My Kohler

October, 2004

I finally got started on my Kohler engine today. Taking it apart was rather straight forward and really didn't take that long. My idea was to break it apart, take the block, front plate, cylinder head, new piston and the new valves to the machine shop.

He got the block hot-tanked then checked it out. Everything really look OK, and I could have got by with just a set of rings and a valve job. I chose to go ahead and bore it the .010 oversize and use the new piston (with rings) that I had. That didn't work out, because at that point I found out I had a K241 engine with K301 tin, and ID tag. That meant my piston was wrong, along with the rings. I had bought my "rebuild kit" through E-Bay, which makes return for wrong parts nearly impossible. The more I deal with all this, I become more convinced it is better to do business with local firms, pay a slightly higher price, and have that "benefit" of returning wrong items.

Now for the "neat" part of the story. I decided just to buy a new +.010 piston and rings locally, and get with the project, rather than deal around with E-Bay and shipping time.

I called the local small engine dealer, and told him what I wanted. My K241 was made in 1965, almost 40 years ago, and he had the parts for it. Then the second revelation, the local store was cheaper than E-Bay!

If you have a small engine / tractor / yard equipment need here is your contact:

With the right piston and at the machine shop, we were off and running. The block cleaned up nicely, and bored to +.010 with no problem. He put new valve guides and ground the seats, then lapped the new valves in, cleaned it, and reinstalled the valve train for me. He also took .050 off the cylinder head not only to square it up, but to raise the compression ratio about 1 point. All this work for $75.00, a real good deal.

At home, and with winter coming on, I had some other projects I needed to get wrapped up, so have had to put the Kohler on the side for right now. Hope I don't forget how put it back together!

By the way, I did make another mistake and bought (off E-Bay again) a CD with the Kohler engine service manuals on it. For $29.00 I though that was a fairly good buy, at least until I found out the manuals were available for FREE from Kohler as downloaded .pdf files. The guy that makes and sells these CD's on E-Bay just surfs the web, collecting all types of manuals, organizes them, burns them to a CD, and sells them on E-Bay! Neat little scam isn't it?

Hurry, Hurry, Hurry get your Kohler manuals for FREE!! http://www.kohlerengines.com/

Well, I said I was going to keep my Kohler notes here....

Today is May 8th 2010, the Kohler is still apart, but I have promised myself it WILL be running this summer. Well, August 12, 2011, maybe yet this year. The motor is 98% assembled, and hanging on my engine stand. The tractor is ready for installation, but I have to take time out to have my left hip replaced. Surgery is September 7 2011.