Loose valve Seat

[mscher]

I have a John Deere lawn tractor with the 18HP Onan opposed twin.

Started to miss on 1 cylinder badly, but spark was good.

Pulled the head an noticed the intake valve seat was loose, and had previously be repaired by peening in, which lasted all of last sumer. Needing to use the tractor, I repeened it in and it has held until yesterday.

Is there any better way to hold the seat until I can get a valve job this winter? iheard that lock-tite sleeve lock works.

Thanks

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Loose valve Seat

Clean clean clean......

Clean and prime

then the loctite...... might hold

With all that work why not just do the job the right way instead of a temporary fix.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Loose valve Seat

Ayuh,.........
Let the lawn grow for a week,.....
While a Machinist does a Proper Repair............

 

[mscher]

Re: Loose valve Seat

I guess I'm too busy (or too lazy) at the moment, and the head only takes about 2 minutes to remove.

Since the seat has already been peened in, the next larger seat cannot be easily installed. The peened area will have to be cut out and a much larger seat custom made.

I'll get an estimate for a repair. If it is high, I may just sell the engine to a JD 318 collector and replace it with a new Honda, since it has over 1000 hours.

Thanks for the input

 

[Mike722]

Re: Loose valve Seat

I have had a few customers repower their 318 with the air cooled honda with mixed results. Some of them are having over heating issues.

 

[mscher]

Re: Loose valve Seat

I have had a few customers repower their 318 with the air cooled honda with mixed results. Some of them are having over heating issues.

I've read that too and noticed that one company that sells the Honda kit, recommends leaving the tractor's engine side covers off. Not a warm (no pun intended) fuzzy there, for an engine that costs as much as the tractor, to overheat.

If there is not enough air flow to cool the engine, then there is concern on how much negative effect will also be on the hydrostatic cooling radiator, which counted on the Onan to draw air.

Starting to reconsider the valve re-seat, provided the block will fit in the machining setup.


Thanks for the input.