

Your restoration makes me question my decision. It looks awesome! 

I look like a circus bear on my 551 

 

[squonk 46,040]

I'm thinking the Mag coil itself. Or is there a spark advance system on these little Kohl-aires? 

[SylvanLakeWH 31,024]

8 hours ago, WHX?? said:

He claims he played with everything ... including himself  ... to get it to run right.

 

8 hours ago, WHX?? said:

how could you have stripped that girl from her working cloths?

Oh that's right you like seeing girls naked ...

That paint is pretty reflective... Careful what the camera catches... Again with the visuals...!!! 
 

Beautiful work Dan!!! 

[Achto 31,502]

13 hours ago, squonk said:

I'm thinking the Mag coil itself. Or is there a spark advance system on these little Kohl-aires? 

 

I do have a brand new aftermarket mag I could try. Would prefer it to be a Kohler one but it's what I have on hand. No spark advance on this little one.

 

Symtems

1 - starts hard

2 - can not have the throttle above idle or it absolutely will not start 

3 - have to bump the throttle with your finger to coaxe it up to speed, once there it will hold with the throttle.

4 - pull the throttle once warmed up a bit and it will shut down immediately.

5 - seems to want to fall off after running at speed for a while.

6 - if the governor pulls the throttle wide open it wants to kill.

7 - have had to clean the points several time due to a loss of spark. 

Edited 6 hours ago by Achto

[wallfish 19,691]

5 minutes ago, Achto said:

 

I do have a brand new aftermarket mag I could try. Would prefer it to be a Kohler one but it's what I have on hand. No spark advance on this little one.

 

Symtems

1 - starts hard

2 - can not have the throttle above idle or it absolutely will not start 

3 - have to bump the throttle with your finger to coaxe it up to speed, once there it will hold with the throttle.

4 - pull the throttle once warmed up a bit and it will shut down immediately.

5 - seems to want to fall off after running at speed for a while.

6 - if the governor pulls the throttle wide open it wants to kill.

7 - have had to clean the points several time doe to a loss of spark. 

 

Did you ever change the condenser as mentioned earlier? You can quick check that just by adding a known good one directly to the points wire on the points connection without pulling the flywheel. 

I've had a couple where the points setting was so touchie it took forever to adjust that gap. Drop the gap to 17 and see if it changes anything. Then adjust in tiny .001 increments  

you can try closing the plug gap a little. Weak spark would jump it easier.

A bad plug wire would also cause those symptoms

 

New Kohler coil

https://davespartsworld.com/products/k90-91-kohler-ignition-coil-220435

 

 

[squonk 46,040]

Just now, wallfish said:

 

 

you can try closing the plug gap a little. Weak spark would jump it easier.

A bad plug wire would also cause those symptoms

 

 

 

 

That kinda why I was leaning to the coil. ( bad plug wire)

[wallfish 19,691]

5 minutes ago, squonk said:

That kinda why I was leaning to the coil. ( bad plug wire)

Plug wires on those K91 coils can be changed without changing the coil

Edited 18 hours ago by wallfish

[wallfish 19,691]

A temp battery ignition coil and condenser can be set up fairly easy without pulling the flywheel. 

If it runs well doing that then it would verify the problem is definitely in the original ignition system somewhere other than the points. Then verify each component one at a time.  

Check that points push rod too

Connecting a long deck belt to another tractor PTO is easier than yanking that thing all day

[953 nut 65,072]

16 minutes ago, wallfish said:

Did you ever change the condenser as mentioned earlier?                    

You can quick check that just by adding a known good one directly to the points wire on the points connection without pulling the flywheel.            

 

The most conclusive way to check for a bad condenser is to disconnect it. A short period of operation without a condenser won't hurt the points. I have never attached a second condenser in parallel with a suspected bad one,                where did you come up with that one John?  I'm always eager to learn a new trick or two.

[wallfish 19,691]

1 minute ago, 953 nut said:

where did you come up with that one John? 

