Briggs opposed twin

bwestbrook

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I have a Murray with an opposed twin cylinder Briggs. It runs pretty good but when I get in tall grass it does not idle up. I mow at full throttle but it is like the governor never kicks in. I have adjusted the gov but still same result. What could I be looking for?
 

reddragon

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if it runs fine out of tall grass...then youre in too deep!:laughing:........the mowers are designed to mow the tops of grass off........how deep is your tall grass?
 

bwestbrook

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Well it's more thick grass than tall. I mow at least once a week. It just bogs down and I have to stop to let the blades catch back up.
 

noma

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Bwestbrook

Your problem might be you are mowing to fast and it can't handle grass that thick and tall.Are your blades sharp so it don't pull the engine down from dull blades.And maybe you need to raise the deck up a notch,because you are mowing to close to the ground and your mower can't handle mowing that much at once.If you want a shorter lawn you may have to mow it two times the second time shorter. Things to try good luck:licking:
 

bwestbrook

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Thanks for the reply but I am mowing very slow and not short I have it on number 3. My mower actually doesn't go that fast anyway. The governor does not govern the engine up as it should at all. Just wondering if there is anything else to look at before I check the governor internally.
 

reddragon

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the governor will set your speed [rpm] ...if the tall grass is bogging you down...its other factors like carb or bad blades or other resistance factors....are you saying its not at speed all the time??
 

KennyV

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Your engine should Idle around 1000 RPM, and run around 3600 RPM at full throttle... The governor is only going to attempt to hold the RPM setting you have chosen, if you are mowing at less than full throttle, that is what it will attempt to hold...
If you are at full throttle, it will hold that until it gets overloaded... You can reduce the overload by slowing down the forward speed, OR raising the deck, so it has less to cut...

If you are finding that you can not mow your grass as fast & as short as it once cut... You have something using up the power, OR your engine is not making the same power it previously made...

If the engine is not putting out the HP it once did... It could be from a lack of fuel flow or weak spark... Check the fuel lines & carb, for the first.
Check the spark Plugs and ignition for the other... :smile:KennyV
 

runderwo

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I just fixed one of these twins. One of the coils was bad so there was no spark on one cylinder. The intake gasket was also no good so it might have been sucking air. I too thought it was a governor issue at first but you are just running on one cylinder is the problem. Figure out which cylinder it is by pulling both spark plugs and whichever one is wet fouled, that is your dead cylinder, unless you have an intake leak like I did, in which case you'll have to check for spark by holding the wire end next to a screwdriver grounded to the frame while someone cranks the motor.
 

reddragon

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ive seen that too.....the opposed twins are so smooth...that alot of people dont realize when they're running rough..compared to singles
 

runderwo

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Yeah, the funny thing is that it doesn't even run rough at all, you're just missing half the power and it's difficult to realize it until it's fixed and then you know how powerful the motor should have been in the first place.
 
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