L3600 engine rebuild

[emac]

My L3600 with 1K hours sucked in a ton of dust when the aftermarket air cleaner ripped. Now I have tons of blow by. Starts and runs ok, just tons of smoke coming out of the crankcase vent. It has become progressively worse over the last year. I considered a couple of options and have decided to pull the motor and rebuild it.

I have split a tractor before, but never pulled the motor. From the manual, it doesn't look too bad. I am looking for some pointers on rebuild kits or doing the wrenching. I plan on taking it to a machine shop, once torn down, to check and place liners/pistons. This is my around the house tractor and does everything I need it to, so rebuilding just gets me back. Thanks in advance!

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

There are no sleeves in that engine, you can do oversized pistons and rings.

 

[emac]

There are no sleeves in that engine, you can do oversized pistons and rings.

Thanks, I just assumed it did based on kits I saw online. I havent checked the actual numbers on the motor. Any suggestions for brand of kit? Should I stick with OE?

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

You have to be very careful with online kits as most will not be for your specific engine.
You already found out what bad / cheap aftermarket parts can do to an engine.

You need to get the engine out and measure cylinders, you might just need it honed and install new pistons and rings.
If not get it into a machine shop to know what size oversized pistons and rings are needed.
Give them possible sizes based on the available pistons and rings.
Just a quick look looks like the only available oversize is .50mm

Considering the few parts you'll need I would look at OEM parts first.
A must is OEM head gasket!
I don't have a specific aftermarket place I buy parts, Kumar Bros is pretty consistent with their part offerings.
I prefer OEM if it's affordable and available.