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Homelite 3000/3500 Generator and have just replace the carburetor and believe it or not it fire right up.. lol
My issue is the rpm's go from hi to low continuously and slight pressure on the governor rod evens it out nicely.
I notice the spring just goes from each end of the rod. could this be the issue.

Regards,

Dave

You are not going to like my reply, but I’ve got to say this. Your unit is a 120VAC, 60hz unit. If you adjust the RPMs without checking the hertz, you could very easily destroy any equipment plugged into it. To many times I’ve seen DIY guys adjust the governors to get the engine to run smooth, only to burn out equipment because they didn’t check the hertz level. Be careful when making any adjustments. That being said, I’m willing to bet that because the carb has been replaced you need to adjust either the carb or governor. Is the replacement carb an OEM or aftermarket? Aftermarket are very unreliable especially when used on a generator. RPMs on those units ran between 3000-3300, but more importantly the HERTZ need to be between 59.25-61 hz. Your hertz will change as the RPMs change.

Whats not to like..... Thanks .... it's an aftermarket and when I hold the governor/ throttle in a certain position it runs well and close to 60hz as I need.
I would like to have the governor hold that rpm and am concerned, as mentioned the spring situation as I think it should be attached to something
applying some tension to the governor arm. Am I correct and any suggestions on the procedure on setting up the governor?

Not being able to see your exact unit setup it is very difficult to offer solid advice. Can you post some pictures so we can see what you are seeing. You may have to resize your pictures to attach them here, as most times they are too large, especially when taken with a phone, download them. Post all engine and unit numbers and I’ll see if I can find any diagrams or pictures.

I would try doing the static governor adjustment. When you change carburetors sometimes the linkage position is changed as it might have been a loose and it moved as you remove the old carburetor.

Basic you move the throttle lever on the carb to full throttle while watching the linkage going to the governor bellcrank arm. Then you loose to the retainer on the bellcrank while holding the throttle at full, continue rotating the bellcrank in direction it as you moved the throttle lever, and then tighten the retainer. This should get the static adjustment done.

You asked:
I notice the spring just goes from each end of the rod. could this be the issue.
Not sure of your question here but here is some info that might help you.
This link is about how to adjust the governor SPRING sensitivity. You can search on-line and find more general info about such.

What is the model number on the Honda gen?
How do you know it's running a 60 HZ when you hold the rod? Do you have a HZ meter or going by feel?

Just couple basics here as Rivets says:
Not knowing your model number:
Normally on a generator the governor spring has constant tension and some Honda's have a big Phillips screwdriver adjust or similar and the tension is increase on the governor spring to increase the HZ and decreased tension to reduce HZ and several holes in the gov arm or linkage so as to adjust the sensitivity of the governor. (sensitivity is how long it takes for the governor to stop hunting up/down when a 80% load is applied and removed) 3000 x 80%=2400 watts or around 2000 watts. The 3500 watts is for intermittent surge loads only.

You can probably get a general idea of such by searching on-line on how to adjust a emergency gen governor for correct Hertz.
Also it's quite common for the governor springs to become weak and require replacement and on the Honda's sometimes a thread locker (blue or green) has to be applied to the governor adjust screw so as vib's does not loosen the adjustment screw/nut.
Unloaded you need about 63hz and 58 when a 80% RESISTANCE LOAD is applied. (average of 60hz)
Resistance load is electric heating elements or light bulbs, not motors.

Manuals say that the 3000/3500 Homelite generators are 60 hz. Only thing I forgot to say is that you need to set them under load. If you set the RPMs and hz outside the specs I posted, you’re risking burning up equipment when high loads are applied.

No one has really answered the OPs real question of where the spring gets attached or did, I miss something. Seems they got a lot of good help but not an answer about the spring.

OldDiyer said:

No one has really answered the OPs real question of where the spring gets attached or did, I miss something. Seems they got a lot of good help but not an answer about the spring.

Click to expand...

If your engine is hunting and surging, most likely a dirty carburetor, not a governor adjustment. Did you put a tachometer on it to checlean RPMs? Most generators are set up to run 3600 RPMs so that hertz is correct for under load.

No one has really answered the OPs real question of where the spring gets attached or did, I miss something. Seems they got a lot of good help but not an answer about the spring.

