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Customer brought in 2 old mowers with Briggs engines. IIRC, one is a 12hp and the other is a 17. Both have Walbro carbs that are junk now, since I can't get the main jet out of them.
She doesn't want to spend any much money on them since she's only going to be using them 2 or 3 times a year, to pull a sprayer.
So I was looking on Amazon, but could only find the Nikki style carbs.
According to the diagrams, both came with both Nikki and Walbro carbs.
What's the chances of a Nikki carb actually working, with the original choke and throttle linkages. I have a few Nikki''s I could rebuild and try.
Just don't wanna waste the time. Since I'm not sure what engines either of the nikki''s came off of.
Also, what's up with there not being any Walbro aftermarket carbs ? All I'm seeing on Amazon, are the nikki style with the 2 float bowl bolts and the solenoid.
BTW, stens doesn't even carry these type of carbs.

You do know the to remove these you normally need a straight sided hollow ground flat tip screwdriver bit? Otherwise you just destroy the nozzles. I use modified 1/4 hex drive flat tips for the the removals and have only lost a few battles with those nozzle in the last 11 years.

As the Nikki carbs Briggs used both with the same linkages. The problem is not knowing what jets they have so they may not be compatiable in that sense.

Yes, I have straight flathead, with a little wider tip, that in most cases, have almost no wiggle once inserted. Out of several Walbro carbs I've done in the last 4 years, I have 4 or 5 that I just could not get the main jet out of.
Plus the handle is T shaped so I can press harder on it, as I turn.
I think my mistake from theseveral was not tightening a little before I tried to back them out.
None the less, in situations like this, where I need a solution (which would be a decent aftermarket Walbro style carb) I just don't have the resources to find.

Looks like I'll have to try a few of the nikki rebuilds.
The customer brought me the 2 riders and a walk behind weed whacker. I've got about 5 hours total in all of this and can't charge maybe half that. Much of that time was looking up parts. Other time diagnosing the next problem.
As in the one Murray, started out getting the electrical fixed. Then the tappet unstuck and replacing the pushrod. Now I think I'm down to just the carburetor and the tires. And the blowback through the carb. Which I suspect is something in the head, and not so much the carb.
Two real tar babies I never should have even taken in.
I don't even wanna go in to the yard man mowe and all its problems.

The lack of Walbro style aftermarket carbs is something I run into now and then. Simply because this is usually an old mower issue, where as 99% of the customers I get, won't spend $100 for an OEM carb.

PTmowerMech said:

I've got about 5 hours total in all of this and can't charge maybe half that. Much of that time was looking up parts. Other time diagnosing the next problem.

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And why can't you charge the 5 hours? If you are doing this as a business you don't let the customer tell you how much they will pay for a job. If they will only pay for half a job you do half the job. All that time is billable. Did they spen the time to try and find parts? Of course not. They need to PAY you to do that. If someone brough me in a piece of equipment and said told me they had a budget and i couldn't fix it within their budget i would very politely tell them i really couldn't do it for that. Diagnostic time is billable plain and simple. Don't sell yourself short. Time and expertise is what you are selling. Don't give it away.

Hammermechanicman said:

And why can't you charge the 5 hours? If you are doing this as a business you don't let the customer tell you how much they will pay for a job. If they will only pay for half a job you do half the job. All that time is billable. Did they spen the time to try and find parts? Of course not. They need to PAY you to do that. If someone brough me in a piece of equipment and said told me they had a budget and i couldn't fix it within their budget i would very politely tell them i really couldn't do it for that. Diagnostic time is billable plain and simple. Don't sell yourself short. Time and expertise is what you are selling. Don't give it away.

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Honestly, I'm not this with 99% of my customers. But she's an old widow woman, with a fairly big horse ranch, where she's broke and trained horses almost her entire life. Now everything she has is falling down around her. The young guy she hired, robbed her blind for drug money. Sometimes I just wanna lend a helping hand, ya know. I've got several customers that tell me to fix what ever it needs and don't say a word about the price.
Just my way of giving back.

I just wished that when I do that, their equipment wouldn't turn into tar babies.

I finally got her engine and mower running right, and was about to scrap the mower. But felt the one blade and spun good. The top idlers were good. All I could tell was that it needed a bracket welded back on. No problem. Pulled the deck, wire brushed the surface and welded it back on. After getting everything back in order, the one spindle I didn't turn, was froze up. OMFG!!!!!
So now I'm wondering, do I go ahead and take the deck off and put it around back for parts or scrap. Or just change the bearings. One of the other has to be done. Both require about the same amount of work. It's been like this ever since I took these two mowers in.

You never half check a deck. When I drop a deck I go over it fully as there is no reason not to as it is extra work to install, pull, repair, and reinstall because I didn't. I also never never just rebuild one spindle on a multi-spindle, I always rebuild them all at the same time.

StarTech said:

You never half check a deck. When I drop a deck I go over it fully as there is no reason not to as it is extra work to install, pull, repair, and reinstall because I didn't. I also never never just rebuild one spindle on a multi-spindle, I always rebuild them all at the same time.

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Never? Well I will, once. Maybe even twice, BY GOD!!! LoL.

Seriously wanting both of these old things out of the shop and got into a hurry.
After so much, one gets to thinking, "This has got to be the last problem." Both of these have proved me wrong a couple of times now.

Put the carb in an ultrasonic bath for an hour or so till it is too hot to touch
Clamp the carb in a vice and the jets usually unscrew
Only once have I needed to resort to a 3/16" left hand tap ( extra short ) to get a badly corroded one out.
You should find an afternarket replacement in your Stens catalogue

bertsmobile1 said:

Put the carb in an ultrasonic bath for an hour or so till it is too hot to touch
Clamp the carb in a vice and the jets usually unscrew
Only once have I needed to resort to a 3/16" left hand tap ( extra short ) to get a badly corroded one out.
You should find an afternarket replacement in your Stens catalogue

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The vice is for more leverage?

As far as Stent goes, none of the part numbers for both of these common walbro carbs are listed online. I even checked the capable part numbers and nothing came up. Maybe I should resort to the catalog instead of the website.

PTmowerMech said:

The vice is for more leverage?

As far as Stent goes, none of the part numbers for both of these common walbro carbs are listed online. I even checked the capable part numbers and nothing came up. Maybe I should resort to the catalog instead of the website.

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There is fits & will work OK and there is direct replacement.
I never use the on line catalogue except for pricing .

bertsmobile1 said:

There is fits & will work OK and there is direct replacement.
I never use the on line catalogue except for pricing .

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I'm looking in the catalog, and not seeing the Walbro style. I'm seeing the nikki style. I suppose that's what you're talking about?
What am I missing? Maybe we have different catalogs. I'll post part numbers tomorrow.