Engine ideas

[gravelymay]

Hi folks. I'm a newcomer around here. After reading this thread last week I ordered a 13HP Blue Max (Chinese clone) from Tulsa Engine Warehouse for $US 250 which included shipping. The engine just showed up tonight. I plan on putting it on my 1973 Superconvertible, which is of course a model L at heart. I wont be able to work on it until Spring but I'm trying to decide the approach I'm going to take. I've already PM'd Oldmech who filled me in on some details of his method. There are many great ideas for making adapters on this site. For now, I'm wondering if anyone has a dimensional drawing of the tranny gasket which shows the bolt pattern and the distance between the bolts. Also, if someone has such a drawing, where is the location of the drive pinion shaft relative to the bolts? If someone knows this and could post it, I'm sure many would be interested. Also, does anyone happen to know the overall length of the drive pinion bushing? The bushing i.d. is nominally 1" - does anyone know the nominal o.d.? Sorry for all the questions. I'm just just trying to gather some information so I can plan out what I want to do.

Thanks.

Rich

I though it would be neat to look back a year :thumbsup::thumbsup:

It only took me a year to get your info.

Bruce g

 

[oldmech]

Hi! GravelyMay I think you have make a nice Job. You must have work a lot. I appreciate. I think your prices are right.
I have four Two-wheels tractors .A BCS 735 diesel a Grillo 107d and two Gravely L model (50-51) with reduction gears (The best for me) One with 10hp diesel and one other with 5HP Gravely engine. 5hp engines have bads camshafts. Turn slow 1450 rpm. take a lot of gas. have bad cooling system (I overhaul three engines and all heads was warps ) have bad starter system. The 6.3hp is a lot better. I do not recommend to repair a 5hp Good just for showroom. L8 LS and L model with reduction gears are very suitable for a new engine.
You know Gravely have the best transmission you can find. True shuttle. no stop for reverse or gears change and live PTO. You cannot find these things on BCS or Grillo.
I buy BCS and Grillo for gardening because with Gravely track are not ajustable, handles cannot go on side. and front tiller is not the best idea.
But for Mower and snowblower Gravely are the best you can find. So I plan fit a Honda engine ( may next summer) on my other Gravely 5hp.
Is the kohler adapter plate availlable from Gravely dealer ? The part number?
Thank you and good luck ! Oldmech

 

[gravelymay]

Thanks Old Mech
I want to take some time and think a lot of people that kept pushing me on.
Also js5020 for his ideas and thread.
Plus I used Ideas from ever one Think you guys. :thumbsup:
We have talked for about 3 years now.
BTW I got the Kohler adapters off ebay
I got one the other day for 10.00 plus 11.40 shipping
so in that one i only have 22.40.
The gear and the pilot bushing will run about 170.00
The spacer could use about any method you want.
There are only two adapters Kohler used
One for the 8 hp and a different
One for C10, C10A, 500,5000 and later models
This is the one you want.

 

[Oneaxepony]

Went out to Home Depot .com today. They now have a 15 HP Lifan engine for $249 with free shipping. I thought I did well a year ago when I got a 13 HP clone from Tulsa Engine Warehouse for the same price. It just keeps getting better.

 

[db556]

I wonder how many horse power is too many horse power for a gravely?
I'm wondering because I'm picking up what is probably a L8 tomorrow :thumbsup: and I have a kohler command 25hp V twin sitting on my bench at work..... I wonder.....:licking:

 

[William D Sharp]

Went out to Home Depot .com today. They now have a 15 HP Lifan engine for $249 with free shipping. I thought I did well a year ago when I got a 13 HP clone from Tulsa Engine Warehouse for the same price. It just keeps getting better.

Just out of curiosity, would this engine, with its shaft length of 3 31/64", work with Gravelymay's (bruceg's) adapters described in post 295, which, I think, call for a shafts of 3 3/4"? I couldn't find an engine anywhere with a shaft that long, so I presume I'm misreading something. I'd love to know because I got an L that's just begging for repowering.

Aside: I have a 8 hp Home Depot Lifan with a 6:1 gear reducer attached to a criminally dangerous but effective screw-type log splitter (Nortech). To make room for the base of engine the I had to build a offensively weird wooden outrigger deck, but the shaft of the stock engine lines up perfectly with the sprocket of the splitter and everything works fine, which may be a bad thing, given the overall design of the splitter. What a smooth engine! If I'm not mistaken, it came with a three-year warranty, too.

 

[gravelymay]

The crank has to be 1 inch Dia.
The length can be set by using the right adapter spacer.
The first pic is parts to repower
Second one is a old picture to see lay out
third is the new gear I had made to replace the Input gear from the old gravely engine and the Kohler C10 models
The 4 th picture is a adapter plate on a C10 transmission
What I am doing is redrilling a Kohler plate to fit the old C8 and the model L transmission
Then we can add the spacer plate

 

[gravelymay]

I wonder how many horse power is too many horse power for a gravely?
I'm wondering because I'm picking up what is probably a L8 tomorrow :thumbsup: and I have a kohler command 25hp V twin sitting on my bench at work..... I wonder.....:licking:

Does it have a 1 inch crank?
I believe the old Gravely planetary will take more abuse then the 2 speed
or double gear will.
Because the small gears that work with them.
But you have to get the power to it

 

[Oneaxepony]

I wonder how many horse power is too many horse power for a gravely?
I'm wondering because I'm picking up what is probably a L8 tomorrow :thumbsup: and I have a kohler command 25hp V twin sitting on my bench at work..... I wonder.....:licking:

Dont know about too much horsepower - but more HP usually corresponds to more weight. Since the two wheeled tractors are basically teeter-totters, a very heavy engine will cause the tractor to tip backwards. Some who have repowered had to put counter-weights on the front (such as on a mower deck) to maintain balance. There is nothing really wrong with this, other than it may not look that great.

One more thought on this. Consider two horizontal shaft engines sitting next to each other on the ground. The crankshaft of the higher HP engine will be higher off the ground in most cases. When you mount these on a Gravely the higher HP engine will be closer to the ground because the cranks have to be at the same relative height to fit in the tranny. If engine ground clearance is important, larger HP could cause problems. Just something to think about.

 

[db556]

Well I got the gravely, a 30" mower, rotary plow, rototiller, harrow, and a mini 24" snow plow for the grand total of free :thumbsup:.
All the bits look rough needs some paint, new tires, the gas tank patched, and the axle hi-lo shifter fixed. But even after sitting at least a couple of years in the weather in a low spot under a pine tree it started up! (it took a while, good thing its electric start! I would have hated pulling that strap so many times)

So I guess I'll keep it with the old gravely engine for the time being Still not sure that Hp it is.
Anyway the Kohler command 25 has a 1.25" tapered shaft (its from a generator) but I pressed the shaft out of the generators rotor. So I can turn it down at work to any size.

When I'm doing the swap I'll use a love-joy coupler and cut down and key the old gravely crank and use the old crank case for the spacer. If it gets too heavy (the 25hp kohler weighs 94lbs) I'll mount up some weights. Right now its to find a carb for the kohler it currently has a natural gas carb on it.