BCsawyer and I have an old miller welder/generator with a 12hp Kohler engine in need of a rebuild. Unk was using it years ago and said it started knocking pretty bad so they shut it off before a the rod broke. I can get a rebuild kit ( gaskets, piston, rings, rod etc) on ebay for about $120. I can get a honda gx390 for $300. I am leaning to the honda since we already have a honda that we are very happy with and it will be much lighter than the cast Kohler. How bad is it to rebuild one of these? It has been sitting for a long time.

10/15/2008 9:12:47 PM

i rebuilt a single cylinder kohler for an 70s model john deere lawnmower. i can't remember what the HP rating was. probably a totally different animal, but it was simple fwiw.



[Edited on October 15, 2008 at 9:26 PM. Reason : i'd probably get the honda]

10/15/2008 9:26:20 PM

Man, I'm having a hard time believing y'all (or rather yer uncle) killed a Kohler. They're one of the best small engines ever built. Though my granddad burned a valve in one once. Only thing I know tougher is an old Wisconsin, but even then, they were babbitt pounders, and if you ran one low on oil, the rods would go south.

10/15/2008 9:50:44 PM

those wisconsin 2-strokes they put on old robin weedeaters are tough too

10/15/2008 9:53:41 PM

its old as hell, dont even have a recoil starter, and I think there is a coil on the outside of it.

10/15/2008 10:18:26 PM

Betcha money it's a Fairbanks Morse impulse-coupled magneto!

10/15/2008 11:05:53 PM

Quote :

"and if you ran one low on oil, the rods would go south. "

That pretty much goes for all motors. ASK ME HOW I KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

10/18/2008 11:03:40 PM

yeah for real

10/18/2008 11:08:38 PM

if the rod broke, you need to have the crank checked.....the rod probably fucked it pretty good when it broke

10/19/2008 12:31:50 AM

Quote :

"they shut it off before a the rod broke"

10/19/2008 12:59:17 AM

Quote :

" That pretty much goes for all motors. ASK ME HOW I KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "

Nigger, they had poured babbitt rod bearings. You melt the babbitt, you replace the rods.

Of course, in any motor, you spin the bearings, you either have the rods resized and honed or you replace the rods.

On most Briggs engines (or most aircooled small engines), you replace the rods in general because they are fucking aluminum with no bearing insert.

But them rods with poured babbitt are a hot commodity and none too cheap.

10/19/2008 3:48:52 AM

I got laid off on friday so I will have time to work on this thing now. Apparently it was running and welding great and just started knocking like a bed in a whore house. My plan of attack is to clean out the carburetor and get it running if only for a brief moment before we tear into it so we wont have to run through the entire "why wont this damn thing run" list after reassembly. On a brighter note I have a ton of shit like this that needs doing back home, and I have time now.How does that song go? So hard for a soil scientist out here.

10/19/2008 8:08:24 AM

I have a good running Brigs 12.5 I would sell if you dont need a horizontial shaft.

10/19/2008 11:35:27 AM

I thought about a vertical shaft but cant find a decent 90deg gear box cheaper than fixing this engine. thanks though.

10/19/2008 7:11:46 PM

did they even have oil in that kohler!? cause thats the only way we killed ours. We had a 10hp kohler on a cub cadet from 1963, never rebuilt, just carb tuning and thats it. And my dad forgot to check hte oil before he started it up the first time in the spring.

http://www.midwestsupercub.net/
this site should have any parts you need to rebuild that kohler and make sure it doesnt blow again.

10/20/2008 1:39:45 AM