Briggs & Stratton Governor Springs (p/n 261106)

S

slowleak

Member
Lately I'm running across a rash of 3.5hp (such as on a 93502 engine) that are rusted away.
I've picked at least two dozen of them lately with springs that crumbled in my hand.
B&S wants $7 per plus $10 shipping, that's not doable on a push mower that will maybe bring $25 to $50 running.
Is there a source to buy them by the bag somewhere? (261106 Gov. Spring)
The same goes for 270579S air filter elements too.

Most of these were mowers that lost spark and were just stuck out in the shed as they bought new one's. Over the years older mowers were hard to come by but lately they're coming out of the woodwork here. 1960's and 70's models needing not much more than basic maintenance are popping up on trash piles all over. I just picked up four mid 70's Craftsman magnesium deck models, a half dozen similar age snapper HiVac mowers, and 11 Rickles, Hechinger, JC Penny, and Montgomery Wards mowers, all in solid shape having likely been just parked when they wouldn't start for some reason years ago.

Oddly, either someone else is getting the later model mowers or they're not tossing them yet this year. The shear number that turned up this year is strange as most years I never find more than three of four but this year I've gotten 47 so far and only 12 of them have serious issues.
 
Same here, all older models, 3.0, 3.5hp B&S, and Sears with the Eager 1 Tecumseh engines.
Many of them run as-found, either out of gas or with a broken recoil cord.

What I am finding on them, something that I've not seen before, is Magnetron style coils that won't shut off when you ground the spade connector. I've even tried grounding the terminal out with a jumper wire and it does nothing. Usually its the opposite, and the switch is grounding out the coil The wire and switch are good, checked it with an ohmmeter to ground.
I've found 5 of them so far this year.
 
Quite normal for internal solder joints to fail after many years of age. In the electronics industry we call them cold solder joints. And push mowers around here are a rare breed.
 
And for the governor springs all is needed is overall length, diameter, wire size, and maybe the spring rate but it does require a new spring to start measuring. Then you can order springs by these specs.
 
Around here its mostly push mowers, with the occasional cheap rider or box store JD or Troy bilt.

I find it odd that I found so many all at once, including two new on the shelf. Usually its the opposite problem where the coil is grounding out by a bad switch or rubbed through wire.

The I looked up the p/n for the gov. springs, and for four 3.5 motors, all 1984-86 models, they list five different springs, all different RPMs I had the 3400-3600 rpm spring, 260875 but it looks too long, it binds back nd buckles in half. the original rusted spring was a 1/2 shorter. That one lists it as being for 2900 rpm. Whey would they want to run the same motor at different speeds on a push mower? All are identical looking white, BS 3.5hp motors, most are on Snapper push mowers. one on a Hechinger mower, (Electrolux built), and two 20" Sears mowers. that have the deep magnesium conch shell shaped deck.
 
I always figured the governor spring they chose had to do with the deck size, it always seemed like the softer springs were on the mowers with larger decks. Possibly to reduce blade tip speed.

Most pressure washer and rototiller motors are set to run slower, likely knowing they can be put into a no load situation, but those motors will have an iron flywheel.

The problem this far down the road we can't always tell whether or not the motor has been swapped to a new deck or different brand. When we're talking about 3.5hp motors, we're talking 30+ years old or more.
 
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