Recent content by Hammermechanicman

To over simplify it overlap it needed because of inertia of gasses. As engine RPM goes up the exhaust closes later and the intake opens earlier to get more power. OPE engines operate at a relatively low RPM and the valve overlap is fairly small. As you increase valve duration and overlap the...

Looks like scamazon strikes again.

Years ago briggs sold kits to convert engines to propane. I installed one. No cam change. It basically adds what amounts to a scuba regulator and a venturi. Intake stroke activates a diaphragm to let the propane in and a needle valve on the diaphragm assy regulates the mixture. You really could...

The main jet is the bowl nut. It is not adjustable. On some tec carbs you can swap in an adjustable bowl nut with a needle. Some you can't Don't know if this fits but it has the adjustable main jet. https://www.amazon.com/Tecumseh-Carburetor-HS40-55552J-HS40-55552K-HS40-55552L/dp/B00M4CAB5Q

You need to replace the ignition switch.

Sounds like it has the wrong drive belt. It requires a fabric covered belt designed for clutching applications OEM belt #532194346.

Most ferris mowers have dual top draw tanks and a tank selector valve. They are prone to crud in the tanks getting stuck in the elbow at the top of the tank and the fuel selector valve. I would pull the lines from the tanks and blow them out and the selector valve and all of the lines. If you...

Sadly, an older gentleman at church is at that point. He says the push mower is hard to start and he just can't pull it over fast enough. It is tough on an ex marine and farmer to realize you can't do things.

When i was in high school the '63 Galaxie needed an oil pump. The first 2 words in the old blue Motor Manual said "remove engine". Should be a simple job. It is just 2 words.

I was able to use fingers to change them. Thanks

One of the JD/Stihl dealers near me is family owned and all the folks there are great people. I am on a first name basis with the parts folks. Owner offered me a job a few years ago but we couldn't come to terms. Worked out better running my own shop. Even at $100/hr the dealer is always backed...

I have had a couple shops want to hire me but i have no desire to grind out X units a day. More fun running my own shop.

It has been 4 pages of replies and the OP hasn't posted since the first post asking for help. I guess he fixed it

Customer's mower. Real nice simplicity. I will see it once a year for a while.

Got 2 stihl dealers near me and both charge $98/hr labor and they have enough service business they don't want to work on anything but what they sold. I get lots of older stihl saws in the shop they don't want to work on. I have saved a lot of saws from the dumpster.

Most stihl dealers won't work on a saw that old as the cost to fix is probably more than a customer is willing to pay plus lack of parts availability. Easy to check P&C condition by just pulling the muffler and looking. OEM P&C probably around $200 and being a being a clamshell engine another...

My son's Nissan xterra had a bad plug coil. You have to pull the intake manifold to remove the plug coils and spark plugs

I guess that's what you get when you live in that "other" hemisphere. I just can't handle the image of Santa coming in on a surfboard wearing a speedo. LOL.

Had a 1970 dodge tradesman van with a 440 in it to change the back 2 plugs you had to unbolt the motor mounts and jack up the engine about 3 inches and it was still a PITA.

I am on BP meds. I have to be careful not to bend over then stand up to fast. Not fun as you know.

No crystal ball? C'mon man.

Are you sure you have the proper size chains for the tires? Proper fitting chains can be a pain to get tight. Can you post a pic of the installed chains?

Me neither. -3 degrees here and -35 wind chill.

What? Not enjoying the bomb cyclone?

Just the whole thread in general. This thread is like a guy fell off a boat and can't swim and folks trying to tell him how to swim. Very entertaining.

🍿🙄

I guess the engineers were too stupid or busy to realize that nearly all v twins have plugs in about the same place. Since they don't do maint i guess not their problem. Of course i have seen stupider

The valves are not set correctly. See post #37 and #38.

🍿👀📺

Yup 2 strokes are an animal all their own plus you have different types of 2 strokes. Piston port, reed valve, rotary valve, hybrid. Throw in all the older chainsaws that do things their way and a typical DIY guy is just lost in the weeds. And like star says you need a lot of special tools for 2...

I guess we are assuming the valves are seating and sealing properly. ???? Try rotating the engine till a valve is completely open and then check the lash on the other valve then rotate engine till the other valve is completely open and check the lash on the first valve. It still sounds like a...

