A bucket or three of bolts...

Why do I do this? Theoretically, this:





Will eventually equal this ('sept fer not the opposed twin):



At least this ones funded by someone else.

First, you're rebuilding 3.5 Briggs.. Now a Kohler?

Do you sneak into my shop when I'm not there?

I do the 3.5 briggs at least 3 times a year with my engines classes... This one is for my brother. Tooooo many projects, but spring break has been fairly productive- in between the broken car and the broken leg. :huh

3.5 B&S? Gonna have a tough time swinging a 54" mower deck

Is it going in a tractor? any pics of the victim?

Sorry, I was referencing an older post of his. The engine in the pics is a Kohler K-series (cast iron), probably like 10-16 HP.

Hey, dorkpunch, I hope you know about partstree.com.

Yeah, sorry... I teach an engines repair class- this is what CDD was referring to:

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No pics of the victim yet, its still up at my brothers house. I'll be up there tomorrow, I'll snag a pic then.

Crazy- hadnt seen that one yet, thanks! I havent ordered anything from these guys yet, but Pats Small Engine seems to have great prices on LOTS of stuff- lawn and garden, snowmobiles, etc. AND bulk fuel line, filters, starter rope, etc.

I've put many many miles on a 318 Deere back in the day. The boss had a fish hatchery, several rentals, and a two hole golf course he liked mowed once a week. Had a seat out of an Audi on it. The split brakes are the shit for tight turns around trees and buildings.

I had a 318 also. Had the mower deck and a snow thrower. Worked great in Buffalo's wet snow. Bought it at auction, local library used it . Had 1800 hrs on the Onan twin. Burnt some oil, but reliable other than a wonkey ign switch. Sold it for what I paid for it when I found a 755 JD SCUT with mower and loader for a steal. Love that one.

So I finally started... Piston attached to connecting rod- notch on piston towards flywheel, oil hole on con rod towards camshaft. Luvs me some shiny new parts!





Install rings. Neat trick to spin the rings on- Hook them over like so:



Spin the ring down carefully working it into the groove and being careful not to scratch the piston up.





Viola!




Turns out the guys that did the valves re-installed the camshaft, but forgot to put the bearing in. Had to remove the camshaft, and now the bearing is chilling in the freezer. Gotta head out to a soccer game, hopefully I can stuff the bearing in, get the cam, counterbalances, and crank in tonight and maybe me the piston to.

Those can become quite the little grenade! My brother was tilling the garden with one of our Kohler-powered lawn tractors and those exploded out the side of the engine case, leaving a hole about 1" x 3" in the side of the block. The engine kept running..

this one spit a con rod out in about 4 pieces... I'll have to get some pics of it.

Got the counterbalances, crank, and cam all figured out and time.



Started digging through the boxes, and here's what I found for bolts.



:huh We may have a slight problem...

Back at it. Got the front bearing and seal installed in the cover, installed the cover, checked the crank end play, and torqued the bolts. Screwed on the stator while I was at it. Apparently didn't take any pics of this step...

Time for the piston and rod to go in. Lubed everything up and dropped the piston in. If you are good and VERY careful, you can get the rings in without a ring compressor. Here's another trick, although you STILL have to be REALLY careful not to snag a ring: Use a zip tie as a ring compressor.

Slide the piston down until the ring is just touching the surface of the block:



Set the zip tie around the ring:



Pull it AS TIGHT as you can get it. Helps if you have the knot of the tie anywhere BUT at the ring end gap- otherwise the ends of the rings like to stick out and can snag.



GENTLY tap the piston down until the ring is in the cylinder.



DISCLAIMER: try at your own risk... if you aren't careful when installing the lower rings, the upper ring can catch on the zip tie while its around the lower ring and cause you all sorts of headaches... Just go buy a ring compressor.

Anyways, got the piston in, followed the over-torque, loosen, re-torque procedure on the con rod, then installed the oil pan. While I was at it, I put the camshaft cover on and the fuel pump too.



Set the head and gasket on and loosely put the headbolts in- still need to figure out which hole has the stud instead of the bolt.



Done for tonight!

Loved my 318! The Onan motor got tired and a replacement was about $1,000, so I bought a JD 325 with the Kohler 20HP V twin. Sold the 318 for a little less than I paid for it.

Like someone above said, you're gonna need more ponies to drive that deck and the hydraulics on the 318, not to mention the PTO. Might want to look for a broke down 318 with a motor that's rebuildable. Lots of JD lawn tractor info here: http://weekendfreedommachines.com/ -kind of the ADV for the lawn tractor set

+1 The "grenade gears" are best left out. I remove them from all my Cub Cadets. You can get the lower one out without disassembling the engine, the upper one requires a well placed strike with a cold chisel :eek1

Nice tip on the zip-tie ring compressor!

Head torqued, sheet metal installed. Flywheel bolt found and installed also. Shiny new starter stuck on even!





I swear my brothers messin with my head... I go through the whole pile looking for a part, tell him its not there, he comes by, finds it right off the bat. Think he's bringing them with him and dropping them in the box before he starts looking.

all that and no rattle can? :huh

Just for you. Rattle can after a quick wipe with the wire wheel.





Also checked the valves, put the breather cover on, cleaned the carb, and installed it. Getting close to test running it!

Wired up a coil and put some jumpers to the starter, we've got spark! Hoping to drop the motor in the tractor next week to test run it, if that goes well the next big phase begins. Figuring out how everything is 'sposed to go together. Tractor was delivered a week or two ago, so this is what we're startin with...

I bet youre going to have that thing looking and running great in no time! keep up the good work.

When I was 16 I got a job as a small engine repairman. Loved it but they soon found out I had the knack for sharpening stuff and moved me to the area where one did that. I never had to get dirty again at that place. I missed working on the small engines!