I have a 7 HP Briggs on a Husqvarna that I received from my grandmother. When she used it she always used the electric start, but by the time I got it the battery was dead and I didn't want to spend the money on a new one. Anyway, it's always been on the harder side to start meaning the pull cord is harder to pull then I think it should be. On occasion it would pull our arms back, almost out of the socket :-( From what I read online it sounded like the key should have been sheared so I pulled the flywheel and it wasn't sheared but the timing was definitely off some so I replaced it and now it seems better as it doesn't pull our arm back but still seems on the harder side to pull. My father in law has the same engine on his husqvarna as he bought the mower at the same time as the one I have, and his pulls 10x's easier.
While I had the shroud off I also noticed that the recoil seemed to be semi cracked too. Also, I had had trouble in the past with the recoil rivots popping out and some of the shroud corners had busted off as well so I ended up picking up another mower with what appears to be the same engine but instead a 6.5 hp for parts and swapped the shroud and recoil. The mower now seems to not kick back on us and rip our arm out of socket, however it stills seems to pull on the hard side.
So questions: What am I missing here? Anything else I can check or do? Otherwise I'm wondering if swapping the engines off the second mower I picked up for parts as that one runs great, the owner just got rid of it as the blade clutch had issues and throttle cable busted.
Any advice would be SO SO appreciative!
I originally posted on another forum with not really any luck.... if you want to see that with pics heres the link...Lawnmower recoil pulls rather hard
https://www.briggsandstratton.com/us/en/support/manuals/engine enter model & type numbers & pull up your engine operators manual, locate intake & exhaust valve settings & adjust valves with engine cold. Check engine oil level adjust as necessary, remove spark plug clean & adjust gap, check air filter for replacement, lastly make sure gas is fresh not stale.
Okay, I adjusted the valves (assuming I did it right as I always have a hard time finding top dead center. It seems to pull a bit better but still pulls over nothing like the running OHV 6.5 hp I picked up for parts. Could the starter contribute to this?
Also, I pulled the spark plug and cleaned it and checked gap, which was good. As far as oil, it's between the F-U on FULL is that too much oil? (sorry if that's a dumb question, but I always have a hard time reading dipsticks
as I always have a hard time finding top dead center. It seems to pull a bit better but still pulls over nothing like the running OHV 6.5 hp I picked up for parts. Could the starter contribute to this?