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Where does the governor spring attach on a Toro Super Recycler mower, model no. 20042, powered by a Briggs & Stratton 12H802-1767-E1 engine? This engine had been jury-rigged with an incorrect carburetor. I installed the correct carburetor, but am not sure where the carburetor side of the governor spring should go.

Locate your Toro serial number & see website above for manuals & parts.
Engine Operators Manual above.

That is correct, if you need to speed up or slow the engine, bend the tab that the coiled end of the spring is hooked to.
Looks like it was meant to be used with speed control cable

mechanic mark said:

Locate your Toro serial number & see website above for manuals & parts.

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I started with the parts manual from the Toro site. The drawing shows the part, but now where it attaches (see below). Thanks for the links. The Briggs & Stratton parts manual has a similar illustration. The operator's manual has useful info, but doesn't address the governor linkage.

Scrubcadet10 said:

That is correct, if you need to speed up or slow the engine, bend the tab that the coiled end of the spring is hooked to.
Looks like it was meant to be used with speed control cable

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OK, so if the spring is in the right place, I will have to find a resource that lists the RPM at which the engine should be set. This mower is a Personal Pace with a single speed transmission, where the speed of the mower is controlled by how much force the operator applies to the sliding (pace control) handle. I don't think a speed control cable is used in those models - I believe the throttle is fixed to a specific RPM.

The governor is hunting, so I get a slight surge every few seconds. That's why I was trying to verify if the spring was positioned correctly - I thought the governor surge could be due to a low RPM setting.

Found the RPM specifications for my mower: Engine Speed 3000 ± 150 RPM.

For anyone else with a Toro product, look up the parts and manuals page for your model number on the Toro website. Scroll down on that page to a link for "Specifications". The RPM info is there. I did not find it within any of the manuals.

kc27 said:

Found the RPM specifications for my mower: Engine Speed 3000 ± 150 RPM.

For anyone else with a Toro product, look up the parts and manuals page for your model number on the Toro website. Scroll down on that page to a link for "Specifications". The RPM info is there. I did not find it within any of the manuals.

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Hunting and surging most likely due to dirty carburetor.

kc27 said:

Where does the governor spring attach on a Toro Super Recycler mower, model no. 20042, powered by a Briggs & Stratton 12H802-1767-E1 engine? This engine had been jury-rigged with an incorrect carburetor. I installed the correct carburetor, but am not sure where the carburetor side of the governor spring should go.

View attachment 66731

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Not sure by looking at the pic but if there is a loop in the govenor link that is where the spring connects.

Tiger Small Engine said:

Hunting and surging most likely due to dirty carburetor.

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Could a low idle speed setting cause the governor to hunt? The replacement carburetor is new from Briggs & Stratton.

Hammermechanicman said:

Not sure by looking at the pic but if there is a loop in the govenor link that is where the spring connects.

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It is hard to tell from the photo, but the spring is in loop.

kc27 said:

Could a low idle speed setting cause the governor to hunt? The replacement carburetor is new from Briggs & Stratton.

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Yes. There is no idle circuit in that carb. So if its running too slow it will surge.

Scrubcadet10 said:

Yes. There is no idle circuit in that carb. So if its running too slow it will surge.

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Thanks. I ordered a small engine tachometer to help sort this out.