What are you currently working on??

Since the JD I got was going to be my grass mower now has the engine noise, I had to drag teh little old Crapsman out and get it running. Very hard time spinning over, like compression release wasn't working. New battery, even on booster. Pull spark plug, cylinder full of gas. Blow that out, changed oil, sharpened blades, then mowed grass.

My big project is swapping out a sink in my old house so renters can move in this coming weekend, that took a lot of my weekend.....I hate plumbing.
 
The older I get the less I like doing something others line up for me. Like doing what & when I desire without interruptions. Back on the Polaris Ranger again this morning. Cannot seem to get the pilot setting right. Very hard to get to as it is on the bottom side and just room for fingers between the carb body and the block/head. Don't want to idle and hard starting warm. This things has had a hard life and going to take some doing to get it back to running right. Have an oil leak underneath also and have to pull the rock pan off to see where the leak is at. Noticed a bit of white on the oil dip stick so better pick up a bottle of K-Seal to take care of that problem.
 
Both of the Rangers we have at work broke down last week. One won't fire and the other seems to have fried the starter. They have had a rough life too. I'm not fond of working on them, but get assigned to sometimes.

It was my day off work but still on call for one more night. I had a doctor appointment, and got some groceries in town then got home and did some cleaning on the '55 windows inside and out. I picked up a Rain-x 12" rear window wiper to see if I could use the blade as a refill for the '55. I managed to make it work as the passenger side one was getting bad. That 8 bucks was cheaper than ordering the correct one even though I threw the plastic parts in the garbage! Then I ordered the bearings and seals for the MF 610 cutting deck to rebuild the spindles I got from Esbbent. To my surprise when I looked in the cabinet, I had bought an extra set several years ago when I rebuilt one spindle so I only had to order two sets.

DAC
 
Those Mikuni carbs on the rangers are a real piece of crap as far as I am concerned. Way more complicated than they need to be. I put an aftermarket on but cannot get it adjusted right so it will start consistently. Idles to slow cold and to fast hot. Put and kit in the original and could not get it to start with it on. going to take it apart again try a fine wire through the passages to be sure I don't have one plugged up yet. Hi side is out but I can live with that. Has an oil leak. looks like a gasket where the cylinder and block join. Have to keep an eye on the oil level. May be a major tear down this coming fall.
 
Drug a Wheel Horse Ranger 8 into the shop today to see if I could get it running. Don't think it's going to happen for a few days. Was repowered at some time with a 10hp. Won't know if the crank is good until I get some muriatic acid to clean it up with.
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Struck out on the carb again today. Going back to the after market carb and go from there. Once I get it started I can keep backing the idle down and adjusting the pilot air till I get it right. May end up with burned fingers, lot of french words flying about but one way or another I will whip this thing.

My mahinest called and was ready to cut threads on the new spindle shaft for my metal lathe and wanted the back plate so he could match the thread up good and snug. Got it threaded, put the back plate on and put the dial indicator on it. Outside edge of the 4" back plate he made has .001 variance. Can't get any better than that and he said "I thought it would be a bit closer". ! Cut a key way in the new shaft and hand fit a key into the shaft and the driven gear piece. Just goes together without force and that is all. He may be expensive but he is darn good and particular. The hard steel he made the new spindle from was $32.77 for 1 foot with shipping.
 
The crankshaft on the Kohler 10 hp looked horrible after digesting the rod. Honestly thought about trashing the whole thing. Just for the heck of it decided to try muriatic acid on it and after brushing it on several time and then cleaning it, it looks good and measures out good. Cylinder looks good also. So just ordered a kit for it and will go from there.
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Cvans said:
The crankshaft on the Kohler 10 hp looked horrible after digesting the rod. Honestly thought about trashing the whole thing. Just for the heck of it decided to try muriatic acid on it and after brushing it on several time and then cleaning it, it looks good and measures out good. Cylinder looks good also. So just ordered a kit for it and will go from there.
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That looks like it cleaned up great! About 35 years ago my sign shop boss was just living down the road. He had an old John Deere with some kind of Kohler. He came over and helped me mow as the back yard had gotten out of hand and my little MTD was struggling. The JD just quit running suddenly and acted like no compression. We pulled it to his house and tore the engine down. It still was full of oil but the rod had a nice clean break in it. Then we noticed that cheesy little dipper casted on to the lower rod cap was gone. We determined that it probably had broken off due to age and vibration, then the rod starved of oil. When I got my MF8E the Kohler looked identical. It was popped when I got it around 30 years ago. If I would have known the engine was easily rebuildable I would have but I had an 8 horse briggs on a shelf that went in instead. I decided I didn't like oil dippers that were cast right into the rod cap though!

