The day before the pigroast, I was trying to saw out some cedar to build an ice table. My old weak onan suddenly sounded a bit odd, then there was a big old thunk sound, and it got real loud. The biggest of the twin mufflers had busted off right at the mounting flange.
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It seems any time I run my now 30 year old Lt30, something with that onan causes issues.
Well, when I find time to implement it, I've found the cure. In actuality, the cure found me and for that I am truly thankful!
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nice score.
Looks like the one I replaced my Onan with!
What's the HP on it Jeff?
Mine is a 25hp, really does a good job!
My change-over only took about 2 hours!
Good luck Jeff!
This will be fun to watch. 8)
This is an 18. Should be plenty for a manual mill. Lots of things to look forward to. One big thing is fuel consumption. That onan would burn 10 gallons a day.
I love the smell of a new engine when its getting broken in. :)
You have preformed CPR on a Dodge, and now.....bringing back to life an old band mill will surely make you feel good inside. :) :)
The '94 LT40 manual with 24 hp Onan I used to run would barely burn 5.
Fuel usage on similar engines per day really depends on how much lumber is sawed in one day. Steve
If I recall correctly the fuel consumption on an Onan engine welder,18 HP was around 5 quarts an hour .That's at 3600 RPM .On generation it was at 1800 RPM.don't remember the consumption on that .It could drink down 10 gallon in a full day at that .
There is a world of difference between the opposed piston flat head Onans and Briggs engines as a more modern overhead valve engine .In both HP output and fuel usage .
For example my Kawasaki 23 HP zero turn mower will mow twice the grass and use much less fuel that the 18 HP Briggs engine tractor type mowers I used in the past .It runs wide open all the time on a zero turn Toro .
I'd swear the Onan I have in my JD 318 lawn tractor burns fuel faster than my Ford 8N. It's a thirsty bugger, especially blowin' snow. :D
I would agree with that .I have a 1951 Ferguson TO 20 with a Continental Z120 engine with a big bore kit,129 cubic inches .The fuel consumption with a 6 foot flail mower was about the same per hour as an 18 HP Briggs on a 46" deck mower .Not that the price of gasoline to mow the lawn is going to send me into bankruptcy ,just a point to ponder .
Did you buy it on sale?
Onan's were considered a very good engine in their day but it seems to me, at least, the world advanced and they languished behind. Their forte was RV generators, which they did well, as they were quiet and smooth. Expensive to rebuild. Frank C.
Quote from: Jeff on August 27, 2017, 02:13:01 PM
This is an 18. Should be plenty for a manual mill. Lots of things to look forward to. One big thing is fuel consumption. That onan would burn 10 gallons a day.
When I had the 24hp Onan on the mill, it was common practice to add gas somewhere in the middle of the afternoon.
I have never even came close to adding gas to the 25hp Kohler!
In fact I've found that the Kohler uses about half the gas that the Onan did!
The Onan is a good engine, in that it is a strong engine and is referred to as "industrial"!
Wow :o :o :o That's a big difference Chuck! The 27 hp Kohler on my TK1600 will not run all day on a 5 gallon tank of gas. It is typical for me to need to refuel mid afternoon if I run it all day.
Yes, the Kohler uses around 1/3 less gas than what the Onan did.
I've had a nasty cold for a week now, but made myself go out today and do something. I'm now back in the house feeling like I shoulda stayed in here, but, I did get a little accomplished. the onan is now in the Quonset tent, and the Wood-mizer still awaits it's transplant on a future date.
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Jeff,I hope you feel better soon.I've never been more miserable than a summer cold.
Do the engines have the same shaft size? I ran into an issue with a swap I did. The special pulley would not accept a bushing large enough for the larger shaft one the transplant engine.
Hopefully I'll be allset with what i have here from Wood-Mizer.
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Jeff; You might find that you have to move the pulley in or out just ever so slightly, I did!
At first it was smelling like the belt was burning and we adjusted the pulley a couple of times, then all was good!
Note: I ran the big red wire to the alternator through the cutouts in the 1" blocks/spacers! That way, they're out of the way!
Chuck, how so you bolt on those blocks? Do you have a picture of yours?
That was confusing to me and those blocks only would fit on my machine one way and that missed the holes on the back of the mounting plate if the pulley was lined up. It never was perfect.
The dummy with the wrench never thought about moving the taper lock pulley.
Sorry boss no pic here. She took my camera away when I got a WM. She said something like no time for pics, you need to be milling to pay for that mill!
PC
Quote from: paul case on September 13, 2017, 08:03:04 AM
Sorry boss no pic here. She took my camera away when I got a WM. She said something like no time for pics, you need to be milling to pay for that mill!
PC
"But, I wanna take a pitcher of you Honey." ;D ;D
Jeff; No pics, the blocks went on, running front to back and they are the length of the mounting plate!
I installed them with the two notches down, and towards the front, with the alternator/starter cable through/under the notches, depending on the size of the crimp lug on the cable, you might have to put the cable through the notches before bolting the blocks/spacers in place.
The bolts will go through the mounting plate from the bottom, and into the two spacers, then the engine will mount on top of the spacers!
We didn't have to drill any holes!
NOTE: You should also (in the kit) have a blue and a black wire in a plug-in block that will go to the wiring harness!
Remove the bottom "belt shield" to mount the spacers!
Chuck, what are you referring to as "front"? Tongue end of the mill?
Yes, the front is toward the "hitch end" of the mill!
