149 broken
 

Used the 149 all summer with the rototiller, now that summer is over I've put the snowblower on and waited till our first good snow. Well, we got it, so I got the cub running let it warm up a few minutes, opened the barn door and got about two feet out and heard a loud clunk and the engine quit. Engine turns over, can't feel anything coming from the spark plug hole, felt around the head as I was cranking, didn't feel anything,don't know what to think. Any ideas?

So no air movement out the spark plug hole ( with the plug out ) ?

That leads me to believe the connecting rod let go. :bash2:

Are you sure the engine is turning over? You did break a spiral pin or the key way on the flywheel shear off? Did you crank it with the starter? Is it making any banging or anything while cranking?

doesn't make a sound while turning over

Broken rod. Bad news man..... sorry. :Cry1:

sounds like a broken connecting rod

I was on a 122 about 1988 or 1989 when the engine suddenly stopped. I was on level ground in 3rd gear going from one house to another in the neighborhood. I tried restarting the engine and it was turning over really fast. We towed it back and I discovered that the rod shattered into hundreds of pieces. There was no warning, there was no bang. The engine just stopped.

I rebuilt the engine and it was sold running that way.

not sure what I'm seeing down the spark plug hole but something in moving up and down. not familiar with the internals of this engine.

It's one of the valves, the exhaust one I think.

not sure where the spark plug hole is on a 14hp but you might be seeing the valves moving.

Kind of late now I suppose...but, did you happen to check the oil before you started it?

if its turning over and no air is coming from the spark plug hole then its got to be a broken connecting rod, with any kind of luck it didnt hurt the block to the point it cant be rebuilt. that said if its over your head theres plenty of guys on the forum that you can send the engine to for rebuilding. good luck

Sounds like you threw the connecting rod

The good news is................if there is not a big puddle of oil on garage floor and no holes in the block, maybe it will be an easier and less expensive fix.

Another vote for the engine needing rebuild.

Rebuild that Kohler and get another 30 years out of that bad boy. Whatever you spend will be less than a new throw-away sheet metal "tractor" from Lowe's Depot.

Sorry to hear about your engine problems, but you can't argue with TheSaturnV's logic. Once the engine is rebuilt, anything else that could be or go wrong with the tractor can be be repaired/replaced for cheap and you'll have a tractor that will give you many more years of faithful service.

Not sure but I think J-Mech has an exchange program if your in a rush it may be the way to go.

20 years ago I bought a 129 that had a broken rod. I replaced the rod, pan gasket and head gasket. That's all. Been running great since then. No overhaul. Not even a new spark plug.

Your just lucky. :biggrin2:

Maybe but there is a big difference between being lucky and knowing what you can do and what you can't/shouldn't. That difference is making some mistakes and having to do things over from time/time and that changes luck to experience.

Some of the trips around the block I rode for free, some I had to pay. But, I would say that if I was working on someone else's machine, I wouldn't do this simply because if anything went wrong, the customer would be squealing that I cut a corner and that's what caused whatever the latest real or imagined problem was.

:biggrin2:

Well said Mike, well said.

I picked up a commercial grade pressure washer for free a few years ago with a cat pump, looked to be older, single Wisconsin on it. Guy kept yanking the hose using it one day because he needed more slack, didn't realize he flipped it on it's side, then it siezed. I popped off the pan, polished up the rod journal and crank, put it back together and it's ran now for countless hours. Same scenario, only did it because it was mine but got a killer deal none the less.

It's been 2 months, and I haven't done anything to the cub except park it in the barn. We're into the slush and mud season here in michigan, and I'm thinking about gardening. I need the cub for the rototiller. Took the head off today, turned the engine over by hand, everything turns, valves go up and down, piston stays in one place. What next? do I need to pull the engine to replace what's broke, haven't done a cub before so this is new to me. Not afraid to do anything or get dirty, so lay it on me.

If the piston doesn't move, then everything is not "turning".

Complete overhaul. Take it out and tear it down.

Yep, something important that makes it run broke. My unprofessional opinion is you now have a 2 piece rod. :beerchug:

Sorry about your engine. I'm sure you have downloaded the engine manual from the tech section by now. Read thru it and decide if it's something you feel comfortable doing. Otherwise j-mech's engine rebuild/exchange is a good deal if you ask me.

Terry

I know this is old, but it's time to rebuild the engine. I took it out the other day, and will attack it this week. cleaned the barn so I've got room to work, added some new lighting so I can see, and will get at it.

Sounds like a good plan. Looks if it is already broke, you can't do any harm in making it not run. After removing the S/G to lighten it up and removing it from the cub, drain the oil and remove the oil pan to check the rod. While you are in there, I would advise you to remove the balance gears, too. To me, they are a ticking time bomb. I did on my 149 and it shakes and shimmies a little bit more, but nothing outrageous or that noticeable.

Cub Cadet 123

thanks cc123, that's the first thing I was going to do. supposed to rain the next couple of days, that will keep me busy

I know this is old but I did take the pan off and found many pieces of connecting rod, and the crank is scored bad. I'll take pics later today.

pics of crank

You run it out of oil?

Probably a waste of time but I'd take a piece of emery cloth and clean that crank up and mic it. If you get lucky, a new rod will fix your problem.

No I didn't run it out of oil, in fact I have 2 149's that this has happened to. I'm going to try cleaning up that crank and see what it will read.

You can't clean that up with emry cloth. That crank is done. Rebuild time.

I'm no mechanic and I don't like the look of the scoring on that.

I'm a machinist and just by looking at it, it's scored too much to clean up to factory specs.

replacement crank time

spent a little time with some emery cloth today, and the crank cleaned up pretty good, I don't know what the numbers are, or what they're supposed to be as I don't have a mic this big.

Crank looks to be too rough to use as is. It needs to have a mirror like finish.
I would take the crank to a shop that can grind cranks and let them take care of it. A good shop will check the crank in 6 places (left side-middle-right side and 90 degrees from first measurement. Kohler service manual shows how to measure the crank.

By doing what you have done may have undersize the crank journal too much to be useable.

I just wanted to put up some pics to show how it cleaned up just using emery cloth. I rebuilt a harley shovelhead years ago, and that wasn't real difficult, hopfully this won't be either.

That crank don't look to bad. Take some crocus cloth to it and it will polish right up!
When I was a kid I ran cranks far worse looking than that in my old gokart engines
with scared up used rods! A little bit of elbow grease and it will shine like a new dime!!
Then mike it and see what you got.