HeadExam

The cheaper after market parts aren't as much of an issue as the actual work done. The boring of the cylinder, it WILL have to be bored, the correct end spacing on the crank, the securing or removing of the balance gears, the installation of the piston, rod, and rings, etc. That said, I might buy still buy a aftermarket kit or a Kohler piston, rod, and ring, and maybe an aftermarket gasket set. The valves may be able to be reworked. If you can buy the original kohler parts from eBay that will save you money I have bought from Kevin as well for many years

Happy Birthday Iain, hope you had a very good day

Photos had plenty of light. Sometimes hard to get clarity, especially when picture is reduced

Oh my, around these parts a Tyke is a young person usually between 1 and 6. Now I understand the emoticon under the chair and pulling the chain were meant for Mark, not me.

I thought Mark was around my age , maybe a bit younger? Wait the guy under the chair and the pulling the rope, I'm guessing your winding me up

I would be happy to send you the rebuild instructions for the Kohler k341. While finding someone that knows about these engines is very helpful, reading and understanding the maintenance and rebuilding instructions is tantamount to saving the engine. It will do you no good to get the engine running and have it throw a rod through the block in a short time. What ever else I would do, I would at least mic the cylinder to see where you are, the same can be done on the crank as well. These measurements will tell you if you are running on borrowed time. Your biggest two worries are a rod breaking and the balance gears coming loose, if either of those things happen you can say goodbye to the engine. Good luck

It seems you came upon the gift that keeps on giving. How wonderful for you and others you able to share this good fortune with!

A new piston and rings in a untouched cylinder is a problem. Your engine is in excess of 30 years old, the wear on the engine was not only to the piston and rings, but more so to the rings and cylinder wall. The movement of the piston in the cylinder creates an out of round cylinder in the course of many years of use. It gets both out of round and tapers, by installing new rings you do slightly improve or actually reduces this clearance between the rings and cylinder, therefore increasing compression, but the new rings are round and the cylinder is not. In many cases installing new rings will snap the connecting rod as the increased pressure on the old rod and pin are substantially increased. That said, I would surmise that if your engine still contains the balance gears and was not rebuilt to standard, it is time to invest in doing so. The Kohler k341 is not as abundant as the k321 or k301 and if you want to keep it it around specific steps must be undertaken now that will prevent catastrophe in the future. Previous owners may have been penny wise, but pound foolish or relied on the advice of someone with no horse in the race, but if you find yourself in neither position, it is up to you how to proceed from here. I would start by realizing the engine was not brought to standards when worked on in the past and rectify that by doing so now. When you have the engine out, start by micing the cylinder wall and go from there. Remember measurements must be taken at the top, middle, and bottom of the cylinder. BTW, advice like this is why I have had problems on other forums, I say things some people would rather not hear. I hope you you hear that I have only good wishes for you and your engine. Good luck

Beautiful pieces of history

One day I hope to get one for the wife, she really likes the look of them, maybe then I can get her to start cutting some grass. It's not that she won't cut grass now, I just wont let her drive any of my machines. She doesn't even drive a car, why would I let her on one of my treasures? If she had her own machine she might keep me busy repairing it, but I don't mind, she mowed down all the bushes and flowers years ago. I may have to up my Insurance coverage

Well someone could get into an instant collection

Sears did make tractors in red a few years before your Sears, in fact they made them in Orange, Blue, Red, and Yellow as well

Happy Birthday Norm, from 6 hour different time zone, you won't get this til tomorrow, over here you were still a year younger for part of the day

I like to think we are in the same service of saving old machines, in that respect I hope I have plenty of rivals and competition I restored the Bolens H16 and Massey MF-16, the rest are from original owners and were kept up nicely

It really depends on the length of your spindle. I have three upgrade applications depending on length. Let me know and I'll post the info

I washed and cleaned them all, soon I'll cover them with tarps

The front has 5.00-10 Deestone tires on 4-10 steel rims with cast iron four bolt shorty trailer hubs. the rears are 27-9-15 Maxxis Ceros ATV crossover tires on stock 15x7 Wheel Horse rims, all painted Wheel horse white which was matched from the inside of the rim.

Those were some very, very nice lumps of metal

done that before mate, i thought the grass had got tougher

I wasn't going to sell mine i was giving it away for the shipping cost, to help Joe out if I could. I always considered the forums a place to locate spares and advice. It's fortunate for you to have extra heads and know how to repair them. As previously stated, Joe's head is cracked in half? Is there a way to repair that?

That would be a truly amazing haul even in South Bend Indiana. WOW, unbelievable

seems to have been two threads along the same line

I have used a electric 1750 PSI unit for 5 years so far, it cost 119.00 back then and when it goes out I will buy another electric one. The gas models are great if you want to take the chrome off of a bumper, but they are loud, they put out more pressure than needed, they take routine maintenance, and cost money for gas and oil. You can buy two to three electric models for what one gas models runs, if each electric model runs 5-7 years, that 10-21 years, say 15 years to average, no gas, no oil and I doubt many gas models would run 15 years. The electric models take up less room than the average vacuum and are light weight to move about.

An impromptu show planned last week, here is video before the show starts will get more pictures working the tractors

I have the original owners/parts manuals for the 70/80 Ford Lawn tractors. I have no idea where I got them