MightyRaze - Red Bandit

PizzaKitty26 wrote:

I saw a lot off speed redduction on the uphill sections, is that belt slipage?

Nah, just the 12hp starting to struggle because I don't have a foot throttle yet, and my hand for the dash throttle was busy with the phone recording.  LOL

The belt slip is not on camera.

Brianator wrote:

It looks and sounds great @MightyRaze! Hopefully you'll get lucky and can change an idler pulley to a slightly larger one to account for the belt stretch?

I actually bought a 1 inch smaller belt that I had trouble shifting with.   I don't think I had it on before I was done with the belt guides.  I may try that and repeat the pounding i gave the other day.

86 inch belt removed, 85 inch belt installed. I trolled the neighborhood for a little bit yesterday and it appears to be good and shifting well. Time to see if I can stretch this belt some. :-)

Finally started the foot throttle for Red Bandit today.  Using what I did with Marshal.  Same pedal design, well I did actually but these pedals for Red Bandit.  I have the pedal done, now to find, make or buy a cable.  Looks like the same idea on the throttle on the Kohler 301 as the MV18 with the cotter pins and cable stops should work.



The base is currently drying from painting.

Dash throttle is ready.  Also drilled the hole for the foot throttle.  I should have that same cable for Marshal tomorrow for a quick hookup.




Foot pedal also ready to go, just need a cable.

I forgot to show my return spring.



I found a binding in my throttle before the change. Fixed that along with the mod so I can add the foot throttle. My throttle is much more responsive after the bind was fixed.

I made top speed of 15! A good comfortable cruise speed was 10. This was one way of 14. It’s what I thought the top speed was.



I put my phone in my pocket and forgot about the app and walked around the yard when I got back. Pulled the phone out and saw the 15.



I guess Marshal and Red Bandit do 15.

Red Bandit finally has a gas pedal.  I think it may work better than Marshal's!





I don't have full throttle set in the pics yet for the gas pedal.

Up to shenanigans last night...


 

looks like fun I have security cameras up at my farm that catch my shenanigans too

LOL, I was coming in hot towards the fence.  Handles well.

Daughter and I were out trying to break tractors.  Bowser was MUCH better now.   Red Bandit... I did get the belt stretched a little.  Ran great until the end of the day started to "loose power?" definitely lost it's pep.  Turned it off, went inside for a drink and pit stop.  Came out, battery was almost dead.  I'm thinking the stator alternator has gone or the new regulator bit it.  I'll have to dig in later to find out.  I'm curious if the new one has the burn the old one did.







As mentioned, other than charging, I need to fix the steering bushing in the dash. Little up/down play in it.

Pretty sure my regulator kicked it. Getting anywhere from 3 to -5 volts from it according to the multimeter. Really -5, should be 12-13V DC I believe? I'm getting 35 volts AC from the stator, and I have read anything over 27 is good.

@MightyRaze definitely a junk regulator, your stator voltage reading sounds perfectly normal

Not looking good guys for the #keepthekohler.  I went out to play and she lost all power, and came to a slow death.  Could not get it started at first or the next 10 or so tries.  Also, the excessive spinning post trying to start tells me compression issue.  I'm guessing the intake valve due to the flames shooting out the exhaust when it does hit...  Or the lack of compression isn't allowing for a full burn.  I'll check it out in the daylight tomorrow.  If I remember right it has a metal head gasket so I should be able to reuse when I do.  

Not too happy with this, as I was planning on bringing it to Haspin too this year.  I'll spend a couple weeks trying to figure it out then I guess I need to pull the repower switch.  :-(

Prognosis = Not good.

I went ahead and pulled it into the garage and removed the head.  Valves are fine, although it does look like the exhaust has floated on me a few times and slapped the head.  Nothing out of the ordinary there.  It did run away with me once, and probably happened then.  The bigger issue...  The piston has a LOT of side to side slop that didn't have when I replaced the rod.  I think the engine is starting to wear down.  I can probably limp it, but not for long and probably wouldn't last at Haspin. 

