Calling All Engine Techs ONAN Needs the AED

[HorseFixer 2,012]

Well you can count the Duke Down but dont count him OUT! I tore the blasted thing down again tonight and removed the gear cover something just wasn't sitting right with me about the timing. Sure enough Im about 8 teeth off how in the buck that happened I dunno. the way it acted blowing fuel up outta the carb when I choked it with my hand just wasnt right! I remember I had it aligned right once then had to press off the gear and spit the case for the spacers at the crank I think thats when I mucked up and think I got disturbed or someone came over and got my attention off my project. Well I feel good in that I found it. thats half the battle Ill get my gaskets and parts I need lock the garage door put a sign 0n the door handle DO NOT DISTURB and come outta my man cave one she's spitting fire. Tomorrows the bowl games I wanna watch will work on it a bit tomorrow, tuesday durring day and wends will have it running. And thanks everyone for your help ideas and support

Happy New Year! Duke

[Shuboxlover 478]

Make sure you post another video....GOTTA SEE HER GOING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good luck!!!

[CRE1992 135]

Duke check the flywheel for a crack where the key is, my friend rebuilt a non running onan, and when he got it all back together, he turned it over with the starter, and the flywheel jumped the key. Couldn't see the crack unless you had a magnifying glass. I would check to see if your timing keeps changing. Could be because of that.

Can't wait to hear it running. To be honest I am surprised the whole tractor isn't refurbished yet :ychain:

[HorseFixer 2,012]

Cre the timing on these have nothing to do with the flywheel. The only thing the flywheel does other than providing balance weight & inertia it also holds the teeth of the ring gear for the starter and has MAGGGETS for the stator to provide power for the tractor. What provides timing for the engine are two things.

1. Engine mechanical timing that puts the pistons and valves in sequence thru the overhead Cam and the Cam Timing is driven off the crank gear and both of them need to be in alignment.

2. The Ignition timing. This is achieved by a Plastic Rotor that rotates on the crankshaft under the flywheel & Has MAGGETS in it, and when it rotates and the Maggets inside the Rotor passes over a fixed pickup mounted on the block and for the sake of a better discription tells the Coil to fire at a precise time to ignite the fuel. Here are some pictures of the components I am talking about and what I did to correct my Buck Ups.

Here is a picture of the Crank Gear and Cam Gear look at the right side of the Big Gear which is the cam gear and the O 10 spaces up to the right and look at the crank gear with the Dot at 12:00 oclock those should be aligned Cam at 6:00 oclock.

Here is the way they should be and is correct now, for the life of me, I cant explain it how they got out of sink....

Here is the position of the left hand Cylinder #1 with the gears aligned properly, notice the piston is not at TDC and the Intake valve is open.

Here is the position of the right hand Cylinder # 2.

Here is a picture of the Magnetic Rotor it fits right over the crankshaft and is keyed to to the crank under the flywheel.

Here is a picture of the pickup that gets the signal from the rotor it is mounted to the block under the crank and flywheel.

Here they both are together.

Here is a picture of gear cover on the inside and the govenor arm, on the cam there is mounted the govenor that throws out by centrifugal force and regulates the govenor arm position, this arm is hooked by linkage to the carb.

Here is the outside of the gear cover installed. Notice the timing marks on the cover, the TC marks on the gear cover and the flywheel are aligned when setting the valve tappet clearence.

Here is the flywheel back on the engine notice the line on the flywheel and TC it is in alignment to adjust the valves.

Here is the engine just about put back together (gee almost feels like deja vu) I have installed New Coil, Rotor, & Pickup. I went to the school of hard knocks on this one, but thats okay, I learned some things I will never forget. my next post will be of it running Gauranteed!

Cheers ~Duke

[smoreau 658]

AH looks good Bob. can't wait to hear that Onen perrrr...

[Shuboxlover 478]

GREAT info there Duke!!!

I've learned ALOT about my Onan....THANK-YOU!!!!!!!!!!

[HorseFixer 2,012]

GREAT info there Duke!!!

I've learned ALOT about my Onan....THANK-YOU!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks! I did too bro....... the hard way

Well boy's went out in the garage tonight finished her up and she's a Runner! will make a video in the morning and post!

Cheers ~Duke

By the way look at all the pictures and tell me whats wrong in the pictures of the Engine? The winner (1st person to post the correct answer) will get a Qt of my Apple Juice. next time I see em or have someone deliver at a show or whatever.

Except Cre cause if he sniffs the fumes, it will loosen him up!

[Shuboxlover 478]

CONGRATS DUKE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Quit teasing us and go take that video!!!!!!!

ummmmm...............

Magnetic rotor is on backwards???

IDK

[HorseFixer 2,012]

I Can't do it cause Ill wake up the Gal next door, and the Way She's been lookin lately, she needs her beauty sleep!

And By The Way Congradulations! You are the recipient of a QT of the Duke's Highly acclaimed Apple Juice! Give the Wife 1/2 of those squeezzins and........

uuuuhhhh ...... Well I think you get the picture!

~Duke

[massey 118]

Glad you found the problem, persistence pays off.

[squonk 41,164]

I don't know how many times I have said this in my life. When you have a hadr time figuring something out and it's kicking your butt, "It's always something stupid! "

[HorseFixer 2,012]

Glad you found the problem, persistence pays off.

