engine upgrade

[Engineer]

After a bunch of big talk about getting a new mill, and wishful thinking and other horsepucky, I'm now looking into a "simple" engine upgrade for my LT30 Woodmizer.  The mill is 1985 vintage and has the Kohler 14-hp engine on it.   The engine is not in the best shape.  What do I need to look for or figure out in order to upgrade this engine to a new one, something in the 20-24 hp range?  I'd like to do the work myself, but not sure I know enough about the mechanics of replacing an engine to do it right.

I'm also going to work up a battery tray alongside the engine so that I can get rid of the weird narrow battery that came standard on those mills - I want to use an Optima battery off the shelf at the auto parts store.   Almost the entire mill needs to be rewired as well.

[Bibbyman]

Wood-Mizer sells engine upgrade kits and has a page listing them on their web site.

Wood-Mizer replacement engines

I didn't see your model listed but I bet if you get with some of the tech support guys they'll give you some options. 

[Slabs]

Check your shaft diameter and length and hieght of shaft above mounting pads.  Go to Small Engine Warehouse or northern toolhttps://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?action=position"> Note:Please read the Forestry Forum's postion on this company  and see what's available.   New mounting holes are fairly easy to drill and even tap.   A little extra power might be a cheap upgrade.

Throttle linkage adaption might be a small challenge but don't be afraid of it.

[pineywoods]

I went through that  process with an old LT40 manual. Watch the weight on any new engine, anything much heavier than your stock engine will open up a whole can of worms. There are two of us on here that installed a kawasaki liquid cooled v-twin. One replaced an onan, the other a Briggs. It's almost a bolt on replacement. Do a search on kawmizer, there's a lenghty thread by JP Green that inspired me to do the same conversion. Bunch of pics in my gallery.
This is the same engine that's used in Joh Deere and cub cadet tractors. I'm tickled with mine.

[dovetails]

After a bunch of big talk about getting a new mill, and wishful thinking and other horsepucky, I'm now looking into a "simple" engine upgrade for my LT30 Woodmizer.  The mill is 1985 vintage and has the Kohler 14-hp engine on it.   The engine is not in the best shape.  What do I need to look for or figure out in order to upgrade this engine to a new one, something in the 20-24 hp range?  I'd like to do the work myself, but not sure I know enough about the mechanics of replacing an engine to do it right.

I'm also going to work up a battery tray alongside the engine so that I can get rid of the weird narrow battery that came standard on those mills - I want to use an Optima battery off the shelf at the auto parts store.   Almost the entire mill needs to be rewired as well.

On my mill, I took the long skinny battery out, put a small car battery in it's place, works fine! The fender bracket was in the way, by about 1/2", so I just cut it off flush,and rewlded it to the outside of the peice left and now have about 1' clearance.Really couldn't see paying about $150 for the right battery to fit the box! My mill is an 84 lt30,with the 14 hp on it, If you change yours, I might be interested in your old one, for spare parts...  will be going to NH for week of july 4th.how far from Clarmont,nh are you?

[jpgreen]

Ifn' you're a crafty frabricatin' type, that's not afraid to yank wires, do a little weldin' and possilbly cuttin' (but most likely not necessary) here and there it's a pretty easy machine to do an engine swap on.  If you go up in weight, all you have to do is replace the lift chains (2) with the new heavy duty WM chain, and that's really a snap.

Otherwise, a WM kit would be the way to go, but it will cost some more sheckles.

HAs anyone tried a Chevy 350 Mizerswap yet?..  ???   ......... :D

[Engineer]

I have both the owner's manual and service manual for the Kohler engine (K321S) and it says the engine weighs 118 lb. dry weight.   So I should find something close.   I've thought about a small single cylinder diesel (a Hatz or something similar).  I looked carefully at the mill today and it seems that the swap out shouldn't be a big problem.  I just need something that runs reliably and strong.  The Kohler doesn't and it's pretty underpowered anyway.

I'm gonna look up the threads on the Kawasaki swap.  My local JD dealer is a pal and he might have a used engine on a tractor floating around.  The throttle linkage thing looks pretty simple but it's also a fabricate-from-scratch kind of job.  The other issues I have are the gas tank, which is currently mounted on the engine itself right now, but a new engine would likely need a separate tank mounted elsewhere.   I think I can rig something up.   Also the wiring seems to be really basic, since all I'm controlling are the forward/reverse switch, speed control and the up/down gearmotor.   My hourmeter has never functioned since I bought the mill, so I want to put a decent functioning hourmeter on a new engine.