EDIT---Are you getting any of this white crap out there Chris?

DAC
 
MFDAC said:
EDIT---Are you getting any of this white crap out there Chris?
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The roads going 3 directions from here are under water but I'm setting good. I imagine things on Lake Poinsett are a different story. Haven't been over there but there was an article in the paper saying houses and cabins are still in water. People wearing waders, standing on the hi-way fishing.
 
Finally had some success today. Put the aftermarket carb back on the Polaris Ranger this morning. Had a plan in mind on how I was going to attack this to get the carb adjusted for idle & idle+running. I had to make a real stubby small blade screwdriver to start with. took a pocket screwdriver and cut the blade off about an inch long. Then cut about 1/2" off the top of the handle, drill an under size hole in the end. Cut a notch in the round end of the blade with a cold chisel to give it some grip. Put the two pieces in a vise and forced the blade into the handle. Ended up with a screwdriver about 1-1/4" long. Slide a piece of plastic tubing over the blade and trimmed the wide sides down to center the blade up in the port of the pilot screw. Put the carb on, hooked it all up and started it up. Fired right off and kept it running while reaching under the carb with one finger on each hand and adjusted the idle screw up. Several start, stop, adjust pilot, lower idle speed, repeat sequences and finally got it set to where it would idle slow enough and smooth enough to stay running and still shift into gear. This has a clutch/belt set up very similar to what the snowmobiles have/had. Very rewarding to finally get that thing running decent.

Picked up the new custom built metal lathe spindle for my metal lathe. Due to wear in mating parts went with an oversize straight key rather than a woodruff key. Had to shorten the key a bit to get it in place in tight space. The the adjustable bearing had oil on the outside and and wanted to turn in the casting of the lathe. Had to take it all apart, clean up the bearing and casting and put it all back together again. Finally got it back together and running nice and smooth with about .001" or run out.
 
Cvans said:
The roads going 3 directions from here are under water but I'm setting good. I imagine things on Lake Poinsett are a different story. Haven't been over there but there was an article in the paper saying houses and cabins are still in water. People wearing waders, standing on the hi-way fishing.
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Man, the water is outa control it sounds like! Glad it's not affecting you badly. The only time I was ever around Lake Poinsett was the spring of 1978. It was quite the opposite back then. My future wife was going to Lake Area Vo-Tec in Watertown. I went up to visit her and nearing the lake there was a horrible stink! The lake was very low, froze solid and had winter killed all the fish. I came through after the thaw. It was a brutal winter too. The entire surface and the banks seemed to be nothing but dead fish. Thankfully it recovered!

Took apart and cleaned off the two deck spindles I got from Esbbent. Someone had installed grease zirks, so that saved me a bit of work I planned on doing. I'm going to drill and tap a relief port opposite the zirks to hopefully relieve pressure and pump out old grease too. Don't want to blow those little seals out trying to grease them. I'll take them to work and clean the housings up in the bead blaster at lunch or break tomorrow.

DAC
 
chieffan said:
Finally had some success today. Put the aftermarket carb back on the Polaris Ranger this morning. Had a plan in mind on how I was going to attack this to get the carb adjusted for idle & idle+running. I had to make a real stubby small blade screwdriver to start with. took a pocket screwdriver and cut the blade off about an inch long. Then cut about 1/2" off the top of the handle, drill an under size hole in the end. Cut a notch in the round end of the blade with a cold chisel to give it some grip. Put the two pieces in a vise and forced the blade into the handle. Ended up with a screwdriver about 1-1/4" long. Slide a piece of plastic tubing over the blade and trimmed the wide sides down to center the blade up in the port of the pilot screw. Put the carb on, hooked it all up and started it up. Fired right off and kept it running while reaching under the carb with one finger on each hand and adjusted the idle screw up. Several start, stop, adjust pilot, lower idle speed, repeat sequences and finally got it set to where it would idle slow enough and smooth enough to stay running and still shift into gear. This has a clutch/belt set up very similar to what the snowmobiles have/had. Very rewarding to finally get that thing running decent.

Picked up the new custom built metal lathe spindle for my metal lathe. Due to wear in mating parts went with an oversize straight key rather than a woodruff key. Had to shorten the key a bit to get it in place in tight space. The the adjustable bearing had oil on the outside and and wanted to turn in the casting of the lathe. Had to take it all apart, clean up the bearing and casting and put it all back together again. Finally got it back together and running nice and smooth with about .001" or run out.
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Here is the tool you needed

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