Me too! Life's a learning experience, Many things happen between Point A to Point Z and it doesn't bother me to share my failures along with Successes.

I figure I have learned alot on this rebuild and in doing so I hope someone else has also. The main thing is the End Result, and here it is, No Blue Bellowing Smoke on this one now.

[Trouty56 567]

I've been watching your thread here and I like the fact that you were not discouraged through this. Identifying the mistakes you made, on video no less, show what kind of guy you are.

Thanks for the lesson.....and I'm glad for you.... :)

[fireman 1,021]

Great job Duke! Sounds real good.

[wheelhorse656 20]

Hey duke I'm glad you got your problem fixed and she is purring!!! Just a question but what are you planning on doing with the engine now?

[Don1977 604]

Sounds and looks great. What more do you need to do to the 520 before you can blow snow into the next county.

[AMC RULES 37,132]

Looks like a really smooth runner too Duke. Nice to see the dogged perseverance you displayed during the adversity finally paid off for you. Congratulations on a job well done. :handgestures-salute:

[Suburban 550 28]

Congratulations my friend, sounds great. For a while I thought Sluggo was gonna be called upon to remedy the situation. For your first rebuild, you did very well. :bow-blue:

[HorseFixer 2,012]

Thanks Guys! Onan recommends to break in their Engines, Generators or whatever by running it for 2 hrs at 1/2 power and then 2 hrs at 3/4 power. I called My Onan Service facility in Elkhart Ind this morning and talked to their service technician. I asked him does it matter whether its a generator or lawnmower and he said no all engines are the same. So thats what I did. Other than the test runs this morning of about a 1/2 hr I have a total of 4 1/2 hrs on the engine. When I went to change oil I thought it was pretty dirty for being just 4 1/2 hrs on the oil. Remember the engine was spotless as the block was boiled after machining. I'm just wondering if it is due to carbon being picked up past the rings and so forth before they are seated good? Maybe I'm being over critical I dunno What do you guys think? I used a Fram filter because of the length, thinking it would be easier to change. I will be using a Wix Filter which is noticeably longer in length. Do you guys have any problems using the Wix? I'm changing the oil while engine is off the frame but boy how do you keep a bunch of oil off the frame while changing? I can see where a remote filter setup will be in order if for nothing else just for that reason! And of course after breaking in the engine I was feeling awful hungry and thirsty so on the Grill went the Pork Chops and the Cook always gets the luxury of having a little nip while cooking! Please tell me what ya think about the Oil being black & the Filter length.

Thanks ~Duke

[sorekiwi 761]

The longer filter will be easier to change than the short one Bob. Too hard to get hold of the short filter when the engine is in the tractor. I notice you dont have the grommet around the filter on your engine. It seals the gap between the shroud and the filter for better cooling.

That little metal shroud thingy under the filter does a good job of catching the spilt oil from the filter and diverting it to where you can catch it. I have a small aluminum tray that once was an ice cube tray that will fit in there to catch the oil.

I hate Fram filters. There is a bunch of bad press on their filtering abilities. I always use Wix or Napa (Wix) oil filters. The only thing I like about Fram is the grippy stuff they put on the end of them. Wix does a long and a short filter as well, I've tried the short one thinking it would be easier to get in there, but it was a PITA to get hold of to loosen it.

Your oil does look dirtier than I would have expected, but I probably wouldnt be to worried about the color. I would look closely for any signs of metal though.

[Sparky-(Admin) 21,347]

Congrats Duke on gettin her running! (I never doubted ya for a second!).

Mike...........

[HorseFixer 2,012]

Thanks Guys for the vote of confidence. Jordan this engine is off my 520-H, Don I got alot to do yet no way will it be done this year with all the extra groceries that are going into this Chucker. And hell while I'm at it I am now considering on making the blower my summertime project and rebuild it too. +++++ PLUS +++++ I have a few modifications that I have been considering to improve the blower.

Mike I think in the morning I will take a Magget I have and run through the oil and go fishin and see what I can catch I will also get some cheese cloth and drain the oil through it and see what I can find. I will hafta make me a catch pan to catch the oil when removing the filter. I can gaurantee before the engine is mounted on the frame a Remote filter will be installed. 10-4 on the no grab on the short filter I had to use a pair of channelocks to get that one off. I wont tighten so much on this one. I plan on running it a few hrs tomorrow and pull the dipstick and see what she looks like. I will be ordering a couple AMSOIL EAO58-EA that catches 99.5% of all contaminates down to 20 microns. they are kinda like the heppa filtration for oil.

Cheers ~Duke

:beer:

[smoreau 658]

Sounds Great Duke!! Glad thats behind ya allot of lesons learned. I use the onen filters as I only change the oil once a year. I only got 4 hours so far this year on mine. Waiting for the white stuff to fall so I can put some more on it.

[can whlvr 993]

she looks good duke,i agree that i would look for meatal,,and the next change i would think it wont be as dirty,since your only gonna blow snow,not to much dirt in the air and she should be broke in so not as much blowby and breakin debris

[MalMac 1,331]

Duke on the 520's i can't remember which year is which, but some years take the short filter and some the long both will work ok it just on some of the 520's you cant get the long filter in when the motor is on the tractor. I have a 90 and a 94 I can't remember which one is which. I know I learned the hard way. Glad you talk to Onan on breakin procedure. It alot different than some others I was describing to you. When I get time I will try and check my tractors to see which filter goes on what year.