maxtorman1234 Posted June 30, 2006 Posted June 30, 2006 Came across an add for Kohler K532 engines for sale, ended up with 1 mostly complete, thrown rod, and 1 basic block with no heads, for $300. Well, i tore them apart, got a lot of good parts, going to rebuild one, it has to be bored 0.030, and then i can start on the rebuild. It is a 20HP horizontally opposed cast iron engine, I plan to put this in one of my tractors. It would be alot of work to make it fit in an Allis, concidering the size of the thing. But if i did get it to fit, I would have to use universals for the driveshaft, but i was unsure if a universal on the end of the bevel gearbox shaft would be a good idea, would it apply a load on an angle the gearbox is not meant to take? Basically, do you think it would handle the universals? I think it would be more practical to put it in the ford, as it dosent have a BGB. Im also looking at a 3 cylinder yanmar 23HP deisel. I dont know if the tractor would handle that either, but it would be neat.
D-17_Dave Posted June 30, 2006 Posted June 30, 2006 Graham, those 532's are great engines. I have a few here now. As for the BGB. Yes, I think you'd be fine useng universals on them. But the disc's are rated for the power, they just aren't rated for much angle deflection. Just remember to mount the engine's shafts on a parrallel plane and don't aim the engine towards the bgb. Otherwise go for it.
maxtorman1234 Posted July 1, 2006 Author Posted July 1, 2006 THanks for the input Dave, What are your engines on? The K532 engine is about 1 inch higher at the crankshaft than the old K series singles. The driveshaft will be about 20" long, so the angle of the universals shouldnt be too bad. If it wasnt for your input, I wouldnt have gone back out and checked it out again, now I think it will be posible to make it work. If i put it in a 400, I'll have to cut the sides of the frame out, then reinforce it underneath with some angle iron, and cut out the support for the dash, make a bracket so it sits on the engine. and reattach the brackets to support the hood. THanks Dave, i'll let you know how it works out.
maxtorman1234 Posted July 1, 2006 Author Posted July 1, 2006 quote:Originally posted by D-17_Dave Just remember to mount the engine's shafts on a parrallel plane and don't aim the engine towards the bgb. Otherwise go for it. I guess you mean mount it the same way as the singles are mounted, with the flywheel attached to the driveshaft, and the PTO at the front. I also plan to turn the crank down to 1 1/8" and run the deck:D I should get the grass cut quick with that:D O, one more question, this twin cylinder engine is made to have 1 ignition coil, that goes to both plugs, is this to eliminate the need for a distributor or dual coils? I ask this because i dont have a coil, and a new one is $200. I do have a bunch of coils for single cylinder engines, I was wondering if i can hook up two coils sharing 1 set of points and condenser. I imagine it would work, but i dont know if theres anything special about the factory coil. THanks,
D-17_Dave Posted July 1, 2006 Posted July 1, 2006 The opposed twins fire opposite of each other. This results in one cyl. fireing on it's power stroke while the other cyl. fire again on the dead stroke between exhaust and intake. You can only do this on the opposed twins. When you get a V twin or an inline twin you have to have a distributor or 2 coils. ANY 2 wire coil will work off any engine. It wires the same way. 12vdc in on the + and the - out to the points. Each plug will fire together but it won't matter. The engine shats need to be in alignment. I don't mean pointing towards each other, rather use a straight edge to make sure when you drill new holes to mount the engine that you have it in a prefectly straight line towards the rear of the tractor. Don't "tilt" the engine shaft towards the bgb shaft. It throws the harmonic balnce off the drive shaft. This much probably won't hurt, but I try to make my projects as close to perfect as possible so it helps elliminate other problems like vibration. I wouldn't turn down the crank. You'll weaken it considerably. It needs to be that large for the amount of torque it will deliver through a given amount of cast metal. Deere used this engine in some tractors and electric clutches are availiable to fit the 1-7/16" shaft it has. So just get the right sized clutch and use it. That'll be much easier. I found one off ebay for about 30 bucks used. I have one 23 on my wood/brush chipper. another I've had on the shelf waiting for some tractor project, and a 20 hp out of a 400 deere that'll most likely be a project at some time. These were really the pnnicle of Kohlers cast iron series as far as I'm concerned. Didn't trhow rods, Very smooth, lots of power and torque. If you do it, take your time and look out for small problems ahead of time and you should be fine. Remeber this engine will have a lot more power than the others so brace your frame accourdingly.
Recommended Posts