Georgia Sears Tractor Collecter

HI
HOPE EVERONE IS HONORING MEMORIAL DAY THE WAY IT WAS INTENDED, HEARD ABOUT A FELLOW COLLECTER FROM GEORGIA THAT WENT UP TO TENNESSEE AND PURCHASED A ROPER 20T W/ A 19.9 MOTOR THAT WAS IN EXCELLENT CONDITION FOR THE YEAR, DROVE & MOWED WITH IT BEFORE HE LOADED IT IN TRAILOR SMILING. IF YOU READ THIS PLEASE RESPOND, THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE GEORGIA ADDICTED TO RUSTY ROPER-SEARS.
WISHING ALL A GOOD HOLIDAY
JIMMY
IN SOUTH GA.

This is not a real busy site, I guess because there aren't many folk who give a rip about old garden tractors (can't imagine why everyone isn't wildly interested), so I'll be the first:  Welcome, Jimmy!!!

Memorial Day has come and gone, but I did hear somebody ask a pretty good question. He said, "i'm hearing people say, 'Happy Memorial Day,' and somehow this doesn't quite make sense, does it?" Personally, I once traveled to the other Washington (DC) and saw the Vietnam memorial wall. Don't know how old you are, but when the Wall was first put up, some folk were unhappy because they thought that the plain, black wall somehow indicated "shame" or something like that, in a time when the screaming anti-war demonstrations were fresh in mind. But as I first approached the Wall, I was deeply affected and impressed; I think it is absolutely perfect, a terribly sad place that makes no statement at all other than, these boys were called on and met their ends. Everybody should see the Wall. And (my personal opinion)especially the older men who want to get us into these damned-fool adventures, policing the world and getting involved in other folks' business!!).

Yep, I'm here too. don't get the chance to login as often as I'd like. I'm in FAR N. Ga. Love the older tractors and equipment. Have had a SS 12 for years and 4 months ago swapped a newer Bolens for a 77 Sears 16/6 Twin to get the mower deck. The tractor hadn't run for 6 or 8 years. Turns out it was a bad coil wire. It runs but now I need to rebuild the carb (DD) Kit ordered now. At least I can work on these!

Memorial Day is just that, a day of remembrance, not a Holiday.

Jimmy,
I've seen from your posts that you've done a number of Suburban restores. I'm trying to find a Tecumseh HH100 or 120 to repower my 1967 Suburban 10. It ran good but I broke off a head bolt down in the block so I need a replacement. Can I trust any of the sellers on eBay? Do you have any you would part with? (Coming from Ohio down to Savannah next month). My dad bought the Suburban when I was a kid so I would like to save it. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Dan

HI DAN
I THINK I HAD READ A POST ABOUT YOUR BROKEN HEAD BOLTS SOME PLACE BEFORE. I HAD 3 BROKE OFF IN AN ALUMINUM ONAN BLOCK AND A MACHINE SHOP CHARGED ME $65 TO REMOVE THE THREE BROKEN HEAD BOLTS. POINT BEING IF THE MOTOR WAS GOOD, GET THE BOLT PROFFESSIONALY REMOVED AND SAVE THE MOTOR. I HAVE A HH120 THAT THE IGNITION IS DEAD ON, SO I HAVE NOT HEARD THE MOTOR RUN, DID PULL CYL.HEAD AND LOOKED AT CYL.WALL AND VALVES, ALL LOOKS VERY GOOD, DO PLAN ON FIXING IGNITION AND FIREING IT UP TO CHECK FOR SMOKE AND NOISE, THERE WOULD BE NO PROBLEM USING A OH140 OR OH160, IF YOU FOUND A GOOD ONE. IF THERE IS NO ONE IN YOUR AREA TO DO MACHINE WORK, JUST BRING IT TO SAVANNAH AND YOU WILL FIND A GOOD OLE GEORGIA BOY THAT WILL FIX IT RIGHT UP. I AM ABOUT 150 MILES FROM SAVANNAH. IF NEED TO BE I CAN SPEED UP THE IGNITION REPAIR AND CHECK OUT THE TECUMSEH.
I NEED BUYERS FOR SOME SUBURBANS.
THANKS FOR ASKIN
JIMMY

I've had two different shops try to remove the bolt w/o success. One told me the same thing you are saying but I just don't know anyone with the knowledge & equipment. Maybe I will stop by. How many Suburbans do you have?

As I'm thinking this thru, the one small engine shop I have it at now had a guy that comes by that used to work for Tecumseh. When he looked my engine he said there was warpage to both the head & the engine which is why it was going thru head gaskets pretty fast so he recommended replacing it & saving the old one for parts.

Marshall, I don't think much of that advice (and I have some experience working in small engine and auto machine shops, and outboard motor shops).  

Most old heads have some warpage; that's what milling machines are for.  To save money, you might do some of the work in making a fixture that will hold the head on the milling machine table.  The shop can tell you what they need here. Actually, with that head they might just true it up with their big belt-sander, which save lots of time if they do it right and get it to come out flat.

