Lawn mowers!!

[goodwoodweirdo]

Guys,

I have an old briggs & stratton lawn mower, I guess from the late 70's anyway last year it worked and this year it started first time, but the cutting blade doesn’t engage, I've included a picture but before I start hitting the clutch plate holder which is located on the crank, am I doing the correct thing ... If you look at picture 1 you'll see the plate just turns I need to close the back plate to engage the gear... I've loosened the bolts but the back plate doesn’t move freely...

You advise is much appreciated.... damm need to work out how to upload a picture...

Cheers Matt
<img src="http://www.flickr.com/photos/goodwoodweirdo/3447678682/" alt="clutch engaged"></img>

<img src="http://www.flickr.com/photos/goodwoodweirdo/3446865623/" alt="clutch dis-engaged"></img>

Edited by goodwoodweirdo on Thursday 16th April 15:19

[john2443]

As far as photos are concerned you need to put pic and /pic around the url, both of these contained in square brackets. Click on Formatting help ^ up there for other things.

The lawnmower, eerrrr no idea! Sorry

[crankedup]

There's an forum on this site for Garden and Home, post there for better response maybe.

[LongQ]

Are you planning to race it this year?

Or maybe Grass Track events ?

[GasMonkey]

goodwoodweirdo said:

Guys,

You advise is much appreciated.... damm need to work out how to upload a picture...

Cheers Matt

clutch engaged


clutch dis-engaged

Edited by goodwoodweirdo on Thursday 16th April 15:19

Cant help with your mower, but take it apart, looks like something has collapsed?
Happy to help with your picture formatting though

[dr_gn]

goodwoodweirdo said:

Guys,

I have an old briggs & stratton lawn mower, I guess from the late 70's anyway last year it worked and this year it started first time, but the cutting blade doesn’t engage, I've included a picture but before I start hitting the clutch plate holder which is located on the crank, am I doing the correct thing ... If you look at picture 1 you'll see the plate just turns I need to close the back plate to engage the gear... I've loosened the bolts but the back plate doesn’t move freely...

You advise is much appreciated.... damm need to work out how to upload a picture...

Cheers Matt
<img src="http://www.flickr.com/photos/goodwoodweirdo/3447678682/" alt="clutch engaged"></img>

<img src="http://www.flickr.com/photos/goodwoodweirdo/3446865623/" alt="clutch dis-engaged"></img>

Edited by goodwoodweirdo on Thursday 16th April 15:19

If it was working last year and you've done nothing to it I'd say something has either dropped inbetween the clutch plates and is keeping them apart, or perhaps the release yoke mechanism is partially siezed such that it's not allowing the plates to close up fully. I notice that there appears to be no free play between the release yoke rollers and the clutch flange. Try checking that the release yoke is indeed fully releasing.

[goodwoodweirdo]

Hmm still having problems, checked the adjustment and it only closes to the current point, the lever returns to its maximum point. Also the clutch holder can only be adjusted to a certain point... its as if the clutch plate is worn beyond its minimum or some thing like a rubber plate has disintegrated and fallen out...

I'll see if I can find something on the Braggs and Stratton website...

thanks Matt

[_Deano]

Sorry for the hijack, but i have a petrol mower that doesn't want to tick over.
Last year it was fine, but then i stored it in the garage over winter, as you do.
I tried to start it up last weekend, and apart from 1 minute of ticking over and a lot of blue smoke, it died out and won't start again.
It's a 4 stoke engine, so no need for the 2stoke oil to be mixed in. I've checked the oil levels and these are fine, the only other thing that might be a problem is the spark plug; which i've not replaced or checked as i have only thought about it now.
Any one have any other ideas why it might not be starting?

[Davi]

_Deano said:

Sorry for the hijack, but i have a petrol mower that doesn't want to tick over.
Last year it was fine, but then i stored it in the garage over winter, as you do.
I tried to start it up last weekend, and apart from 1 minute of ticking over and a lot of blue smoke, it died out and won't start again.
It's a 4 stoke engine, so no need for the 2stoke oil to be mixed in. I've checked the oil levels and these are fine, the only other thing that might be a problem is the spark plug; which i've not replaced or checked as i have only thought about it now.
Any one have any other ideas why it might not be starting?

did you drain and refresh the fuel? petrol goes stale.

[mrmaggit]

Davi said:

_Deano said:

Sorry for the hijack, but i have a petrol mower that doesn't want to tick over.
Last year it was fine, but then i stored it in the garage over winter, as you do.
I tried to start it up last weekend, and apart from 1 minute of ticking over and a lot of blue smoke, it died out and won't start again.
It's a 4 stoke engine, so no need for the 2stoke oil to be mixed in. I've checked the oil levels and these are fine, the only other thing that might be a problem is the spark plug; which i've not replaced or checked as i have only thought about it now.
Any one have any other ideas why it might not be starting?

did you drain and refresh the fuel? petrol goes stale.

Also take out and clean the spark plug, and take out and clean the air filter.

[_Deano]

I checked the air filter and this is still clean, but i didn't drain the petrol; will give this a go.
Bit of a numpty, but how do i clean the spark plug?

[SwanJack]

Take it out, clean the points with a wire brush/sandpaper. Mine wouldn't idle last year, cleaning the spark plug didn't help, but a new plug fixed the problem.

Edited by SwanJack on Wednesday 22 April 13:50

[Davi]

_Deano said:

I checked the air filter and this is still clean, but i didn't drain the petrol; will give this a go.
Bit of a numpty, but how do i clean the spark plug?

check the electrode gap as well - if it's been stood a long time the electrode can rust, you pull the chord, it fires, blows the rust off, increase in gap size so weaker spark, no idle. The instructions should give you the correct gap, but if not a "cover all" gap is 25 thou (otherwise known as a fag packet thickness) - not always correct but seems to work on the majority of engines