CCC 1986 1210 Diesel Repower

[DL127]

I purchased a CCC 1986 1210 last year with a worn out but running 12 hp magnum Kohler engine. It came with a operational 44"? mower deck that had some large rust holes. A friend gave me a 11 hp Opti 6800 diesel generator that ran great but no longer produced electricity. Since I didn't need the generator I decided to take some measurements and see if I could install the diesel engine in place of the Kohler M12. To my surprise the 186F 418cc single cylinder Chinese Yanmar clone was very close in all physical dimensions except the centerline of the pto shaft was 1.75 " taller than the M12. The pto shaft was also tapered and smaller in diameter by roughly .125". Having a old metal lathe, welding machine and a good drill press I decided to go for the conversion. I lathe turned a sleeve for the straight section of the pto shaft, ground/cut a key way in both. Made a key to fit. Then salvaged a 1.5" section of the armature shaft to slip inside the sleeve to extend the taper to a straight shaft. The electric pto clutch from the M12 bolted right up to the existing holes in the diesel block with .5" spacers between the block and pto clutch. I removed the worn out M12 motor mounts and cradle and welded a .5" x 12" x 10" piece of plate steel to the tractors frame. Drilled and tapped holes to mount the diesel right to the 1/2" plate steel motor mount, and dropped the diesel in the correct position so the pto pulley lined up to where it used to be. I removed the recoil starter from the diesel and welded a section of an old go cart wheel hub with a bearing that perfecty matched the drive shaft diameter of the 1210. Lathe turned everything on centers, drilled/tapped the mounting holes for the existing 1210 driveshaft rag joint. So far all materials used were scraps that were laying around my shop. Zero $ spent. Only labor. I had to purchase a new throttle control, fuel line and belt that was 3" longer than the old mower belt. The new belt fit so well I think the old one was the incorrect length. I fired the diesel up tinkered with the throttle mount and cut some grass. Saturday I cut waist high weeds and grass at the hunt club for 4 hours. Had to raise the mower all the way up and go very slow, cut and recut and lowered the deck and cut again. But worked great. I will post some photos later of the completed project.