I bought a $1.00 or so chinese-made nut driver and ground the walls a little thinner and then just grapped the handle with a pair of pliers and turned it right out the time I had to replace one of those seats.

 

Have you checked the valve adjustment?

 

Update
Doesn't seem to be ignition
Rebuilt carb w/ new float

Valves are dead on
(thought there was a problem with the drain hole, but not the case)

Pulled head -- lots of carbon.

Other findings
- head seens to have an inch long spot where the gap is .008" Manual says
.003" max (this may have been that way since I bought it)
- Seems to be a diode between the battery and the coil. Should be a straight wire for a points type ignition.

I'm thinking the following:

1. The tractor was probably refurbished ( I bought it used). I'm thinking this because of the ignition, engine paint, and the fact that the oil pan is glued to the frame (and bolted). I pulled the engine without the pan, because I was beginning to think that I would damage the pan if I did any more prying.

2. The diode may have slightly compromised the ignition. This, in conjunction with the warped head might account for all of the carbon buildup. (I've pulled heads on other Kohlers -- they never looked like this one)

3. My plan is to:
- bypass the diode
- maybe go with a new coil
- clean/replace the valves -- Not sure what I'll do if the seats are bad
- Replace the head + gasket

Also, is there anywhere to get ignition wire and ends. I can get a new head for around $90, but the same place wants $27 for the plug wire!

Comments are appreciated.

 

Standard distributor type automotive leads should work just fine in a pinch.

 

If you replace the head, replace the heads bolts as well. Once they stretch, they'll keep on stretching and cause blown head gaskets due to the resultant leak.
I've seen it happen to the point that a secondary flame front can occur in the combustion chamber and burn a hole right through the head.

 

Thanks for the tip.

As for the spark plug lead, I agree, but all most places seem to sell is $ets these days. Our local Fleet Farm has some individual plug wires, but no coil to dist wires for some odd reason.

 

Thought I'd update thus to show how dirty it was in there.

 

Valve seating problem? Looks like it was running a tad rich

 

That is a normal amount of carbon buildup for an L-head engine of your engine's vintage. They only have about a 6:1 or so compression ratio.
I would not read anything into the amount of carbon buildup shown in your picture. It is not symptomatic of anything except normal inefficient combustion inherent to this style of engine.

 

I don't know, those deposits look quite "thick" to me. When I pulled the head of my old K341 that burned tons of oil, it wasn't even that bad.

 

It looks bad to me as well -- but I'm fairly inexperienced with this stuff.

I have pulled apart other Kohlers, and they weren't nearly as bad.

I still plan to try some modest cleanup as mentioned before.
- if that fails I might try putting in a 341 that I did rebuild (It's destined for an older tractor)

BTW I did buy a Cub Cadet 1042, so my grass is under control. However, I want to get the old Toro/WH back in service for my rough stuff

The Cub has its' good point for a fairly low end tractor, but I'm hoping to treat it with kid gloves.

Cub Frame 9 ga (~ 0.1" I think)
WH -- I'm sure it's at least 0.25"

Deck 42" -2 blade that I don't want to injure
WH 42" 3 blade that I've often beat back into shape after mowing a few rocks ( They grow without fertilizer around here )

The Cub is OK, and I'm even used to the AT, but one thing that I really miss is the deck lift. I could sneak past a lot of obstacles with the lift, and I could whack down some overgrown areas with it lifted.

 

The newer machines are just fine for basic cutting and toting a small trailer around. It is really a shame what companies like MTD did to once great brands such as Cub Cadet, John Deere (John Deere mowers are made by MTD), etc..

My 1970 International Cub Cadet 127 is practically a mini tank, just like the Simplicitys, John Deeres and Wheel Horses of the day.

Although, you do have to like some of the nicer features of the newer machines, like easy wash mower decks and much better turning cricles - also can't forget the machines that have cup holders now!

The K341 may require quite a bit of shoehorning to fit in. The block is physically taller then the K301, width may also play a factor. I'm not sure about Wheel Horses, but the 12 HP narrow-frame cub cadets (like mine) had K301s with smaller flywheels then normal so they could in between the frame rails. The 14 HP narrow frames actually had part of widened to accommodate the bigger flywheel the K321 needed, but like I said, Wheel Horse could have used the standard flywheel K301 in which case there should be fewer issues

 

Well, not intending to open up a debate here, but I have had the heads off of thousands of single cylinder small gasoline engines in my career.
I will admit that I have seen cleaner combustion chambers, but have seen many more much worse.
Need to stick to the basic symptoms: low power and backfire in the muffler.
Backfire can only be caused by unburnt fuel getting into the hot muffler. So, either the air/fuel ratio is somehow changing as the engine warms up (I don't know how that could be) or the ignition is cutting out intermittently after it warms up (very common) or the valve clearance is too little and heat from expansion is causing a loss of compression and incomplete burning of the fuel.
Of the three, intermittent spark is the most likely. Condensers can also act up when they get hot as they are nothing more than a long foil strip inside that silver metal shell. I would concentrate on ignition and replace the points and condenser first then the coil, then the high tension lead. Magneto ignition systems are very reliable when the components are working properly.
I don't think you mentioned rings, but they are not a factor anyway as they only seal better as the engine warms up. If they are a problem, they act up when the engine is cold and make it hard to start.

 

I think the carbon and backfiring are related- If it's dumping raw fuel into the exhaust, then it'd leave carbon deposits too.
I would pull the exhaust valve and look for signs of a poor seal (carbon lines on the face of the valve), worn/sunken seat, etc.

 

Thanks for all of the help. I will be investigating.

I wll probably do the ignition just because it's foolish not to at this point. I will also bypass that diode in the line. As I noted, I don't think that there should be one for a breaker ignition.

But, my first order of business is to verify my head issue and check the valves. Given my speed on 'secondary projects' this may take a while. ( Since I can cut my grass, this is a secondary project )

Oh, and can anybody recommend a good (hopefully inexpensive) valve spring compressor. I made my own the last time I was faced with this, but it didn't work that well -- the profanity index went extremely high.