The "I'm Obsessive With Lawn Tractors" Thread

[DRIVEN]

Well, turns out all 3 needed replaced. The howler on the left was because a previous owner had cross threaded the pulley bolt but it wasn't tight, ruining the shaft. Glad I bought the 3-pack.
I drilled for grease fittings and removed the inner seals. Each spindle took almost exactly 100 pumps of the grease gun to completely fill. I used up almost 2 full tubes of Lucas HD for the job but it shouldn't take much maintenance now.

It's much smoother and quieter.

 

[Tomeal]

I will ask here.



The top rocker is loose and flopping around, the bottom is still tight but off the valve.

Any ideas on the root cause. Havent had to tear any small engines down.

What do the rods ride on? Is there some kind of a cam shaft in there?

Im going to research more, just figured someone here can point me in the right direction faster than me researching it, tearing it completely apart just to find out the engine is junk.

 

[joesregalproject]

I will ask here.

View attachment 255783

The top rocker is loose and flopping around, the bottom is still tight but off the valve.

Any ideas on the root cause. Havent had to tear any small engines down.

What do the rods ride on? Is there some kind of a cam shaft in there?

Im going to research more, just figured someone here can point me in the right direction faster than me researching it, tearing it completely apart just to find out the engine is junk.

Pull the pushrods and inspect them. A lot of the time one pushrod is made of hollow aluminum and rubs on the guide and gets worn through to the point it fails.

There is a camshaft with little tappets that pushrods ride on. That one may or may not have compression release.

 

[Tomeal]

joesregalproject



This is the rod on the bottom.

A little bit of wear where it went through a plastic keeper, which is broken in pieces now.



You think that just the rod bent? Or more damage deeper? The motor will still spin.

 

[Tomeal]

Not sure how it supposed to look, but doesn't seem to be carnage in there. I found the pushrods and that keeper plate for about $20 online. Might try it and see what happens.

 

[joesregalproject]

Not sure how it supposed to look, but doesn't seem to be carnage in there. I found the pushrods and that keeper plate for about $20 online. Might try it and see what happens.

Hmm… bent pushrods are common on the V-twin inteks, usually the exhaust pushrod bends because the valve guide comes loose and jams the valve. I haven’t personally seen that on the single cylinders. If it were me, I’d pull the head and inspect it, at least. It’ll only cost you a gasket and you’ll able to be sure the head is okay.

If the head checks out, throw a pushrod and a guide in it.

 

[Tomeal]

Nothing looks glaring wrong to me. Unless you see something I'm missing.

Could use a cleaning sure.

 

[joesregalproject]

Nothing looks glaring wrong to me. Unless you see something I'm missing.

Could use a cleaning sure.

How do the valves look and can you open/close them okay? The springs aren’t very strong, you can probably push them open if your hands are strong enough.

 

[Tomeal]

How do the valves look and can you open/close them okay? The springs aren’t very strong, you can probably push them open if your hands are strong enough.

They push open and closed. Other than the carbon build up, they look to close good.

 

[Tomeal]

joesregalproject

I ordered the parts to put it back together. When the rockers go back on is there anything special to it? Torque spec or lash setting?