This is why people say Kohlers are bulletproof

[Thompson1276 256]

Was cutting 8 70ft pine trees my cub LoBoy couldn’t go there because it was too rocky here on the Appalachians, but I hooked up a tow rope to my horse a 1276 K301-ST with the HydroGear duel pump hydro from 66 never been serviced internally had the original oil pan gasket and the tractor sat for 30+ years before I got it, I hooked it up and I have the gov raised to run at 4500 rpm pulled 3 trees on the 4th tree it made a grinding sounds it pulled it where it should be and drove it about 1/8 or 1/4 mile back home and still was running when I parked it oil everywhere not a drop inside the engine was hotter than 400 degrees just on the oil pan , the paints boils off at 380 that I put on and it was just starting to boil up off. Tore it down no scoring on the conrod or crank like new the piston has some but not any that’s bad at all can’t feel any the inside the cylinder is like new. Only needs needs gaskets and oil. 
 

And this here is proof and why old Kohler engines are bulletproof gotta love em 

 

I’ll have this complete soon but if you read the story part I’m impressed myself when I first saw it almost all new and is all OEM inside not a single part was replaced before 

Edited September 5, 2022 by Thompson1276

[Heatingman 971]

What gave way to begin with?

[Thompson1276 256]

3 minutes ago, Heatingman said:

What gave way to begin with?

The head gasket has a small small leak in it already because the fin was chipped one time not by me or previous owner but the 2nd owner since I’m the 4th one but it was actually the oil pan gasket it was hard as a rock when I tore it off 

[oliver2-44 9,747]

You might want to check the cylinder bore while you have it apart.  The attached thread is a great way to verify wear not seen by the naked eye.  

 

[oliver2-44 9,747]

You might want to check the aluminum head for flatness. Many of us hand surgace them using wet dry sandpaper on a piece of glass. Rotate the head in a figure 8 

[Thompson1276 256]

48 minutes ago, oliver2-44 said:

You might want to check the aluminum head for flatness. Many of us hand surgace them using wet dry sandpaper on a piece of glass. Rotate the head in a figure 8 

Checked it on a flat seems good never had problems with the head or cylinder 

[Thompson1276 256]

1 hour ago, oliver2-44 said:

You might want to check the cylinder bore while you have it apart.  The attached thread is a great way to verify wear not seen by the naked eye.  

 

It’s good from what I saw I went over with a micro and seemed good enough to still run the stock .010

[rjg854 11,361]

13 hours ago, Thompson1276 said:

I hooked it up and I have the gov raised to run at 4500 rpm

Kohler recommends no more than 3600 rpm, that may have caused your problems  

[Thompson1276 256]

7 hours ago, rjg854 said:

Kohler recommends no more than 3600 rpm, that may have caused your problems  

I know I have the gov raised it was actually the gasket it was hard as a rock the oil pan gasket and ripped through it 

[Snoopy11 5,714]

7 hours ago, rjg854 said:

Kohler recommends no more than 3600 rpm, that may have caused your problems  

And if you do go higher than 3,600, you need to invest in a billet or forged rod to back it up...

 

Don

[clueless 2,991]

I'm thinking the engine you show in the post is not the original engine.

[kpinnc 12,023]

14 hours ago, Thompson1276 said:

I know I have the gov raised it was actually the gasket it was hard as a rock the oil pan gasket and ripped through it 

 

At 4500 RPM, I'd suggest a billet flywheel. The stock flywheel will absolutely come apart, and shrapnel can seriously injure you or anyone around the tractor.

[953 nut 55,223]

On 9/4/2022 at 7:57 PM, Thompson1276 said:

I have the gov raised to run at 4500 rpm

            Got your life insurance paid up?          

Those higher than recommended RPMs could also cause the hydro pump in the Sundstrand to caveat overheating the transaxle, keep an eye on it.      

[Thompson1276 256]

On 9/6/2022 at 7:33 PM, 953 nut said:

            Got your life insurance paid up?          

Those higher than recommended RPMs could also cause the hydro pump in the Sundstrand to caveat overheating the transaxle, keep an eye on it.      

Will do man completely redid it and made sure paint wasn’t on the covered parts so it should be fine running castrol dex3 in it but it seems to be fine almost like 80-90 degrees avg

[Thompson1276 256]

On 9/5/2022 at 5:24 PM, clueless said:

I'm thinking the engine you show in the post is not the original engine.

