Well, this was an odd one...

Yesterday I picked up a troy bilt pony for, get this, FREE!! It was dirty, so, I figured, parts tractor if it doesn't run. So, after getting it home, still on the truck, I decided to start looking at it. The first thing I did was open the hood and see if it was locked up. Keep in mind, this mower was from the rich side of town, where if something breaks, they buy a brand new one. Anyway, he had already removed the shroud, so I was like   but he kept everything together. So I turned the engine, waiting for the compression stroke, no compression, so, I looked for a spark plug, there was one, but it was loose, so, I took it out and stuck my finger into the hole and turned the flywheel, STILL no compression stroke. so I was like   So, we got it off of the truck and made a better look. after removing the hood, I removed the ohv cover, thinking that maybe there was something holding a valve open. Nothing wrong there. so, I thought calmly, well, broken rod. and my dad was like, well, its a great project for you! and I was like, I guess so... so, I removed the engine, and drilled a 1.5 inch hole in our wooden work bench, and put the engine right down onto that. I took the head off and pushed on the piston, it went straight in with ease, as I expected it to. so, I turned the flywheel one way, locked up, I turned it the other way, and having no stop, it pushed the piston so far that it was sticking out about 1/4 of an inch. so, I pulled that out and the rod broke right at the bend for it to go around the crank. so, by then it was 9 pm, time to go inside, we got this at around 6:30. just to give a time frame for all of this. Sorry its so long, but then, today, well, maybe I should fill you in with the fact that I had an old mtd with a good 14.5 ohv briggs on it. Anyway, I got up this morning and thought, "well, what if I took that engine and put it on the troy bilt!" So, that's what I did today. I removed the engine from the mtd and put it on the troy. It took me all day because of stuff in the middle like breaks, and I had to go mow someones lawn, and she has a little yorkie, so I played with him for a while, and talked with her. so that took up a good 1.5 to 2 hours. but, st the end of the day, and after a lotof sweat and a lot of mosquito deaths, it runs and drives and cuts great! I would sell it, but I honestly don't trust that engine enough to sell it yet. yes, it runs, but id rather it blow up on my hands than selling it for $300 and having it blow up on them....

Sounds pretty neat. Kind of weird the rod would be broke on a stock machine like that. Guess it happens though.

mr.modified wrote:

Sounds pretty neat. Kind of weird the rod would be broke on a stock machine like that. Guess it happens though.

I guess it is a little odd... but I dont know what he did to it, or if he did anything to it.

Not that odd. Sometimes it's a "crap happens" thing, but often it's a misuse or neglect thing.

the guys spoiled kid probably had a little brain and saw that the engine speeds up when you pull on the lever, so he was racing around with the throttle wide open, and then when it broke he pushed it back to the shed and told his dad that the mower died and he couldn't get it to start.

Doc Sprocket wrote:

Not that odd. Sometimes it's a "crap happens" thing, but often it's a misuse or neglect thing.

Yeah, I know its not odd, but im used to getting in mowers with so so engines and totally crappy bodies... this one was crappy engine and flawless body. It drives and mowes,im keeping it for a while because I dont trust the engine, and it looks absolutely great. Garage kept all its life. Just filthy.

1997 Murray wrote:

the guys spoiled kid probably had a little brain and saw that the engine speeds up when you pull on the lever, so he was racing around with the throttle wide open, and then when it broke he pushed it back to the shed and told his dad that the mower died and he couldn't get it to start.

good thought, but no. he has 2 daughters, one that is 21, and one just graduated high school. but good scenario... lol I just mowed the lawn with it with the new engine, it mows great. you can tell that it was taken care of. I think it was factory mistakes that made it blow the rod. I haven't looked at it yet to see if the old engines governor was tampered with, but, im happy to have it because igot it for free!   

You may not be able to visually tell if the governor's been messed with, but- no matter. You breathed new life into the tractor, and away you go!

Doc Sprocket wrote:

You may not be able to visually tell if the governor's been messed with, but- no matter. You breathed new life into the tractor, and away you go!

I try. This is the second mower that ive done an engine on. The other is a mower that ive been mowing with for YEARS. Its worked great, up until now.. its reaching that age that all mechanical devices reach where everything starts to go around the same time. The spindles are getting raspy, the tranny is getting harder to shift as time goes on, the steering has about a quarter turn of play and the steering wheel is loose. It works, just not well anymore. The motor however has been flawless for years. Ive had that motor in two tractors, and I used the first one until the deck gave up. And then it was my first mud tractor. Later on my dad got tired of mowing the yard with a push mower, so I looked on craigslist and found a murray with a bad engine and we swapped the motor and its still runs like a clock! If I vet rid of that tractor Iim keeping the motor. That motor has too many good memories built it to get rid of it. Sorry if that sounds weird, but its true. I used to pull friends in the wagon with the old.mower, and those were the memories I speak of. Sigh...

well, I did a video, sorry for the poor quality though, its just my phone.