Kohler 10HP rebuild?

[Patrick Klise]

I've got a 1972 Ford LGT100 that uses the Kohler
K241AS engine. It's been a wonderful rugged workhorse around the place. Getting a bit tired and smoking a little. Can someone give me a rough estimate on rebuilding this engine? Know there were tons of them made.Also if they can recommend someone in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. Thank so much

 

[Rickmn]

Having it done? You may be better off checking small engine warehouse and see if you can find a complete engine or a short block. Doing it yourself will vary on what is done. Last Kohler I did ran about $300 without labor for parts and machine work. That included new piston, rings, gaskets rod boring the block, turning the crank and having the valves ground. I did the tear down and rebuild. Most shops charge at least $45 and hour out here in west Mn, bet it's higher in the TC area.

 

[gab]

Last one I did probably five years ago went close to $350 to 400 parts and machine shop. I took it apart and reassembled it.

 

[JT]

A Kohler engine out of the tractor will be about a 5 hour labor project for a skilled technician..at my shop labor rate is $350.00, then an OEM piston will be about 150.00, rod about 60.00, gaskets, about 50.00, machine work will cost you about 100.00 around here. You can get aftermarket kits for about 150.00, that will have piston, rod, rings, gaskets, valves, seals, etc., off ebay last I checked. I have used Stens pistons a lot with really good luck.
jim

 

[Patrick Klise]

Thanks to you all for your comments. They are
very helpful. Pat Klise Long Lake MN

 

[Don B.]

I just did a Kohler M8 (samd as K 181 except no points/condenser) and by the time I did the machine shop thing, new piston, rod, gov gear, gaskets and seals exh valve, etc I was in the $375-400 range with doing all the disassembly and reassemblt plus the grinding, seating and setting clearance on the valves myself. (no labor charge there, doing as much as possible myself!) But not having a lathe to grind the crank or a borinbg bar to redo the cyl I did have over $100 in machine shop labor.
But considering that even an M8 is a $1k engine new, I thought it was worth doing.

 

[Anonymous-0]

I had about $400 in parts in a K241A I put in a Deere 112 3 years ago.

That did include sending the crank to a shop that straightened it and ground it .010 under. It looked like a new crank was available, but over $300.

 

[JT]

That sounds pretty close to what you will spend wiht OEM Kohler parts.

 

[dhermesc]

I wouldn't bother with Kohler parts unless you are a real stickler. A good rebuild kit is about $76 unless you need the valves - then it goes up to $112. I bought the rebuild kits for my K301 and K321 from this guy:

http://stores.shop.ebay.com/The-Mans-One-Stop-Shop__W0QQ_armrsZ1


My Cub Cadet 1450 had well over 900 hours on it and was burning quite a bit of oil since the K321 was overhauled I've put about 100 hours it and no problems. I got the kit with the new piston, rings, rod and gasket kit, and added a new governor gear just because it was all apart. I had the machine shop grind the valves, polish the crank and hone the cylinder (about $35). I had my shop guy "short block" it for $70 and I put it the rest of the way togather - a little over $240 when I was done. Runs great. My shop guy was skeptical about the nonKohler name brand parts but after assembling it he thought there was a good chance they were the same parts just differant boxes.

He's watching my progress with interest since several people want their old Cubs,JDs and Wheel Horses overhauled but the high cost of the rebuild kits puts them off.

The K301 is awaiting assembly, the machine shop turned the crank .010 under, the cylinder .010 over and ground the valves - total bill was $65. The rebuild kit was only $78 (plus freight) and it removes the temptation of reusing old parts (like pistons) that may or may not be in decent shape.

I would recommend replacing the governor gear simply because its so hard to judge if they are good or bad and the entire engine has to be torn down to get to if it goes bad.