Aftermarket .020 over rods?
 

i got a rod off ebay for my defunct K341. it is an aftermarket .020 rod that is marked Saint Bird. it is not as beefy in the beam and weighs in at a full ounce lighter than my old rod. it also has bolts with lock washers, compared to the posi lock bolts. it says to torque to 260 in/lbs in the printout with the rod. have any of you used these in a 16hp engine? i don't think i feel comfortable using a lighter rod in the engine. granted my old rod split in 2 from not oil and i don't know what happened to my .010 over rod (suspected bad clearance on machine work). so my other choice would be to get a standard kohler rod and get it machined for a bearing. is there anything i need to know about using a rod with a bearing in it?

We've been inserting rods for years. done correctly they work fine

PPl have decent luck with the aftermarket rods-

But I don't think the quality is as good as Kohler OE rod. You can machine a standard or 010 rod for a 020 insert. I think the pullers all use inserts. Not a big deal other than it cost a bit more.

What piston are you using? I think Kohler has substituted the K301-321 rods now for the K341, so you might need to find a NOS one.

Michael