Work horse 1848

[woodchuckfarmer 333]

Almost ready for hi-gloss black paint .  

 

[mike416 14]

21 hours ago, Red144runner said:

I believe it. I've never seen one this bad

In all the years that I have been repairing small engines for a profession, I have to say that is one of the worst mice nest I have seen! Seriously, that's really bad. What a shame. Would have been great to salvage that engine.

[Red144runner 657]

15 minutes ago, mike416 said:

In all the years that I have been repairing small engines for a profession, I have to say that is one of the worst mice nest I have seen! Seriously, that's really bad. What a shame. Would have been great to salvage that engine.

Looks worse in person. When I called my dealer and told him about the damage, he said 2 customers of his had similar damage. They sandblasted the block then epoxy painted it. Both have run them without issues for 5 and 10 years. I think i found a donor tractor hopefully.

[Red144runner 657]

Got my replacement engine yesterday. Came With a tractor attached. Finding horizontal shaft engines used isn't easy, bigger horsepower even tougher to find. With this craftsman GT2 18 I also got other parts I can use like the battery, ignition, front wheel and tires and the seat. The rear tires and wheels are in great shape too even though I don't need them right now. The electric clutch is nice prob keep that too. The engine is an '88 I/C even though it doesn't say it. It has the cast iron bores.

Almost a shame as the tractor runs/operates perfect, but I need the parts and getting them in one shot was a lot cheaper than buying separate. Now I have to test run that 1100 with the engine. Hopefully it checks out and I'll start prepping the frame

[mike416 14]

Very nice find on the craftsman. I know what you mean about parting out a good running machine but it does make a great donor. I like seeing the opposed twin Briggs engines getting some attention. I've always had kohler and Onan but as a kid I remember my grandfather purchasing a new sears gt16 in the late 1970's. It had an opposed twin briggs. It was always reliable and he used it to for gardening and mowing in his 2 acre yard.

[Red144runner 657]

I looked for kohlers and onans. I saw a lot of magnum 10 and 12s, a 12 would have been fine but to rum the 44" 2 stage I wanted at least 14+. It's mounted on my 3/15 now and it has handled it well on a steep driveway. The 18hp should be even better, the hydro lift will be nice as well. The engine search turned up a lot of vertical 16-18hp but few horizontal and the others had low compression or one side smoked...this one runs very well no smoke, revs up strong and idled down too. I had 8 and 11hp Briggs on my large frame toro snowblowers and I always liked them one needed valve work and still runs great. Neither had the cast iron bore. 

[wildman 205]

On 3/13/2017 at 9:06 PM, Red144runner said:

I believe it. I've never seen one this bad

Same here.

[aHorseofCourse 261]

Those opposed twins are awesome, reliable engines!  Glad to see another one getting new life.  Having just rebuilt one of these, I would suggest pulling the heads and staking in the valve seats before you transplant it.  The only 2 flaws of these beasts are the seats and timing pin (I think 88 is late enough you have the key).  The seats are known to come loose and ruin the block if not discovered quickly enough.  I would also suggest using the tins from the junk engine as it will direct the hot air over the drive belt cover.  Great build you have there!

Out of the Briggs service manual

My take on it

[Sarge 3,464]

I've done the same thing on several of the twin Briggs - those seats were the biggest issue by far . I have welded up one block and had it machined for new seats - not fun . For years I ran a Huskee with the 18hp Twin II and couldn't kill it , even with the larger two stage blower - those engines were pretty noisy but just would never fail , hard telling how many real hours were on it .

 

I always wanted to find one of the elusive K-361 18hp single cylinder units - but finding one complete is joke these days and I suspect most parts are NLA as well .

 

Sarge

[Red144runner 657]

23 hours ago, aHorseofCourse said:

Those opposed twins are awesome, reliable engines!  Glad to see another one getting new life.  Having just rebuilt one of these, I would suggest pulling the heads and staking in the valve seats before you transplant it.  The only 2 flaws of these beasts are the seats and timing pin (I think 88 is late enough you have the key).  The seats are known to come loose and ruin the block if not discovered quickly enough.  I would also suggest using the tins from the junk engine as it will direct the hot air over the drive belt cover.  Great build you have there!

Out of the Briggs service manual

My take on it

Do the valves need to be removed?

[Red144runner 657]

Progress today, the craftsman released its engine, i wire brushed, primed and painted the frame. I had to remove the muffler for pto lever clearence and relocate the oil drain. I'd like to re use that muffler, it's a Nelson same as the horses use. 

I pulled the heads, bores look great, still see cross hatch. Valve seats look solid I rotated it over a couple times too. I still plan on staking them. Seems easy enough. Dis coloration on piston is oil, I had the engine tipped when I was moving the oil drain

[aHorseofCourse 261]

Should be able to stake the seats with valves in.  Just be sure to go easy as to not push metal against the valve.  It doesn't take a hard hit to move that aluminum over the seat.  Wouldn't hurt to check valve lash since you have it that far apart but you'd have to take the valve out to adjust if nessescary.  The exhaust outlet is 1" pipe thread if you want to go the iron pipe route with your exhaust.  Best of luck!  Can't wait to see it together

12 hours ago, Sarge said:

those engines were pretty noisy but just would never fail

They remind me of the old 2 stroke Detroits, hear them coming miles away.  I love that sound!

