Kohler K361

[Eugen]

Do you guys have any experience with the Kohler K361? Asking for a friend of a friend

[DavidBarkey]

Do you guys have any experience with the Kohler K361? Asking for a friend of a friend

Never seen one up here , only the odd one for sale south of the border . A little more on the rare side form what I can see .
Why did you find one ?

[Eugen]

Never seen one up here , only the odd one for sale south of the border . A little more on the rare side form what I can see .
Why did you find one ?

Yep. And I'm a sucker for odd stuff like that

For one, I like Kohler one cylinder thumpers. Also don't have an engine for the tracked backhoe, when its turn comes for getting fixed. Interesting to me that this engine seems identical to the K341 except for the head and overhead valves resulting in higher compression. I gotta stop getting more broken stuff, really.

[propane1]

Do you guys have any experience with the Kohler K361? Asking for a friend of a friend

A rare engine. Only seen one. Apparently have bad valve seats. They come loose.

Not sure on the better compression. But the overhead valve system gives better combustion, which should give better power. Same bore and stroke as the K 341.
The older ariens Gt18 garden tractors had them. Newer gt18 versions of the ariens had twin engines.
I know of a fella here looking for one of those engines for his ariens gt 18.

A little ramble there. And so I found, compression is a little higher in the k361 than the K341. Few pictures for ya. Take note of the fuel consumption. Interesting.

Noel

[Eugen]

Thanks Noel, indeed I've come across all those reports about the valve seat problems. So, aluminum head with steel valve seat inserts. People say that if the head's damaged, bye bye engine, as those heads can't be found.

Not sure what to say about the fuel consumption, you know how it is, you want more power, you pay more.

[propane1]

Not always the case Eugen. Sometimes a higher hp engine will give better fuel consumption. Because it does not have to work so hard.


Noel

[myerslawnandgarden]

I've worked on a few, not one of Kohler's more successful designs. Economy (Power King) used them as well as Ariens.

Bob

[DavidBarkey]

I've worked on a few, not one of Kohler's more successful designs. Economy (Power King) used them as well as Ariens.

Bob

Bob, What would say was there biggest design flaws ? Everything is OHV these days .

[myerslawnandgarden]

Dave,

It's been years, but as I remember both the valve guides and seats commonly came loose in the aluminum heads. I know there were several service bulletins published regarding the subject which I probably have on microfiche. I'll take a look and supply any additional information that I can. The block itself was the usual bullet proof Kohler cast iron.

Bob

[DavidBarkey]

Dave,

It's been years, but as I remember both the valve guides and seats commonly came loose in the aluminum heads. I know there were several service bulletins published regarding the subject which I probably have on microfiche. I'll take a look and supply any additional information that I can. The block itself was the usual bullet proof Kohler cast iron.

Bob

Thanks Bob , Don't go out of your way . I was more curiosity .