Recent content by cpurvis

On swing cylinders, I suspect that the top of one cylinder is connected to the bottom of the other because you're pushing with one and pulling with the other.

During power outages, it doesn't matter how close you are to a gas station--it's too late to get gas.

A very abrupt stop of the engine. There may be more damage than what you see in the photo.

Try welding it first. You can always resort to Plan B if that doesn't work. Have your welder strengthen it with a gusset.

It's possible to put in too much gas. Try a new spark plug.

It looks as if you've been mowing soupy mud. Mowers don't like that. If you want your mower to last a long time, the less of that you do, the higher your chances will be for a long-lived mower.

Diesels need two things to run--enough compression to heat air above the ignition point of diesel fuel and a correctly timed injection of fuel. Barring an internal mechanical failure of valves, pistons, etc., compression will not be an issue, especially to an engine that was already running...

It's a 2-cycle. I've got one just like it. I wish they were still made.

Finding TDC is completely unnecessary and from the description given by the OP, that's exactly what he did--he found TDC, except it was the wrong one.

Get something with a horizontal shaft engine. They'll live longer, especially if operated on slopes.

I would take that article with a grain of salt. For instance: "Diesel mower saves 700 gallons of fuel every day, and it saves money for the long term. " and "Cummins engines have a displacement of 2.8 to 95 liters. " 700 gallons saved per day? It must be the 95 liter engine.

I'm not. I never got the A&P or IA (inspector) license a real aircraft mechanic is required to have. I did a lot of work on airplanes, both other people's and my own, but all my work had to be inspected and signed off by an A&P or IA. That was during college and once I graduated, I moved...

When I was in college, I worked PT for a guy who owned a fleet of WWII bombers, patrol planes, and freighters (Douglas A/B-26, Lockheed PV-2, R5D, and Douglas DC-7) used as air tankers. Most had either the P&W R2800 or R2000; the -7's had R3350's. IIRC, the bottom cylinders used dual wire...

Must've had an impulse coupling.

For some companies, there's good money in going broke. The virus is a convenient excuse. I was unaware that it stunted the growth of grass.

Grounding the plug and looking for spark is more of a verification that the ignition system is working.. There are a lot of pure garbage videos on youtube. In most cases, you have to already know what you're doing to be able recognize garbage when you see it.

Are you engaging the mower at one of the extremes of its cutting height? If so, find the height where the pulleys are as close as they get to being in the same plane and engage the mower there, then raise or lower it to the cutting height you want..

A friend's Kawasaki-powered Gravely did the same thing. It was a bent pushrod. The engine was only running on one cylinder.

EOIC (Exhaust Opening, Intake Closing) Method of Adjusting Solid Lifter Valve Clearances 1. Remove the valve cover(s). 2. Identify the intake and exhaust valves. You have to know which is which. 3..Determine which direction the crankshaft turns when the engine is running. You do not have...

If you know how fast the mower travels and how fast the blades spin, you can figure out the 'advance ratio' aka how far the mower advances for each half revolution of the blade. I'm betting it will be less than the sharpened portion of your blades. For instance, a blade spinning 3600 rpm on a...

If you itemize your taxes, you can donate the mower to a charity and deduct that amount from your income. They typically are pretty generous on the declared value.

Did it do this before you adjusted the valves?

Make sure you turned off the mower PTO switch if it has one.

If the idle speed screw is not touching its stop, there is a problem in the linkage. Maybe missing a spring or hooked up incorrectly?

I have not noticed being locked out of anything.

I only use E0 in small engines, not vehicles. If any of the vehicles were seldom used, it would get E0 as well. I've never said it's cheaper to run from a direct operating cost standpoint. But if it weren't for subsidies, it would cost more and if they ever remove the subsidies from ethanol...

bert, rivets, hammer et al--I understand the frustration. I run Firefox 77.0.1 64-bit. I assume this is the latest version because it updates itself. I also run Adblock Plus. Right now, it's showing 19 things being blocked. The time between banners varies a lot. This morning, I haven't...

Advertising is the root of all evil.