It was many years ago when I still worked in the shop (I am now the Director of Education for a fuel additive company). The shop was in a farming community so I did visit farms occasionally. One farmer had a straw shredder that was supposed to be used to shred straw for bedding. Instead, they used newspaper. The dust from the newspaper would get into the fins on the Vanguard Briggs engine. I would need to go out and clean them out on a regular basis. One visit to this farm, the 80 something farmer showed me that the unit was very hard to start. He had to put his foot up on the machine to get enough leverage to pull over the engine. it was kind of comical.
I went to work on the unit. After cleaning it, I checked the valve clearance and found them to be extremely out of adjustment. Corrected the issue. Of course the whole time I am working on the unit, I am five feet from the cows. And they are not shy about pooping. Let’s just say, I would go home smelling like manure. Between the mooing and the plopping noises, add a guitar and one could have a country song.
Any ways, I had the farmer come out to start the unit. Before I could say anything, he had his foot up on the machine and pulled the rope. It now started so easily that he nearly fell into a pile of cow pies. He did give me a sideways glance and then started the unit the normal way. Very easily I might add.
