GT-14 engine questions (I'm giving off bad vibrations)

[Hodge71 664]

Not the Beach Boys by any means but I can say that this thing vibrates worse than an old panhead Harley with a fouled plug. Now I have never owned a 14 Kohler but I have a 12 and a 16 and this is much worse than both. I was told possibly rebuilt with no balance gears? Anyone.....Anyone?.... Also have pictures and questions on the year of this engine. It has an odd flywheel screen. Different than the 12 and 16 as well. It has a box hanging off the side of the engine that my 12 and 16 don't have. Also Im having electrical trouble. The headlights don't work, the electric clutch doesn't work and the battery only seems to be receiving 13.4 volts at full throttle. Is that enough to charge the battery or are there electrical issues I need to figure out? I know my 12 and 16 both have 13.9 or 14.1VDC respectively. The 416 Onan I built for my Dad had 17VDC but it was a bad voltage regulator and its now happy at 14.5 VDC...So whats the scoop on this thing? Any engine gurus have an idea?

 

 

[Dan Matz jr 1]

That box on the side their may be bad. Mine was saying high 12volts at full throttle I can't remember what it did to make me change it and when I did the problem was fixed.

[boovuc 1,090]

Not an engine guru by any means but if your battery is fully charged, the 13+ volts is OK. Change out the battery to one thatis discharged and check again with a VOM across the terminals.

 

Also check your engine mounts or the pan/cradle it "may" be sitting on. I had a K301 on a C-120 that vibrated and came to find out from the past owner it was rebuilt without the possible shrapnel that the balancer is guilty of causing. It wasn't anything like you describe though.  

[pfrederi 17,693]

I picked up a C141 at auction awhile back she vibrated badly...turned out 3 cooling fins were broken off and not evenly spaced.  The regulator in the picture is not correct but should work. That style was designed to be in the cooling air flow of the motor.  On the twin cylinders I have it is mounted through a hole in the engine shroud so the fins can dissipate heat to the cooling air blowing by.  I am using one like it but I mounted it back on the hood stand and she is a tractor used mostly in cold weather. 

 

Test use you multi meter set on AC voltage and see what you get between the 2 white wires at full throttle should be more than 28v probably more like 32.

[Hodge71 664]

Thanks for the input guys. As far as the flywheel fins Paul, I will check then today. I didnt even think about them being a source of vibration as a cursory glance made me feel they were ok. I wonder where I can get the proper voltage regulator and what its supposed to look like? I thought it looked different. I wonder what else isn't quite right? I guess time will tell....

[pfrederi 17,693]

Jeff:  I donot have a GT14 but most the ones from that era used the large regulators mounted back on the hood stand.  (about 3x4" and over an inch thick)

Edited March 14, 2015 by pfrederi

[pfrederi 17,693]

You can see the regulator on top of the blower housing  on the KT17, note the fins are mounted in.  Don't think there is enough clearance on your at that point to cut a hole in the tin and turn the regulator around.  From the GT 14 era hoodstand mounts were more common

[Hodge71 664]

Jeff:  I donot have a GT14 but most the ones from that era used the large regulators mounted back on the hood stand.  (about 3x4" and over an inch thick)s-l1600.jpg

 

 

Yeah Thats whats on my lil guys1971 Charger 12 and my 1974 C-160 8 speed. I gotta give credit to whomever put this one there. It looks factory...lol

Edited March 14, 2015 by Hodge71

[pfrederi 17,693]

Jeff;  You may want to unmount that regulator and see if there is a rectangular hole on the shroud.  I saw a picture of a 12hp Kohler that looked like regulator like yours but mounted with the fins inside the blower housing....maybe some one put it on backwards

[Shynon 7,459]

Fly wheel screen may indicate an industrial application Kohler which would make sense with the regulator mounted to the side of the sheet metal. I never use the balance gears and never had an issue.

 

                  Tom

[Hodge71 664]

Fly wheel screen may indicate an industrial application Kohler which would make sense with the regulator mounted to the side of the sheet metal. I never use the balance gears and never had an issue.

 

                  Tom

 

Thanks Tom...Im guessing this must not be the original engine...

[Theroundhousernr 589]

 The regulator is not original as covered already. As for the flywheel screen, it looks the same as my gt14. I see in one pic, it  also has the original breakerless ignition which is original to the gt14. Personally love that ignition and mine has worked for 50 years now and still starts without complaints in any weather. So it still could be original motor. Some tips for that ignition right from the kohler manual. Install a 330 ohm resistor on the ground wire going from the coil to the ignition switch to prevent positive current from destroying the rare/expensive coil from a faulty/wet ignition switch. Never let the coil see battery voltage!

 

  Also the trigger module under the flywheel should be as close to a tolerance of 5 thou gap from the flywheel as possible. This is specifically helps with cold temp starts. Mine started in a few cranks even is sub degree temps. Since the coil draws no battery power , it takes nothing away from the battery on them cold crank days.

 

  Vibration could be flywheel fins, loose flywheel, engine bolts to frame loose, bent crank but unlikely. Another really overlooked item is the belt. An old stiff belt will be stuck in an oval shape and cause terrible vibration. Hope this helps with your new purchase. They are great wheel horses!

[gwest_ca-(File Mod) 11,039]

Jeff;  You may want to unmount that regulator and see if there is a rectangular hole on the shroud.  I saw a picture of a 12hp Kohler that looked like regulator like yours but mounted with the fins inside the blower housing....maybe some one put it on backwards

I agree. You can see what looks like the regulator mounted on top of the original red engine paint with a repaint around it many moons ago. The regulator likely only got the repaint.

 

Garry

[gwest_ca-(File Mod) 11,039]

I usually use service bulletin 301e for engine usage but now realize there is a mistake in it regarding the 1969 and 1970 GT-14's.

 

Go back to 1969 and 1970 bulletins for engine usage

you will see they used engine K321-6010b.

Go to the Kohler ipl and you will see Kohler supplied the 10 amp voltage rectifier/regulater with the 6010b spec. as in the above photos. Part # 4140308-S $492.15

The tractor parts lists we have do not show a rectifier regulator for 1969 or 1970.

 

The 60125b spec listed in PSB #301e and at Toro is not correct for 1969-70 but is correct for 1971. This engine did not come from Kohler with a rectifier/regulator so Wheel Horse supplied the large 15 amp finned regulator part # 101450 that we usually see on the hoodstand. We have a good copy of the 1971 parts list that shows this.

 

Garry