Salvaging junked out LT's
- Thread starter MFDAC
- Start date
Yep, that's how my mtd yard machines is, mine will go down the road in the spring(I bought it to resell)
I have several Deere LTs here including 2 with the Kawasakis still in them.
We have been trying to sell them without much luck.
I do have a 2003 Craftman Excellerator GT with 26 hp Kohler Courage V twin and foot controlled hydro and 54 inch deck.
Its been in the family since new..
It runs and drives nice BUT... the frame is broke into on both sides right in front of the transaxle.
I'm debating on what to do with that one.
it run
We have been trying to sell them without much luck.
I do have a 2003 Craftman Excellerator GT with 26 hp Kohler Courage V twin and foot controlled hydro and 54 inch deck.
Its been in the family since new..
It runs and drives nice BUT... the frame is broke into on both sides right in front of the transaxle.
I'm debating on what to do with that one.
it run
Attachments
I'd take it apart far as needed, Jim, and weld it back up! Nothing to lose but time really! I'm not trying to flip them or anything, just trying to set up an LT for my wife to use as I think the MF12G would be too hard on her. I'll scrap what is too far gone. Probably is anyway but I have more time than money.
DAC
DAC
Got a little more done. May try to fire it up tomorrow. I did order a crankcase vent PCV, whatever you call it tube today as this one is cracked up pretty bad. Still will be ok to try to start it.
Got out the old Dremel and ported out that elbow and the choke butterfly doesn't scrape any more.
Ran the fuel line but not sure I'm going to like it yet.
I'm just going to cut back and cap off the headlight harness. It's too crappy of a setup to mess with and we don't do any of this stuff at night anyhow. Lense is bad too, light wouldn't come through it well!
DAC
Got out the old Dremel and ported out that elbow and the choke butterfly doesn't scrape any more.
Ran the fuel line but not sure I'm going to like it yet.
I'm just going to cut back and cap off the headlight harness. It's too crappy of a setup to mess with and we don't do any of this stuff at night anyhow. Lense is bad too, light wouldn't come through it well!
DAC
Had it running on gas from the fuel tank this afternoon for a couple minutes. Didn't want to run it very long with the blower housing off. No smoke but heard a "scraping" sound. I better look under it and see if the crank pulley is rubbing on something. Will change the oil too.
DAC
DAC
Today I put the blower housing on to warm up the engine to drain the oil, and adjust the carb. It started fine but the governor is "hunting". Adjusting the mixture screw got it idling nicely but rev it up and it starts hunting again. Possible vacuum leak as it gets a bit better when I partially block air intake. Carb cleaner didn't detect anything yet. I think what I thought was a scraping sound is a bad muffler. The noise went away at idle when I got the hunting to stop, but is still there when the rpms fluctuate at high speed. Noise sounds like it's coming from the muffler. It's pretty loud muffler-wise. Louder than I think a newer LT like this should be. My MF12G is silent compared to this thing!
Now I'm thinking about adding an oil drain pipe, but I would have to modify the drag link pitman arm on the RF spindle. At least it's steel so if I want to notch and bend it up, no problem welding it back up. I think the geometry of the drag link would actually be better as it would swing in a flat plane and not an arc like it does factory. BUT I could just eliminate the work and use the 12 volt oil pump that I use on the Honda clone in the MF12G! Probably will just go the easy route! I did build a drain tube like the manual Kenny sent me shows but it still makes a dang mess draining the oil. I drug a magnet around in the oil and didn't pick up a single flake of metal.
Sorry about the cell phone pics but the batteries in my camera died and we are out of AA size!
Put oil back in tomorrow and then start checking out the cutting deck and work on that high speed lope.
Deck don't look too bad by eyeball. Right spindle is tight but feels like it's grinding dirt when I turn it by hand. Left one feels fine. Neither were stuck or wobble. Can't tell much about the blades yet.
DAC
Now I'm thinking about adding an oil drain pipe, but I would have to modify the drag link pitman arm on the RF spindle. At least it's steel so if I want to notch and bend it up, no problem welding it back up. I think the geometry of the drag link would actually be better as it would swing in a flat plane and not an arc like it does factory. BUT I could just eliminate the work and use the 12 volt oil pump that I use on the Honda clone in the MF12G! Probably will just go the easy route! I did build a drain tube like the manual Kenny sent me shows but it still makes a dang mess draining the oil. I drug a magnet around in the oil and didn't pick up a single flake of metal.
