New to site, LX188??
- Thread starter Grunt0311
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mrmagloo
New member
OP
Grunt0311
Bronze Member
Any ideas on the valve adjusting?
mrmagloo
New member
I never had a need to look into this. My engine always ran like a top. I can't help you there.
OP
Grunt0311
Bronze Member
Great write up. About how long did it take you to complete this rebuild? Thanks for all the information!
mrmagloo
New member
As you probably noticed, I ran into a couple of hiccups with the rebuild. Firstly, there is no manual specific to the K61 so I spent alot of time documenting the differences and comparing schematics. Also, as mentioned in the article, one of the motor cylinders I received had minor pitting on the machined surface and I had to get that replaced. I also chose not to try and reuse the shaft bearings, so those had to be ordered separately too. Lastly, the axle bolts were back ordered for a while so all of this set me back.
That said, there was alot of idle time, but I already had my new x540 so I wasn't in a hurry. If I had to do it again after this experience, I would know exactly what to order, and that would save considerable time. I would say with everything in hand, and the deck off and ready to go, I could do the entire job in a day pretty easily. A lot of that time includes tearing down the tractor to get to the trans, removing it, cleaning the trans, scraping all of the old sealer off the halves, and afterwards waiting for the sealer to cure, and bleeding the system. The actual time to swap the parts once the trans is clean and on the bench is not very long at all.
I will however warn you to take your time, make sure you are meticulous with the cleanliness of your work area, and be very careful during disassembly. Lay all of the components out on a table with newspaper in the order removed. If you flip around anything by mistake, it could be a very expensive learning experience. I will say that if you are the least bit handy and are detail orientated, it's not a bad job at all, but you just have to do the job right to get the value out of your investment.
I hope this helps. If you have anymore questions specific to this job, it would be better to respond on that thread, as I don't monitor this site very closely.
OP
Grunt0311
Bronze Member
Well I went and looked at the mower today, and was going to test drive it. Armed with my research and the things members on here informed me of, I was ready to ask informed questions. I wanted to post back with a follow up, and too often people ask questions, and you never hear how things turned out.
It turns out the dealer had taken this mower in on a trade in. It was very clean. They had done the usual stuff such as oil change, but had also replaced the valve cover gaskets and PTO clutch. Knowing this did make me feel better as I feel that they really did try to repair things to put it in top running condition, not just to polish the turd so to speak to get it back out the door. Upon them test driving it after the PTO clutch repair, the transmission went out in it. Soooo, no LX188 for me. I suppose I could offer them what a parts only mower is going for, and then rebuild the transmission as mrmagloo did, but I am not ready yet to undertake that.
Some good info did come out of it for me. First, for once in my life I had some good luck. Usually on something like this I would have gotten it home and a week later it would have gone out. Secondly, like I said it made me feel a lot better about buying from this dealer. I am confident that they do go through their trade-ins and make them as close to functioning 100% as they can before they sell them. Just by the fact that they do that, instead of listing everything as "As Is" to get it back out the door, tells me that they do care about their reputation, and their customers.
The salesman did not try to push another mower on me instead, as I expected him to do. What he did do was take down my info, and what I was looking for, and promised that he would keep an eye out and call me if they had something come in that he thought I would be interested in. He also went as far as to say that if I found what I thought was a good deal on Craigslist or something, I could call him and run it by him and he would tell me what his opinion was on if he thought it was a good deal, someone trying to off load a problem mower, etc.
Bottom line, this dealer yet again impressed me. And in turn hopefully will earn my business if something comes in. Thanks to all for posting their opinions. If I find something else, I may just bend your ears again.
Bill
It turns out the dealer had taken this mower in on a trade in. It was very clean. They had done the usual stuff such as oil change, but had also replaced the valve cover gaskets and PTO clutch. Knowing this did make me feel better as I feel that they really did try to repair things to put it in top running condition, not just to polish the turd so to speak to get it back out the door. Upon them test driving it after the PTO clutch repair, the transmission went out in it. Soooo, no LX188 for me. I suppose I could offer them what a parts only mower is going for, and then rebuild the transmission as mrmagloo did, but I am not ready yet to undertake that.
Some good info did come out of it for me. First, for once in my life I had some good luck. Usually on something like this I would have gotten it home and a week later it would have gone out. Secondly, like I said it made me feel a lot better about buying from this dealer. I am confident that they do go through their trade-ins and make them as close to functioning 100% as they can before they sell them. Just by the fact that they do that, instead of listing everything as "As Is" to get it back out the door, tells me that they do care about their reputation, and their customers.
The salesman did not try to push another mower on me instead, as I expected him to do. What he did do was take down my info, and what I was looking for, and promised that he would keep an eye out and call me if they had something come in that he thought I would be interested in. He also went as far as to say that if I found what I thought was a good deal on Craigslist or something, I could call him and run it by him and he would tell me what his opinion was on if he thought it was a good deal, someone trying to off load a problem mower, etc.
Bottom line, this dealer yet again impressed me. And in turn hopefully will earn my business if something comes in. Thanks to all for posting their opinions. If I find something else, I may just bend your ears again.
Bill