Engine mount bolt stripped on 128 - suggestions?
 

Model 128, "daily driver" - not a showpiece, not a puller. I was mowing along a few days ago, things got really "weird" - didn't feel right. Mower would not completely shut off, one rear wheel spinning fast occasionally - what the heck is going wrong here?!?!?:bigeyes:

I got it into the garage and discovered the front-most engine bolt on the left (carb/coil) side had worked completely out and was pretty much stopped against the axle.

I jacked up the front with a floor jack, tilted the axle down so I could get the bolt (3/8 diameter) out. I now held a grease-caked bolt with remnants of a helicoil in the threads - so, someone has been there before and repaired a stripped-out engine mount hole.

So now, what are my options?

Yeah, to do it right I would (probably) need to pull the engine and investigate another helicoil, or (maybe) tap the hole in the K301 to the next size larger (7/16), if indeed the hole isn't already larger than that due to the helicoil being installed.

Removal of the front axle to be able to get under it to drill/tap seems daunting; would pulling the engine be easier?

I've never pulled the motor in the nearly 17 years I've run this tractor - never had a need to, so I'm not familiar with what might be involved (this post suggests what needs to be done prior to engine removal).

Suggestions anyone?

Thanks,

Goony

p.s. Eventually, I hope to finish refurb of the junk QA-36A snow thrower I bought a few years back. I bought a rebuilt "creeper" reduction ($$$!) but have yet to put it in either.

Welcome to Only Cub Cadets! Glad to have ya. In the mean time, why not a harden bolt with a lock nut to get you by untill then? Or maybe you will stumbel across a good oil pan for it all togeather. I'am no expert, but someone will be along who has greater know-how than I that can help!

First, Welcome to our Forum........... :Welcome2:

There probably many ways to approach this.

One way would be to pull the motor, drain the oil, turn it upside down and change out the Oil Pan & Pan Gasket. You could either buy a new pan or find a good used one.Then re-install.

:TwoCents:

If it were mine I wouldn't try to helicoil it again, I'd start by putting a want ad here for a good used cast iron pan.

On the bright side. Short of selling the tractor, one way or another you are going to end up pulling that engine. This makes for a great excuse to clean all of that 40 years worth of crud out of the frame and off the engine.

Just a thought:
is it really a helicoil? or just the threads that pulled out with the bolt.
leaving enough material for a real helicoil to repair the stripped thread --

Yeah, maybe it's the remnants of the sides of the threaded hole.

I'm not that familiar with the K301 - I didn't realize the bolt from below was actually going into the oil pan, and that it might be aluminum. Figures.

I guess I'll have to grit my teeth and pull the engine - I'd fell much better about trying to get a fix that way than trying a shortcut and failing at it.

Thanks,

Goony

I've ordered a used aluminum pan (in good condition) for $15 plus shipping. About same price as a helicoil effort, so why not do it right?

For now, I'm going to shove the bolt back up in (so engine won't scoot horizontally) and keep it from falling out somehow so I can at least get the yard mowed - then I'll remove the K301 and replace the pan properly, including a new gasket.

Anyone know the torque specs for the frame-to-engine-oil-pan bolts? I guess I'll have a junk pan to experiment with, huh?

I have a spray can of Cub Cadet yellow I bought at TSC so it shouldn't look too awful when I am done. :biggrin2.gif:

Thanks guys!

Goony

It would actually be better not to paint the aluminum oil pan, as it will dissipate heat better if it is bare metal.

I wouldn't use an aluminum pan if it was my Cub. Your 128 had an cast iron oil pan when it was new. The bolt holes in aluminum pans will strip out easier than cast iron pans. Anytime I replace an aluminum pan on a Quiet Line it gets a cast iron pan.

I agree, with Dale. When I owned my 1250, we replaced the aluminum one with the cast iron oil pan. :beerchug: