Fixing lawnmower with Solar Power

[Norm]

....sure enough...no spark....Well of course not,

not after the previous owner kept storing it

under the porch after mowing season.

  I might add this doesn't do the paint job on

the lawnmower any good either....stuff peeling off

like a bad wallpaper job!

  So I simply took the coil off laid it on top

of an old black gas grill cover in the sun from

8AM. to 11AM nice and warm...stuck it back on

...took the piece of coat hanger wire that someone

had put on the governor..so they could beat down

the weeds with a dull blade with all 4.5 horses!

Brilliant!

  Anyway in conclusion once I tune up the

carbuerator and readjust the governor I'll have

a nice running  LawnBoy (they run nice and

quiet, like an outboard) just by giving the coil a nice

little sunbath ...this is the second LawnBoy that

I fixed this way. So if you got a coil that

doesn't work...give it a try it's sure cheap

enough!

               ( :>) Norm.

[Old F]

With my luck it would work then it would hold out

for a full spa tretment : )

Old F

[tinker]

My luck, would contact a lawyer and sue for willingly and knowingly exposing said same to harmful solar ultraviolent radiation resulting in a cancerous condition whereby extremely high voltage discharges are experienced whenever excited by passing magnetic fields =O

[Norm]

  Well Mostly if I was selling it I would tell the guy not to store it under his porch I prefer a good old Briggs myself never ever had that kind of trouble with them....                    

               ( :>) Norm.

 

[ghurd]

My daughter is getting her drivers license.

My briggs mower is older than she is.

I have less trouble getting the briggs to work! LOL

G-

[hiker]

i just toss my mowers under a big spruce tree in the fall--always fire right up in spring..just a couple of old briggs and stratt. mowers--still have the old point system in them--to clean the points you have to take the flywheel off--only do that once in a great while.........later..

[Norm]

 Hiker,

   I used to fix lawnmowers, (for fun and profit)

One of my customers told me that after they hit

a large rock the mower had quit, so I told them

they probably sheared the flywheel key and it was

out of time....'how do you fix that?'

'you have to take the flywheel off and put in a

new key'...bring it in tomorrow and I'll fix it

for you'

  'Nah ! ...sounds easy enough I'll do it myself

 Next time I see him...'Well get the mower fixed?'

  'Nah ! couldn't figure what held the

flywheel on thought maybe it was a press fit

so we(his brother) used a wheel puller...'

  They got the flywheel off ....most of it....

except the hub and the starter clutch (Briggs)

  To make matters worse they threw the whole

thing away after that.....me with about a dozen

flywheels on the shop wall to fit it!

               ( :>) Norm.

[Experimental]

       OH Yah,

      And usually, those flywheel keys are made of aluminum, and even if they are only slightly "dented", they throw the timing off, enough to make them very difficult or impossiable to start !!

      I told a friend this, he removed his flywheel, and sure enough, that was the problem -- he then made an "improvement", with a steel key !!

      The next time he hit a rock -- it broke the crankshaft !!!

     The moral of the story -- Don,t use steel keys !!   Bill H......

[phil b]

BTW - it only takes a nick on that alum key to render it useless. If you keep shearing keys use valve grinding compound to restore the taper.

[BT Humble]

That happened to my B&S mower too, and I was so proud of myself when I figured out what was wrong with it without having to ask anyone! ;-)

I also decided that repeatedly pulling the ripcord to start recalcitrant motors was a good job for someone else, so these days if it doesn't start after half-a-dozen pulls I put a socket in my electric drill and spin her over real quick. >;-D

BTH

[Norm]

I told a friend this, he removed his flywheel, and sure enough, that was the problem -- he then made an "improvement", with a steel key !!

      The next time he hit a rock -- it broke the crankshaft !!!

     The moral of the story -- Don,t use steel keys !!  

  He should have used an air key !

  Air keys are easy, cheap, convenient and never

wear out!

  No ...I'm not pulling your leg...a flywheel key

is just a locator...the trick is to make sure it

stays there until you torque it down to specifications.

  I had one old briggs that I had just cleaned the points and couldn't find a replacement key

and the store was closed... so ever since then

that particular motor got it's points filed

every spring tune-up ....but ran keyless !

  If you hit a rock the air key will shear just

as easy as an aluminum one !

                   ( :>) Norm.

 

[Kwazai]

when I sheared one I drilled and tapped for a bolt (3.5hp) and retarded the timing just a little in the process-always started a lot easier after that...