Engine rebuild

gregww · May 29, 2017

I have a Kohler K321S engine in this tractor. I too k it to the local guy who was going to send the block out for machining, but found out his guy doesn't do it any more. He did tell me the rebuild would be $1000. I don't know if that is a reasonable price or not. I have to take it somewhere. The motor did run (I drove it home) but my son in law says once it got hot it would stall out and have to cool down. The motor did not smoke at all. The local guy did tell me there was some slop in the piston. Wish I knew more about engines. Thanks Greg

Pete_5959 · May 29, 2017

In my opinion that is to high to punch that block out. Have you checked the setting of your valves? How do your points
look. When it dies when warm do you still have a strong blueish spark from coil? Have you changed the plug. All
those fixes are much cheaper than the route your headed down. If the block is shot there are new old stock K321 S
still around. The last one I saw was $1300.00 in the box.

r/

Pete

gregww · May 29, 2017

I forgot to mention that if you don't tie or block the dip stick in the hole, it will blow right out. Not sure what that indicates. I would like to know where those K321S engines are if you can tell me. Thanks Greg

MNGB · May 29, 2017

Hi greg, if it blows the dipstick out that means lots of blow by, and the engine most likely needs overhauling, around here in MN a engine machine shop will charge about $50.00 to bore a cylinder, another $40/50.00 to grind the crankshaft you can get a aftermarket overhaul kits from e bay for $120.00, a new aftermarket carb for $30.00 or so that adds up to less then $300.00 now all that is needed is a mechanic to assemble it, might be able to find a retired person to do that for much less than a shop would have to have.
Another possibility is finding a good running engine and use it, there are a lot Kohler K321 engines around.
GB in MN

Don B. · May 29, 2017

I just did a K301S same engine basically but 12hp instead of 14. It cost me $140 in the machine shop, $110 for an Ebay kit and $25 for an OEM Kohler exhaust valve (OE was cheaper than alot of aftermarket in this case so why not go with original?) A far cry from $1000.
the last previous engine just like it that I did cost me about 2x what this one did because of having some important parts missing....
I am about to take a K321S into the machine shop. I see some things that I could have saved on the machine bill with on the most recent 12hp, by doing here myself/ like I had the cam out already and put it back in, they charged me $45 to take it back out and reinstall it.... that was ridiculous, the rest of their charges were reasonable. This was 1st time dealing with this particular machine shop.

Pete_5959 · May 29, 2017

Greg,
Give mission sales a call in Indiana. They had quite a few that were used in the Power King tractors.

T.R.K. · May 29, 2017

I re-ringed a M16 Kohler for the customer across the street. I also put a new OEM camshaft and OEM starter in it.(The compression release had worn out on the camshaft from 'putting' it around at low idle. And now it was hard to start.So we put a starter on it to cover all the bases.) Using all OEM parts, the parts bill came to over $800 at dealer list price. I had eleven hours in it from start to finish. And did my own valve work and cylinder honing.

If that guy is going to warranty his job for you, I don't see how he can do it for much less.

You can get parts cheaper than even the dealer's cost off Ebay. But you better be sure its o.k. with your guy before you do this. Its no fun at all to spend the time looking up parts and price a job only to find the customer wants to shop for his parts somewhere else. The other thing to be aware of is that it is a whole lot more trouble to get help from an Ebay seller if you have problems with the Ebay parts than it is to get your parts from a dealer.

Butch(OH) · Jun 1, 2017

IF all genuine Kohler parts are used and IF EVERYTHING is brought back to new spec and things like the governor, carburetor , balance gears etc are replaced or rebuilt and IF they are doing all the work meaning tear down, clean, inspect, machine and reassemble and test then $1000 is not out of line. Kohler parts are insane expensive. I do the same work using the aftermarket kits from Rotary and unless I run into something unusual the total cost of rebuilt will be $5- 600 give or take, depends on what the customer wants to do with the balance gears,

gregww · Jun 1, 2017

The more research I do the more I agree with you. I took the motor off the tractor and took it to the local shop. He is doing EVRYTHING. Tear down, having machining done, getting and installing new parts, reassemble, test run everything. I have found other motors online, but I have found through (experience) experience, that all K321's are not created the same. The oil pan, flywheel, carburetor linkage, and other things can be different. Unless I can fin another K321S with the same spec # something will be different. Then I have to wonder whether the motor I find needs to be rebuilt. I know THIS motor fits MY tractor. I took it off. The frustration level alone of trying to adapt another motor is worth money to me.

Engine rebuild

gregww

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Pete_5959

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gregww

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MNGB

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Don B.

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Pete_5959

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T.R.K.

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Butch(OH)

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gregww

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