Kinda assumes he has the tools and know how to do that.

If all the rubber on the 025 is original it really is time to replace them. Fuel, oil and impulse hoses. Fuel and oil filters. The crank seals and intake boot and the clutch drum bearing for good measure. Some stuff is available OEM still or aftermarket from HL Supply. Crank seals are fun to...

Did you check fuel line and filter? Did you check the impulse line? It goes from a nipple on the cylinder to the handle assy that connects to a hole in the face of the carb. Obvious fuel delivery problem.

Pretty good fabricobble.

As someone who worked as a service rep for a conpany for 40 years and have been to dozens of training classes i can tell you there are good instructors and bad instructors. The bad ones were either "ladder climbers" or diversity hires or equal opportunity hires. I went to a class once on a...

I will throw the old $0.02 worth in. Make 100% sure the cam to crank gear timing is correct Make 100% sure the valves are being set properly. One valve open and adjust the other. After valves are adjusted with spark plugs out slowly rotate engine and see that all valves open the same amount...

Shock mount in front of spark plugs so that once you break the plugs loose you can't use a socket to get them all the way out. After 2 turns you can barely get the socket off and finger the plugs out. If they aren't tight. I'll bet the engineers used to work for Chrysler.

I quit doing onsite service as it always more than is expected. What i take is a trailer with a small HF winch. The control switch cable is long enough i can sit on a mower and steer while running the winch. I am too old to push dead mowers onto a trailer. I also take a charged air tank and a...

Many years ago a local officemax had an indian family that was a shoplifting gang. Mom, dad and the kids taking office supplies and putting them on Ebay. No prosecution, just trespassed.

Unless you can fabricobble an ignition system anything you buy to bolt on will probably be $200 or better. If you can find an old point style flywheel and a non electronic coil and a nova chip you can get it working but i will bet most all the old point flywheels have been snstched up. I will...

While it is up on the lift i take the deck belt off to check spindle and idler bearings. Check drive belt(s) and idlers. Check deck wheels. Scrape out deck. And just look over the underside of the mower.

I take a trailer.

I can lift a zero turn, remove the blades, sharpen the 3 blades, reinstall the blades and drop the mower in around 10 minutes. I have an air assisted mower lift and a battery impact. Usually blade sharpening is part of an annual maint package so more is done while it is lifted.

Don't have a lot of control over what customers bring me. Plus time is money in a shop.

The OH160 came with 2 different ignition systems. One is a conventional coil and points and the other is a self contained electronic ignition. They use different flywheels. The electronic system uses trigger pins on the rim of the flywheel. The electronic coils are scarce and expensive, usually...

I run a shop and have the All American sharpener. I have worn out an angle grinder with it and sharpened hundreds of blades in the last few years. Expensive for a homeowner but great for a shop. I use 35 grit flap wheels. Works well on formed mulch blades too.

Dang!!!!! Praying for you bro.

I am surprised the government doesn't require a fire safety team be on hand to change a fuel filter. LOL. As a contractor at Wright patterson AFB if i wanted to use a soldering iron i was supposed to inform base safety, cordon off a safe area with caution tape and have a fire extinguisher with...

Hose stuck? Git er done.

It doesn't.

I have seen quite a few of the chineese no name plugs in the amazon and ebay tune up kits fail within minutes of running. These always go in the trash and it gets a champion of NGK plug. Lots of folks loke to hate on champ plugs but B&S uses million or so every year in new engines.

It's funny, i have 2 JD/stihl deslers near me. One is really good at taking care of customers and doing warranty repairs. Family owned and the owner works the sales floor. The other is part of a group of JD dealers managed from afar. Folks tell me warranty work takes a long time and sometimes a...

Years ago we had a sears service center in town. I had a customer with an Eager 1 mower with a broken control cable. Sears only sold the entire handle as an assembly which cost more than the mower itself. I had a sears jigsaw that needed a motor bearing. Sears only sold a kit that was double the...

"Green" fence

We are doing basically the same thing. Troubleshooting, eliminating things that are working until you find something not working properly. New plugs eliminate one variable then using the neon testers can identify or eliminate a coil problem WHILE the engine is running poorly. I have had...

Adjust the valves too.

