K321 Rebuild Part 2

[T-Mo-(Moderator) 4,512]

New engine mounts are now on order - should be at the dealer Thursday (though I won't be able to get them until probably Saturday). :thumbs:

[Brrly1 1,146]

Treed I talked with one of my friends up here in Toledo. From what he told me you will wished you had put them in. Carl is one of the older guys I know and has been rebuilding motors for quite a while.

Carl has been into rebuilding motors since the late 60's , Basically the same when he started at Wheel Horse Good Luck John

[T-Mo-(Moderator) 4,512]

John,

Check this thread out: Balancing Gears Thread

There are several people who have left them out without regrets. One guy left one in and wish he hadn't. Even Brian Miller, the Kohler guru, says to leave them out as they make no difference in the vibration. I have heard a couple of guys who says the same as you have heard, but the majority of what I read is just the opposite. Who is right? I guess I will find out if it was a good decision or not. I can always put them back in if I'm not happy with the vibration. :thumbs:

[CasualObserver 3,408]

Terry you'll be fine without them. I've monitored this same subject on the cub board for a long time, and the general concensus (sp?) is to leave them out.

[TT-(Moderator) 1,145]

OK.... here's something strange:

That comes from Kirk Engines website.

I'm trying to decipher how that modification works.

I'm thinking that would throw the balance off more, not help correct it.

Anyhow........

They do list a lot of other good stuff on their site. :thumbs:

[T-Mo-(Moderator) 4,512]

TT,

Interesting find. I also wonder how this will help to "balance" things out. I think from the research I did and from the things I've read here and elsewhere, I will just leave them out. But, I will keep them as the gears are still good (just the bearings are bad). If I decide to put them back in I will buy new bearings and put them back in.

I'm actually am at peace with this decision as I believe from my research the engine will be okay without them. :thumbs:

[nylyon-(Admin) 7,300]

Here's where I get confused on this. First, it has been my opinion that the crankshaft gets balanced by itself. Adding additional weight is going to cause the crank to be out of balance. Since this is a 4-cycle engine, I would think that this would introduce additional vibration not less.

Here's where I have the biggest concerns. Why wouldn't Kohler just simply cast the counter weights on the crank a little larger to in essence do exactly what this modification does. The additional cost would be almost nothing compared to the balancing gears and without the additional gernade effect.

I am personally going to put this in the same category as the Tornado intake mod.

[TT-(Moderator) 1,145]

Unless that is some type of "heavy metal" (not the music from the 80's either! ) they're using, I don't see a reason for that modification.

The one thing that it IS doing is adding more weight to the side of the crankshaft that the balancer gears drive from. ( Hmmmm....... Can you say "twisted crankshaft", boys and girls ?????)

The other thing that is happening is the crankshaft is now "unmatched" to the weight of the piston/rod assembly. (it's now heavier)

Perhaps this additional imbalance condition actually helps to cancel out some of the harmonics associated with the single cylinder "bounce" ?

Even though it's been at least 10 or 12 years since I was "heavily" in to working on these, I do recall something about crankshaft differences between DCB and non-DCB equipped engines. Of course that was before I had internet access, and had to do most of the research the "hands-on" way. I'm thinking that there was a balance and throw weight difference between the two and that they would only interchange one way. (the heavier crank could be used with the DCB, but the lighter crank couldn't be used without the DCB )

Somewhere in that time frame, Kohler could have changed the cranks too. (they DID change the DCB gear design to add more weight to the "heavy side" as you can see in the photos)

I guess I have to dig in to this a little more...... in the meantime, put your engine back together without them, Terry -- and don't even think anymore about it.

[Curmudgeon 28]

I left them out of the K-321 I rebuild, works just fine, just like many others I know of.

That added weight to the side of one counterweight, with bolts no less????? Not sure I like that idea though.