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Briggs 18hp


MTklein

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Hi members, Been a while since I have been on, and have noticed the club fee. This is definatly not a problem, since a lot of good people work hard to provide expirience and knowledge to people.(like me):D Dont like to use credit cards, so I will mail it to Minn. Hope to be a member soon, dont like to be a free loader. That said, Last summer I picked up a Sim, and with the help of fellow members decided it was a 7018H(no decals or tags):( like a 75 vintage with the little quad headlights. I picked up a plow with hitch and lift rod, with angle adj. from the seat and a spring flip down style mount. Sweet setup. Then I purchased wheel weights and chains the day before we got 4 inches of wet heavy snow. Let me tell you how much fun I have plowing (ask all my neighbors!) Now I have engine trouble: The large pulley/fan shroud on the back of engine has clearance to block of 1/8" on top and is actually digging into the block on the bottom! Making sparks and noisey grinding noise. Now I think it is locking it up so that the engine only cranks a few times and stops. Does this sound like a rear main bearing gone bad? causing the shaft to tilt that much? Could that be why I am on my 3rd plastic starter gear, because the teeth are not lining up? If so whats involved in remeding this, a whole engine rebuild? Anyone ever heard of this. Thanks for your time! Id love to get some pics up of it plowing!
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Is it a twin cylinder? I don't believe that Briggs made a 18hp single. Kohler 18 is overhead valve. Are you saying PTO side is dragging does this have front PTO or is it by the drive shaft?
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Im sorry, your right this must be a 16hp then? oh well thats fine with me! Really has alot of power. It is a single, cast iron briggs, with a shaft out the front that I dont use. Out the back there is a large pulley enclosing a screen, presumably for cooling? Out the center of this is the driveshaft going to the BGB. The large pulley is what is grinding into the block, on the lower side, the top half is clearing the block. So my question is do the bearing go out and cause the crank to sit so low in the back that it could cause this grinding....and my starter gears to last 15 starts. Thanks
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First of all your main bearings are ball bearings and the fact that you have no power loss would make it seem the problem is not in the bearings. What is strange is that engine was originally set up with a belt driven S/G and now the flywheel starter teeth apparently are doing their own self machining or the blower housing is cocked, or maybe an incorrect blower housing.
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I am assuming that what you are referring to then blower housing when you say "block". I am making this assumption based on your description of the "large pulley" that the driveshaft is attached to. I would check to see if the bolts have come loose on the blower housing, which will allow the bottom of the housing to move forward enough the hit the pulley. Another possibility is if you had pried on the blower housing to remove the starter to replace the gear. You could have bent it into the pulley and the friction caused by rubbing could have heated the edge of the air intake, causing it to warp. I imagine it's possible, but I've never heard of a main bearing on these engines that has worn bad enough to cause the kind of problem you are describing. If it were worn that bad, it would be leaking oil like a sieve. Don't know what could be causing your starter gear to go. In 1999, a customer brought a Gilson with a 16 horse Briggs to my shop. He had owned it since new and never had a problem. In 1999, in one month, he had replaced four starter gears. He replaced the entire starter and replaced two more gears in the following month. I checked starter gear alignment, checked for a bent starter mounting base, and checked for bad teeth on the flywheel ring gear. Nothing out of the ordinary. I replaced the starter gear. He brought it back the following week with a stripped starter gear. Replaced the gear, and kept the tractor and used it for a week. Worked fine. Sent it home and it has been working every since. No clue as to why it ate so many starter gears in one year of it's 24 year (currently) life. Pat
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Well, I found the problem after going though 3 starter gears. Oh...that black steel strap?....the one that holds the back end of the starter tight to the block? the one that keeps the starter from rocking in and out of the flywheel? that shreads the teeth like a ginsu knife? NOOO! WE DIDNT HAVE TO PUT THAT BACK ON DID WE!!!! The two screws in the housing should hold it tight enough!!! Yes guys I never though that silly little strap was important enough to put back on, wow was I wrong. Bought a fourth gear(4 bucks) put it on, thought about the physics of what was happening, put the strap on, and vroom Im plowing. thanks anyway for the help guys.
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MtKlein: From what you said here:
quote:
The large pulley/fan shroud on the back of engine has clearance to block of 1/8" on top and is actually digging into the block on the bottom! Making sparks and noisey grinding noise.
I thought it was the flywheel that was moving into the block, but now it sounds like it was the starter that was moving, and not "The large pulley/fan." I was about to suggest that whoever changed out the flywheel didn't tighten it sufficiently, and it was working loose off the crank. Anyway, glad you figured it out.
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yes, that was a whole other problem by itself. The metal blower cover did somehow move back into the pulley, but like another member said, I pryed it back a 1/8" and now its fine, no more grinding. After visiting the local simplicity dealer he showed me the aluminum pulley/flywheel and said hes never seen one bend, they are pretty sturdy. So I knew it was the shroud causing the problem. The starter problem was my own fault for not putting neccesary equiptment back in place.
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