Need a Garden Tractor

GT48DXLS said:
It looks like that tractor is almost under utilized in its current configuration.... looks like a very tough tractor. I'm guessing in modern terms it would have cost you somewhere in the $9k range for an equivalent. That's a real bargain.
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Honestly, it's probably going to be underutilized with me too. But I'm a firm believer in buying bigger because when you do need to do something it's capable. Once fall hits and I'm done mowing, the deck will come off it will be used to drive down a path into the woods where my firewood is stored in giant galvanized culverts. I'll use it for snow removal If Ever I come across a blower. And going to keep my eyes out for good deal on a tiller too.

But for now I have an Ariens st350 walk behind blower I inherited from my grandpa. Couple years ago somebody threw an old phone book in my driveway, well it snowed on top of it and I didn't see it. That st350 chewed up and spit that phone book out on the side of my driveway lol.
 
Lawdawg79 said:
Honestly, it's probably going to be underutilized with me too. But I'm a firm believer in buying bigger because when you do need to do something it's capable. Once fall hits and I'm done mowing, the deck will come off it will be used to drive down a path into the woods where my firewood is stored in giant galvanized culverts. I'll use it for snow removal If Ever I come across a blower. And going to keep my eyes out for good deal on a tiller too.

But for now I have an Ariens st350 walk behind blower I inherited from my grandpa. Couple years ago somebody threw an old phone book in my driveway, well it snowed on top of it and I didn't see it. That st350 chewed up and spit that phone book out on the side of my driveway lol.
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I like your thinking

On the Ariens.....hmmmm strap it to the front of that GT.....snow can be miserable, just have a drink with a small umbrella in it and make the neighbors talk:)
 
Lily'sDad said:
Were you able to salvage the phone book?
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i actually did lol at that one.

it will probably get used more than i think. Once i have it, i will find stuff to do with it. I have an ash tree to cut down, ill probably be dragging big limbs and tree sections.
Im gonna have big potted plants to lift and move around.
Its gonna have plenty of work to do, hopefully I dont have too much work to do on it.
 
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Shes home, i mowed about half my property and she died midway. It was lower on gas than i thought, so added gas. Now she wont start back up, thought maybe i flooded it so i returned the trailer i borrowed and tried again when i got home w no luck. It does need a new battery too, he had it on a charger when i got there.

Looks like somewhere along the line the air cleaner cover got replaced w a magnum 18 air cleaner

Now its sittin in the back yard, yayyy lol

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That looks like the air cleaner on both of my KT engines. I've seen both styles on either engine.
I do know that they had a Cold weather air cleaner accessory for the twins, which was a hot air set up like the side snorkel on the 70s and 80s cars where they would divert intake air off of the manifold, to help them warm up and run better in the cool weather, my ariens shop manuals talk about it, but it was a Kohler part, not necessarily connected to any tractor brand, I have one from a wheel horse too that was a magnum engine. . And they were all the round style of air cleaner lid. It appears to have been a retrofit package that could be had at the time
 
Well it fired again then acted like an jerk, moved it about 30 feet sputtering....im gonna preliminarily say its a carb issue, he kinda said i may have to clean the carb. Idle was weird and i had to play w choke and throttle to keep it running but then it died anyway. I probably shoulda put fresher gas in it :-/

Thing ran like a top for 20 mins when i got home
 
I think the first thing I'd do is invest in a gallon of good cleaner and coat that thing down and pressure wash it for a couple hours!

My Bolen which has KT18 series 2 on it would randomly die like a fuel problem. I rebuilt the carb, bought a new carb, changed all the fuel lines, cleaned the fuel tank and a ton of other stuff (pulled out hair) Ended up being the coil....! Not saying thats your problem, but something to ponder.

Main reason I thought it was a fuel problem, if you shoved the choke all the way up and the throttle all the way down it would stay running, just terribly.
 
It happend so fast and ive only had it 3 hours now that i cant say what i was doing w throttle and choke, other than messin w em lol

Currently draining the tank and gonna flush a lil and add some fresh gas i just went and got.

Guy said he replaced the coil last year and it turned out to be the a compressor. So it "should" be a newer coil. I just wanna finish my lawn and get it in n the garage for now. Or at least get it in the garage, its like Africa outside right now.

