Garden Tractor Info

One of our favorite garden tractors to repower is the John Deere 318. It’s a nice feature packed model and almost always worth fixing whatever might be wrong with it. A recent question sent about repowering a 318:

Q: Do you have a bolt in replacement kit for a John Deere 318? I have a bad Onan engine and would like a price for a kit. What comes in the installation kit? Is the wiring harness the same? Engine mounts? Clutch? I am looking for a relatively easy in and out. Do you provide phone support?

A: I have the top of the line Vanguard engines. They are the only way to go. Yes, we offer telephone support and a lot of it. You can call as many times as you need on my toll free number to get you installation completed. There is a list of the items in the installation kit on our web site on the engine page. You do not take out your original wiring harness. There are no engine mounts that you have to mess with. All you do on that part of the subject is to drill 4 holes in the frame to mount the engine. Yes, you use your same PTO clutch as we have a special machined bushing so you can save buying that $300 PTO clutch. You will think this job is fairly easy to do providing you are a little mechanically inclined. We have sold quite a few of these repower kits for John Deere 318’s over the years and I don’t think anyone who intended on doing the installation themselves couldn’t complete the job.

Jim does a lot of modifications on the garden tractors to get just what he wants out of them. Our shop tractor, ” The Bird ” was one of those many projects done. If you would like to read about all of the modifications to this John Deere 318 garden tractor we have a web site page that explains them all. Jim even put headligts in the front end loader bucket. Rick writes asking how to accomplish attaching a front end loader to his Cub Cadet 3165:

Q: I have a Cub Cadet Series 3000 (3165), that my dad left me. The 3000 series originally offered a front end loader as an attachment, but only on the 20 HP and above versions. This 16 HP has a rugged enough frame for the job, can be fitted with a 3 point hitch, and has a 48” mower deck. I don’t want to buy a bigger tractor, this is just the right size.

Is there any loader that will adapt to this machine? Would I have to “repower” up to a 23 HP Vanguard?

A: If your engine is in average condition you will not have to worry about your 16 horsepower being too small to run a front end loader, that engine will easily handle the load.

Q: OK Jim, You have my attention. The tractor is in very good shape so that’s not an issue. The questions that come to mind are: 1) Have you, or anyone ever attempted this combination before? 2) Will my axles stand the strain of the increased loads?

A: Yes, I have put loaders on the 1250, 1450, 782, and 982 Cub Cadets in the past. You said earlier that the 3000 series had offered a loader for them, therefore I think it sounds strong enough. Although I have broken axles before, and I have broken more than one. I had the big wide balloon 15″ tires on my tractor with 30 gallons of liquid in each tire. 60 gallons X 8 pounds = 480 lbs plus 14 John Deere suitcase weights hanging on the back at 42 pounds each X 14 = 588 pounds. Then I also built a roll bar that takes
2 guys to lift and mounted it on the tractor, guessing the weight on that to be about 200 lbs. Then the loader empty weighs 400 lbs. You should easily be able to haul 600 lbs. in the loader. An average garden tractor will weigh 700 lbs., all adding up to 2968 lbs. And that’s not all, I put in a 23 horsepower Vanguard engine ahead of all this weight and then wonder why I break axles once in a while.

No you do not have to do all of this to make a garden tractor and a front end loader work. I guess I just enjoyed doing the work of what a $30,000 tractor will do. If you are the type that likes to revamp and build things or know of someone like that to help you, when you get it all said and done it will be something to be very proud of and a very useful piece of equipment that will save your back and much more.

Our shop offers free equipment troubleshooting advice by telephone or e-mail. I don’t know it all but I have a lot of experience and sometimes know where to find the answers. Sometimes I can’t help at all, but I try. I know the visitors to our web site enjoy reading the questions and answers that are included there, they e-mail and tell me. Now and again I will post some here.

Q: My 1978 John Deere 316 with a Kohler engine starts with a jump but the battery won’t charge. I dont know if it is a voltage regulator or if the starter has a generator built into it. I would appreciate any advice.

A: No, you do not have a generator built into your starter. Your engine has an alternator built into the engine under the flywheel. Take a test light, turn on the ignition switch, touch the center wire on the voltage regulator with the probe of your test light. The light should light, and if it does, then it would tell you that your voltage regulator needs to be replaced. If the light does not light that would mean that you have an open circuit in the ignition switch or the electrical circuit.

Q: I have a Ford 120 with a Kohler 321 engine with an electric clutch to operate the hydraulic pump. I think the bearing has gone bad and I don’t know how to remove the clutch. Is it threaded on or pressed on or…. Please Help. I need this tractor.

A: They are usually bolted on the front of the engine, meaning the crankshaft. Take off the other nuts if you see them on the clutch. Then part of the clutch assembly should slide off - but this very seldom happens. The hub is usually rusted to the crankshaft. If this happens use a lot of penetrating oil and pry back and forth until it starts to loosen and keep oiling it. After it is off, clean the crankshaft with some emery cloth.

Q: I recently bought a 1970 Simplicity 3212H tractor. I new it either had a rod knock or something so I took the engine out, replaced the piston, and put the engine back in. The tractor runs much better, but is there any way that you know of to adjust the hydrostatic rear end for a bit more speed?

A: You can check the hydro linkage if you are getting the maximum stroke on your linkage. I can also go through them and come up with a fair amount of a higher top speed.