That's directly from the back yard hammer mechanic's school of hard knocks. It's under the chapter called trial and error! LOL

It won't hurt anything to add another condenser for testing purposes. It's definitely a pain to keep disassembling to pull the flywheel so when you give the laziest man the toughest job, he'll find the easiest way to do it. 

[WHX?? 55,977]

7 minutes ago, wallfish said:

temp battery ignition coil and condenser can be set up fairly easy

That is a good idea ... Guess I gotta start with the old fashions to come up with that... 

[953 nut 65,072]

6 minutes ago, wallfish said:

That's directly from the back yard hammer mechanic's school of hard knocks. It's under the chapter called trial and error! LOL

It won't hurt anything to add another condenser for testing purposes. It's definitely a pain to keep disassembling to pull the flywheel so when you give the laziest man the toughest job, he'll find the easiest way to do it. 

When I had a K-90 the condenser was mounted on the engine block near the points, one pervious owner modification that went well.

Most condenser failures are a short due to moisture in the dielectric material, anything placed in parallel with a short is going to be seen as a short.

[wallfish 19,691]

3 minutes ago, 953 nut said:

When I had a K-90 the condenser was mounted on the engine block near the points, one pervious owner modification that went well.

Most condenser failures are a short due to moisture in the dielectric material, anything placed in parallel with a short is going to be seen as a short.

Well, then that would verify that. Bad connection, open circuit, bad ground on it, pulled out wire, etc can all be very quickly verified by adding a condenser to the points. Who knows what those little chinese kids missed when making them

[wallfish 19,691]

3 hours ago, squonk said:

I look like a circus bear on my 551 

 

 

You ? That 401 looks like a dingleberry on James! 

[Achto 31,502]

11 hours ago, wallfish said:

Did you ever change the condenser as mentioned earlier?

 

11 hours ago, wallfish said:

A bad plug wire would also cause those symptoms

 

I did put a new Kohler condenser in. Same issue.

Have been thinking about the plug wire too. There is a spot where it feels softer than the rest of the wire. I know that the plug wire is screwed on to a stud inside the coil, was a little scared to change it when I had it apart for the rebuild. The last time I unscrewed a coil wire in one of these the stud broke off & I ended up having to by a new coil any way. Note - the after market coils come with a plug wire already attached, the Kohler OEM coils do not come with a plug wire. I'm kind of a stickler for buying OEM ignition and carburetor parts, OEM er nuttin. 

 

Pretty sure that I am fighting an ignition problem. When I do get it running around 3/4 throttle, I can make things worse by adjusting the main screw on the carb but can not seem to make them better

 

Would not even look at the lil be-ach today, had enough frustration yesterday.  Instead I decided to spend time meditating at the lathe and made a thumb cap for the valve on the press. A real nice little convenience. 

 

 

After that I went to our spring meeting for our pulling club. Will gather a few parts during the week & tear into the little PITA next weekend. Will keep you up dated.

 

 

Edited 6 hours ago by Achto

[AlexR 2,821]

The tractor looks awesome Dan!! 

I get the engine problems can definitely be frustrating but you will figure it out! 

I think you are on the right track of the engine issue. The best timing setting I got was using the continuity beeper on a multimeter and setting the points with that. Lining up the T mark on the flywheel, just barely get the beeping to stop by adjusting the points and tighten them down. So they open exactly when you want them to. 

Edited 5 hours ago by AlexR

[WHX?? 55,977]

4 minutes ago, AlexR said:

best timing setting I got was using the continuity beeper

That's how he does do it and swears by it. I never had any luck doing it that way. I just set them at 20 and runner. The 1045 with no ACR gives me points fits so going to try the beeper on it for grins. 

Edited 5 hours ago by WHX??

[sqrlgtr 2,515]

1 hour ago, WHX?? said:

I just set them at 20 and runner

That's where I start but have been known to spearmint and try different settings just to see if I can make them run/start a little better.