The B&S oiled foam filters are notorious for the holes in the bottom of the filter plugging the foam with dirt on tillers. You can wash and reuse the filter. Replace every couple of years

You are correct the neon inline testers do not test the plug itself. When troubleshooting a problem like this i would put in new plugs and use the the inline testers and run till the problem shows up and see if the testers show a problem. That is why you really need inline neon testers and...

The infamous Hazard Fraught has a 3 piece set of hose pliers that the small pair is perfect to grab the hose and twist on the filter nipple to loosen it and hold the hose while pulling the filter out. I have the Lisle hose removal pliers but rarely need them for fuel lines. Changing a fuel...

The old snapper RT8 has the old vertical 8hp briggs flathead engine. It is probably just after firing in the muffler. If it just does it once at shutdown i wouldn't worry about it. Keep the air cleaned serviced as they tend to clog with dirt and then run rich.

The carb idle circuit needs cleaned.

I use 10 cheap float chargers on batteries. I don't disconnect the batteries.

Most of everything my customers are cutting is dead ash and 020 works best fir them. On my personal chains i run rakers at 030. I have 2 saws with 25" bars and i have 12 full chisel chains for bucking lots of big ash. I have a 36" bar but i ain't man enough to lug that around long before my back...

Silvey made a nice machine. Not many of them around me. I have 2 of the oregon 620 hydraulic grinders. One is set up just to do rakers as i am lazy and tired of changing wheels. I may buy a third one to setup for 2 different wheel thicknesses. Most chains are at 55 and 30 with rakers at .020...

I bought the flat CBN raker wheel for $100 but i actually like the "pink" raker wheel better which i profiled to round over the front of the depth gauges. Makes the chains run smoother.

Most of the Oregon grinders are made in italy by Tecomec. Most of them are capacitor start motors and if you spin it backwards fast enough then turn it on they will run backwards. I have been looking for a DPDT switch that is the same size as the existing one so i can make it reversing like they...

Make that 08S a wall hanger.

The metal ones are easily removed with just an allen wrench and are reuseable.

It has the metal caps you need to remove to adjust the carb. If you are going to service chainsaws you really need to study up on chains and get real chain grinder. One issue you will have is that finding parts lists for most saws. A good way to get some good saw knowledge is to buy one of the...

Watch me set the internet on fire. https://www.hlsproparts.com/product-p/cs36120a.htm

Them creamsicles be getting expensive

I was approached once to be a warranty center. No thanks.

I like the threads where the owner thought spark plugs were grade 8 bolts and put them in tight enough that you pull rings of aluminum out with the plugs.

Really.

Bring it to me and fixed in 30 mins. Charged $40. Splitting wood that afternoon. Tractor Supply is not a Kohler service center. Local TS said take it back to where she bought it a hundred miles away. If they did take it back they would drop it off as TS would send it to whomever does their...

Local TS said to take it back to where she bought it. A hundred miles away. I have put dozens of cheap clone carbs on clones and Hondas with no problems. Don't have that luck with real Kohler and Briggs engines. All it needed was to clean the sticky gunk out of the carb fuel shutoff. Lots of...

Yes, my metric adjustable wrench lives next to my metric hammer in the toolbox. I do have a set of metric screwdrivers JIS I can tell you it is definately a china built clone. Pretty much every part looks identical to a clone i have. Here is the 6.5 HF predator. Almost an exact copy except...

It probably set for a long time at TS and there was residue in the carb fuel shutoff valve blocking the fuel. Obviously TS didn't start it when she bought it. $1200 splitter and they didn't even try to start it.

I have yellow paint pens. I put the date and hours on the bottom of the filter before i put it on. Same on starters.

Brand new log splitter won't run. A guy's daughter bought it for him for his birthday and hauled it a hundred miles to him. The "Kohler" engine is a chonda clone. Pulled the carb and it is identical to a $15 Ebay carb down to the markings. Nothing against the clones as they run fine. I wonder...

I have that tool. Seems to work fine. Just need to be careful to start it straight, just like a tap

Fully charged battery freezes around -80 degrees F. Discharged battery around 25 degrees F. Best case is to bring battery into a place that does not get below freezing and put a float charger on it. If you can't do that and it will be stored where it gets below freezing disconnect the negative...

I use a cheap otoscope. I can tell the size difference by looking at them side by side. If you do get them reversed it's not the end of the world. Some engines run just fine and some one cylinder is a tad rich