Husqvarna YTH 2348 - Bringing it back to life

[SamB]

I apologize for my ignorance if I'm saying something dumb here, but I looked at the tag under the seat and this is what I have:
Product: 289571 Model: YTH2348 Serial: 042210A001055 (bottom right hand of tag is another number: 199684)

"I apologize for my ignorance if I'm saying something dumb" Posting something in good faith and with a good attitude is never 'dumb'.
There are some wonderful people here and will help all they can. Bad attitude will get that door shut. Hard.
btw, Good luck with your mower!

 

[benaford]

"I apologize for my ignorance if I'm saying something dumb" Posting something in good faith and with a good attitude is never 'dumb'.
There are some wonderful people here and will help all they can. Bad attitude will get that door shut. Hard.
btw, Good luck with your mower!

Thanks for that - I really do appreciate all the comments and suggestions. As time permits this week, I'll begin re-assembly and hopefully this will be a successful job. As a former aircraft mechanic (military) turned desk jockey, this has been a fun way to re-engage the hands-on, mechanical side of my brain. It's also been a bonding experience with my sons as we have gotten to walk through the troubleshooting process together. They live in a digital, disposable world where if something breaks you just throw it away and get a new one. The mower project has allowed me to demonstrate the value of being 'handy' and talk them through the basics of combustion engines and how to select and properly use hand tools. Lots of good things have come from this little summer project regardless of whether or not the mower ever runs again. My grandfather was a tremendous mechanic - he could fix anything. He'd spend hours underneath an old sycamore tree in his yard tearing down, cleaning, painting and re-assembling mowers, weedeaters, tillers and tractors. I always looked up to him for his ability to take any old hunk of junk and make it new again. I'm just trying to honor him by passing a little of that down to my boys. Y'all are a big help with keeping this project going.

 

[benaford]

Last night I started putting things back together, but I'm stuck. I was putting the starter motor back on and realized that one of the threaded inserts (heli coil) is stripped out where the starter bolt threads into the engine. I can find the bolt part number, but I'm having a hard time figuring out what size heli coil to buy to repair it with. Does anyone know of a way to make sure I'm ordering the correct replacement size?

Thanks -

 

[Rivets]

It goes according to bolt size. If you have a 5/16”-18, you will use a 5/16” HeliCoils. 1/4“-20 use 1/4” and 3/8”-16 use 3/8.

 

[Joed756]

I recently got an old Scotts mower in with a similar back story. The oil looked good, it was out of gas. Gave it a squirt of brake clean and it popped and sputtered. This told me that everything but fuel delivery was likely OK. I removed the carb and poured rusty water from it. Cleaned the carb real well in about 10 minutes, reinstalled, shot of brake clean and she is running like a top. It cost nothing.

 

[benaford]

It goes according to bolt size. If you have a 5/16”-18, you will use a 5/16” HeliCoils. 1/4“-20 use 1/4” and 3/8”-16 use 3/8.

Since I didn't have any other way of measuring the bolt size, I went to the 'nuts and bolts' section of my Lowe's and tried sizes until I determined that it's a 5/16". Ordered that size thread repair kit from Amazon and I'll get to work repairing the heli coil insert when it arrives this week.

 

[benaford]

Update. Still waiting on the heli coil repair kit, so I started getting the other components installed. Yesterday I was able to install the cleaned out fuel tank, new fuel lines, new fuel filter, and new carb. I was putting the valve covers back on and realized that the vacuum tube on the left side valve cover that connects to the fuel pump was severely cracked and split. The IPL lists this part number as 793147, but when I searched for that part number it has a completely different shape/angle the the existing vacuum tube. I don't think it would even work on my tractor. After some digging, I found another option that looks just like the one currently on my tractor, Part # 596163. Ordered it and a new fuel pump (why not?) last night and now I'll have an entirely new fuel system.

Here's the two different parts - see the very different shape:



I also cleaned off and re-installed the coils, heat shields and cleaned/painted the top part of the flywheel to get rid of the rust. Here's a picture of my progress so far:

Front
Left
Right
Carb

 

[ccheatha]

In reading your initial post, my first thought was that I’d start small; instead of putting all the work into tearing it all down, I’d first see if I could pinpoint the startup issue. If I could do that, then I might go into a mode of total clean-up. At any rate, yeah, when you first took ownership and it would only start with a shot of starter, does sound like a fuel flow issue (whether thru the fuel line or carb). Since you stated that there was so much gunk in the gas tank, I’d probably just replace the carb and go from there. Hope it works out for you. I’m kind of like your grandfather; always fixing old mowers, weed eaters, etc. Good luck.

 

[Eggbert]

Remove the flywheel bolt and look to see if the keyway is out of position (sheared or partly sheared).

 

[Brucewayne]

New poster here. I've enjoyed reading this forum over the years, but never made any posts, but I'm in need of some advice.

Background: A few years ago, I bought a Husqvarna YTH2348 with a Briggs engine for $500 from a guy who was moving away and needed to offload it. Right up front, he told me that it would not start without a shot of starter fluid, and that was true. It never started easily. I used the mower for grass cutting and leaf mulching for two seasons and then it just stopped starting all together. I attempted to rebuild the carb, but I could never get it to start and run again. I ran out of time an mental bandwidth to keep messing with such a fussy mower. Fast forward three years, the mower has been sitting idle, gathering dirt and rust under my deck because I just never got the energy tackle the repair.

Now, to the present day. I've decided to either get this thing running again or sell it as salvage. I pulled the hood, seat, and removed the deck and pressure washed the dirt and debris from the chassis. Then I parked it in my garage where I can spend time cleaning and digging into the motor. Yesterday, I pulled the carburetor, spark plugs (2), fuel pump, coils (2), valve covers (2), battery and starter. My plan is to work through a troubleshooting flowchart beginning with battery and working my way through the ignition system.

Engine Start Troubleshooting Flow:
1. Battery voltage: yes/no
2. Spark plugs: firing yes/no
3. Coils multimeter check: within range yes/no
4. Fuel pump pushing gas: yes/no
5. Carburetor (after getting a rebuild) sending fuel: yes/no

What else should be in my troubleshooting process? Should I remove the flywheel and sand it down? It's very rusty - see images.

Images

Thanks in advance for any wisdom you can offer. I've seen quite a few posts on here about this particular mower, but none about bringing one back from the dead. I thought it might be an interesting thread for someone else down the line.

First I am not a repair person. I had trouble with my mower shutting off. Just as a wild guess I removed the fuel filter and went to my local advanced auto and purchased the same size fuel filter to fit the hose ends. It does not shut off now. The only point is sometimes it is something very simple.