[Cannon51]

I was looking at Facebook marketplace early this morning and saw 2 lawnmowers for $150. One was a Deere and the other a TroyBilt. The pictures of the Deere only showed the engine and front of the mower and I thought it was a GT235 or GT245. Add said they had to be picked up by noon today. I sent the guy a message that I would come get them this morning. I got no reply until 11AM when he said ok. I told him it would take me about an hour and a half to get the trailer and get to the town listed and to send me an address. We left about 20 minutes later and my wife said Google said we would be there in 43 minutes, that sounded wrong. When we got close to where I thought we were going the directions seemed all wrong. My wife got another Facebook message that he was at a hotel. We got to the address and it was an old hotel and in an old trailer were the two mowers behind a truck with some appliances and household goods. I parked close to the truck, he came out with a child and said he was moving. The Deere was rougher than I had hoped and was an LX instead of a GT. I thought about offering him less but decided this was a guy who needed the money. I left them loaded, if it's not freezing in the morning I'll take them to the car wash. Their to nasty to work on. Hope I didn't contribute to anybody's drug habit,
Cannon

 

[Trentofdestiny]

If the engine is good the Troy bilt was worth it. And you got the 48C deck on the Deere so that's a plus, hope it's not rotted or cracked like they usually are.


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[JD-285]

Cannon51 helped a few guys out myself by paying their price as long as it was worth it.

 

[PA318Guy]

Well looks like a good buy, even if you just part them out you shouldn't be in the hole on them. If that 48 C deck is in good shape I've seen them sell for over $350.

 

[MARK (LI)]

What goes around...comes around....something good will happen for you...good luck with them

 

[Cannon51]

Well this morning I took the mowers to the 25 cent car wash and knocked the worst of the nastiness off. I started on the Deere, first off no oil on the dipstick. I still had the old oil out of my truck so I filled it up with that. I put a bottle of fresh gas on the fuel pump and after a second it started up and boiled smoke. It ran for a few seconds and then acted like one cylinder was cutting in and out. Oil is pouring out around the oil pressure sensor. I've never seen one of those leak before, hope it's not the block. I haven't taken the deck off but there's a 5 inch crack and some rust behind the discharge chute. I was going to take the pressure sensor off but the 1 1/16 socket is 12 point and it was slipping. If I remove the oil filter and flywheel cover I might be able to use an impact socket. At that point I aired up the tires and unloaded it at the shed. Anyone know what the threads are on the pressure sensor?
The solenoid on the Troybilt was hanging by one wire so I hooked the battery jumper cables to the engine and it would try to turn through but would not. I charged the battery while I adjusted the valves, they were all to loose. I hooked the jumper cables up again and the starter spun the engine. I put the bottle of gas on the fuel pump and a shot of carb cleaner in the carb and it fired up and ran a few seconds. I cobbled a jumper wire up for the fuel solenoid and tried it again. After a few try's it would stay running on full choke but would die as soon as I pushed it in any. I'm guessing either the fuel solenoid is not opening all the way or the carb is gummed up or both.
I don't have to waste 3 hours on the Falcons tomorrow, maybe I'll get some more done then.
Cannon

 

[JD-285]

Had an FH500V that was leaking right under the oil filter. Plan on splitting case.

 

[Cannon51]

I took the carb off Troybilt and cleaned it today. I got it back together and it will run without the choke. I took the deck off and found 2 locked up idlers and one locked spindle, those 3 parts would be over $100. At this point I'm going to pull the engine and a few parts off of it and scrap the rest. I might get it running and make a little but I promised myself a while back I would quit working on anything I didn't want to use.
Cannon

 

[Trentofdestiny]

Oil pressure sensor threads should be 1/8" NPT


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[Cannon51]

I got this LX277 back in the garage this afternoon. I put a battery in it and cranked it up. It ran on one cylinder without choke and was smoking. I made a 45 second run through the yard to see if the trans worked. By the time I got back to the garage there was oil everywhere. I wondered if it's got a blown head gasket but it has 140 lbs compression on each cylinder. I'm assuming a blown gasket would reduce compression. I've seen engines leak this much oil before but they always had a rod coming out of the block. Just like the FH580 in the GT235 the top of the engine is packed with greasy dirt.
Cannon

 

[Trentofdestiny]

Maybe it is overfull and in need of the updated Kawasaki breather also. Or it was overheated and blew a head gasket between the cylinder and pushrod gallery, forcing oil out


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[Cannon51]

I'm going to strip it down like I did the FH580v and clean it up. Most of the oil is coming from the oil sensor or it's threads but there is some around the breather cover. So a blown head gasket might not effect the compression?
Cannon

 

[Trentofdestiny]

I'm going to strip it down like I did the FH580v and clean it up. Most of the oil is coming from the oil sensor or it's threads but there is some around the breather cover. So a blown head gasket might not effect the compression?
Cannon

It depends. It would affect a compression test but might not be noticeable in how it runs, except for the smoking and/or leaking oil.


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[Cannon51]

I decided to take the engine off the tractor. It's going to be a lot easier to work on it on a bench. It did take about an hour to get the PTO and drive pulley off but that was the only problem. I believe these last 2 Kawasaki FH engines are the nastiest engines I've ever seen. All the cooling fins are totally packed with oily dirt.
Cannon

 

[Vigo]

At this point I'm going to pull the engine and a few parts off of it and scrap the rest. I might get it running and make a little but I promised myself a while back I would quit working on anything I didn't want to use.

Old habits are hard to break. I felt you on this one!!

NPT threaded oil sensors have caused a lot of regret. MOST people don't know what NPT is, and don't even realize that tapered threads exist. The unfortunate side effect is that people think the sensor seals against the flat bottom and not the threads, and keep trying to ram thread into the block until the block cracks. It's funny how whenever a cheap part and an expensive part get in a fight, the expensive part always loses. Anyway, hopefully that's not your issue!

 

[Cannon51]

I pulled some parts off the FH500v yesterday and took it to the car wash. I blasted most of the loose dirt and oil off but the baked on stuff will need more work. The forecast is for 65-70 degree highs here for the next several days. I guess I could get my pressure washer back out but if I'm going by the car wash anyway it's easy just to put some quarters in it.
Cannon

 

[groomerz]

The oil breather covers leak oil making cylinders a mess it’s The square plate under intake manifold I usually remove replace gasket and put some sealer on gasket


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[Cannon51]

The oil breather covers leak oil making cylinders a mess it’s The square plate under intake manifold I usually remove replace gasket and put some sealer on gasket


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Yes, this one has been leaking. On the FH580 I worked on I replaced the plate and gasket with the upgraded ones.
Cannon

 

[Cannon51]

I was looking the deck over this morning after pressure washing the grime off. It's got several cracks around the gauge wheel bracket and one hole. There's a lot of curves in that area, it won't be easy to form a patch. I have four 48C decks and this is the only one that has this "outrigger" type gauge wheel arm. Looks like it would put more pressure on the bracket and deck than the standard ones.
Cannon

 

[Trentofdestiny]

Trust me, the ones with the standard gauge wheel still rusty and crack just like that. Best you can do is weld the crack from both sides and leave it go. Probably have to adjust that wheel to a different peg than the others, but that's just how it is.


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