craftman 20.5 hp riding mower

[CURTIS REAVES]

OK I am confused. I need a picture of the carburetor. Then I can identify its individual parts. I don't know how much to take apart to get to right areas to do anything. The manual is useless. I have read up on carburetors and generally the fixes include adjusting two or three screws. Mine has one screw and a very limited governor adjustment. The problem persist. It will start when the throttle is pulled all the up to choke. As far as I can see inside the carb it opens and closes freely. Nothing happens to any linkage when throttle is moved except when it's in complete down position (slow) or up to choke. I have, hopefully, adjusted the throttle cable correctly. Where throttle lever is set right below engaging the choke the holes line up through the plate when the throttle is in high position.. Bottom line is the mower starts in choke position and runs for a couple of minutes then dies out. It tries to run if I accelerate by moving the throttle cable on top of carburetor but back fire and sputters to shutting down
:licking::laughing::wink::confused2::confused2:

 

[bertsmobile1]

most mower carbs now days have no adjustments at all othere than the position of the throttle lever ( blame the EPA ).
Some have a small amount of idle adjustment usually with a non removable cap so you can not remove the needle to clean out the passage without breaking the cap.
Caps are anly available to authorised service agents and not sold retail.

The sears web site has parts breakdown diagrams.
On most you can left click the image and lift the entire image out of the covering opening that prevents you from seeing it all at once.
Craftsman is a problem child because it is a brand name, not a product name so it could have been made by any one of a 1/2 dozen factories.

To give you any better information we need the model number off your mower and the engine.
The Briggs web site will give you a download of the entire parts book for the engine but you must have the model and type numbers off the engine tag.

However it will be a good idea to arm yourself with an inline spark tester just to check that the problem is actually in the carb.

 

[cpurvis]

The symptoms you describe are those of a carburetor which is taking in less fuel than it is sending out. Starts, runs for a while, then sputters to a stop, backfiring. Backfiring is indicative of a lean condition, which is what happens when and engine runs out of fuel.

Is there a fuel filter between the carb and gas tank? If so, that's where I'd start looking.