[Bibbyman]

 My hourmeter has never functioned since I bought the mill, so I want to put a decent functioning hourmeter on a new engine.

It'd be nice to get one of those combination hour meter and tachometer.  Our Blockbuster has one on it.  While it's running, it displays the RPMs and when it's just on, it displays the hours.

[jpgreen]

I really need one of those.. 

[sawguy21]

Most of the riding lawnmowers use a vertical shaft engine which will be difficult at best to fit up. There are few horizontal shaft singles over 15 hp available any more, a V twin 18-20 hp would be good. You add too much power you will find the weak link in a hurry.  ;D Honda is probably the best but a Briggs Intek would serve you well and be cheaper.

[pineywoods]

Engineer my kawasaki was a take-off off a cub cadet tractor. (NOT a lawn mower)Traded out for a diesel. It had less than 10 hours on it. Dry weight is about 120 pounds INCLUDING the cooling system-radiator, hoses, fan, etc. Spin-on full flow oil filter. Only change I made to the mill was to drill new mounting bolt holes. The kaw needs an electric fuel pump, I used a 2.5 psi automotive pump from napa. One thing you probably haven't thought about but might want to consider is using a larger diam pulley on the crankshaft. With the same rpm's that speeds up the blade speed.  Made a huge difference on mine. I tried to find a workable diesel, but everything I found was just too heavy.

[Captain]

Jon, if it is Kohler you want, we'll help you any way we can.  Our best pricing is the 15hp and the 27hp that is listed in the online store.

CAPTAIN

[Engineer]

Thanks, Craig, I haven't forgotten about our conversation a couple years back about new engines.

I brought the mill over to my friend who is the John Deere dealer in town, he's been through the engine before and is going to tear it down completely and try to get it running.  Meanwhile I'm going to set some money aside, maybe sell some of my lumber, to get a new engine.  He told me to avoid a liquid cooled engine, although I told him some of you guys have great luck with the Kawasakis.  I don't know, and air-cooled or liquid-cooled doesn't make much difference to me as long as the mill cuts wood.  I have about 3000 bf of fresh pine to mill ASAP and all the rest of my logs can wait.

[sawguy21]

  ??? I think I would prefer liquid cooled. They are quieter and tend to last longer.

[MartyParsons]

Wood-Mizer part # 036616 18 hp Kohler up grade $ 1795. included all parts needed and a drive belt. Check the engine piviot bushings and up grade to aluminum bushings 016380 $ 15.05 each you will need to saw about 1/8 " off the edge to make the fit. Wiring harness is also available. upper  harness A07922 lower harness A07245
Marty

[Swede]

There is a Vanguard 18 HP V-Twin (B&S) on my sawmill. Must be 4-5000 Hrs on it now, never had a problem exept sawdust in the carb once. The rpm is set at 3300 and then makes 16,5hp. or so. Usaly the engine isn´t the weak link. Dull blade is!  ;) Even the last 2 months sawing Spruce Ø12-25".
These logs was felled of the storm we had jan.-05. put in a big pile and sprayed with water to Oct. last year. Perfectly fresh wood but both dry and very wet.

Have changed the plugs once, oil, oil filter and air intake filter every 2-300 hrs. The tank is placed on the engine. Sawing and stacking alone the engine takes just 2L./hr. when speeding up just doing the cut and taking the sawhead "home".

http://www.commercialpower.com/display/router.asp?docid=76230

I´ve been told from the local B&S-dealer that my old (early 90-mod.) maybe does torqe like a new 22-24 HP.-engine.

Swede.

[tomboysawyer]

Wood-Mizer part # 036616 18 hp Kohler up grade $ 1795. included all parts needed and a drive belt. Check the engine piviot bushings and up grade to aluminum bushings 016380 $ 15.05 each you will need to saw about 1/8 " off the edge to make the fit. Wiring harness is also available. upper  harness A07922 lower harness A07245
Marty

18 horsies is pretty good! I know you want more, but that'll be enough to stark breaking blades on your machine, Engineer.

I always figured if we repowered, we'd go diesel.