[kosmc]

i think i am going to take the plunge and drop a honda in my 420...the old onan is getting bad and i want something to drop in as i dont have the time to rebuild the onan...i guess my only option is to go with small engine warehouse for the kit..hate to spend that much money but i figure with the honda i should get a lot of years out of it....so i would like to hear from you guys that did the honda repower...how was the SEW kit and how was it to install and how do you like it?

thanks,
stan

 

[Danne]

Hey Stan,you are going to hear differing opinions on that subject, can't say I think some of them are based on fact, only thing I can do is offer my personal experience. I put the 24 horse in my 420 (somewhere along the line they changed the rating system so it may not now be officialy 24). My experience with sew was fine, good quality, no trouble to hook up save a little confusion with a hot wire in the jd plug, got that figured out and it fired right up. Have had no heat issues to date, only trouble was something got into the carb once, missed and sputtered until we got that cleaned out. Otherwise it runs like a top, lots more power than my onan had,(and I still have a 420 with the original onan, 379 original hours), she's a little thirsty but I have no regrets on the swap.
The kohler repowers weren't as common when I did mine, may have given that a look too but I was looking for something easy. I've been mowing with mine for three years now, hope to go for many more. Hope this helps and that you have success however you choose to go.
Dan

 

[tv4fish]

Stan: I will echo the comments from Dan - I bought my 24 hp. Honda from SEW for my 318 (I now call it a "Hondeere 324")- smooth deal all the way through, easy install and absolutely NO problems. And - Yes, I certainly DO like it!

 

[jdfan]

The 24 hp Honda re power I did in my 318 went very well and although the SEW instructions could have been better, it dropped in with little grief. Honda did have to make a government mandated revision in the formula they used to calculate the horsepower, but the way it performs tells me that it has a lot more power than the Onan! I can do wheelies! I've also never had an overheating problem either. This is a hot topic so I suspect this may not be the last post.

Jim A.

 

[karl_moritz]

Stan,
My Dad and I did an 18hp Honda conversion in my 317. We went to Bryan Seward's plow day in April with it and it ran like a TOP!! We did the swap last summer. The repower would have taken 2hrs at the most but we tore it down and repainted it. We got the engine from SEW it was a great kit and the engine has LOTS of power!! I only wish we went with the 20hp Honda.

Here is a picture of it

 

[lgates110]

The question I have for both the Honda 24 HP & the Kohler 20 HP repower kits (for the 420), do the side panels still fit properly, without notching? ~~ Lowell

 

[army]

Not sure if they offer them for the 420's but SEW has 23 hp Vanguards for 400's now. They're priced about the same as a 24 hp Honda.


Army

 

[Jdodad1]

Lowell G.

<font size="+2"]YES!

 

[jmcmurray]

The Kohler in my 400 snapped a rod two years ago and I swapped it Honda 24 from SEW. In the month or so before I parked it last winter it was surging or hunting with part throttle and even a little at full. I was expecting to clean the carb this spring based on posts I've read in these forums but that problem went away by itself. The last time I mowed however the engine begins to burn richer as it gets hotter until I have to shut down after about 90 minutes to let it cool down. I'm still poking around these archives for answers and probably need to clean the carb anyway or maybe the intake air is too warm so a snorkel to the battery box will solve it.

I used the SEW kit and am happy with it and with the power/noise/smoothness of the engine. The only other problem besides this 'flooding' when hot was the belts. The ones from SEW were a bit long and I had trouble finding some that were just right. The pulleys are closer together than the old Kohler so it uses a smaller tensioning idler and I think that contributed to some rapid belt failures of cheap belts that started to split lengthwise. The belts I am using now have the internal cogs and I'm hoping (only about 10 hours on them so far) that they will last.

My side covers fit without any modification. The left valve cover bolt sometimes touches side panel when the shakes badly (under load at idle or sputtering for some other reason).

 

[jmcmurray]

One other problem. Once I had the Kohler out I found the u-joint in front of the transmission was shot. Rather than replace it with the expensive and non-serviceable style from Deere I had a drive line company build me one using standard, replaceable, u-joints. Unfortunately they thought an extra 1/2 inch of length would help me. Of course I didn't notice until I could not get the Honda to move back far enough!!

 

[galdeer]

Looking for options on replacing my clutch. I found that JD does not make this part anymore. dealers ran national searches, no luck. I went searching on the internet, no luck again. What are the options? Can you rebuild? Can you convert to E/M clutch? Or is there other options I haven't considered. Thanks in advance. Pending responses I'll post in your classified.

 

[KB]

Does it just need a new friction coating? There was a thread not to long ago about a place in Washington that does it. Try the search function. It was within the last 3 months

 

[KB]

Your post will probably be moved to the late model forum.

http://www.wfmachines.com/discus/messages/17/287094.html?1401982813

 

[galdeer]

That's good to know. The friction coating has started to fail. There's more going on. the inner spring will not stay in the hole that ties the pully to the upper piece. I've had it apart 2 times, reassembled and installed. My apologies for posting in the wrong forum.

 

[T-Mo]

Moved to proper forum.