It’s the original engine for the 1276 , it’s a K301-ST , 1276 is 12HP kohler , 7 for hydro , 6 for last digit of the year made 1966 same exact one in the manual listed too

[oliver2-44 9,747]

On 9/4/2022 at 10:44 PM, Thompson1276 said:

It’s good from what I saw I went over with a micro and seemed good enough to still run the stock .010

 

The 0.010 piston is usually not an original factory bore size. There is  a good chance someone has bored and rebuilt that engine earlier in its life. 
Of course the important thing is that it runs good and has lots of life left in it.
 

On 9/4/2022 at 6:57 PM, Thompson1276 said:

a 1276 K301-ST with the HydroGear duel pump hydro from 66 

You mention a “dual pump Hydrogear”.  Are you possible referring to the Hydro pump and Hydro motor. 

[Thompson1276 256]

12 hours ago, oliver2-44 said:

 

The 0.010 piston is usually not an original factory bore size. There is  a good chance someone has bored and rebuilt that engine earlier in its life. 
Of course the important thing is that it runs good and has lots of life left in it.
 

You mention a “dual pump Hydrogear”.  Are you possible referring to the Hydro pump and Hydro motor. 

No it has 2 hydro pumps it has a LSD Hydro has 2 pumps next to each other , say I’m wroooong but I rebuilt this tractor from the frame down and up a few times and tore lots of stuff on it apart without needing a manual to tell me what to do. As for the piston and crank and such the crank is original so is the cam and the valves , the piston and conrod has been placed reasons idk why the conrod and pistons are both Forged so to my guess someone tried to restore it before me but failed which I do know is true there was bondo in places I had to pound out and stuff

 

[Snoopy11 5,714]

25 minutes ago, Thompson1276 said:

the conrod and pistons are both Forged

I could be reading this wrong... are you saying that the connecting rod in THIS picture is forged?

 

 

 

Don

[953 nut 55,223]

17 minutes ago, Thompson1276 said:

it has 2 hydro pumps it has a LSD Hydro has 2 pumps next to each other

We have a learning opportunity here!

Posts that are made on this site live on because they are searchable and others may use the information from your post to solve a problem they are encountering. For that reason we like to correct information that could lead someone astray and cost them time and money.

I know that you are justifiably proud of the work you have done and if corrections are suggested it is NOT demeaning, it is our opportunity to correct a misconception.

The hydro-gear Sundstrand has two very similar looking components that serve very different functions in the transmission. The upper gear is a hydraulic pump that transfers pressure from the engine driven charging pump to the hydraulic motor (lower one) which in turn drives the transaxle. Here is a link to a site that explains the system.

https://www.vivoil.com/blog/difference-between-hydraulic-pumps-and-motors/

The Sundstrand manual should also be helpful.

 

[oliver2-44 9,747]

58 minutes ago, Thompson1276 said:

No it has 2 hydro pumps it has a LSD Hydro has 2 pumps next to each other ,

Now I understand your referring to the charge pump and the main pump, yes 2 pumps.  I just wanted to understand better as I suspect I’ll begin my 1st Sundstrand overhaul in the near future. 

[Thompson1276 256]

25 minutes ago, 953 nut said:

We have a learning opportunity here!

Posts that are made on this site live on because they are searchable and others may use the information from your post to solve a problem they are encountering. For that reason we like to correct information that could lead someone astray and cost them time and money.

I know that you are justifiably proud of the work you have done and if corrections are suggested it is NOT demeaning, it is our opportunity to correct a misconception.

The hydro-gear Sundstrand has two very similar looking components that serve very different functions in the transmission. The upper gear is a hydraulic pump that transfers pressure from the engine driven charging pump to the hydraulic motor (lower one) which in turn drives the transaxle. Here is a link to a site that explains the system.

https://www.vivoil.com/blog/difference-between-hydraulic-pumps-and-motors/

The Sundstrand manual should also be helpful.

 

Yeah I got all the manuals for everything I have the K Series engine , the tractor and the transmission for it exactly since it’s pre 67 all original but it was worth it for those HD pictures 

[Snoopy11 5,714]

14 hours ago, Thompson1276 said:

I have the K Series engine

We know that you have the K-series engine. What we don't know is if you affirm that:

 

16 hours ago, Thompson1276 said:

conrod and pistons are both Forged

 

Very important to know...?

 

Don

[micro_meteor 14]

Self proclaimed experts are just that.

[RED-Z06 2,221]

On 9/10/2022 at 4:45 PM, micro_meteor said:

Self proclaimed experts are just that.

Yeah but it makes for an entertaining read though.