Briggs/Kohler Drive Shaft C/L Height

[PhanDad 3,531]

Was looking at the A/C 712H today and noticed that the frame appears to be lowered where the Kohler K301S sits compared to my GHTL and Homelite frames. The Homelite T-12 came with a single cylinder Briggs and the GTHL frame is ready for the Kohler KT17 twin or single cylinder Briggs. I was thinking about keeping the Kohler K301S as a spare and get rid of my spare 10 HP Briggs. I know I'd have to drill a hole in the bottom of the frame for the Kohler oil drain plug, but now I think the drive shaft C/L height is different for the two engines. Can anyone confirm?

[ambler 0]

It should be the same. Hole position is the same for all single cylinders. Kohler drain hole can be moved. Check the oil pan.

[HubbardRA 19]

Bill, I have interchanged B/S and Kohler engines on my tractors several times. In fact, of the three that I now have running, all have swapped engines. 716H came with Kohler, now has B/S. 61 Wards came with B/S, now has Kohler. 713S came with Kohler, now has B/S. You are correct that an additional hole for oil drain must be drilled in the frame. Crankshaft centerlines do vary somewhat between engines. With the flex couplings you can have a height variation of at least an inch with no operational problems. Been there, done that. That is about the difference between a 7 Hp B/S that came on the 61 Wards (Simp 700) and the 14 Hp Kohler that is now on it. Over twenty years of tractor pulling and other uses, proves this to work. My two 700 series ACs, my 7100 Simp, and my Homelite T13 frames all mount the engine in the same position relative to the BGB. Even the old Wards runs basically the same driveshaft alignment. They ran the driveshaft straight from the crankshaft to the BGB from the factory with only slight angle variations due to manufacturing tolerances. Several of us have swapped engines and have proven that the flex disks can take up to at least 6 degrees of angle (one inch increase in crankshaft height) without problems. As the angle increases, the fatigue loading on the disks increases, and the life span of the disks will decrease. Straight is best, then there is very little fatigue on the disks. The disks can easily handle the loading. It is the flexing under heavy loads (due to large angles) that will reduce the life of a flexdisk. By-the-way, I have never had a flexdisk failure, of any type.