TerraForte
Member
- Joined
- Jun 17, 2019
- Threads
- 7
- Messages
- 33
Dragged a Gravely 36 mower back home.
Mower looks good overall, but was a "guy who used to live here left it behind" type deal.
No recoil starter (let met know if you have a spare!) so I'm using rope to start it.
Cleaned carb and got it running on its own.
Without tinkering, it ran way too fast. I cannot confirm RPMs due to not having a small engine tach, but it was much louder and sounded much faster than other FB460v machines I've owned, as well as pretty much any lawn mower.
Additionally, I engaged the blades and it sounded like a spaceship about to take off. Quite scary. My girlfriend came out of the house and kinda freaked out about it.
I have tried to adjust the engine speed cable and the governor arm/shaft. I cannot seem to get it right. I actually don't know how the governor works, so that might be part of the issue.
When I loosen the 10mm governor shaft nut to rotate the shaft, it seems to have about 270 degrees of rotation. If I turn it all the way one way (cant remember which way) it makes a pinging noise, like the shaft is tapping against something internally. Not sure if that indicates something broken.
I tried to do the governor adjustment procedure of turning to max throttle, then turning the governor shaft all the way in the same direction as the arm, but then the mower wouldn't start up.
It seems at both extremes of the governor shaft adjustment it will not start, and I've since lost the original orientation.
Any ideas here?
Also, in all my years of landscaping and small engine repair/tinkering, I've never needed a tachometer for anything, but I'm considering buying one now. I'm looking online to buy one, but seem to be getting more confused. They have settings for single-cylinder two-stroke vs. four-stroke engines, but someone pointed out that a 4-stroke lawn mower engine produces 1 spark per rev, same as two-stroke, and the other spark is wasted.
Can you set me straight here?
Mower looks good overall, but was a "guy who used to live here left it behind" type deal.
No recoil starter (let met know if you have a spare!) so I'm using rope to start it.
Cleaned carb and got it running on its own.
Without tinkering, it ran way too fast. I cannot confirm RPMs due to not having a small engine tach, but it was much louder and sounded much faster than other FB460v machines I've owned, as well as pretty much any lawn mower.
Additionally, I engaged the blades and it sounded like a spaceship about to take off. Quite scary. My girlfriend came out of the house and kinda freaked out about it.
I have tried to adjust the engine speed cable and the governor arm/shaft. I cannot seem to get it right. I actually don't know how the governor works, so that might be part of the issue.
When I loosen the 10mm governor shaft nut to rotate the shaft, it seems to have about 270 degrees of rotation. If I turn it all the way one way (cant remember which way) it makes a pinging noise, like the shaft is tapping against something internally. Not sure if that indicates something broken.
I tried to do the governor adjustment procedure of turning to max throttle, then turning the governor shaft all the way in the same direction as the arm, but then the mower wouldn't start up.
It seems at both extremes of the governor shaft adjustment it will not start, and I've since lost the original orientation.
Any ideas here?
Also, in all my years of landscaping and small engine repair/tinkering, I've never needed a tachometer for anything, but I'm considering buying one now. I'm looking online to buy one, but seem to be getting more confused. They have settings for single-cylinder two-stroke vs. four-stroke engines, but someone pointed out that a 4-stroke lawn mower engine produces 1 spark per rev, same as two-stroke, and the other spark is wasted.
Can you set me straight here?