Dialing in the LT-40HD

[Okrafarmer]

Here is another picture. I took this one just before the "incident" occurred. Anyone know what species of log it is? The loader, clamp, and turner worked really well, btw.


 

[beenthere]

Okra
Did you have some Blue Creeper to put on that spark plug? May help to get the remaining part moving and out. Good luck.

[Okrafarmer]

Okra
Did you have some Blue Creeper to put on that spark plug? May help to get the remaining part moving and out. Good luck.

This is the first I've heard of this product. Must be good?

[Ga Mtn Man]

Okra,

Go to the LOGRITE website and look on the right side.

[WDH]

Water oak.

[Okrafarmer]

Water oak.

It's not such a good picture, I'll admit. You can't tell very easily. Water Oak it is not. In fact, oak it is not. That much I'm quite certain of. The person I got it from told me it was one thing, but then later I noticed something about it that suggested quite strongly that it was something else. However I figured I'd know for sure once I got it opened up. The jury is still out. I bought the logs back around January and anchor-sealed the ends. This one and the other one to match have been sitting around all that time. This one is about 20" on the small end, which is facing the picture. It is 9' long. I guess I could saw a cross-tie out of the middle, if I were so inclined. Maybe that's why they cut it that length, I'm not sure.

[WDH]

Then post a better picture  ;D.

[Okrafarmer]

I took the picture as a "look what's happening" shot, not a "tell me the species" shot. I fully expected when I took the picture that I would have a bunch of boards to look at by now, and could tell from the inside of the log what I was looking at.  :-\

[Buck]

That mill looks good!

[Meadows Miller]

Gday

Good to see your home and dialing it in Mate  ;) ;D ;D 8) 8) with the issues they will seem small once you get it back upto scratch  ;) Might be a neadle and seat also new set of leads and It might even pay to pull the tank clean it out new lines and filters I would also get carb gaskets and I would give the carb a good clean Mate  ;) ;D ;D 8)

Regards Chris

[Okrafarmer]

Oh, this is an interesting picture. It is our Puerto Rican mechanic (nice funny guy, btw), taking the head off the engine. Right as he is doing that, you see the Fed Ex truck coming in the drive, carrying my new blades from WM! Also includes the open-topped lube tank.



 

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

 

[Okrafarmer]

That's awfully quiet of you, POSTON!  :D

[Okrafarmer]

Anyway, our mechanic got the head off with no problem, and will take it tomorrow to a machinist who can get the spark plug out. The head gasket is in one piece, and if it looks like we have to order one, and it will take a while to get here, we will try putting the head back on, at least temporarily, with the old head gasket.

The view inside the top of the cylinder was promising, as both our mechanics saw no particular cause for concern in there.

When we put the new spark plugs in there, I guess we should use some sort of anti-seize compound.

[Delawhere Jack]

You should probably be ok with the old head gasket, if it separated cleanly from the head. The Onan's are low compression, 7:1 if I recall. They're basically like half of an old VW Beetle engine in design, and those things were pretty solid.

Did you get a chance to check out the gas disconnect fitting? I'd get a replacement fitting now. You could replace it with a 1/4" Male NPT x 5/16" barb fitting. It's a lot cheaper, but then you've refill the tank in place. If the fitting hasn't failed yet, it will, and probably soon. Probably worth picking up the $3 part now rather than lose milling time later.

[Okrafarmer]

It appears to me that the fitting has been replaced with a shop-born or shelf-recruited replacement; I couldn't find the part you showed on the fuel line. Once the engine is back together, we will check the fuel line, among other things, for problems.

I'm glad for the vote of confidence in reusing the head gasket. It looked fine when they took it off.

[Magicman]

I have reused the head gaskets on a similar Kohler generator engine.

[Full Circle]

My dad's '87 LT40 has the 20 hp Onan (if I'm remembering right), so I'm not sure this will apply to your engine.  But, like Meadows Miller said, I would go through the carburetor.  That engine doesn't like to sit for any length of time.  What I found in the last go around was that I had to split the carb, removing the top portion from the lower part.  This can can be done with it still mounted to the engine in my case.  There is a main/large jet that screws down in to the lower portion of the carb.  It is basically a hollow needle with small holes in the lower part, and it was essentially plugged.  Other than that, it's a great motor.  Good luck to you.   

[Okrafarmer]

Thanks, guys. I'm waiting at home right now for the mechanic guy to come jump start the truck (big diesel). My wife already left with the van. . . . I took the diesel home because the Yoda wasn't back from a firewood delivery. We had to jump start it to get it to go yesterday, but I figured it would hold a charge overnight. Nope. Not sure why.

[Chuck White]

Okra, I have been thru the exact same issues as Del Jack. All same lil tricks. That quick disconnect will make you tinker with stuff that doesn't need tinkering. Dang thing got heaved off into the wild blue. IF you ever have to break the muffler loose from the manifold get ready for lessons in languages you didnt think you knew. I just recently went on that adventure. Those bolts seize and break and then "it's" on.

Been there, done that!  >:(

Had to remove the muffler to have some brazing done to cover some holes.

Got three of them out, but one of them twisted off.

They were pretreated with penetrating oil for 3 days prior to taking them off.

Got lucky though, I drilled the threaded part of the bolt with a left-handed drill bit and it came right out.

When it went back together, all bolts were coated with silver anti-seize compound.

A friend is going to build me a new muffler over the winter.  ;D

[Tree Feller]

Water oak.

That was my thought, also. Now I'm interested to find out exactly what it is.

Okra, you are gonna have a fine mill when you get done dialing it in.

[Okrafarmer]

Our "senior mechanic" is currently trying to get the broken spark plug out. The "junior mechanic" broke off an extractor tool while trying to get it out, so it's sitting there in the middle of the steel outer ring of the spark plug.

If he can get it out without messing up the threads, great. If not, he said there is another way to fix it involving drilling the threads out of the head and replacing it with something. I forget what he called it. Some kind of coil? I don't know. He says that  he has had that done before and it is a lot cheaper than a new head. $260, I think they say the head is.

[Joanie]

Our "senior mechanic" is currently trying to get the broken spark plug out. The "junior mechanic" broke off an extractor tool while trying to get it out, so it's sitting there in the middle of the steel outer ring of the spark plug.

If he can get it out without messing up the threads, great. If not, he said there is another way to fix it involving drilling the threads out of the head and replacing it with something. I forget what he called it. Some kind of coil? I don't know. He says that  he has had that done before and it is a lot cheaper than a new head. $260, I think they say the head is.

A helicoil. they work great.

[Okrafarmer]

That's right, Joanie. I knew it sounded like something having to do with helicopters.  ;D

[JustinW_NZ]

if the "geter-outer" is stuck in there now tig weld a tang on it and then it will give you something to really lever on.
Otherwise yes - helicoils are awesome!

Been down this path a couple of times on rally cars :(

Cheers
Justin