Sears Craftsman dlt 4000.

[rock city]

I am working on the motor end of the mower and took off the cover that houses the air cleaner. When I opened it up, there was a large mouse burrow/nest in the space in front of the starter.

Cleaned that all up, and discovered why the cylinder was stuck... It wasn't the piston frozen to the cylinder... (good news)... it was the spark plug wire gizmo (sorry for the lack of a word) which had rusted to the big round middle turny thing (again sorry for the lack of a word)...

My instinct is to go at it with emery paper to clean off/smooth out the rust...

Any thoughts on that?

 

[Ifixdit]

Thanks,

Re: tap with a hammer... seat and gas tank were off and I had a visual as I was tapping... So I squirted with a liberal quantity of WD 40 and the lever moves now, but I am wondering.... is it sposed to have a springback feature so it goes to a rest position? Mine moves one way, and then waits for me to move it back.

At the moment, the wheels are off and it is up on blocks so the best I can do is turn the axle and like before wheels turn in opposite directions, so my intuition tells me that it will still not move forward because the wheels are not cooperating. Any thoughts>


And thank you again for looking over my shoulder on this one... very grateful.

I haven't worked on one in a while but if its moving now thats a good sign. I don't think it springs back. That seems like that would be counterproductive. Hopefully since you solved the engine issue you can fire her up and try it out soon. Good luck!!

 

[Ifixdit]

I am working on the motor end of the mower and took off the cover that houses the air cleaner. When I opened it up, there was a large mouse burrow/nest in the space in front of the starter.

Cleaned that all up, and discovered why the cylinder was stuck... It wasn't the piston frozen to the cylinder... (good news)... it was the spark plug wire gizmo (sorry for the lack of a word) which had rusted to the big round middle turny thing (again sorry for the lack of a word)...

My instinct is to go at it with emery paper to clean off/smooth out the rust...

Any thoughts on that?View attachment 14790

Sounds like you are referring to the coil sticking to the flywheel. Emory cloth is what i use to clean them up a bit. Remove the two screws on the coil to remove it and disconnect the kill wire too so you won't have to work so close to the mower. Clean the coil and the magnets on the flywheel with the emory cloth. To reset the gap on the coil, get a business card and place it between the flywheel and the coil then rotate the flywheel till the magnets make contact with the card. This will draw the coil toward the flywheel and properly set the gap for the coil. Then go ahead and reconnect the kill wire and tighten the 2 coil screws back down. Rotate the flywheel till the magnets are away from the coil and remove the business card. That's it.

 

[rock city]

Re: Sears Craftsman dlt 4000. making some progress.

Rotate the flywheel till the magnets are away from the coil and remove the business card. That's it.

Done, looks good.

Next is the battery. It's a Die Hard, probably sat for 1-2 years in the weather without use. I hooked it up to battery charger, then bolted it on and...

Engine does not turn over, but there is clicking sound... I think this is a sign of a weak battery.

Does that sound possible? How do you know? I would rather not go out to buy a new battery and find out it is a bad ground (one example).

Any thoughts are appreciated.

Thanks

 

[rock city]

Re: Sears Craftsman dlt 4000. making some progress.

Done, looks good.

Next is the battery. It's a Die Hard, probably sat for 1-2 years in the weather without use. I hooked it up to battery charger, then bolted it on and...

Engine does not turn over, but there is clicking sound... I think this is a sign of a weak battery.

Does that sound possible? How do you know? I would rather not go out to buy a new battery and find out it is a bad ground (one example).

Any thoughts are appreciated.

Thanks

So I observed the starter in action and realized that the gear was stuck up into the flywheel... thought that there might be some sticking to the starter motor so I took it off the machine and brought it into the shop.

Dis assembled it all the way down to the brushes. Discovered some build up of dirt etc on the magnets. Cleaned them up.

If anyone ever attempts this (cleaning up starter) Here's a challenge and a tip. There are 4 carbon brushes that are set radially around the shaft. A pretty strong spring provides back tension to the keep the brush pushed up against the shaft. So when you slide this assembly off the shaft, all four springs expand and push the brushes out of their place.

Reassembling this was tricky. How do you hold the brushes in place and push the assemblage onto the shaft? The clearance is really tight. I did it by taking a plastic pipe (1" diameter) and cut slots about 4 inches down. Getting the brushes in their chases and feeding it onto this pipe was difficult but doable. Once on the pipe, the next trick is to flare the pipe to push the brushes back into their chases far enough so that the diameter of the ring of brushes matches the shaft. This I did by jamming a series of objects into the pipe until I found one that served the purpose.

With the assemblage prepped I held it with a vise, rested the shaft on the brushes and one at time pulled them back until they lipped up onto the shaft. Then it was a fairly easy push to get the shaft back in position.

It was fun... have to say.

 

[rock city]

Re: Sears Craftsman dlt 4000. making some progress.

So I observed the starter in action and realized that the gear was stuck up into the flywheel... thought that there might be some sticking to the starter motor so I took it off the machine and brought it into the shop.

It was fun... have to say.

So I bolted it up, charged the battery and while I can hear the clock, there is a very lack luster click going to the starter.

Next step is to jump start the starter with my car battery.

Something tells me the problem is with the components between the ignition switch and the starter.

How do you trouble shoot this?

 

[Sledge740]

So I am trying a different approach...

Took the deck off, found an obvious problem.

The rod that you pull to disengage the tranny from the back.... it goes to a lever which comes out of the front right side of the transmission.

This lever is stuck, there is/was a fiber/leather washer found between the lever and the transmission.

I squirted it down with WD 40 and am hoping that this will free up the lever.

Anybody know where I can find a schematic for the gear box... It's a Tecumseh peerless 6892p91.

Thanks.

Check the brake. The wheels moving in opposit directions is normal. Try moving them in the same direction at the same time. Sometimes the brake gets locked up from setting and will not let the transmission move.

 

[rock city]

Check the brake. The wheels moving in opposit directions is normal. Try moving them in the same direction at the same time. Sometimes the brake gets locked up from setting and will not let the transmission move.

Thanks... That's right!

So now on to the motor part of the odyssey to get this tractor on the path to cutting my back field.

I went out an splurged on a new battery. My gas tank broke off at the neck where the fill cap is so there is no choice but to replace it unless someone has a practical replacement to a custom gas tank that costs less than 100.

Thanks