I think I have a snag. My mounting plate appears to be bent. Spacers won't sit flat. I'm still sick, so just puttering for now.
Quote from: Jeff on September 13, 2017, 05:44:04 PM
I think I have a snag. My mounting plate appears to be bent.
:o It never easy is it.
A 2" square solid bar and some long bolts and a hydraulic jack should fix that.
You talk like a guy that has access to a junk yard. ;)
Chuck, are some of the threaded holes in the spacers shared? Bolts from the bottom to bolt on the spacer, then bolts into the same hole from the top to mount the motor? I have holes where the grooves re that are not threaded as well, but a bolt head wont fit in the grooves.
None of the holes are shared!
The spacers are bolted up through the mounting plate and into the spacer, about 1/2 inch or so from each end!
The engine is mounted with the front bolts about 2 1/2 inches from the front of the spacer.
I ran the blue and the black wire through the first notch in the spacer (about 1" from the front) and the large red wire through the second notch, (about 4" from the front).
The way mine is mounted, at the front, the spacer mounting bolts come up through the first hole, then there is a hole with nothing in it, then the front engine mount bolt goes down into the 3rd hole!
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Looks good Jeff!
I ran the blue and the black wires through the forward notch and the wire from the starter through the "more" rear notch!
You should have 4 threaded holes, set the engine on top of the spacers and run the bolts down through the engine mounting holes and into the threaded holes in the spacers!
Where do the wires go? I'm figuring the big red one is the battery but no idea where the other two go, on the engine, or on the control panel. There is a plastic connector on one end of that harness, and I see no where to plug it in.
I'll have to go out and see what the blue and the black wires attach to tomorrow morning!
They are hooked to a blue and a black wire from the original harness, but I'll see if I can find "exactly where they go to!
The big red wire goes from the starter to the alternator on my mill!
Hmmm. I have no alternator.
I'm going through the same process right now. I got a used kohler 25 and ordered the conversion from woodmizer. The instructions that I received do a great job of identifying that the blue wire is actually blue and the black is indeed a black wire. I looked on the kohler website and they have service manuals for there engines. The blue wire definitely goes to the start ignition. So it gets 12v when the key goes all the way to start. then there should be a blue pigtail sticking out that attaches to the starter that is blue. The black wire I believe will go the ignition on. getting 12v when the key is on. The kohler manual says it should be a red wire. On my kohler there was a plug sticking out and the harness I got from woodmizer.
The onan had the starter on the opposite side. So the large red wire went from the alternator to the starter post, and then another from the same starter post to the battery. With the additional large red wire provided I attached it to the battery wire to the alternator. Then from the alternator went to the starter. In other words the wires used to meet up on a starter post with the onan. Now with the kohler I have them meeting up on the alternator post.
Wow, Jeff I didn't realize your mill doesn't have an alternator! ::)
You may need to give WM a call on that one!
Good info provided by davidn3! smiley_thumbsup
When I saw the 3 groove sheave I thought,"now he can put an alternator on",then a powerstrip,then a .......
I was told it is internal charging like the onan was.
I would guess that the wires would go to the regulator.
I'm betting you will need to buy a different regulator to match the engine.
The engine is self contained. The key switch is also mounted on the engine. I have an email in to sparks. He should be able to tell me. I'm guessing the wires....
He called as I was typing!
This one is easy. There is a way for me to wire this back to my control panel, but I'm not going to do that. All I have to do is run the start wire back to the battery and I am D O N E! I dont use the other wires. This will bypass my old cruddy panel. I just need to turn the old key switch on to energize the up/down/feed on the mill and then start the engine with the key on the engine. This works kinda like a one wire GM alternator.
Jeff, use the pulley off of you old engine. It will make the belt line up better.
Sounds like you're about done, Jeff! 8)
Can't Rick. The shaft size on the onan was much larger.
If the taper lock bolts are the same you can use the taper lock from the new engine and maybe the pulley from the onan?
PC
I'd use the new shaft pulleys just in case you want to add an alternator sometime. it will work just fine without the alternator. on the side opposite the starter there is a regulator on the side. It has an internal alternator with the regulator side mounted. If you add an alternator you can just unhook the plug from the regulator.
Almost there.
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You'll be sawing in no time.
Chuck, what specs are you using for belt tension? I set mine at 12lbs at 1/2" deflecion. Seems like maybe a little to much belt bounce on the bottom side.
Jeff, I'm setting mine at 7/16" at 10 lb.
The new belt is longer than the original, so I think it "could" be a little tighter!
My drive belt is running quite smoothly, hardly any flop!
The bounce/flop will probably change when you put a load (sawing) on it.
I sawed a cedar log last night, and it sawed fine. I never even thought about watching the belts when I was sawing. DOH!
Way to go Jeff! ;) thumbs-up 8)
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So now Jeff is sawing lumber for the U.S.S. Kittyhawk?? ???
Quote from: Magicman on September 17, 2017, 09:23:13 PM
So now Jeff is sawing lumber for the U.S.S. Kittyhawk?? ???
Man!! You have good eyes. I didn't even see that. It's a generic program for fake newspapers. 🤓🤓
Jeff, 7/16" at 14lbs. You'll burn up the belt with less and your blade will wander.
It sure is good to have my sawmill running again and running well! Tammy and I used it to saw out a 20 foot extension to our Polebarn privacy fence. The cedar cut like butter with the rusted blade that had been on the mill since last year. :) it really did feel good to be sawing again. 8)
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The results of that "feel good" feeling looks good too. 8)