And putting the bare block on the mill and taking a trueing cut off the deck can have more than one advantage. Not only does it leave a flat surface with a finish that tends to hold the head gasket in place, but it also reduces the "squish" dimension, which is always too large from the factory.  Your auto machine shop can explain squish and what it does for you (if they can't, go elsewhere).  If somebody tells you that machining both the head and the block increases compression (true) enough that it might cause detonation, they don't understand squish, which quells detonation, among other good things it does.

As to the broken headbolt, I don't know why a good auto shop can't do this, but if you have a good welding shop, try them. Nowdays the usual method is to use a wirefeed welder to put a pile of weld material atop the broken stud, high enough that they can grap that with a Vise-Grip pliers and work it back and forth until it loosens up and they can wind it out of the hole. The heat of the welding aids in this process.  Sometimes the welded metal breaks off the stud, so they have to just keep repeating the process until they succeed.  By that point the original threads will probably be shot, so they will drill the hole oversize and install a Heli-Coil.  If the hole is too hammered to do a Heli-Coil, they can drill a larger hole and install a Keen-Sert. If that's not possible, probably they can rebuild the whole area by brazing. Professional welders (not everybody who owns a little MIG machine) mostly know how to do this without screwing up anything else.

Yeah, IF you can find another engine you might get lucky  .  .  .  or you might just get another run-out motor that needs a rebuild (valve guides for sure, head re-surfaced, maybe rings, maybe bore,  . . . ).  The idea of having a parts-motor in a box is okay, I guess, but mostly the problem with Tecumsehs is that you can't get new or NOS oversize pistons, maybe not rings either, or head gaskets.  (If there is something new I haven't heard about, please tell me!!).

But if the bore is not too badly worn, you might do as I did when I rebuilt my HH100, and just get it honed while getting the original piston skirt knurled, and then building it up further with a heat-cured moly-coating a few thousandths thick. Not ideal, but plenty good enough. If anybody here is actually going to DO this, I'll talk more about it.

All this stuff is in the category of basic engine restoration and hot-rodding, and most of it dates back to the Thirties.

Thanks much for the detailed reply. Part of my problem has been not knowing where to start looking for help. The small engine shop I use are good guys but probably not that knowledgeable past the basics. Always figured the larger commercial mower shops and auto repair shops would be too expensive or wouldn't want to mess with it. So your comment about engine restoration & hot rodding started me thinking. The place I take my truck has impressed me & since I've spent a lot of money there last year (fuel pump, U-joints, ball joints & transfer case motor) maybe they'll help by either doing the work or telling me who can. Since the engine ran pretty strong before the broken head bolt issue I'm hoping I don't need to worry about the piston or the bore.

This is something to take to an auto MACHINE shop, not an auto repair shop, and not most small engine shops. If it's a machine shop that does a lot of work for racers and rodders, they'll know all about squish, BTW.  A good welder might not know that, but should probably be able to deal with the stud without distorting the bore.

Ordinary courtesy calls for an owner having the engine disassembled and as clean as you can get it before you give it to a shop. Besides retrieving the broken headbolt, have them check the head and block for flatness, check the bore, and check the valves and guides. You can look at the crankshaft and see if it needs polishing. Just take them all the cleaned parts in a box.

Went to my repair shop & they referred me to their machine shop. I kind of figured that's what would happen but I didn't know for sure. I stopped by & they do work on small engines but he said he'd need to see it to say for sure if he could work on it. Are gasket sets still available for Tecumseh's? What else might I need to reassemble? Do bolts commonly break or need replaced? I plan on taking it over tomorrow to show the the engine before having someone disassemble. If they can do it I'll have it disassembled.

Jimmy,
Do you have photos of your Suburbans?

I had to go to two machine shops but the second one said no problem. $100 to remove the bolt & deal with the warped head & engine block. I'll have them check the valve guides, bore & crankshaft as well. Things are looking up! Thanks Jimmy & Smitty for your suggestions. I'll keep you posted.

Don't know about gasket sets. You can make ordinary gaskets, but not duplicate the metal fire-ring in a factory head gasket. Ask your machinist if there is a local company that has the material to make a head gasket that does not have the fire-ring. This might work, if the two mating surfaces are flat, given that these are low compression engines. Never tried this myself. Possibly the old head gasket can be made to work . . . talk all this over with the machinist before you give him the go-ahead.

If you do a good search, and find out any solid info on the availability of the various Tecumseh parts, please share it here on a new thread.

I acquired a Tecumseh HH100 #143.619012 with electronic ignition from a 1971 Sears Custom 10XL. The plan was to use it as a replacement for my HH100 #143.579042 w/o electronic ignition for my 1967 Suburban 10. As some of you probably already know, the engines are different enough that you can't swap them w/o modifications which are more than I want to get into. I do, however want to try to use the electronic ignition from the Custom on my Suburban HH100. Looking for opinions on whether it will work or should I keep my Suburban engine original?