Recent content by Hammermechanicman

I buy seafoam by the gallon can. I do a bit of work on older tractors for folks and seafoam in the oil and gas does wonders for old engines. Never had one blow up, catch fire, seize, sctratch the cylinders, or become demon possessed. If you follow any of the tractor forums seafoam gets a lot...

Had a 12.5 HP briggs powered rider with a locked up engine. The area under the shroud was completely filled with acorns locking up the flywheel.

I have done head on and off and both ways seem to work. Or just wrap a piece of 14ga solid copper wire around the threads of the plug and just crank it into the head.

Here we go!? Back in the old days of cast iron cylinder heads and blued steel spark plugs you had issues with plugs literally rusting and seizing. Especially the taper seat plugs used in some ford engines. Fast forward to aluminum heads and spark plugs with plated threads. Rusting not an issue...

What is the spark plug gapped at?

There is nothing fishy about it. Some tanks are literally even with the top of the carb the pressure head is almost zero. All fluids have some sort of surface tension. Gasoline is very low compared to water From the petroleum institute of America "The surface tension of water is approximately...

I need to do go get a couple more cases of beer. I'll get back to you tororrow.

I like Steve's videos but he needs to sober up and study up on fuel filters and fluids.??‍♂️

Cover the tap with grease and press hard as you turn it in. It should start cutting in the new thread. You want to apply a lot of pressure to get it to "bite in" and start cutting the thread. When you back it out most of the chips ahould be caught in the grease. Any small chips usually blow out...

More importantly, what type of plug hole repair kit are you using? Pic? Pic of plug hole?

Grey smoke is probably oil and not from overly rich mixture. I would look into an oil consumption issue. Rings, valves, breather, head gasket. Throttling down the enginw will not hurt it.

. It is lugging and puffing some smoke What color is the smoke?

A mower charging system is different than a boat motor. Long term high current draw can burnout a stator. The system is designed to charge a slightly discharged 300cca battery. Not a large high draw deep cycle battery.

It uses a mechanical pump powered by an eccentric in the engine.

Well...... yes i have as a matter of fact and due to a slight miscalculation resulting in a sizeable loss of hair on my arm and the back of my head i have purchased an air blast tire bead seater. $100 very well spent!

The mower charging system and battery will not power the winch and may damage the ststor and regulator. I would install a high output deep cycle battery and isolate it from the mower. Use a separate deep cycle charger for it.

I have used starting fluid, ether, for 40 years working on small engines. Probably used 20 to 30 cans of it. Never blown one up or seized one. The one place i won't use it is a diesel engine. If somebody put enough in a truck engine to blow the oil pan off i wouldn't let them work on a...

Have you changed the spark plug?

Mowers are not designed for this. It's imperative that ALL the mud is removed and that a thorough inspection is done. You meam the customers with the 20 year old JD ZTR shouldn't use it as a bushhog or to keep trails clear in his woods? I see it a few timeas a year and you darn near can't tell...

This all sounds like a simple carb problem. Throttling the engine back probably has it transitioning from the high speed jet to the low speed circuit which is probably clogged. The battery would keep the fuel pump working even at low rpm and 4 psi should not over power the needle and seat.

Are you 100% sure you got the cam timing correct? Valve lash set correctly?

When you say "kill off below 1/3 throttle" does it start blowing black out rhe exhault? Does applying partial choke keep it running?

https://www.amazon.com/Electric-Universal-Pressure-Transfer-Carburetor/dp/B08PY7V2MM/ref=asc_df_B08PY7V2MM/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=505275470316&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=178709920143065500&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=200510&hvtargid=pla-1196911746648&psc=1

I use the pop can method. Cut a strip of pop can. Wrap it around the crank and tape the edge.

People watch this and then go out and put a filter on thay MAY or MAY NOT work. Depending on the height of tank above the carb and the micron size of the paper element things might not work properly.

Probably tens of millions push mowers came with no type of fuel filter. When equipment started having fuel pumps it was easy to add a filter. The original filters were there because metal tanks were prone to rusting. With the switch to plastic tanks rust isn't much of a problem but filters don't...

