Charlie Horse

Well, almost done.  Just have to hook up the fuel tank.  (new tank, engine runs like a song).  My son named him Charlie,.. not for the funny Charlie horse cramp deal.  But because of the old school Rudolph the red nosed reindeer movie....."nobody wants a Charlie in the box".   He said no one wanted "him" when we found "him" in someone's hedgerow! Here are some pics.  FYI... it is a 1976 Wheel Horse B80.  Engine is a 1970 Kohler K301, 12hp.  (also found in a separate persons hedgerow.)

nice, my brother has a b80 with a 390cc honda or honda clone, we're not sure which since all the labels are missing or unreadable except the part where it says the engine size, in my experience with his they wheelie very easily, but i like riding it more than than i do my sears suburban

@darkside0914 I think the dry weight in this engine alone is 118 pounds,  hopefully that keeps the front planted.  I am running a 1-1 pulley on it haven't even test rode it yet. Just put the new tires on last night.  Here are a couple before pics.

Just took the maiden voyage!! Runs and operates awesome.  Couple small governor bugs to work out.  My homemade deadman-gas pedal works great!

Looking for some advice on governor.   Like I said it is a 1970 Kohler K301.  Runs Great and is very clean. I am trying to decide if I want to remove the governor and run without it?  I obviously don't to blow it up.  But I am well experienced with not over revving.  Just wondering if anyone has tried it with one of these and does it make a huge difference?  want

Nice Horse! I think pulling guys turn them at around 4,000 but as far as no govonor I'm not too sure. Some of these engines have balance gears in them and I've heard those break at higher rpms. @AllisKidD21 might know some more information as well as  @Mister_Studabaker

Here's a link to Garden Tractor Pulling Tips http://gardentractorpullingtips.com/engine.htm theres a lot of good information about K-series engines. 

As far as speed wise, my wheel horse with a 3.5 inch engine pulley and a 4 inch transaxle pulley it goes around 9mph and when I hit the governor it goes about 15mph, which feels faster but I have the 3 speed transaxle so I'm not sure how much of a difference it would be for you.

@BlakeGroce thanks man you too! I run a 6 inch up front and a 6 inch on the input. I still have to do a speed run. I have the three speed trans with high and low plus high low reverse obviously. I'm thinking about dropping the input pulley down to a 5 inch of a 4.5 inch just to see the difference. I'll look into the pulling tractor link. I definatly don't want to ruin this motor, it is all original and clean as a whistle, doesn't smoke or anything.

I imagine you could step up the RPM's a few hundred without hurting anything, but those old girls are more made for low-end grunt, so I'm not sure if there would be much of a power gain. Definiely wouldn't hurt to have a couple extra RPMs though for off-roading.

As far as actually removing the governor spool... it's the first piece of the puzzle in those engines so every internal component has to be removed to get it out. Quite a bit of work, haha. I would leave it in if it were me, as long as you're not really screaming 'er out it'll likely be okay. Don't forget these engines are 40 years old or more.

I will echo the thoughts of others and suggest leaving the governor in there. With a cheapo hazard fart/predator engine I wouldn’t care but a nice K series Kohler I wouldn’t try it. Sweet old rig there! Good luck with your build, can’t wait to see the old horse galloping!

@AllisKidD21 @Rustbucket Garage those were also my thoughts. She never seems to run out of the low end when in the proper gear and really working it. Just keeps chugging away.

I wonder what RPM the power starts to drop back off in those old engines?

@MightyRaze I"m not sure but i probably won't mess with it too much as she is in great shape. I guess I will just play around with some pulley ratios for fun and if I want to really mess some stuff up, I'll grab on of those chondas and beat the crap right out of it HAHA!

Dang it! Head gasket..  I knew I should have checked the head bolts before running it.
Oh well new gasket on order.

Ok, Did a pulley swap tonight. I had it at a 6 inch engine pulley and a 6.5 inch on the trans input. It was cool and all but I was wondering if it could be better...Well I put a 7 inch engine and a 5 inch on the input and wow, that is right where it needs to live!

New 8x7x18 Sunf front tires and just did a little speed run. Old girl ran up to 16mph, I am totally happy with that as a top speed.  Plus with the High/Low trans it can still crawl with no throttle.  Very good differences in gearing all around for all different terrain needs.  I now have my eye on and early 60s cub cadet that my neighbor has sitting in the weeds.