My mower repair thread

[Vervepipes]

So for the Craftsman I changed the spark plug, still no spark. Changed the ignition, no spark. Then I saw the engine brake rubber puck on the deck and thought, what are the chances that is broken more than just the rubber puck? I swapped it out. No spark. OK, it needed to be replaced anyways. I then took off the starter cup on the flywheel and behold! the key was sheared and almost 180 degrees out of time! I replaced the key, put it all together and it ran!... Then puttered, then knocked then stopped. I feel like I wasted a day because it's now raining and I can't swap all the good parts onto another engine today. I have a 6.75 HP Tecumseh with a Craftsman shroud that I can swap things over to, as long as the mounting bolts don't shear off the rotten deck it will come from. In the end at least I know I cleaned the carb well enough, and that everything works, minus the important part. Knowing it couldn't get any worse though as far as engine damage (I will scrap the knocking engine regardless) I tried to start it again and it feels like it won't start at all, acts out of time again. Oh well, it'll get done tomorrow. The neighbor's has been bugging me for a beater $40 mower for a while when he comes to visit, maybe I'll throw one together for him first. I have an ugly but solid deck needing an engine, and a 4HP Briggs needing a deck, sounds like a match made in heaven to me.

 

[Vervepipes]

That Craftsman is really giving me a kick in the butt. The 6.75 Tecumseh that I planned on putting on it had a very rusty/dirty carb, so I cleaned it up and it surged badly. I figured with the amount of corrosion, there must be something where I can't see, so I ditched the carb and put on one that looked spotless. No fuel when priming, OK, new primer bulb. Still no fuel so I tried another bowl gasket. OK, not there's fuel, but surging badly! I sprayed around the carb and manifold with carb cleaner to search for a leak, and the only spot that is affected is at the butterfly lever, and boy does the spray affect the throttle there. Now I need to find another good carb to swap onto it, somebody wants to buy that mower and I'd like to sell it to him! This guy responded to my Yard Man that a contractor working on the house next door wants to buy today, but I told him I have another one coming up. I should have kept my mouth shut for the moment to keep pressure off myself to get it done.

The carb for the large Craftsman with the Vector engine came in the mail today, that will be my priority for the day because that thing takes up so much room.

 

[hanyoukimura]

Tecumseh carburetors can be such a pain. The one off of the Yard Man cleaned up great and I had no problems with it. However, while the Craftsman's cleaned up well, I couldn't get it to flooding, despite changing bowls, needles, and seats. I ended up going through 2 more carburetors from my box-o-carbs until I got one that worked, and even it took 3 cleanings.

The best carburetors IMO are the Briggs Pulsa-Prime carburetors. They don't corrode, and I have never had a problem getting one of those working.

 

[Vervepipes]

Well, it just goes to show you to investigate everything before buying parts. I got the Vector carb in the mail today and wasted no time after work to install it. It wouldn't start and it seemed like what was coming out of the filter box when I was priming lots of times was water. Now, I had played around with the last carb and drained the fuel that was in there, but not everything that was in the tank. There would have had to be loads of water in that tank for it to still have it coming out at this stage. In any case, after tome fine tuning, it now runs well with the new $20 carb. That being said, I'm surprised that being a more modern engine than the old style Tecumseh that it isn't more refined like the new Briggs or anything that resembles a Honda. It doesn't have a pleasant exhaust note at all, and the muffler is in good shape. Oh well, it isn't a keeper anyways. Here it is cleaned up, not pretty but it's still a good mower.



I'm out of oil, so I'll have to wait to list it for sale until I buy some more.

 

[hanyoukimura]

That deck looks might familiar!

That engine cover is hideous. The newer style they used looks much better. I've dealt with two of these engines so far. First one had a blown connecting rod, second had carburetor and priming issues. I did eventually get it running. It worked well, but yeah the engine didn't seem any better than the more common style Tecumsehs.

 

[Vervepipes]

I was expecting something like a Quantum, but alas it is not. Today I also got a newer Murray mower going, a 3 in 1 combo mower with a 5.5HP Briggs classic. The carb was filled with oil, I think they tipped it for something and thought they destroyed it. I pulled the spark plug, being careful of it's placement this time and gave it a few pulls to clear the cylinder. Good to go with an oil and spark plug change, it sold so fast I didn't even get a picture of it! It wasn't very old either, buddy got himself a good solid mower.

 

[Vervepipes]

I'm glad I didn't sell the self propelled Craftsman yesterday, I started it on my lunch break and it's bogging down like it has fuel issues. I'll try to drain the carb again in case some risidual water is left over in there but I'm hoping it can be resolved soon. It has no adjustments on the carb and all gaskets are new, but it does seem like fuel starvation. Maybe I can re-use the old jet with the new o-ring and it'll solve the issue.

 

[Vervepipes]

The problem was more water in the tank and carb. There was no end to it, but I got it all out and re-filled it, test mowed and it ran flawlessly, no bogging in tall grass either.

 

[Vervepipes]

The monster Craftsman and the Yard Man both sold, and I just smashed last year's sales record for June. Gonna have a beer.

 

[Vervepipes]

No mower repairs today, there was a more pressing matter. My utility trailer that I use with the Yaris broke last week. One of the hub bearings broke apart within the hum, causing my wheel to lock and destroyed a tire. I inspected it today and it wasn't from lack of grease, but rather the bearing race had corroded to the pint that it broke apart catastrophically. Parts of it were seized in the hub, part was seized on the spindle, there would be no easy way to salvage this axle. Just before I was on my way to Princess Auto to buy a new axle, I checked Kijiji and found somebody selling a brand new 3500Lb axle, wheels, tires, springs and u-bolts for $120! How could I say no to that? I picked it up and began to install the new stuff. Well, shoot, the springs are too long. I measured and as it turns out I could use the forward most and aft most hangar holes and just drill 4 new holes. Cool, the springs now fit perfectly! The axle on the other hand was something that I knew I'd have issues with. Nobody seems to sell axles for 48" trailers, so anything I bought would be too wide. What I'll have to do is remove the wood decking and replace it with a sheet of 4x8 plywood and build some simple rails, no problem. I need to extend the fenders in the meantime though until I can get around to doing the decking.