I am replacing the connecting rod with 36898A. When I compared the new part with the old rod, the bolts are much smaller. When I torqued the bolts to 210 inch lbs, one of the bolts broke. The other bolt was stretched. The old part number was 35330A but it is superseded by 36898A. Should the torque be lower on the smaller bolts?

Larry

 

Yes, they should be torqued differently. I should have the info but I'll have to do some digging and find my tecumseh books.

 

I dug up the Tecumseh binder, it only says 210 inch lbs for the TVXL220. It doesn't give any option for the rod with smaller bolts. The publication is copyrighted in 1998. I checked two other publications and one was the same, the other mentioned "Durlock" rod bolts. Durlock rod bolts have little ribs on the underside of the flange where it tightens against the aluminum rod. The book says to tighten those to 120 inch lbs, but doesn't mention any TVXL engines at all, so it may be an earlier publication from before that engine was introduced. Looking at the rod, it does look like durlock bolts.

I even looked to see what other engines this rod fits, one of which is the OVXL120. I checked the rod bolt torque for that one, same thing. Sorry, seems like either they should be torqued to 210, or the rod has changed in more recent years and my books are too old to reflect that.

 

I checked with a part distributor about the different part numbers for the
Tecumseh engine. His books show a lower torque of 170 inch lbs for the
smaller bolts on the newer connecting rod. That should work better than the
210 inch lbs.

Larry

 

Good, glad you found the info!