I am gonna wash her up too.

Headlights dont even have wires going to them, so theres a project right there.
 
Haha, way ahead of ya Tex!! I drained the tank and mixed up seafoam with the fresh gas.

Also got a new battery with more cranking amps

She fired for a second and now is just turning over.
I feel like im not getting fuel to the carb...took me a minute to get the air bubbles out of the fuel filter and get the fuel coming out of the filter.

Just have one air bubble i cant work out but not sure if it matter.

There isnt a priming procedure is there?
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Don't worry about that air bubble, most all of those filters have some air trapped in them unless they are installed straight up and down. I'd take the gas line loose at the carb and turn the engine over to see if the fuel pump is pumping. You can also pour a little gas down the carb or use carb cleaner spray and get it to run a bit to try to help get the fuel bowl full of fuel.
 
The wife is starting to ask why i just spent 600 bucks on a tractor that wont run lol...sh!t!

Ok so i pulled the plugs and the gaps were bigger than my biggest guage...gapped them to .025, reinstalled... Turned the fuel on, she fired up nicely on new fuel, thought i had it....then i backed the throttle off and she died....ive repeated this 3 times now. Go wait, come back, fires up, dies.

Filed and cleaned the positive battery connection too, it was bad.

im done for today, didnt get much sleep, had few hours on the road, and gotta put a hot compress on my dogs balls lmao...sunofagun im thinkin he got bit by a snake or spider, but ill spare ya those pics lol, hes on 2 antibiotics now.

Lots of rattle can on this thing, he said he got it like that. Its even on the gas tank smh... Heres some more pics, i pushed her up in the shade, that was fun.
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Rattle can on lever and plate thats coming off
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I get the feeling someone tried to make the sticker look better with black duct tape
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Heres some video of my issue
Take a look and listen, let me know what ya think.
TRACTOR CLIP 1

TRACTOR CLIP 2
 
Lawdawg79 said:
The wife is starting to ask why i just spent 600 bucks on a tractor that wont run lol...sh!t!

Ok so i pulled the plugs and the gaps were bigger than my biggest guage...gapped them to .025, reinstalled... Turned the fuel on, she fired up nicely on new fuel, thought i had it....then i backed the throttle off and she died....ive repeated this 3 times now. Go wait, come back, fires up, dies.

Filed and cleaned the positive battery connection too, it was bad.

im done for today, didnt get much sleep, had few hours on the road, and gotta put a hot compress on my dogs balls lmao...sunofagun im thinkin he got bit by a snake or spider, but ill spare ya those pics lol, hes on 2 antibiotics now.


TRACTOR CLIP 1

TRACTOR CLIP 2
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I just want to offer some encouragement, Theirs plenty of people here that can help you with this.

I'm as confident as you probably are that the prior owner knew all this too. The question is if he perused fixing with competence and care or did he just mess things up further. Who knows but him. Your here now, and these things are not terribly difficult to diagnose.

I'm reminded of this as first,

Is it mechanical?
Is it electrical?
Is it fuel?

Diagnoses to get to one of these three things helps to not spend money and time chasing ghost's.

The plugs are a simple place to start. They are the end result of the electrical system. Simply put....

Do they have spark? (no spark, electrical, focus on that)

If you have spark, is there fuel getting to the carb float bowl? Another common place to fail is needle and seat, or a failing float in the bowl. These carbs are usually rebuildable and reasonable for a kit.

Small engines like these will have a carb with 2 circuits, usually. low pass (idle) and high speed (operating).
Carbs are to blame for many poor running conditions.

Mechanical is rare.
 
Im not discouraged....(yet) lol, the ole back started botherin me and i was gettin tired anyway and when i start feelin that way its just best to step away and try again tomorrow.

Propane - funny you say that, i do believe the vent in the cap is clogged cuz when i was draining the tank it wouldnt drain unless loose, but i kept it loose after that and its still having issues.

Gt48 i like your thinking, I've always said there's only three things you need fuel air and Spark, well that and compression

I feel like im gonna be removing/cleaning a carb tomorrow...

To me the engine sounds healthy when it runs, but ive never heard one run before today either...
 
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