Kohler K301EP Army Surplus Generator Engine - Recoil Hub ...

I just shot $50 straight down the toilet. Bought what I thought was a similar part for the NLA recoil hub that bolts to the flywheel. It was 1/4" too short. I cut 1/4" off the base of the original stripped-out aluminum hub, & attempted to braze it on the bottom of the new part with Durafix. Well, that was a colossal waste of time. The Durafix stuck great to the old part ... but the new part was red chinese pot-metal *censored*, and promptly busted in 2 after 2 pulls of the recoil.

Now I'm f'ed. Got a perfectly running and functioning generator that I cannot start! Anybody know where the hell I can get this damn hub?

I don't have a pic of it at the moment,& can't even seem to find a fiche for it, since most of it's parts are NLA. It's a "splined" or "toothed" hub. The recoil assembly extends 3 "blades" outward to grab these splines and rotate the engine. If anyone knows where to get one I'll be forever grateful.

If I'm understanding the situation,you can't weld a nut up on top of the hub somehow & just DRILL start it when needed???

Probably would require more torque than a drill could deliver. Your line of thought could lead to a solution though

OK, how about a really BIG drill--ya just gotta have a feel on when to pull it off the nut--

Whatever happened to just a rope with a knot on the end that you wrapped around a hub with a slot bolted to the flywheel? Worked fine. Should not be hard to make one.

Smitty, What about a 12volt electric starter?

For little more than $50.00 you could pick one of them up on ebay.

Is there a ring gear on the flywheel,Smitty ?

Lightning wrote:Probably would require more torque than a drill could deliver. Your line of thought could lead to a solution though

Tried this with my 8 HP Cub Cadet, the drill won't spin it fast enough.

Yeah no chance in hell your gonna turn this bitch over with an off the shelf drill. It's a 12hp single -plus that rotor has to weigh 50 lbs, PLUS another 30 for the flywheel. Lots of rotating mass on this bad boy.

No ring gear. E-start would require a starter, battery, wiring, and a new flywheel with a ring gear - all $$$$, so not happening.

I'm liking the rope idea .. and that would work if there was a way to wrap it around this thing. The other issue is ..... if I leave the shroud off for that setup, or an pneumatic impact gun setup, now we have no cooling. Whatever I do, the cover has to stay.

The owner is hitting some scrap yards - hopefully we get lucky .. but in this part of the country I seriously doubt it. Nobody runs stuff this old - they just throw money around instead. It's all long since scrapped.

The search continues ...

Smitty,
Do you know the Specs. for this engine?

If not, have a look at kohler specs 4710-47835

You need a old starter generator that was used on the Kohlers k series. There might be a pulley opposite the output shaft. If that piece is a bolt on, I may have one.

I THINK I found one on eBay. Looks very similar, and the measurements the seller gave me seem close ..... either way, I now own it ... so if this one don't fit, $110 will be in the toilet .... but, if not I WILL make this one fit come hell or high water!! :box:

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Did your e-bay hub work,Smits ?

The hub was the exact one! Got lucky there - REAL lucky! But did it work? Not really ...

The recoil was skipping teeth just like before, and was ready to destroy the new cup ... so I ordered up a new half of the recoil pulley. The holes where the 3 dogs go were rounded out a bit. Also ordered new dogs. Parts already arrived, so now it's just finding time to throw it back together. I'll let you all know how it turns out.