TM Upgrade/Rebuild

With a seriously aging TM, it's time to get to work!........it's actually been time for awhile.  My machine is an "Eagle 36" which is almost an exact copy of a Steam Genie, both manufactured here in So. CA. And both now out of business!   

I bought it new in '93, and now with a lil over 9400 hrs on the clock it's time for some serious work!   



Some history.......I've replaced the LG heater once (several years ago), and just upgraded the pump from a Hypro to a Cat. The blower is a Roots 36, and still working great and original.  The engine an Onan 20HP, and has been amazing in the fact it's last this long. It's still running fairly well but I can't expect that for much longer, and so that's what's prompted this upgrade, replacing the engine.



But now it's turned into what ill turn out to be a major refurb.   .......beats spending 20k on new TM, since I have the ability to rebuild this one and likely to cost 2k or so.   

I would have preferred to replace the engine with a new Onan, which would have been a quick and easy job. But they no longer produce new Onan's. So I decided to upgraded to a new Kohler CH730 Command Pro 25HP, which I bought a little over a month ago.  But just last weekend was finally to get started with this project with things slowing down a bit.

I finally took the Onan out of the frame last weekend and was able to test fit the Kohler, to start figuring out what need to be done to make the new engine fit.  The first thing I noticed was the crank/output shaft was way too long........so it needed to be cut off 2" on this new $1600 engine!!   

Luckily I have a good friend who is co-owner of a local sewer lining reconstruction biz, and since they are basically the pioneers in this field they have had to build almost all their own equipment to do jobs, and have have a full machine shop....so I have access to this.  

OK, so enuf talking/typing for now lets get on with it!!!   

Yesterday I cut 2" off the crank shaft.

OK, so today, my friend Gary and I made this spacer plate to compensate for the Kohler having a 1/2" lower shaft height than the Onan..........came out nice except for my error in measuring resulting in the 2 oblonged holes.   



Sitting on the frame......


While he was milling the spacer place I made this aluminum exhaust heat shield to protect the water box from muffler heat.

And also, we welded a 90 deg. on the muffler to connect to exhaust pipe exiting van...

Tomorrow which is now today lol, I will start installing the new Kohler to be back to work on Monday hopefully.

I'm also planning several other upgrades as part of this deal too.......including running Exhaust threw van floor to secondary muffler to quiet it down, several other little things, and eventually complete removal of the TM to have frame sand blasted & 'Line-X' coated, but not until all other work is complete.

I have also bought a new Tiny Tach Commercial ver. which besides is the usually hr meter/RPM gauge, has 2 built in service timers, a job timer, and max RPM recall.



I'll also be installing this remote on/off system for the pump clutch. Which will be handy to shut off pump when from inside the job when I'll have some time when it'll not be in use to keep from over heating.   

Looking good Davey. Do you have any plans to upgrade the #36 blower to a #45 since you bought a larger engine?

Yes and no, Larry.  

Yes eventually I'd like to go with a 45 and is the main reason I went with more HP.
And no because that's going to be down the road when I come across a good deal on one, and isn't part of the planned work I'm doing now.  

Looks great man. That's the way to do it just keep putting in new components.

Looks good Davey. I admire you guys that do this stuff. I on the other hand look to replace. I'd like to pick that TNT in the classified up to replace my 421. That's more my speed on rebuilds. Lol

Good work. I'm sure you get to learn a lot while doing it. Have fun. Got the chk btw. Thanks.

Thanks guys, I was beginning to think no one had any interest in this type of thing.   

It's too much work to document and post if there's no interest, so I wonder if I should continue to take pics and post as I go threw the process?

Would you like to see/read about it as I go along?
 

Ryan S wrote:Looks good Davey. I admire you guys that do this stuff

Ryan, part of having the confidence and know-how to do this type of thing comes from seeing others do and reading about it.....I'm thinking that's what got Mo going on his project, but I could be wrong??   

Love to see refurbs...best bang for your money every time. My Butler is over 9k hours and it might see a few upgrades soon....the only question will be if it will be my choice or not.

keep the updates coming...

Davey Cracker wrote:

Ryan S wrote:Looks good Davey. I admire you guys that do this stuff

Ryan, part of having the confidence and know-how to do this type of thing comes from seeing others do and reading about it.....I'm thinking that's what got Mo going on his project, but I could be wrong??   

You just answered your question.   

Davey Cracker wrote:Thanks guys, I was beginning to think no one had any interest in this type of thing.   