I guess i need to get plug up them big holes i put in a few chainsaw muffkins

I do a lot of same day service but i don't stock a large inventory of parts so i don't get a lot of the commercial guys. There is a shop that stocks a large inventory and does quick turnaround for commercial guys but they charge 3 times the hourly rate of me. They rape the commercial guys but...

Plug a drill in and start the engine and twist the chuck by hand and see if the drill takes off. It flashes the generator.

And i love the folks who buy a used mower and feel it comes with a lifetime warranty.

I run a small one man mower shop. I quit flipping mowers. Most folks won't pay more than 3 or 4 hundred for a used rider. By the time i figure parts and labor to make it reliable enough to sell i am always over what i can sell it for. If you want to do it as a non-profit hobby for the enjoyment...

Does engine have a fuel pump or gravity fed system? You say "drawing the fuel filter dry". Have you tried just removing the filter and see how it runs?

The stens paper filter seems to work ok with gravity systems but i fit the red screen filters on customer machines just to be sure. Every year i get a couple mowers in where cust wanted a better filter and installed a paper one and then have fuel flow problems.

Common issue on gravity systems is wrong fuel filter. Many paper type filters have small enough pores that the fuel surface tension causes fuel to stop flowing at a certain level in the tank. Also, a fuel line that ruses up higher than the bottom of the tank will cause fuel flow to stop at the...

Is it a gravity fuel system or does it have a fuel pump?

Ever been on a FOD walk?

Sounds like my GMC Terrain from a couple years ago where the radio went ape sh!+ and the car would lock you out randomly, nav would go nuts, and the radio lock up. New radio under warranty fixed it. Would have been over $1000 if i had to pay for it.

I have gator style blades in my 61" ferris. I side discharge. Cut is as good as the factory blades. The clippings are finer than the stock blades. They have the fusion edge and stay sharper much longer than the stock marbain blades. I have not tried to much with them.

I have had a couple folks call me about working on EFI engines with running problems and i told them the $40/hr guy doesn't have the equipment to troubleshoot it and they will need to take it to the $100/hr dealer. Someday the return on investment to buy the equipment needed to work on them may...

Definitely sucked in some junk. It'll probably buff out?

I used to have a ST-16. There are differences depending on the engine and year made. Bolens specific parts will probably be hard to find as old as it is. Not sure where you can find a manual.

You talking about a Locke reel mower? In the barn i have a 1957 Locke triplex mower.

Most any good welding shop should be able to TIG it back on and redrill the hole. May cost upwards of $100 depending on the shop.

Wilbur?

Meaure battery voltage with mower off. Start mower and run at full throttle and measure voltage at battery. Measure battery voltage with mower at full speed and blades engaged. These tests will give us a place to start troubleshooting.

Either the rod is broken or the rod cap bolts have backed out. You will need to open the engine to find out. Not good.

The burned red wire looks to have been spliced into a black wire. If the wire smoked when you turned the key to engage the starter then the ground from the battery to the engine is bad.

The black wire from the battery is it going to the + or the - terminal of the battery? Thick or thin wire and what kind of terminal on the end?

I don't have the ferris but i had a yazoo HTPOK which is a very similar mower and wheel spin was difinately an issue. Many times had to lift the deck to put weight on the drive wheels. Did not do well on slopes.

*jealous*

No the big wire from the battery positive goes to the other big terminal on the solenoid. Not the one that has a wire going into the starter. The wire with the fuse also goes to the big terminal on the solenoid with the wire from the battery.

1975 184 LoBoy has probably 3000 to 4000 hours on it. The the 3100Z Ferris has 425 hours. The the Lawn Boy S21ZPM have no idea hours but has been used continuously for 30 years.

Your starter has an integral solenoid on the starter. The large wire from the battery positive goes to the large stud on the solenoid (smaller round thing on top of the big round starter). It does not go to a starter mounting bolt. The same terminal on the the solenoid should have a blue wire...

I hear you need a spark arrestor on a battery powered chainsaw in California.

Buyer: why is the muffler glowing? Seller: that is just the catalytic converter and the glowing is normal. It meets california emissions. Buyer: OK, thanks. Seller: no problem bud.

Not really. I see stihl trimmers and blowers all the time running E free gas with the HP ultra oil at 50:1 with clogged arrestor screens all the time.