1. Can I do this repair with the engine still on the tractor? As long as you can physically get the exhaust off you should be ok
2. Do I have to pull the carb off first, or can I remove the carb and intake as an assembly? I do, but I don't know that it matters. Just be cautious of the link clip. Put in a safe place or it will likely go away.
3. Will the Kohler "improved bolt" kit I bought work fine? I never had a re-occurrance with the old #. One would hope so!
4. Should I do both heads, even though the left one is not leaking? It would be the best repair practice to do both.
5. Do I have to remove the lifters, or can they stay in their bores, and just remove the pushrods, and label them, intake, exhaust, top and bottom. ? It is not necessary to do any more than the push rods.

Kohler does provide their manual free online also. Log in as guest.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kohler

Gil

I have to complement you on an excellent post. I wish all questions were so complete.

Good luck with the repair

Thanks for the response Tom, I was reading another forum, and one person stated that I should run a tap down the threaded bolt hole to besure that the threads were cut down to the bottom. As this was the cause of the original bolts not holding proper torque through many heating and cooling cycles. Have you found this to be necessary? I bought the kit, and my understanding is that the bolts from specific batches were not properly manufactured, and or heat treated. That they are stretch bolts, and didn't stretch correctly during the factory installation of the cylinder heads. Also that the problem was in just a few series of engines. Any comments?

I'll keep the "clip" taped down as to not lose it.

Tom, did I understand you properly that the carb and manifold can be removed as a unit by unbolting from the cylinder heads only?

Thank you again!

Gilson

You'll have to check that thread theory out when you pull the head and let us know what you find. That's a new one to me.

On the carb/ intake manifold question that may depend on the engine. But I would think removing the the other link would be difficult w/o extracting the carb. Besides, the plating shop will remove the carb anyways before they treat it for that triple plate show chrome you were planning to have done...

Hello Tom and Wheelhorse,
I completed the head gasket replacement, and must say it is a straight forward jobbie. I did find on the head which was leaking what appears to be some headgasket mateing surface damage which only could have occured during assembly at the factory. It has 3 dented in places where whomever was assembling the engine wasn't careful. The worst dent at the bottom was where my gasket had begun to erode "blowthrough". I'm wondering if this was the start of my problem with the leaky one. My digital camera won't take very good closeups. It is about 15 years old. I had another pair of heads I bought over 5 years ago off of ebay. The person selling them said they had 50 hours on them, and by being almost void of carbon, I think he was telling the truth. So I replaced the leaky head with one which had a perfect mateing surface. Installed acording to the manual assembly procedure, and all is well so far.
Question, is it possible to have the cylinder head flycut about 0.005 and still have a useable item. I think that's all it needs to restore it to useable condition.

Thanks again Tom for your insight, and Wheelhorse.

Gilson

I don't know Kohler's view, but if you did mill the head .005, I'd do both. An extra set of heads- I guess you must of earned all the scout merit badges huh? :)

I filed down by hand the head from my mini-bike when I was about 12!

I don't see why that wouldn't work. It will increase you compression a tiny bit and reduce you displacement.

Excellent to have spares. It sure makes you feel good knowing you've got it if you need it. Now, if I could only find that spare set of blades... ;)

***" It will increase your compression a tiny bit"***
It will increase the COMPRESSION RATIO, but just barely, as stated.
***"It will reduce your displacement."***
NO! Displacement is ONLY the volume of space that is displaced by the piston as it travels from Bottom Dead Center (BDC) to Top Dead Center (TDC). Displacement is calculated as "Pi X radius of bore X length of stroke". Whether you shave .050" off the head, or stack 3 head gaskets on top of each other, displacement has not changed.
If you put a crankshaft in that has a longer, or a shorter, "throw" on the rod journals, then you are affecting displacement.
If you increase the cylinder diameter (bore out) and install oversize pistons, displacement will be increased.

Kohler Engineers Don't Know you should not try to put a square peg in a round Hole.
The head gasket is mated with a Round Hole on one side and a Square Hole on the other. It is just a matter of time before it BLOWS.