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I just acquired a Craftsman riding mower for very cheap at an estate sale. The owner said it just needed a new battery and to have the valves adjusted. I didn't get it immediately but instead looked around a bit to give myself some time to see what adjusting the valves on a riding mover entailed. The couple vids I checked out looked very easy. I popped on the mover and he even delivered to my house since it was fairly close. Went and bought a set of feeler gauges since the vids showed all I needed to do was take off the valve cover to expose the exhaust/intake valve rockers and adjust away, right?..... well, when lifted the hood, nothing looked like the mowers in the vids I saw. No simple cover to take off and go to work. I hadn't even thought about what type of engine this mover had and whether or not there would be a difference. I need guidance on finding the valves and how to adjust them on this mower. Any links to videos would also be appreciated.

You have the opposed twin engine on yours which is a L head style engine...... No covers and easy adjust like you said....

You might not have to adjust the valves, which is a lot of work on yours.... You did pick up quite a lil gem right there.

Great engines ~!~! Try to start it up the normal way to see what it does.... If it has been setting for a while drain all the old gas out and put fresh gas in it.. NON ETHO if you can.......

Let us know if it runs ~!~!

post craftsman model number from under seat should start with 917, also post model, type & trim no's from engine itself.

I would love if I didn't have to adjust the valves... maybe the owner just thought since it may have been a little hard starting that it needed it but I'll put some gas in and see what it does. The tank was luckily bone dry and looked clean inside so hopefully he had drained it before storage(he apparently has two other riding mowers from what the wife mentioned) and they just thought it was time to get rid of this one. Where can I buy non-ethanol gas and do you think it will truly make a big difference with starting/running? Shell 91 gas or some sort of Chevron?

Model under seat - 917.270930
Eng mod - 461707
Type - 0145 E3
Code - 0006225B

"Where can I buy non-ethanol gas and do you think it will truly make a big difference with starting/running?"

No, that is b---. I have had, worked on and traded dozens of these engines and all we have been able to get here for maybe 30 years is ethanol. That is something people like to blame when they can't think of anything else. IF there does appear to be a valve problem with these engines, suspect a loose valve seat.

Walt Conner

BuddyC1 here is a link you can use to find NON E gas in your area..... //www.pure-gas.org

Non E gas if sat up for quite some time makes a Jelly in carbs and the ethanol separates from the gas. It attracts moisture and makes water essentially.....

E gas is fine if used all the way up and not sitting for weeks upon weeks... Bert might chime in on this E gas issue......I hope he does.........

Let us know if it runs then we can go from there with problems if you have any

Let us know Mon Ami ~!~!

Boudreaux In Eunice La. said:

BuddyC1 here is a link you can use to find NON E gas in your area..... //www.pure-gas.org

Non E gas if sat up for quite some time makes a Jelly in carbs and the ethanol separates from the gas. It attracts moisture and makes water essentially.....

E gas is fine if used all the way up and not sitting for weeks upon weeks... Bert might chime in on this E gas issue......I hope he does.........

Let us know if it runs then we can go from there with problems if you have any

Let us know Mon Ami ~!~!

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Why blame me ?

But yes both Tinker & Bou are right.
Ethanol fuel will not hurt your engine.
Leaving it sitting in an engine for a long time may cause the problems Bou mentioned.
It is really a lottery .
The workshop is 500 yards from the landlords machinery shed.\He has all sorts of problems if he leaves fuel in anything for longer than a month.
I have few problems and in most cases we are using the same fuel from the same fuel station.

So the standard recommendations is to put a fuel tap in and run the carb dry when you have finished using the mower.
At the end of the season drain the fuel tank of fill it to to lip one or the other.
The problems come from the water in the air that is in the tank.
Exclude it and even if you get phase separation ( Lottery again) it will not cause you much grief.


Now people are not perfect so we forget or are just too tired or our attention is diverted so using non- ethanol fuel were it is available removes the problem all together.
Remembering even non ethanol fuel will gum up stuff if left there too long.