After reading this I edited post #6

Forest#2 said:

No one has really answered the OPs real question of where the spring gets attached or did, I miss something. Seems they got a lot of good help but not an answer about the spring.

After reading this I edited post #6

Click to expand...

Two thing we the model number for one thing so we can look up the equipment and second a picture of the spring in question as it might be only a slack preventer spring and not the actual governor spring.

Thanks for all your help,all good information.

This generator was given to me by my brother who had this for years and basically he only used it a few times. Long story but he felt the gas my have got some water in it and didn't realize it until he tried to start it. Years later the gas had sat in the carb and ended up totally corroded it and the main jet orifice was plugged with a white powder.

Purchased a new ebay carb and she started right up and putting a slight pressure on the throttle linkage with figure can hold it at a steady rpm and will read 60 ish Hz.

I suppose my original question was I had installed the spring linkage from one end to the other of the metal linkage which didn't make to much sense to me but I can't remember exactly where is was attached to! Googling this is getting me nowhere, trying to get a picture of the carb/governor to see the spring.

Unhooking the spring at the carb end and holding it and putting little pressure on the governor arm it will run in the 60Hz range but I still don't know where to hook it to. Listening it sounds like it runs in the correct rpm range so if I can figure out where to hook the spring I can do a few load tests.

Any suggestions please, thanks for this,

Best regards,

Dave...

Read post #5, #6 & 11
And give us a hint of the model number and maybe can give you more detailed info.

Thanks all, yes there is a lot of good information here.
Finally got some pictures, don't see a model number but maybe you can detect it.
Removed the gas tank and reviled a spring that is actually attached midway on the governor arm.
Tried a few different settings but the rpm's still hunt and vary between 58Hz and 63Hz.

Really need a pic of the spring as can be either a governor spring or slack take up spring.

The link in post does not as they require a login.

Post #6 is what you need to read.

You will have to re-adjust the Hz using a Hz meter each time you move the governor spring to a different hole in the gov arm. set the Hz at 63-64 wity\h no load.

It's also quite common for a governor spring to become weaker over time and require a new spring to lessen the droop or hunting.

Post # 6 refers to a 717cc to a 754cc engine. This is a 193cc.

When running it hunts like a hungry animal and have tried every slot to get it to run constant.

I'll buy a new spring in the morning....

You say:
Post # 6 refers to a 717cc to a 754cc engine. This is a 193cc.

Setting up the governor uses the same basics.

You said previously in your first post that you could hold the governor arm steady and the engine ran steady and nice.
If it still hunts with a new CORRECT PART NUMBER governor SPRING installed you need to hold the governor arm manually at engine idles and see if the engine idles smooth with the new carb replacement you just installed.
The low end at idle will cause such if it's not good and smooth. It uses both the low and the H jets at the high end rpm's.
Was the OEM carb that you replaced gunked/clogged up or what?????
If the carb you installed has any adjustable jets, try making slight adjustments to the jets, but pay attention to their setting BEFORE you move them. Try a slight adjustment to the H jet first.
The L jet will have to be tweaked with the engine at idle.

BUT you say it hunts from 58-63Hz
If this 58-63 is at no load trying installing a 2000 watt resistive load and test. (12-15 amp @ 120volt load) or 8 amp @ 240 volt load

Thanks everyone, purchased a new spring from local small engine repair which sells Honda and others.
Removed the old and compared the two and using a small weight and measuring the stretch seems to be identical.

With new spring all runs but with the same problem.

StarTechs #5 post mentioned a static governor set up so Googled and thanks to a 1 min YouTube tried it and it worked.

Started on the first pull and ran well and slowly reduced the choke then set up the governor adjustment to 60Hz ish
and started to apply different loads up to 2500 watts and all worked within limits.

Thanks for everyone's help.

Best regards,

Dave

The symptom was when running the revs just kept increasing and decreasing all the time. The carb was replaced and all new gas.

StarTechs #5 post mentioned a static governor set up so Googled and thanks to a 1 min YouTube tried it and it worked.

The adjustment was minimal but loosening the bolt on the arm to just free up the movement from the arm to the shaft, with a pair of pliers hold the shaft over till it stops and then bring the arm over till there is tension on the carb holding the butterfly in the closed position then tighten the bolt on the arm.

Hope this helps...

Hondas are known to surge when the pilot jet gets clogged. Watch this video to see how to fix that.