D200, Bringing it back to life. Pics and vids

[coldone 35]

ITS ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks to my lovely wife taking care of the kids this afternoon!. Ran into a few problems and I will cover that later. Took a victory lap at dark 30 and even the dash light works. More details later gotta give the kids baths now.

[Sparky-(Admin) 19,568]

Thats great news!

Mike..........

[1maidenfan 201]

:woohoo: love it when a plan comes together and another horse is rescued. :party:

[coldone 35]

Now for the rest of the story.

Today started off with family pictures, so we got home around 1:00. My Goal was to get it running and possibly put bak together. With this long weekend coming to an end I new I had to get the majority of the work done today. The odds and end s could wait and be done a little at the time in the evenings. So I changed clothes and headed to the shed. The D200 was waiting on me, i had left off with getting the rearend put in and the one disk brake setup and the wheels on. I dragged the battery out of the D160 and installed it into the D200. I hit the ignition and she spun over. I put a little gas down the carb and she ran for a few seconds spewing rat nests out of every orifice. I popped the shrouds off, much easier on the kohler than the onan, and cleaned out all the rat hotel. There was too much in there to call it a nest. Got all that cleaned out, then I hooked up the gas tank. A little gas in the tank, a little in the carb, a touch of key and she started to sputter to life. The carb will need a cleaning but for now a little choke and she runs enough to start testing and purging the hydro.

I had the rear off the ground, I pushed the direction lever forward and the tire start spinning, In the wrong direction. They were going backwards. I pull the lever backwards into reverse and the tires start spinning forwards. EGADS Watson sumting not right!!! There is no way to hook the hydro lines backwards (This is called a divorced/separated hydrostat, the pump and motor are only connected by a set of hard lines). I thought possibly that the external relief valve could be hooked up backwards and causing this (wishfull thinking) I check it against the D160 and everything is hooked up the same. I start getting worried that something is wrong with swash plate or pump. I start scratching my head and come inside to hit the books and the boards.

After about an hour of scouring the web and books I finally get a clue in the sundstrand manual. I find a pic of the motor in the rebuild section. I new that the original owner had been into the motor so I start checking the pic carefully. The motor has a fixed swash plate. Its part of the motor housing, I start to have hope! I check the pic carefully and see that there is a difference in shape between the top and bottom of the housing. I run outside to check my housing, it looks different than the pic but the top and bottom are different. I check it against the D160. The d160 motor housing has the webbing on the top and the smooth side underneath. The 200 has the smooth side on top and the webbing underneath. AHA Watson, i think we have found the problem! My housing is on upside down which puts the swash palte 180 out. Its 4 bolts holding the housing on. I remove them but there isnt enough room between the housing and the frame to flip it. I have to remove a snap ring so that i can pull the housing back more. I get it flipped and everything back together when I notice pieces of the gasket had fallen into my catch bucket. I give it a try anyway and it worked right, forward was forward reverse was reverse! Yippie!!

I have to pull the housing off so that i can make a gasket. I get to see slippers for the first time and are they small or what. i thought they would be much bigger. At this point I am terrified that they will fall out but it dosent happen. I only have cork gasket material on hand so it will have to work. Cork dosent hammer cut as well as paper so I get a good impression on the material and start cutting it. It took a good hour to make the gasket. Its getting to be close to 5pm now so I am getting a little anxious to get this big stuff done. I race out of the shop with the new gasket. I put it all back together. Start the engine and no major leaks. I do have on leak around a bolt, lower left one. I had read about needing a sealing washer on one of the bolts but I didnt know which one and there wasnt one there to begin with. I remove the one bolt, head back to the shop. I take a piece of the cork gasket and cut it to fit a correct size washer, then i make a hole in the gasket material. Back at the shed, I stack the gasket then the washer and put the bolt through. I tighten it up, hit the ignition, and try out the hydro. No leaks!!!

The rest of the evening is spent in a mad rush of flailing wrenches trying to beat sundown. It was a tie, the last bolt was put in by feel. I take a slow trip to the shop to pump up the tires. Put a little more gas in the tank, then a victory lap with the lights on. All of them work BTW. It had to have 1/2 choke and at least 1/2 throttle but she runs and runs smooooooth. It is very quiet with the factory mufflers on it. I can even have a conversation without yelling.

She is now resting back in the shed, mostly put back together. Over the next week or two I will get the carb cleaned, fad up what i need for the turning brake, finish installing the 3PTH, get the part for the parking brake and give her a good cleaning. Oh and make a vid or two. If i am lucky, she will be mowing next weekend.

Sorry for the long post but it was alot happening today that I had to share.

[1maidenfan 201]

:popcorn: Interesting and detailed post Can't wait to see it in action. :chores-mowlawn:

[Sparky-(Admin) 19,568]

Now for the rest of the story.

Sorry for the long post but it was alot happening today that I had to share.

No need to say sorry. You cleared a major hurdle and I could feel your excitement in the post!!

Congrats!

Mike..........

[coldone 35]

Had a few hours this evening to finish up the assembly. Got the 3PTH on and a few odds and ends. Hope you enjoy the vid.

[gwgdog66 23]

That is cool right there!!

[1maidenfan 201]

Excellent video!

[Operator 7]

One word, Nice!!!!