317 Garden Tractor Questions...New Purchase

MCL

Member
I am the new owner of a 317 JD. Haven't even got it home yet. Anyhow I have a couple questions. The deck is down and the hydraulic levers act like they are stuck. Is there something I should do or look at before I start manhandling things? The pto won't turn on either but that could be about anything. Anything else I need to look over or check out?
It has the Onan engine, 48" deck, front hyd outlets, runs and drives, has all the pieces that are usually missing and it's not beat up. Needs a seat. $350 at an auction today.
 
The hydraulic control levers may be rusted in their pivot boss. It may be a toughie to get them freed up. The outside lever should be the deck control.

I didnt know 317's came with a 48" deck. I thought they left Deere with a 46 or a 50. I guess it could be a 48" retro-fit supplied by Deere. Does it have greaseable spindles on the deck?
 

Congratulations. The engines in the the 317 were not known for their longevity. The non working pto could be faulty switch/clutch coil or maybe just the wrong air gap.
 
I know some of the models in that series had a one cylinder Kohler that got replaced with the Onan engine. I didn't buy it to mow. I bought it to pull a roller and play with. I guess we'll see how it does.
 
The later Onan with an oil pump, good. Was the replacement 317 engine and used in the 318 iirc.
Early Onan engine in 317, not so good.
 
The 317 we have has a Kohler 17 horse engine and a 46" deck. Keep the flywheel and fins on the cylinders clean and they live. Change the oil regularly too. The sheet metal around the engine directs air over the cylinders to cool them and this gets full of dirt and grass. As far as the PTO it's probably the switch or the electromagnet coil. Easy to check. Unplug the coil, use a volt meter and check that you have 12 volts. If not check the switch. If you have voltage at the coil, check resistance of the coil. Can't remember what it's supposed to be. Check each lead to ground. It may be shorted. The negative lead on the battery has two wires on it, one connected to chassis ground and the other to the engine. This is because the engine is rubber mounted. Check both of these wires for continuity and good connections. This can ruin the coil and also damage the voltage regulator/diode.
 
(quoted from post at 13:55:06 11/11/12) The 317 we have has a Kohler 17 horse engine and a 46" deck.

I think a Kohler must have been installed after the 317 left the factory as I didn't see Kohler mentioned in the 317 parts catalog
 
You should check out Weekend Freedom Machines.com. They're a great bunch of guys with lots of info.
 
My 317, which is nicely restored now, still has its third Kohler engine which came under warranty. After breaking in this engine I treated it with a Teflon treatment called Slick 50. Befor treatment you could not hold your hand in front of the grille after working and after treatment you could easily. It worked great. I read recently that the lubrication in the Kohler engines had been improved by late in the replacement period but JD had decided to change to Onan for replacements as they were going to make the 318 engines. May have read this on Weekend Freedom Machines site, lots of stuff there.
Wish I had the power steering of the 318.
 

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