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I recently got what I thought was a deal on a Craftsman Heavy Duty rear tine tiller off of Craig's List. It ws listed as "needing servicing." The history I got from the seller was that it was working fine the last time it was used, but would not start this season. I also learned the it sat unused for about 3 years. Long story short, I first narrowed the problem down to compression and pulled the cylinder head to find a stuck intake valve. Managed to get that sorted, but could only get engine to start by priming carburator and only for a few seconds. Moved on to remove carburator for a good cleaning. When I got the carburator off the fuel tank I discovered that the metal fixture just inside the tank where the carb attached was totally corroded. It literally disintegrated when touched with the end of a screw driver. I obviously concluded that I would need to lay my hands on a replacement fuel tank. The problem is that as I search online I am finding that the original tank (490554) is no longer manufactured and the recommended replacement (694315) runs around $100.00, which is what I paid for the tiller. I am trying to be reasonable and fair to my budget and would not even own a tiller now if it had not been so cheap. Does anyone know of an alternative way to get this fuel tank issue resolved? Is there possibly another tank assembly that I could rig to work? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Call around to your local mower repair shops. They may have an old engine in the boneyard that you can get cheap for the fuel tank. that 13 series engine used to be fairly common, but are getting less and less frequent.

Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, no luck yet. Either places have recently purged their boneyard inventory or I am hearing that these tanks disappear as fast as they arrive. I am now wondering if I can make existing tank work. The only real damage is to the metal bowl inside the tank that the carburetor sits on top of. Can anyone tell me what the function of this piece is and can I do without it? Really need to find a way to get around dropping another hundred bucks into this thing.

This the one? Seems the carb is attached to the tank from what I can see. That might explain the high cost.

http://www.jackssmallengines.com/jacks-parts-lookup/part/briggs-stratton/694315

Tom

dadmanmft said:

Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, no luck yet. Either places have recently purged their boneyard inventory or I am hearing that these tanks disappear as fast as they arrive. I am now wondering if I can make existing tank work. The only real damage is to the metal bowl inside the tank that the carburetor sits on top of. Can anyone tell me what the function of this piece is and can I do without it? Really need to find a way to get around dropping another hundred bucks into this thing.

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The fuel well is their because the air rushing through the carb venturi only create enough of a low pressure area for the fuel to be pushed up by the atmospheric pressure about 1.5 inches.

Pumper54 said:

This the one? Seems the carb is attached to the tank from what I can see. That might explain the high cost.

http://www.jackssmallengines.com/jacks-parts-lookup/part/briggs-stratton/694315

Tom

Click to expand...

Right, Tom. That is the genuine item. Alas, that is not the carburetor attached. What you see is the fancy bracket that holds the kill switch and linkage to the governor system, I suspect that and low availability are what accounts for the priciness.

ILENGINE said:

The fuel well is their because the air rushing through the carb venturi only create enough of a low pressure area for the fuel to be pushed up by the atmospheric pressure about 1.5 inches.

Click to expand...

Sorry for my small engine ignoance here, but I guess that means not enough pressure = engine does not run. I am I right?

dadmanmft said:

Sorry for my small engine ignoance here, but I guess that means not enough pressure = engine does not run. I am I right?

Click to expand...

The fuel can't be lifted more than 1.5 inches by the vacuum created in the center of the carb by the intake stroke. So the diaphragm pumps to fuel from the deep tank into that little well where air flow takes over to draw the fuel into the engine.

The further the fuel is lifted, the more effort is needed or simply you have to suck harder to get the same amount of fuel per second .
This means that as the fuel level dropped in the tank the carb will run leaner.
So that little well is equivalent to a float bowl on a standard carb except it remains at a constant height by overflowing back into the bottom of the tank rather than using a float and needle.

I have installed incorrect fuel tanks to a few tillers / Augers etc.
Usually have to fabricate some sort of attachment plate and do the swap complete with the carb.
A lot of work.

dadmanmft

I see and with what Bert said you may be in a bit of trouble. I would see about rigging an other style fuel tank myself.

Tom

Thanks to IL and Bert for the crash course in small engine mechanics. I can certainly say that I have learned a lot on this particular journey. Thanks to you too, Tom for the supportive comments.

The new development for today is that I have discovered that B & S makes a control bracket for this configuration https://www.amazon.com/Briggs-Stratton-491266-BRACKET-CONTROL/dp/B002WNU904/ref=pd_ybh_a_4?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=NS2MQ8F9979G869EE5DF

Anyone have any thoughts on how I could use this to my advantage? Thinking maybe attach to alternate tank. Not sure how linkage would line up. Any thoughts?

I will have to go & check but I am fairly sure the bolt holes on the old style carb and the newer styes are not the same so it will most likely require a complete carb & tank swap.
On a tiller you do not need the handlebar controls as you can lean down & work the throttle directly on the engine.
I have some trenchers , tillers & sewer snakes with this set up.
Thus a tank & carb from a 5Hp lawnmower should fit with a bit of fiddleing.

Go check out You Tube there are quite a few videos from people who have converted vertical engines to work horizontally ( not a good idea ) but all of them had to work around the carb & fuel tank which is what you are looking for.
A fair few videos of fittng a mower tank to a snow blower as they also suffer from your problem