It's too much work to document and post if there's no interest, so I wonder if I should continue to take pics and post as I go threw the process?

Would you like to see/read about it as I go along?
 

Always like to see someone undertake this Davey. I have 2 Prochem machines torn apart to make one and all I can say at the moment is that these are over complicated machines. I'm going to have to cut, weld and refabricate. Too many sensors and unnecessary BS on the machine and not to mention when you have to work on it there is no room. Buy a Judson and be done with it.

Judson has a project blue book ever watched the videos? YouTube username vacuum123

No I haven't seen it Ryan but always have been an admirer of the Judson system. Simple yet effective.

Les turns those complicated HX sensor and wire filled designs to a simple stripped down LP engine, blower, and pump system. Pretty interesting. I believe it's three part. Great deliverers.

I like the pic/post keep them coming. It's fun to watch someone else doing the out of the box engineering. Remember K.I.S.S.

Are you kidding me Dave. Please document the process it will help so many people that are contemplating doing their own rebuild. And bye the way that machine has been good to you.

I really like that remote shut off for the pump clutch

Sorry I've been MIA without updates, but I have a good reason.   ..............


After pulling out my my old engine out of my TM Friday I had plans of having new engine installed and running by Sunday night, things didn't go according to plan and after an almost unproductive weekend due to an unexpected visit by my daughter, I was still without an engine Sunday night. I figured no biggie, I can get this done Monday being I had no work.......

So I get started Monday morning, and it's one unexpected problem and thing to due one after another all day long. Late afternoon I get a call for a Flood/water loss job, and tell the customer "I'll be over about noon tomorrow (Tuesday)". So now I've got some real motivation, a flood job and and engine-less TM, makes it hard to extract water!!   

It gets dark, I'm finally ready to set engine on the frame and mark and drill the new motor mount holes so I can actually drill and bolt it down, but It's still one thing after another, Midnight, 1am, 2am, 3. Finally 4am and I'm finally ready to fire it up for the first time, oh the neighbors are going to love this!!.......their bed room windows are about 10-12 feet literally from my driveway where my van is sitting. It starts up in about 3-4 seconds of cranking, WOOOOOHOOOO. I can work in the morning, but wait it's already morning, 4:30am! haha Then I remember I still haven't wired up the gauges or pump clutch, then I remember it's just a flood and I really don't need the pump, I just need to extract for now, and who needs gauges.  :geek: 

I finally get to sleep I think about 6am, I"m awaken by the customer blowing up my phone about 10am, so I start cleaning out all the tools from van and loading up drying equip. I get there just before noon, and the left key under mat won't open the door, wrong key!!    I call the owner of the building, no answer, left VM, over an over an over, 2pm she finally calls back and heading over with working Key!   As sucky as the waiting seemed, it gave me the chance to hook up the throttle and choke cable and a couple other little things while I waited around. Worked dragging A$$ till 7pm, and finally called it quits without being finished today, I'll go back tomorrow afternoon to finish Emergency Service.

Ok well I guess I better get some sleep, I kinda tired at this point.   

I'll update this thread asap with some pics and install info.............

Ok so I'm still alive, barley!!   

After spending the last couple days working my A$$ off on a flood loss/dry out job I finally got my pump/electrical wired to new Kohler engine and did my 1st cleaning job today.......the last couple days just extraction.

This thread update stuff has not quiet worked out the way I thought it would due to being so busy and it taking much longer to get it running than I thought.

But here's a few pics I took over the last few days...........

New hour gauge installed......starting the clock at 0 for new engine. .


Wiring mess, trying to clean up and remove old wiring to make room for the new..


Finally installed a grease drain system and should be the last time I have to clean up that blower grease !  I had an idea to do this a long time ago, and recently saw it on another forum, and finally did it. It's simple, remove 1/8' pipe thread grease drain fittings, and replace with 1/8" barbed fittings so you can connect tubing and run into catch container of your choice.....no more greasy mess!!  

Installed 18" engine oil drain hose, so make oil changes easy..


New control cables installed......twist lock for throttle.


Almost ready to install, Rust will be dealt with after all is up and running well, with a complete disassemble to powder coat and Line-X....



Installed.

Weren't you the guy who couldn't even post pictures awhile back.
Looks like you really have been busy. Looks good too.

Nice work  

Looking good

Looks like you have been working hard and need a holiday!

I also admire you guys that can do this type of thing. Impressive. Keep the updates coming. Thank you.