Sorry about the cell phone pics but the batteries in my camera died and we are out of AA size!
Put oil back in tomorrow and then start checking out the cutting deck and work on that high speed lope.
Deck don't look too bad by eyeball. Right spindle is tight but feels like it's grinding dirt when I turn it by hand. Left one feels fine. Neither were stuck or wobble. Can't tell much about the blades yet.
DAC
Just have a short hyd hose made up for the oil drain. The hunting could be caused by the lack of a spring that hooks up to the carb throttle arm and runs parallel to the gov link to connect with the gov arm. It's to eliminate any slack in the linkage which will cause the hunting.
Try one of these, just add a piece of hose when changing oil.
Hey Noel my issue with that is I would have to loosen the engine mount bolts quite a ways to get the swing to tighten the elbow up. I'm going to use my 12 volt oil pump for now. It works great on the MF12G. This engine holds 40 oz of oil so I know how much should come out. When I use it on the Honda clone engine it pulls just a hair less that one quart and that's what I put in.
Thanks for the comment! The spring is there but a bit loose. I thought tightening it up helped as it ran smoother when I started it this afternoon. Once it warmed up the hunting started again. I will get into what went on after starting it again in the next post!
Thanks for that link, Adam! I think I'll order a couple of them! Probably put one on that MF8E and maybe this thing if I ever need to lift the engine!Try one of these, just add a piece of hose when changing oil.
DAC
Put oil in it and tinkered a little on that governor hunting issue, taking the slack out of that spring Ol' Stonebreaker mentioned. Fired it up. It was running pretty good and idling decent Started hunting again after it got hot but still seemed like it was pretty strong. Looked out the shop door window and thought heck I'm just going to see if it drives. Pulled open the overhead door and took off! The hunting governor was almost non existent under load driving it. Went through the gears and the darn thing worked in all gears and reverse without having to push that reverse lock out button. Then I really decided to put the cart before the horse. I engaged the pto. Mower deck started spinning as it should! Of course I had to push it further and decided to mow around the septic tank and drain field! It actually didn't do too bad, but I think the blades need a lot of help, maybe even replacement. With the pto engaged there was no rpm fluctuation at all. There was a "pop" through the carb a couple times.
There is a little smoke and oil spray coming out towards the front under the cylinder and head. I backed it into the shop and when I shut it off it made compression sound as it shut off. I'm leaning towards a weak head gasket as some of the issue with the hunting and that compression sounding noise. Anyone have any ideas?
It was actually pretty easy to drive, very quick and tight radius steering, and shifts solid and firm "on the go". Little too fast to use 5th and 6th probably!
Guess just as well keep hammering away at it then since it looks like things are going to work!
DAC
There is a little smoke and oil spray coming out towards the front under the cylinder and head. I backed it into the shop and when I shut it off it made compression sound as it shut off. I'm leaning towards a weak head gasket as some of the issue with the hunting and that compression sounding noise. Anyone have any ideas?
It was actually pretty easy to drive, very quick and tight radius steering, and shifts solid and firm "on the go". Little too fast to use 5th and 6th probably!
Guess just as well keep hammering away at it then since it looks like things are going to work!
DAC
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Seems like you picked a winner!
I just thought the odds of the newest one running would be the easiest and cheapest route! Thanks, Aaron! I'm not giving up completely on the JD, just doing the easiest first. My wife actually likes the JD best and was a little bummed when I told her I was focusing on this one first!
DAC
Thanks, John! Not done spending yet but it should be a pretty cheap mower when ready to go!
It's not from the valve cover though, Noel. It's deeper behind the housing shield underneath. I didn't check the clearance when I had the valve cover off but it looked like new in there. That compression noise is still leading me to think the head gasket is weak, and could also spray a little oil out the blown spot, especially since it;'s on the bottom side. Will have to do those valve adjustments anyway if I pull the head.
DAC
It does have a blown head gasket. I don't think the block or head is damaged. I ordered a gasket kit. It was a bit of work to find part numbers so I hope the order is correct. Couldn't find part numbers in the manual Kenny sent and using the numbers on the valve cover wasn't much help.
DAC
DAC