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Showing results for tags 'first impressions'.
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I have an M16 that had what I assumed was a balance gear rattle. I opened it up to remove the gears and found them to be loose, with excessive endplay. After I removed the gears, I checked the motor over and was struck by what I consider some design flaws on the part of Kohler engineers. The gears add unneeded complexity and machining costs to the motor. Adding some thickness to the counterweight on the PTO side of the crankshaft (exactly what the David Kirk Balance Plate does) coupled with drilling out less material on the flywheel side counter weight would have totally eliminated the need for the balance gears in the first place. Weighting a crankshaft specifically for the M16, instead of using the same crankshaft for the M14 and M16 would have made more sense to me. Am I wrong? The only design I consider dumber than this crankshaft design is the open web connecting rod design used by Onan. I put the engine back together and ran it. It vibrates more than before, but the rattle is gone. I am going to reinstall it and see what happens. At some point I will consider rebuilding this engine and adding the balance plate to the crankshaft. Thanks for letting me vent. Bill
