The original engine was an 18 HP CCK Onan engine. We repowered this tractor at our shop with a 23 HP Horizontal shaft Vanguard engine. The owner could also have used either the 18 or 23 Horse power Vanguard engine for this repower.
This is an older garden tractor built in the late 70's. The customer brought this Simplicity in for a replacement engine. The engine was tired out and we are repowering it with a 23 HP Vanguard that will give it power to spare. The Vanguard engine is lighter in weight than the old Onan, and of course it has more horse power.
With the decrease in engine weight, while driving the tractor you feel almost as though it has power steering.
This tractor has a 3 speed rear end plus a hydrostatic transmission. With a set up like this you can come up with any speed or power you want. It also has a front PTO and a live rear PTO.
The 3 point hitch allows you to do about anything with this tractor. If you wanted to buy a new garden tractor of the same size and quality, you could easily spend up to $18,000. Spending $2300 to get this repower job done is pretty small pocket change compared to the cost of a new garden or compact tractor. Considering a repower project of your own? Give us a call: 1-800-618-8738 or e-mail jim@jimsrepairjimstractors.comAsk for Jim, he'll help you decide if you want to "do it yourself" or have us do the repower here at our shop.
Repower Simplicity - Questions and Answers:
Q: I am thinking about re-powering my AC 716 which is the same as the Simplicity 7016 garden tractor. Currently it has a Kohler K341 16 hp (original) engine in it.
A few questions:
What do you recommend for a replacement engine for horsepower? 18, 20 23 hp? Is there a kit available to adapt the engine to this tractor? If there is no kit what modifications will I be looking at? What about the electrical connections, how much conversion will I have to do?
Is there a flywheel side adapter for the Vanguard that will mate up with the existing driveshaft? The bevel gearbox is driven off the flywheel side with a fiberglass flex disk connecting the drive shaft at each end.
Is there an electric clutch available for the shaft side of the engine? I drive the snow blower from this clutch and it is worn out.
Is there anything not included in a kit (muffler etc) that will be needed?
A: The engine to put in is the V-Twin overhead valve 18 horsepower engine. This engine is actually underrated and is putting out a short 20 horsepower. This will have much more power than your old Kohler engine and the engine weighs 40 to 60 lbs less than the old one. When you take this kind of weight off your front end and then drive the tractor you will think you have power steering. We have also put together an installation kit that includes, throttle cable, choke cable, oil filter plate, stub shaft kit, oil filter auxiliary kit, muffler, exhaust manifold, relay kit, and other items. We also have another kit that will convert the front of the engine to an electric PTO clutch. The nice thing about my installation program is that you get into the job and if you run into a problem just give me a call on my toll free number and I can talk you through most any problem that might occur.
I found the video below that Colin recorded and added a lot of detail while doing his repower of his Simplicity 7117:
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