[Red144runner 657]

More done today. Staked in the seats, cool trick wish I'd heard about it years ago. Torqued the heads down. Cleaned up the battery area, pulled out solenoid, maybe it works but i doubt it so I swapped a good one in from a 2nd donor tractor. 

Mounted the engine, that was good. All new hardware. Pulled the electric clutch. I'm gonna keep that it works not sure if I could make it work with the horse. Painted parts of the engine and just about all the frame and rear. Also removed fan and pulley from hydro. Also able to free up the choke and throttle linkage. Going smooth so far. Electrical for tomorrow 

[aHorseofCourse 261]

Looks good.  Regular oil changes and that will last forever.  You can take that pulley off the fan booster on the flywheel side if you want.  There are bolts underneath holding the booster on.  You can also take the booster off too but it will leave the flywheel exposed and pose a safety hazard unless you get the mesh screen to cover it.  Really only need the booster if you plan on using it hard in the summer like for mowing.

[Red144runner 657]

I noticed the extra fan on there, the '84 engine didn't have it, also I think the '88 engine has poly fins and the '84 is all cast iron. I'll probably leave the booster on. I will remove that pulley though.

 I found the wiring diagram on here. By the end end of the week I'd like to have it re wired. I took the the wheels and tires off the craftsman today along with the seat, ign switch and some hardware.

Edited March 23, 2017 by Red144runner

[Red144runner 657]

The engine turns over👍. We re wired today, found the alternator isn't functioning but I'm pretty sure I have a spare. As you can probably see I bypassed all the magneto kill micro switches. By the looks of them I'd say none work and would hinder my progress. For now it will stay like that.

On the wheels i wire brushed, primed and 2 coats of gloss white Rustoleum. The front wheels are off the craftsman. Started peeling decals today too both sides of good and foot pads. Gonna order new workhorse ones. 

Next I have to figure out an exhaust. I could use the original but I have some different ideas. 

[mike416 14]

Can't wait to see what "ideas" you have for the exhaust. 

[Red144runner 657]

Well, fired it off today, minus exhaust and throttle/choke control and a gravity fed fuel tank. Engine runs nice and smooth, no smoke and even without an exhaust was quieter than I thought. My reason for all this was to check the hydro. Ran for a minute prob not long enough to check for leaks but the axles turned. Hopefully they will work under load. 

[Red144runner 657]

Light sand, prime and one coat of rustoleum industrial gray gloss. I had sprayed the hood in "aluminum" and immediately disliked it. I much prefer this color and looks closer to original. This tractor had been repainted some years ago. Not a bad job but years of storage outside took its toll. I found no rot a little pitting but I can live with that. Second coat tomorrow and a final clear on Friday. Tomorrow I hope to get some pipe and start on an exhaust. We have a pipe threader at work and I plan on trying it out. Decals will be ordered this week.

[Red144runner 657]

Done a few things this week. First, drained the oil from the rear end. It was to the full mark and it looks like I got around 3qts out. Oil was not too dirty no surprises drained out. 

My pto clutch was pretty beat up. The clutch pad was wore into the rivets and that scored up the plate good. Toro wants $80 for a new clutch/pressure plate. Evidential you can't get the pad and rivet it on, they sell a new plate with the pad bonded on. Luckily I found an nos pad. Drilled out the rivets on the old one, cleaned up the backing plate and jb welded the new pad on. Cost me 10% of what the new setup wAs. I brought the pulley to my buddy. He has a small mill and lathe, he's gonna machine the clutch face. 

I broke the drive pulley on the engine, finding the 5" pulley to fit the 1" Briggs crank proved to be difficult. Just about all the hydro machines had a kohler or onan driving them...and they use 1 1/8" cranks. Wound up finding a 5/20 pulley and getting a 1/8" sleeve adapter. Worked awesome. So the clutch plate is now bolted up. I also hooked up my throttle and choke cables. 

Gave all the paint a clear coat and painted the grill black. 

The custom exhaust I had in mind has just become too much work. I told myself if I can get a new muffler for under $100 I'll do it. So one is ordered $85. It's coming together, I can't wait to run it

[ericj 1,578]

just saw a craftsman 18 hp tractor like that on c/l here in York for $ 300.00 that runs and drives, now if I could just find another craftsman III with the onan in for the same price that ran good lol

 

 

 

 

eric j

[gwest_ca-(File Mod) 11,133]

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Garry

[aHorseofCourse 261]

That 18 horse should have ball bearings.  Pretty sure it's a 422437 model.  That bulletin is for the older 16 horse twins and one lung 11s which didn't have ball bearings.  That's interesting  made a conversion to use that style engine.  Great info, learn something new everyday on this forum!

Decode your Briggs model number

[Red144runner 657]

15 hours ago, aHorseofCourse said:

That 18 horse should have ball bearings.  Pretty sure it's a 422437 model.  That bulletin is for the older 16 horse twins and one lung 11s which didn't have ball bearings.  That's interesting  made a conversion to use that style engine.  Great info, learn something new everyday on this forum!

Decode your Briggs model number

Good info, I believe you are correct in the 18hp havei g the bearings. I took the whole pto assembly off the original engine and there was no added bearing

[bds1984 1,453]

I ran into the side-load PTO issue before when I re-powered a very similar 520H and found my engine only had "bushings" for the crank and not the ball bearings.  I'd 110% make sure that this new 18HP engine has ball bearings or at least the type that can withstand side load.  I'd hate to see that engine get trashed after all the hard work you've done to bringing her back to life!