Kohler 18hp opposed twin

[exenos]

Well, I just picked up a garden tractor that has a horizontal shaft opposed twin Kohler with pressure lube. Is there any thing special I should know about the opposed twins? I know they need to be kept as flat as possible.

 

[Doc Sprocket]

What you need to know, is that you must give it to me. I am SO jealous! I've heard that the Kohlers are excellent engines!

 

[exenos]

What you need to know, is that you must give it to me. I am SO jealous! I've heard that the Kohlers are excellent engines!

I'm know, when I went to go pick this up all I knew was that I was getting a free tractor. When I saw it had a opposed twin I was happy and when I saw it was a horizontal shaft I went freakin ballistic. I was even happier ( if that is possible ) when I saw that it was pressure lubed.

 

[souperman000]

wow, even a horizontal shaft??

 

[exenos]

I may actually get around to getting pics of this tomorrow, I still cant figure out what brand the tractor is.

 

[Bluethunder3320]

kohler makes great engines

 

[exenos]

Success!!!

I got the danged thing to turn over! Had the whole engine torn down because I thought that a crank bearing might have seized because it sat for a long time before I got a hold of it. Any way, it just turned out that there was a bad connection to negative/ground for the starter and once that was cleaned it'll roll over without a complaint.

 

[Kaptain Krunch]

Is this it the magnum 18? Thats what i have on my red rocket tractor. Plenty of power, very torquey. I left it governed and it would still push that 500lb tractor up to 25 no problem, and flip it right over backwards if you dropped the clutch in third. I pulled my toyota pickup up hill with it once also.

The only thing to be careful of is the governor, apparently the gov internals are known for failures. i recently tore mine all apart and took it right out. haven't put it back together yet to test it without.

Only other issue i had was the charging coil was shot, i actually had two of the same engines out of tractors and both charging coils were shot.

 

[Doc Sprocket]

Silly bugger! Did you not attempt to roll it over by hand before calling it seized and tearing it down?

 

[exenos]

I did try to roll it over by hand, but I only tried to turn the shaft and not the fly wheel. I required a lot more force than I had expected, hence the thought of a seized/rusted bearing.

@kaptain krunch
Yes, its the magnum and I hadn't originality planned on taking out the governor but after what you said I might.

 

[Kaptain Krunch]

I did try to roll it over by hand, but I only tried to turn the shaft and not the fly wheel. I required a lot more force than I had expected, hence the thought of a seized/rusted bearing.

@kaptain krunch
Yes, its the magnum and I hadn't originality planned on taking out the governor but after what you said I might.

Theres a service bulletin somewhere for this motor, which shows you how to "pin" the governor gear in so it doesnt fall off and cause damage. I didnt even read it, just took it out. Not sure how reliable it will be without governor.

edit: http://rich.homeunix.com/gravely/engines/kohler/kohler-bulletin-246.pdf

 

[exenos]

So I dug this out today and decided to see if it'll run (I have never ran it before, just cranked it over) and surprise surprise, after filling the float bowl and a bit of gas down the carb it fired up and ran first try.

Man do these things ever put out an awesome rumble at low idle. I think this is going on my build off entry.

 

[zbuck]

Those Kohler mags are torque monsters. I would not mess with the governor. I have seen bad things happen, when people start messing with the governor. But to each is own.

 

[exenos]

On these engine specifically or just in general?


EDIT: Uugh. Just found out that these things weigh 130lbs DRY. No wonder I thought it was a bit on the heavy side.

 

[zbuck]

On that engine, on any other engine it all depends on what it is.

 

[DJEEPER]

You should check out my deathtrap build. I just got it running yesterday

It is INSANE! 40 series TC is the way to go on this for sure.

 

[exenos]

I'll be making a clone one of one of these for this twin. Now that's what I call a death trap.