I have a Craftsman push mower with the B&G 550e engine.
While I was mowing this evening the plastic rewind guard under the engine cover came loose and got chewed up.
The part number is 590585.
Is this even necessary and will the engine operate okay without it?
Amazing that the B&G Quantum engine on my old mower never skipped a beat for 23 years but this new engine starts to come loose in 2 1/2 years.
The engine cover is intact and contains all of the rope pull parts and has the outer guard on it.
What Briggs & Stratton calls the rewind guard is nothing more than a plastic spacer ring that goes between the engine cover and the engine itself.
The part number is 590585. If you Google it you will see it doesn't provide any exterior protection to the operator.
It is held in place on top of the engine by tabs molded into it. Either time, heat or vibration allowed this plastic ring tabs to come out from the slots meant to hold it in place.
The three screws that hold the engine cover in place do not go through the holes molded into the ring.
If I had to guess it is there only to prevent the rope starter mechanism itself from contacting the spinning top of the engine should the operator somehow push down on the rope starter (like with their foot) and it comes loose from the engine cover.
Something no one ever had to worry about back when all of these parts used to be made out of metal and were securely attached to each other.
If it was mine, and thought there was any danger of the starter rubbing, I would cut another ring out of a piece of thin sheet metal, like used for ductwork, and fit it in. It is there to prevent the starter mechanism from contacting the top of the spinning flywheel and chewing up the plastic starter pulley.
I'll probably replace it. I was just concerned at first about using it at all without it.
But looking at it closer using the mower long enough to get the backyard done probably isn't too risky.
Just a bit surprised the design isn't wasn't better to hold it in place.
I also noticed another issue with this series of engine.
The gas tank cap is a quick quarter turn to open design rather than a threaded design. It is also high on the side of the engine.
More than once while mowing under bushes and a small multi trunk tree I've bumped the cap open when it contacts the plants.
I much prefer the threaded cap on that old Quantum engine.
