Kohler engine hard to turn over.

[closecut]

I have a Husky mower with a Kohler 27hp upgraded motor that had the solid state ignition: (DSAI I think it was).
It gave lots of trouble,so I installed an upgrade,which is the old magneto type ignition.It runs good once started,but it is very hard to turn over.New battery fully charged,tight connections on Plus and Ground,good clean cables.New starter solenoid.
It turned over fine with the DSAI ignition.It sounds like timeing is too high,but there is no adjustment on timing,is there?
All I can think of is to drill the magneto holes oversize and move the magneto coil in the direction of the rotation to reduce timing.
Thanks in advance for all help on this matter.

 

[Rivets]

Before you start changing timing, which I doubt is your problem, I would be removing the valve cover and check the valve clearance. You can google (Kohler engine repair manual) and find a service manual which will tell you how to adjust the valve clearance.

 

[Tbone0106]

Valve clearance for sure is your first stop. If your clearance is too large, even by a couple thousandths, the symptoms will perfectly mimic an engine that has its ignition timing too far advanced.

You are correct that there is no timing adjustment. The correct timing is achieved when the flywheel is installed on the top crankshaft taper. There is a keyway cut into both the flywheel and the shaft, and an alignment key, often made of soft aluminum, is used to align those keyways to one another EXACTLY. I have seen cases where the flywheel was not installed correctly (insufficiently torqued) which allowed the flywheel to shift enough to partly or completely shear the key, thus ruining the timing. Always remember that key is NOT designed to prevent the flywheel from turning on the shaft; it for alignment ONLY. The correct torque on the flywheel nut is essential to bring the tapered shaft and the flywheel to the point where the flywheel can't shift under normal operation.

 

[Bertrrr]

Timing being off would keep it from running at all , might backfire on you while trying to start though, Can't see any way this could cause it to not turn over good though, Pull the plugs and see if it turns over good then go from there, if it does not turn over easy with NO compression , something is either dragging or you have a bad starter.

 

[StarTech]

First you need to post engine's model, spec, and serial numbers. Also post the PN of the coils you used the replace the original coils. From there we can look-up you engine so we have a starting point.
Otherwise it is just plain guess work and you will get a lot wrong answers.