Repairs Plastic Cam Gear FD590V

Glyn Robinson

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i just read on another forum, that the plastic cam on horizontal engines are not a pron to fail. is there any truth to that? thank you.
 

reynoldston

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Just do you expect from a Kawasaki engine, sounds about right.
 

javjacob

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There are a lot of 285, 320 and 345 guys on another site that all did the steel gear swap last year. I did mine 2 years ago and was always hearing it was prone to happen at around 1,000 hours. I know the lower HP Kawasaki liquid cooled lawn tractors like the LX178 and LX188 it was pretty much unheard of for them to fail but the higher HP 285, 320 and 345 garden tractors had a much higher risk for failure. I have always heard it was a matter of when... not a matter of if.

Many people are intimidated by this but its not as big of a deal as many think it is. If you can pull the motor out and let a mechanic shop do the steel cam gear swap its not too expensive to do. It is worth doing it before it fails because when it fails plastic pieces will be everywhere inside the motor and the pistons can hit the valves bending the push rods and possibly the valves too.
 

Glyn Robinson

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thanks for the reply. i am thinking about doing the swap myself. only concern i have it getting the drive pulley off of the shaft. i have had the electric PTO off before.
 

javjacob

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I had trouble getting my PTO off too. I soaked it with PB Blaster and had to use a gear puller to get it off. Leave the bolt barely in so it will catch the PTO when it comes loose so it wont hit the ground.
 

Glyn Robinson

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i've had my pto off a couple times. it comes off easy. it's the pulley above that i'm concerned about.
 

javjacob

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I'm trying to link a thread of another forum which has plenty of pics of a FD590V being rebuilt after the plastic cam gear failed but it wont let me post the link.
 

Glyn Robinson

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thank you. i have read others posts on an different site. we are probably talking about the same guy. Lee?
 

Glyn Robinson

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the cam is now replaced. job went well , except for the drive belt pulley. :mad: The mower runs better than ever. Also replaced water pump, fuel pump, tappets, pushrods, oil pump, gov, ect ect
 
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