B&Stratton Cam Mystery..looks Good but didn't work

[hlw49]

These old Dixie Choppers never sease to amaze me. Just worked on two that one an '02 model guy spent over $2000.00 on. Another one '04 model spent over $1000.00 on and were happy to get them fixed. They still have some of the orignal idlers on. These are commercial mowers used daily. Have no idea how many hours they have on them since orignal hour meters died a long time ago. i have worked on both of these mowers myself for just over 15 years. Hsve another one guy just put a new Brigg 36 HP Vanguard on it for just over $4000.00. These guys love their old Dixie Choppers.

 

[Forest#2]

I've seen similar valve lift issues and the cam appear ok to the eyeballing.
What I started doing is set the valve lash at very minimum .003 and leave the plug wire off or ground the kill wire. If compression is still too much for electric crank through I just inset .002 feeler gauge to take the valve lash to .001. If still won't crank and I know the electrical system is good I then quickly know no need in trying to adjust valve lash.
I've seen all kinds of compression release issues with those Briggs engines,
Worn lift pins, cam lobes worn out to where could get a compression release but the valve lift when running was not enough, broken stuff. Sometimes have to set the valve last below minimum (.0015 -.002) even with a replacement cam to get good crank through.