Todays minor victory

[billinohio]

Grass mowing is coming soon, so, I thought I would work on the mower. Last week I replaced the spindle bearings. Today I intended to get it ready to go. Tried starting it, it cranked for a couple seconds and went dead and jumping it with a screwdriver did not get it going, no spark. I tried wiggling wires and cleaning connections with no luck, cleaned and tested relays, finally resorted to the internet. I knew it had fuses, but never could find them. They were in plain sight, hanging out of the wiring harness, but in a sorry condition, the colorful plastic insulated parts had fell off, and I did not recognize them as fuses,
but the actual fuse links appeared to be still there….replaced them and it started!!! This has probably been giving me erratic problems for some time, but, always before, I could get it going by jumping the starter.
In the past it has gone through ignition switches. They kinda just fall apart, and it’s easy to buy the wrong switch, too. They look the same but don’t work.

[rustyfarmall]

Reminds me of Harley, and his troubles with that ORANGE wire.

[f2036]

Sometime ago a pastor that we had at our church told me "I take pleasure in small victories" the more I thought about it, the more I found it to be true.

billinohio, I think that you won a major battle this time

[Angle iron]

Had to work on a friends rider last week. Same one from last summer.Says it ran great all last season after it was fixed. Said it will not turn over.Now that can mean several things here. It may simply not turn when you try to start or it turns slow or any thing up to not starting. When I asked what it did leading up to not working he did not seem to know. Seemed odd and after further questions he had loaned it to a friend.That friend after further questions did not know either . That lead to the revelation that he had loaned the borrowed mower to another man who brought it back to the first guy and said it did not work. He did tell me the battery was dead, oil was ok. Charged the battery a little and they were right it would not turn. Starter began to get hot right away. Took it off and it would turn but speed up and slow down very erratic.Could barley turn it by hand.Replaced it with a as he said known good starter.Would not spin the engine very well and spitting gas in my face from the carb.Found the valves out of adjustment by a good bit. Reset those and still not start/no spark. Removed the kill wire still no spark.Coil gap was at about .030. Should have checked sooner but all this was done Last summer. So reset the valves,reset the coil and now it spins as it should and has spark. Started after a bit as I had it flooded.Drove it around a bit seemed to run ok but not very responsive to speed change with the trans lever. Then I thought lets try the deck, took a good 4 count to come to speed and would stop with the least amount of grass. Drove it another 200-300 feet shut it off to talk to another friend. Restarted just fine went to move and it stopped after a foot or so. Checked the belts, both shredded. Both were new last summer. I have no idea how the valves or the coile got so far out of adjustment other than they were messed with. I think it all originated at the starter as when I took it apart two of the magnete had come loose.I think the starter had failed as a result of a loose ground wire causing a low voltage situation over heating the starter causing the glue to turn loose and the magnets to come free. This is the very reason I normally don't work on other's mowers. It certainly makes for a good time when other people work on one and do not let you know what they did first. All this was done late last fall and it sets outside so you could not really see evidence of recent contact. I was so frustrated at one point half way thru I wished it were battery powered but only for a moment. He is a good friend and would do anything I needed to help but this stretched it a bit. Lawn mower rant over.

[billinohio]

Years ago, an elderly neighbor had me working on his rider. It was on a day that I needed to be planting corn, so frustration came quickly.. it was an old points type ignition. Everything looked good, but spark was very weak. It finally dawned on me to research things. The flywheel was not in the exact position that it should be when the points open up. I came up with my version of an offset key and it ran.
Except it would run good, then bad, then good, then bad, etc. That turned out to be the big brass main jet in the carburetor was screwing itself in and out with the vibrations of the motor.
I would theorize that he hit something hard enough to twist the crankshaft and loosen the jet?

I do know that was the greatest relief to see it going away, actually running.

If something like that happened now, I would probably go to Harbor Freight and get a new engine fairly early in the day……

Several years ago, I had another one running good, bad etc. I thought it had to be the carb there, too, but no….. that turned out to be a collapsed push rod and the engine vibrations were making the rocker arm wander back an forth in rhythm. Kohler “courage” engine, pure junk!

[Butcher]

something like that happened now, I would probably go to Harbor Freight and get a new engine fairly early in the day…… 

I wish HF would've been around years ago. I've stuck more money into parts for small engines than what a new Preditor engine would've cost.

[Erstwhile]

... and you'all  remember my saga with the Cadet Zero engine that turned out to be a slipping magnetic clutch.  It's running great now, but I am always in fear of a repeat somehow.  The clue I missed was the blackened oil. 

[billinohio]

And, these HF engines are so much better than what we used to spend good money on!

[rustyfarmall]

Mar 24, 2024 7:54:53 GMT -6 Butcher said:

something like that happened now, I would probably go to Harbor Freight and get a new engine fairly early in the day…… 

I wish HF would've been around years ago. I've stuck more money into parts for small engines than what a new Preditor engine would've cost.

I've actually TRIED doing a complete rebuild on 3 1/2 and 7 horse Briggs and Strattons. Talk about a waste of money AND time.

[billinohio]

I could see you putting a lot of time and money into those old engines.
Current price as of todays sale is $130 for a 6 1/2 hp engine, buyers club might get it cheaper at some point in time. Their 3 hp is about that price, rarely if ever on sale, but it is smaller and lighter.

I have their 15 hp engines on the wood splitter and sawdust blower. I don’t see how they could be any better!

I have trashed a lot of small engines, but, so far, none that came from HF.

[haywood]

When I was Fixing Mowers and Tractors (2005), the Kawasaki air cooled line was King of the Turf.

The Honda 23 was barely capable of winding up a Hustler 72" Super Z.
She practically died out when deck was engaged.  The Hondas Ran very Hot even with an oil cooler they ran full governed speed and I had seen the plastic Cam shaft gears in the Sump turn dark brown and brittle from heat and explode inside the crankcase.

The Excel Hustler Super Z 72" Was child's play for the Kawasaki Engine.

I concur that the Kohler Courage was and is a prized piece of Junk out of the box.
The 12-14 HP line of Kohler Vertical Crank engines were pretty good. IMHO But the Twins were also Questionable.
 
Note: Hustler at that time listed all the Electrical components (Everything) and various harness Part #'s on a very legible Wiring system diagrams listed at online Parts program on their Website.. Database.
They were Way Easier to work on than many Competitors Zero turns in the Early 2000's

They did have some Models that were bought back or Engines converted when it was evident they would not stay together and actually mow grass. A Cat Badged Diesel (Perkins) 3 cylinder had vibration issues and snapped bolts all over the place was not fixable and scrapped. The other at the time was a Horizontal shaft liquid cooled Kawasaki 27 that use a 90-degree gear box to run belt power to the Z pumps and it failed miserably at the gearbox.  A 25 HP Kawasaki Air cooled Retro kit was made and installed just like the Typical super Z's
We Resold the liquid cooled Kawasaki 27hp engines for 900.00 with about 100 hours on them.