Export thread

I've got an ancient Troy-bilt 34020 mulching mower, engine 122702-3182-01. It wasn't running well, so I took it apart and found this spring floating around the carb area, not attached to anything. No amount of Googling has turned up any help on how or where to reattach it. I have learned that its current part # is 690354. Obviously(I think), one end hooks onto the top of the choke, but there's no place I can see to hook the other end! I can find it on various parts lists but I can't find it on any diagrams. I know I should just buy a new mower, but I've had this one since 1996! My then-boss actually gave it to me as a bonus. Any help would be very much appreciated!

See if this sire will answer your question. Look at the last pic or the green Rover. https://www.justanswer.com/small-engine/aka8j-need-know-choke-return-spring-quantum.html

Not sure about your particular engine... but a rod or linkage (possibly associated with the throttle) should push the choke to the ON position, and the spring is usually there to insure that the choke butterfly returns to the OFF position when the linkage retracts.

Failing all other efforts, you can buy a generic throttle control lever/cable assy and control the choke that way.

PS. that thing deserves a bath, don't you think ?

Thanks Rivets, I was able to figure out from the pic where to attach the other end, even though that wasn't shown in the pic. There were 2 possible attachment points in that area and the one that looked most likely worked. The odd thing is that the lever part that closes the choke(it's hidden under the yellow squiggle in the pic) was bent so the choke didn't close until I fooled around with it and got it bent back to more or less the right position. It's a pretty solid piece of metal, and it's normally in a protected place under the air filter, so I can't imagine how it got bent, but whatever did that was probably the same event that knocked the spring off. In the course of doing all this I also found that the gas line was falling apart and leaking(damn thing only lasted 25 years ) so that probably contributed to the running poorly as well. Thanks very much to all who helped!