Plan B is now in effect.

I'm going to see if I can throw a couple of my parts briggs opposed engines to throw in.

I guess I better get to building an engine.

MightyRaze wrote:

Prognosis = Not good.

I went ahead and pulled it into the garage and removed the head.  Valves are fine, although it does look like the exhaust has floated on me a few times and slapped the head.  Nothing out of the ordinary there.  It did run away with me once, and probably happened then.  The bigger issue...  The piston has a LOT of side to side slop that didn't have when I replaced the rod.  I think the engine is starting to wear down.  I can probably limp it, but not for long and probably wouldn't last at Haspin. 

Plan B is now in effect.

I'm going to see if I can throw a couple of my parts briggs opposed engines to throw in.

I guess I better get to building an engine.

Plan C is to use the engine in the Green Machine then rebuild one for it.  Although, the Marshal kind of makes TGM redundant now.

@MightyRaze is browser's engine vertical or horizontal?

I think transplanting Green Machine's engine is the short term answer.  I can always build up new engine for Green Machine later.  That way I have time to rework the belt system for the new engine and figure myself out an exhaust system.

I wonder if I have time to build one good horizontal engine from parts pieces?

I have this screwed up Horizontal engine.



It basically needs a new block as it has a tool gouge in one of the cylinder walls.  Bad one at that.

I have all these other series 42 verticals, that I wonder If I can use to replace it.  Dip stick seems to be the biggest issue.

Bear with me, I am throwing things at the wall and see what sticks.

Check that they are cast for the dipstick- most are, a rare few aren’t. I think mutts original 18hp wasn’t cast for it for some reason. I had another 18hp with a craftsman labeled shroud that was cast and drilled for the dipstick, but then plugged for some reason. Maybe you’ll get lucky and just have to pull a plug out. Otherwise (granted they’re cast for it) it’s just a matter of drilling a hole in some aluminum. I think on the horizontals there’s a rubber bushing in the hole and the dipstick is tapered and wedges the bushing tight in the hole, probably takes up a lot of imperfection.

GREAT NEWS!!!

Things are OK!  Old and wearing down, but OK!

I got it out and ran over every inch of the engine and how it was running.  I pulled the plug and cleaned it.  While the head was off, I cleaned it all out as well.  Got it started back up and realized it was struggling with the governor.  I realized the extra spring I added to the throttle post foot throttle was the issue.  I also determined that it was completely unneeded in the way I added the foot throttle install.  Removed that and it returned to good running order.  As for the piston wiggle.  I saw in the WheelHorse forums that can be normal.  They also say I can throw new rings at it or mix in some Lucas Oil treatment and call it good.  

While I had it running, I did decide to teak on the carb some more.  Leaned it out a tickle and also finally replaced that original spark plug wire.  She's running pretty minty now.  I am thinking of running a better plug in it as well.


This thing will end up with a briggs opposed one day as I have mentioned before.  It just won't be today.  Hopefully I can find a complete motor around here before the ol Kohler does give up the fight.

There is this pretty cool dude over on YouTube.  Jason @Tennesseemountainhomestead  He has a variant of the belt system and I am really digging it.   I currently have an issue that the belt does not stop when clutched fully causing me to grind gears, especially from FULL STOP.  I can shift 2-3 on the fly no issue.

Anyways, I think I am going to try his version.  I really liked how even with no pressure on the wheels, the belt stopped instantly and restarted with no issue as well.  Very smooth.

Do you have a trans pulley belt wrap? That turned out to be the biggest difference on my wheel horse, and the last change to get the belt system useable. With the belt pretty much encased in steel, it stops nearly instantly. Fastest I’ve ever seen a belt stop. I think the only issue I have now is the trans belt wrap being just a *tiny* bit too close, making enough drag to stop the tractor from rolling back in the lowest gears. I think when I move the wrap out a tiny bit it will be about perfect. You can’t treat these WH belt systems like anything else, they are their own animal entirely, and I still have no idea why.

@RichieRichOverdrive yeah the trans is wrapped too.