Lawn tractor motor swap discoveries

[joekd]

I picked up a replacement 12.5 Briggs for my tractor, came off a model very close to mine and even included the pulleys so I didn't have to swap mine over

The new motor top plate was missing the piece holding the oil dipstick so I just swapped top plates off my old engine

Hooked up the fuel line and linkage, motor fired on the first try. Blew out some white/grey smoke for about 20 seconds then ran nice and strong. Shut it off and noticed some gas coming back out of the carb. The one on my old motor is recently rebuilt so I figured I would just swap them over.

As I was removing the carb from my old motor I found another problem on top of the cracked block. The intake manifold was cracked all the way through and barely held in place by the top bolt only.

Also the plastic fuel line connector cracked (was brittle from age) so that cost me a whole $4 to replace.

Tractor looks worlds better also since I hit it with the degreaser hose while the motor was out and cleared up years of gunk built up in there.

Under $100 total invested (including new oil, fuel filter, degreaser and the cracked fuel fitting) and the tractor is back in the game!

 

[The Restore Kid]

Hell yeah.. I put a Carter adjustable carb from a old iron Kohler on my newer 12.5 when I went through my Simplicity last winter.. I love the tractor, and it's on it's third motor :doah: but I hate the non adjustable new junk ass carbs, and didn't want to have to rig the older carb on it with the stupid zero millimeter idle fuel screw and all of it's Briggs brilliance.. :laugh:

So I rigged it up with a Carter and was outa there...

 

[joekd]

Yeah the OEM carb has pretty much zero adjustment but I suppose it gets the job done since the motor always runs at either idle or wide open and never anything in between

Feels good to have it running again in time to mow up some leaves, now I am going to start stripping the old motor of anything worth saving for spare parts then get rid of the rest

As many times as I have looked at new mowers (and nearly fainted at the prices) I have to admit this one is still doing good for a 15+ year old mower

 

[joekd]

Finished it up today with new belts and added an inline fuel shut off valve as well

Also cleaned a few pounds of packed dirt/grass from on top of the rear axle area that I never noticed until I had it up in the air. Shop vac and a straight screwdriver made for easy cleanup.