[AT] Lawn mower carburetors are a piece of cake..... Wrong

Sun Jun 6 08:01:09 PDT 2021

To all the folks specifically mentioning weedeaters, hedge trimmers, and other small gas engines woes:  go electric. You will never go back.

So it’s starts with my wife - who insists on doing some of the weed eating around the farm(a good thing cause I hate weed-eating) - not having the independence to weed-eat on her own.  I always had to start the weed eater for her.   I could start it fine  but she always seem to have trouble.  

So I sold it for 50 bucks and bought the Makita Electric.  I am absolutely flabbergasted that I didn’t think to make the switch years ago.   I love it.   I bought the package on Amazon that includes the nice charger and an extra set of batteries. Wasn’t particularly cheap but two sets of batteries provides way more than enough  power to cross anyone’s weed-eating stamina/boredom threshold. 

I can’t decide what the biggest benefit is. No smoke? Easy start? Quiet? No mixing fuel?  Absolutely anyone can run it?

I’ll never go back to gas yard tools.  Only chainsaws and bigger stay gas.  Everything else is, or will be, electric.

Spencer

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jun 6, 2021, at 8:34 AM, Cecil Bearden <crbearden at copper.net> wrote:
> 
> Just FYI  If you need small engine parts here is a site I use a lot
> 
> https://www.everestpartssupplies.com/
> 
> ...Cecil
> 
> 
> 
>> On 6/6/2021 6:28 AM, John Hall wrote:
>> Welcome to modern small engines--sometimes you just can't fix them.
>> 
>> My mother-in-laws 2 year old Briggs push mower wouldn't crank on its own. I replaced the primer bulb--that's about all you can do to it. Spray some starting fluid in it and it cranks and runs fine. Replacement carbs are aftermarket and cheap, but I don't really trust them. Some online research indicates some guys use 2 mounting gaskets, wonder if there is an air leak due to warped plastic parts?  I may try this, otherwise its headed to the dump as none of us need a push mower.
>> 
>> Got a 25 year old weed trimmer that I've had the carb apart 5-6 times. About ready to buy a cheap replacement carb (thats all you can get). I've replaced all the usual suspects, cleaned the carb as best as I can , used OEM parts.
>> What happens now is it will try to run with the choke completely on until it completely floods the crankase. Long story short the trimmer was given to me by a mechanic that told the owner it needed a new carb years ago. Its a high hour machine but has good compression, and has not been abused---just used a LOT. I did find the ignition kill wire would shock you--so that has now been disconnected as I'm sure that wasn't helping. This has really turned into pure stubborness to make this thing run again.
>> 
>> I did manage to tear apart my hedge trimmer carb and get out all the debris from the primer bulb (it was literally coming apart, never seen that before) and it now runs better than it has in a couple years.
>> 
>> 
>> So 1 for 3--if this was baseball not a bad batting average!!!!
>> 
>> John Hall
>> 
>>> On 6/5/2021 8:38 PM, Dean VP wrote:
>>> You ATIS members need a good laugh once in a while.  This should help provide that at my expense. ,
>>> 
>>> One of my Grandsons just purchased his first house which has a small grass lawn with it.  Small enough lawn a self-propelled 20 - 22" push mower would be just fine.  Since he is moving out of an apartment he would need to buy a mower.   I volunteered to give him one of mine that I have out in the barn that haven't been run for a while. Don't even remember now when or where I got this one, it was probably cheap at some garage sale or auction and is a Toro Model 20216.  Probably 20" to 22" (haven't measured) deck with a 4HP Briggs motor and it can be self-propelled with 3 forward gears .Everything worked fine on it when I used it last probably several years ago (ran when parked)  and my only two complaints about it were the 4HP made it underpowered and the aluminum deck was pretty brittle  and has been welded once. I have been blessed with a wealth of rocks on  my yard.   I noticed the deck now has a couple more cracks but the mower is useable as is all I have to do is get it running.
>>> 
>>> I cleaned everything up, cleaned the spark plug, changed oil and put in new gas.  I don't have a manual for the mower and the only way I could figure out how to get the old oil out was to either pump it out or lay it on its side and drain it out the fill tube. . Very dumb and very owner unfriendly. . Anyway tried to start it.    Not even a pop. Choke full on.   Tried ether. Yep, I could get it to run for a second or two but obviously not getting gas to the cylinder. Check gas line, check bowl, yep getting gas to the carburetor.  Sum Ting Wong with the carburetor.
>>> 
>>> Now mistakenly I think I know what I'm doing relative to carburetors with several successful Antique Tractor and Garden Tractor carburetor rebuilds  under my belt but it has been a long time since I have worked on a Lawn Mower Carburetor.   But needing to be humbled a bit I guess I have forgotten a key detail about Briggs carburetor's. I pulled the carb, removed the bowl and found a sandy white substance (dirt?) in the bowl and also in the needle and seat well.  Not typical of what I have seen in carbs in the past. But continue to disassemble removing the float and needle. Don't see a removable seat and disassemble the rest of the carb.  Run small wires through any opening I can find and make sure they are clean and blow air through any passage I can find.  One thing that happened worried me. I had the air hose nozzle on the gas intake pipe and a little pop occurred and something hit me in the face. My observation was that it had come out of the bottom where the needle seats.. Hmmmm .............must have been plugged right there. 😊 Couldn't find what came out. I bet the carburetor will work now.  Operator now in full idiot mode!😊
>>> 
>>> Moving on, soaked the carburetor in Pine Sol overnight and this morning cleaned it with fresh water.  Carburetor looks like new.  Man.... I am really good.     Hmm, the bowl gasket has expanded in diameter in the pine sol. That is not good. But start reassembling the carburetor and put the float and needle in place  and it is obvious the needle is dropping too far down and not seating properly.   Aha, that is what must have blown out and hit me in the face. Hummmmm  how do you blow out a brass seat?  Now I'm confused.  Get on the internet and watch a video of an overhaul of this type of lawn mower carburetor.  Gets to the part about removing the needle and seat. " An easy way to get the little rubber needle seat out is to blow air into the gas inlet of the carburetor"    Been there, done that.   Yep, I can completely verify that works very well but I didn't know it when I did it. @#$%^&*()   Now I sure as hell know what hit me in  the face. I can't find that little sucker.  So... $9 gets me a carburetor overhaul kit over night from Amazon.   Needed a new bowl gasket too.  Isn't it amazing how the problem and solution can hit you right in the face???
>>> 
>>> In searching for the right carburetor kit  I noticed I could buy a whole new carburetor for $10.49. But I have been down that road before and I was not pleased with what I received. So I'm staying with the OEM Carburetor.  One day delivery on the parts.
>>> 
>>> BTW, I'm not very sure this mower is even worth the $9 carburetor repair kit. But....  I am going to  beat this sucker into submission.  This is the way us old folks turn one hour jobs into a full day's entertainment.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Dean V
>>> Snohomish, WA 98290
>>> "Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."
>>> ..Winston Churchill...
>>> 
>>> 
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