Maybe it helps that we have a refinery a couple miles away. Manager used to say the gas was higher priced here because it was fresher. And then MAYBE it puts out better gas than some.

Walt Conner

This may be helpful .....

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6NaqjIxWV1ybHphbUNTQUNNR2s/edit

Tinkerer200 said:

"Where can I buy non-ethanol gas and do you think it will truly make a big difference with starting/running?"

No, that is b---. I have had, worked on and traded dozens of these engines and all we have been able to get here for maybe 30 years is ethanol. That is something people like to blame when they can't think of anything else. IF there does appear to be a valve problem with these engines, suspect a loose valve seat.

Walt Conner

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Good luck with that in Illinois..... Best thing you can do is add Marine Stabil (Blue).

Tinkerer200 said:

Maybe it helps that we have a refinery a couple miles away. Manager used to say the gas was higher priced here because it was fresher. And then MAYBE it puts out better gas than some.

Walt Conner

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First off, all gasoline comes off the Cat Cracker as unleaded, not ethanol gas. Corn Liquor (alcohol) added after the cracking process, usually metered into the transport tanker at the filling rack and gas prices are not controlled by the refinery, they are controlled by supply and demand and on road use taxes. The state you live in has some of the highest taxes on on road fuel in the country (and interestingly are still going broke)..... Go figure.....:wink:

Ok it starts great BUT now I have an issue... I just started it and ran it around the yard, testing the speeds and reverse without engaging the blades. It's gear driven, not hydrostatic, and this is the first time I've driven a gear drive machine(actually I've only briefly EVER used a riding mower, period). I hit the brakes and engaged the blades... it seemed like it took a several seconds before I heard the wine of the belts but then I finally heard the blades spinning. I tried to start moving forward but nothing was happening. I soon started to hear sort of a low "whomp-whomp" sound and still couldn't get it moving so I shut it off. I restarted and it started up and sounded fine, but is not moving. What the heck happened?

SidecarFlip said:

Good luck with that in Illinois..... Best thing you can do is add Marine Stabil (Blue).

Click to expand...

What town in Illinois ?? There are 121 stations and more than that actually, because they are not on the list.... Stations need to be added to the list you don't just open up a gas station and think the jobber is going to put you on the list....

BuddyC1 said:

Ok it starts great BUT now I have an issue... I just started it and ran it around the yard, testing the speeds and reverse without engaging the blades. It's gear driven, not hydrostatic, and this is the first time I've driven a gear drive machine(actually I've only briefly EVER used a riding mower, period). I hit the brakes and engaged the blades... it seemed like it took a several seconds before I heard the wine of the belts but then I finally heard the blades spinning. I tried to start moving forward but nothing was happening. I soon started to hear sort of a low "whomp-whomp" sound and still couldn't get it moving so I shut it off. I restarted and it started up and sounded fine, but is not moving. What the heck happened?

Click to expand...

Drive belt came off / Broke ???? Look under your mower and locate the drive belt... Not the deck belt for the blades...

Check that real good........

Boudreaux In Eunice La. said:

Drive belt came off / Broke ???? Look under your mower and locate the drive belt... Not the deck belt for the blades...

Check that real good........

Click to expand...

Both belts are off and I see some shreds laying around from the deck belt I believe. The deck belt is off the track of one of the small middle pulleys, but it's not just flopping around completely loose from all the other pulleys. Was the cause of the drive belt coming off? It doesn't seem like the loose deck belt was so loose that it would have slapped the drive belt to make it come off track, but I it was lifted up above the pully itself so maybe it did somehow interfere with the drive belt. BTW, I am pretty sure I have the blades up in their highest position if that matters with whether or not an off-track deck belt in that position would likely cause the drive belt to get knocked off track.

Also, both belt look like they need replacing, any videos or tutorials for changing both belts on this gear driven machine?

