Kohler Courage 21hp Twin Cam. Bad Cam? (Video Inside)

[JonnyBlaze]

This is one diagram showing what the crank looked like before the counterweight let go.
I think your one is the one on the right
https://www.partstree.com/parts/kohler-engines/engines-vertical/sv610-3213-kohler-sv610-engine-courage-hop-21hp-15-7kw/crankshaft-1-20-4/
Judging by the limited number of parts available it is starting to look more like a sell the engine on Craigs List & buy a replacement.
But get it apart & clean first .

Nice. Thanks! I used that part number and found this on ebay. Think it will work? I'm going to pull it apart tomorrow.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Used-crank...429768?hash=item4b3a67d248:g:glsAAOSw3sJalEPY

 

[JonnyBlaze]

Motor is junk. Found a crack and hole in the case.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Yep.
That's a dead en.
So now you need to have a really good look at your equipment and decide if it is worth repowering.
At this time of year there are oft a lot of factory pull engines around as manufacturers decide to up size engines.
Small Engine Supplier & Small Engine Wrehouse is where I get most of mine from.
Boo haunts "the surplus centre " who also get a lot of really cheap engine from time to time.

If it is from a USA made mower usually you can swap out Briggs, Kohler or Kawasaki with some slight wiring mods.
All you need to worry about is making sure the output shaft is the same size as your old Kohler.

Don't toss the old engine.
It is still rebuildable and there will be people who will pay for it ( not much ) which might cover freight on the new engine.

 

[JonnyBlaze]

Yep.
That's a dead en.
So now you need to have a really good look at your equipment and decide if it is worth repowering.
At this time of year there are oft a lot of factory pull engines around as manufacturers decide to up size engines.
Small Engine Supplier & Small Engine Wrehouse is where I get most of mine from.
Boo haunts "the surplus centre " who also get a lot of really cheap engine from time to time.

If it is from a USA made mower usually you can swap out Briggs, Kohler or Kawasaki with some slight wiring mods.
All you need to worry about is making sure the output shaft is the same size as your old Kohler.

Don't toss the old engine.
It is still rebuildable and there will be people who will pay for it ( not much ) which might cover freight on the new engine.

I only paid $50 for the enire machine and the rest is in great shape. I'll look for a new motor. Thanks for your help.

 

[Scrubcadet10]

So if i'm interpreting the pictures right, the cams look like plastic to me?! :shocked:

 

[JonnyBlaze]

So if i'm interpreting the pictures right, the cams look like plastic to me?! :shocked:

The cam gears are. Yes.

 

[cmw]

It takes COURAGE to own a COURAGE! This is the cheaper consumer grade model for the big box store models. I have gotten to where I would much rather buy used commercial grade equipment than something made with a low price in mind for the average consumer. Yes, this cheap low quality stuff is consumer driven. People buy on the price tag and just want cheap. It it too bad everyone jumped on this bandwagon. All brands have a good line and all have a junk line these days.

I work on electronics/computers and it is all the same. If you can buy toilet paper, eggs, milk, and meat at the store, don't buy a computer or TV there. The same goes for lawn equipment. https://www.fastcompany.com/54763/man-who-said-no-wal-mart

Then there is this: https://www.briggsandstratton.com/na/en_us/campaigns/just-check-and-add.html

And people wonder why nothing lasts anymore......

Conor

 

[bertsmobile1]

If you do not sell garbage to the stupid or greedy then you go out of business.
95% of all Rolls Royce cars ever made are still acounted for and over 70% are still running.
Less the 5 % of the production of Ford is accounted for and less that 0,01% are known to still be running.
Rolls Royce have been bankruped 3 times and sold off 5 times ( BMW currently owns them ) and both Mr Rolls & Mr Royce died pennyless.
Ford has remained in the same hands basically since Henry's day and the Ford family has been on the richest 200 list in the world list for decades, having only dropped down to the top 500 in recient years.

 

[Scrubcadet10]

The cam gears are. Yes.

DANG! If you're going to skip by on something, at least make it something fairly easy to replace/repair.
My cub Has the K Courage.

 

[bertsmobile1]

They are very easy to replace.
In fact everything on the engine is easy to replace because of the bucket construction.
You can replace the cams, engine in the mower with the drive belts still attached.
It does not get much easier than that.
Only mower engine with a top mounted oil filter that hangs so oil changes are clean.
They were a very successful engine with the only major fault being the top plate fasteners on some of them comes loose & allows a crack to generate in the crankcase.
Side by side with the B & S intec, I would take a courage every time.
In the workshop I see about the same number of each of them dead.

They both toss conterweights at about the same rate.
The courages tend to break the decompression mechanism which generally falls to the bottom and dose little damage.
The Intecks break governors which get jambed in the timing gears and wreck the engine, again about the same rate for each of them.

It all comes down to price.
If the market shopped for quality then quality increases
But the market shops 99% of the time on price.
Price & quality are inversely proportional.
But every one seem to still believe in faries when it comes to riding mowers.