[josh_deaven]

There is a pin that holds the clutch pedal on the shaft. The pin is solid. I tried punch and hammer. I was wondering for those who already restored a 140 h3. What they used to those solid pins out? Thanks Josh

 

[jtriechman]

Hey Josh I used a air file to remove the mushroom head till I saw just the round pin.then hammered them out with a round punch.they were stubborn. I replaced with roll pins hope this helps Jeff

 

[samcarpen]

Josh,

I've had good luck using an air hammer with punch attachment. I support the other side of the shaft with a four way lug wrench. (Learned that tip from WFM)

 

[LeonardS]

I used a grinder to grind off the heads on both sides. Then I used a punch and drove the pin out.

Leonard

 

[jdsteve]

Purchased 1995 345 from original owner with 490hrs and only 85psi on each cylinder. Tractor starts easy and does not smoke. Does have a miss from just above idle thru full throttle. It is firing hot on both cylinders and carb has been gone thru. I am in the process of installing the metal camshaft. Is it possible for a tooth to be off the gear causing it to be out of time, still run and experience the symptoms I described above. Also po stated tractor was running great then small backfire and problem occurred. Any help would be greatly appreciated,
Steve

 

[tommyhawk]

Maybe it could still run, but my guess is it would take out the next tooth in short order. If only the top part of a tooth broke off, maybe the crank gear would not climb (and break)the next tooth, but it will be interesting to see what you find when you get it opened up. Take lots of pictures for us.

Here's a photo with a steel geared cam being installed. You can see the limited engagement from one tooth to the next.

tommyhawk

 

[jdsteve]

Thanks Tom,
It may be a while before I tear into it. I hope nothing else is tore up except maybe some push rods. I will also install new governor,water and oil pump gears and clean the filter screen. Thanks again,
Steve

 

[woodpecker41]

SWM if the problem was the plastic cam going bad the engine will not run at all. It just stops. I just had my 1997 345 done at Thanksgiving time. I was mulching leaves with everything running normal and got 5 feet into the next row and it just shut down. My tractor had 1147.6 hours on it when it happened. Roger

 

[mikeduwe]

Tom, I think he is asking if the timing marks were off a tooth if it would run rough.

That I dont know, but maybe.

 

[tommyhawk]

Had more time to think about this one, and have some more "maybes".
Check the spark plug gaps. Make both as nearly the same as possible. Sounds crazy I know, but there's something about the Kawasaki twins that makes them very finicky about this.
Next, check the valve lash and put them right on the money. The possibility of a bent push rod might be of concern too, but the only bent ones I've found were caused by the rod falling out because of loose rocker to valve lash clearance. At least that's what I thought at the time, since the other side was way wide. It did run with no strange noise, but the exhaust sounded funny. A bit low on power but not as much as having a dead cylinder. Could a backfire cause a bent push rod? I don't know. They have a very delicate appearance.
I have wondered if the occasional "back fire" could break or begin the demise of the plastic gears. The occasional "running on or dieseling" is another concern, but I can't back that up with hard evidence.
Sorry to ramble, but hope you will check out these suggestions before doing a cam job. That is a low hour machine, but the cam might be the problem.
Keep us posted, as this subject will come up many more times in the future. I suspect we will learn some bad effects with the steel geared cam sooner or later.

tommyhawk

 

[tommyhawk]

I sure hope I'm not sounding like an expert on these L/C twins. I've only been inside 3 Fd590's and 1 Fd620. I just do it as a hobby. Three of the cams were replaced because there was chipping on one side of the teeth. Good insurance against failure in the near future. These were torn down because of coolant leak at the case halves/waterpump area. The FD620 had a meter showing just under 1000 hours.
One FD590 did fail to start, just popped a couple times and had broken the cam gear and the w/p gear. No hour meter on this one, but a good estimate of over 2000 hours. Original owner, good yearly maintenance.
This is what it looked like.

The governor gear and washer was headed south too. New one on the right for reference.

Tommyhawk

 

[jdsteve]

Problem solved! Thanks to all that responded to my question. I ran a can of sea foam directly into the carb and was able to rid the carbon from the pistons and valves. Checked compression and now have 150 on both cylinders instead of the 85. For some reason the spark plugs were set at 18 thousands, set at 28 now. Found that the choke was getting partially stuck. Everything now works exactly as it should. Engine now runs great! My next decision is to keep tractor and install steel gear or to put it up for sale and let them take care of it. Thanks again to all who helped.
Steve

 

[dlnw98]

Hey Steve,

That's an easy decision for me- fix it right before you sell it. Don't pass a known problem off on somebody else.

Your conscience will thank you...

 

[jdsteve]

Mike, the cam is working flawlessly at this point but if I do decide to sell I will diffidently advise the buyer to the best of my knowledge the tractor has the plastic one installed. I have not tore into the engine to check. But it being a 1995 it did come out with one. And as you know even with only 490 hrs it could go at any time. I will even provide the replacement steel one at no cost. I believe that is the right thing to do because some people are not as informed about mechanical issuers as fellow members on the site.
Thanks,
Steve