Yes there is ..... Look up Taryl fixes All on you Tube then go to his video section and search drive belt.....

Would seem that you have a bad bearing or two in the blade deck, maybe in the drive belt idlers too. That mower does have one heck of a good motor on it though. Changing bearings and belts, especially when they are off and destroyed, is not a chore for new DIYer.

I found a link for you.... You can skip to 4;09 to bypass the comedy skit... This may not be your mower , but the procedure is the same ~!~!

https://youtu.be/IuQeNJwO2zE

Ok I'll study that video

tom3 said:

Would seem that you have a bad bearing or two in the blade deck, maybe in the drive belt idlers too. That mower does have one heck of a good motor on it though. Changing bearings and belts, especially when they are off and destroyed, is not a chore for new DIYer.

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I honestly always feel I can do most things as long as I have some decent instruction, and especially a video. How can I tell if the bearings are actually bad? Will there be an especially noticeable wobble? How hard is it?

People run the bags off old lawn mowers and then sell them... Always expect to replace belts, idlers, spindles and other consumable parts. Belts especially only last a short tome.

BuddyC1 said:

I honestly always feel I can do most things as long as I have some decent instruction, and especially a video. How can I tell if the bearings are actually bad? Will there be an especially noticeable wobble? How hard is it?

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Spin them by hand and if you hear any noise it's bad or on it's way out.... They are supposed to be super quiet........ ~!~!

Boudreaux In Eunice La. said:

Spin them by hand and if you hear any noise it's bad or on it's way out.... They are supposed to be super quiet........ ~!~!

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ok gotcha

SidecarFlip said:

Good luck with that in Illinois..... Best thing you can do is add Marine Stabil (Blue).

Click to expand...

I Never use any additive.

Walt Conner

Ok I got the deck off and both the deck and drive belt could definitely stand replacing. The small idler pulley on the right is the only one that I can hear with what sounds like bad bearings. It's rumbly sounding and if I give it a good spin it doesn't stop for a 7-8 seconds while the other idler stops after about 3 seconds and sounds quiet. The bad apparently bad one has a small bit of wobble. but not so bad that I would imagine it causing the belt to jump, but at very high speed it may act different from what I imagine. If the idler bearings are bad at all, would that typically cause it to jump? Doesn't seem to hard at all to replace that idler, is it? Also, what it the cheapest source for the deck and drive belt for this mower?

One of those idlers is the tensioner. Should be mounted on a moveable arm with a pretty hefty spring on it. Should be able to swing it around some. Could be bound up and not working like it should. A bit of cleaning and some grease might fix the problem. (?)

I took it to a couple of shops for examination and neither thought the pulleys were in bad enough shape to cause much of a problem. I ordered both the drive and deck belts and am awaiting their arrival. I am going to clean the pulleys and lube them... can I just spray wd or use 3-1 oil and is there a proper lube them or can I just go to town spraying them as long as I don't get it on the inside pulley tracks?

If you can't find a grease fitting on the pulley, don't lube it. It probably has sealed bearings. You could slop oil on that kind of pulley until you're blue in the face and none of it will get to where you think it should go. All you'll accomplish is getting oil where it shouldn't be.

got ya

cpurvis said:

If you can't find a grease fitting on the pulley, don't lube it. It probably has sealed bearings. You could slop oil on that kind of pulley until you're blue in the face and none of it will get to where you think it should go. All you'll accomplish is getting oil where it shouldn't be.

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Farm supply stores generally have a needle attachment with a grease zerk on one end which snaps to your grease gun and the needle is inserted carefully between the seal and inner race to lube dry bearings. I use it often and drill a tinny hole in metal clad seals and insert the needle thru the hole then seal with silicone. Saved lots of bearings that way.

Walt Conner

mechanic mark said:

post craftsman model number from under seat should start with 917, also post model, type & trim no's from engine itself.

Click to expand...

https://www.briggsandstratton.com/e...ualSearch.html?searchrequested=461707+0145+e3