New to me 919 Hydro

Got a call from a friend that asked if I wanted a 919 Hydro, Hydraulic lift, 48” deck. Said it was going to the scrap yard if I didn’t want it. Well, sadly it has set outside under a tarp for a few years. He didn’t know why his dad parked it so I had no history. Needs a pressure washing but the sheet metal and paint is in good shape as far as I can tell. As I looked at in the shop this morning before I dove into it, my thought was if it’s not salvageable I will take the hydraulic lift off of it and put it on my 917. And the mower deck is in good shape so a spare deck. This is looking pretty good so far. But, I really want to see if I can get it running.
Didn’t take long to find out the engine appeared to be stuck, I couldn’t rotate the crankshaft by hand. Ughhhh. So, I pulled the engine. Started removing the tins and digging out the massive mouse nest in the rear shroud. I couldn’t believe it, looked down and there was a small bolt between the flywheel and the bendix gear. The starter was engaged and full of corrosion from the mice nest. Finished pulling the tins off and cleaning up the crap that ultimately completely eat the bottom of the shroud out. I removed the small bolt, which ended up being one of the points cover bolts, I was able to back the starter out of the flywheel. Now the engine will turn over by hand with the spark plugs out. Will pull the heads off tomorrow to get a look at the cylinders. I’m hoping my luck continues. Also freed up the steering which was a bear to turn. A 45 minute task that works well now.


Edited by AC720Man - 21 Nov 2023 at 9:00pm

It has potential Mike. Removed the heads and the cylinders look good. Not rust, and very little oil laying in the cylinders even though it’s been sitting for a few years. I did run into an issue today. Even though it was under a tarp for the past 3 years, water found its way into the tank via a cracked fuel gauge. So I’m in need of a carb and fuel pump. Also a rear shroud that is eat up of rust in the bottom.

Well, I drug home three of those Red Cubs yesterday. A 682, 782, and a 982. Also a 38&50 C mower decks, 2B tiller, one front blade, and a Haban snow thrower on the 982. Oh, and a small IH wagon, never seen one like it.

Darn it’s hard to read. Sorry

Spent most of the day on the 919H. Had to replace both tubes in the front tires so I cleaned and repacked the front wheel bearings while they were off. Spent most of the time on the deck getting it ready to mow. Greased the arbors, sharpened the blades, disassembled and lubricated the idler pulley pivot. Replaced the deck belt and installed the safety shields. Mounted the deck to the tractor and noticed the deck was way out of adjustment. It took awhile to lubricate all adjustment points and free them up. Once freed up it was a matter of setting up the deck from scratch since I had to unscrew and lubricate each part. Had to unhook the deck 3 times to make adjustments in order to get the blade height correct. Installed a new pto belt and adjusted idler pulley. Test mow around the yard proved it should be good to go. A few hours of mowing will be the real test. She is not pretty, but very sound mechanically. The KT19 ran well so I’m looking forward to it’s real test in a few days.

Those KT series engines are notorious for oiling issues resulting in broken rods (usually the left) and sometimes the crank shaft. The series 1 was worse than the series 2 but they both have the issue. I would consider an upgrade to an 18 or 20hp Magnum, if you can find one.

sounds like an engine investment would pay if all else is good in it!

Well guys, I got to thinking about this after being bummed out. My other 917 has never gave me issues other than leaking pto seals last year. I pulled the engine over the winter and replaced those. Its a series II also. With that being said, I began to think about it. I was told the engine had been rebuilt and had low hours on it. So, maybe the rebuilder did something wrong? I pulled the heads off to check things out in the beginning, I could still see the hone scratches. The one thing that I didn't replace when I put the flywheel on is the key. It appeared to be in good shape. Could I get that lucky? We will see when ever I get time this fall to pull the engine to investigate.