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Engine Replacement Question


bigcountry

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As many of you know I was given a David Bradley 2 wheel garden tractor last week. I've tinkered around with the engine on it (newer 5hp Briggs aluminum block) and well, it shoots out sparks when it runs, like its metal grinding on metal, and I filled it up with oil to full capacity. When it does run, the governor is stuck wide open, like it will blow at any second. Well anyway, I was offered a job plowing sidewalks (since there is talk of snow coming this weekend), and I have a snow blade for this machine. I was wondering if I should replace the engine with a new 5hp Briggs or possibly a 6hp so I can make some $$$ with this machine, and I was wondering if the original tranny will hold up to the power of a new engine. The guy who gave it to me said the tranny pulled good last year when they used it.
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The most logical place to get sparks like you say is under the blower housing where it real easy for flywheel to rub and make those noises. It should be easy to check as there are usuall four 1/4 bolts that hold it on. Just take it off and look for shiny marks. You might have tap out the marks with a hammer. As for your stuck governor, try spraying carb on the outside with Gumout to see it that will loosen the throttle plate. Sometimes that is all that the carb needs.
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The sparks are coming out of the muffler, like the piston is rubbing the cylinder. The motor looks like a basketcase, like it wasn't taken care of that well. It doesn't look good at all. It will only run on carb cleaner as well.
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Usually sparks from the muffler will be little bits of carbon being burned off,could be coming from the muffler itself or from the top of the piston or from the valves, using carb cleaner to run the eng may also be the cause, it may also be causing the "full throttle" condition that you are expieriencing because you are supping an unlimited amount of fuel(or way too much) so the engine races, not good for the engine. These smaller briggs use a vacu-jet (or something similar in name) carb if I'm not mistaken, it uses vacuum pulses caused by engine rotation (to be simple about it) to pump fuel into the carb, quite often the diaphram will tear and it will no longer work IMO. You need to make the carb work properly before addressing the spark issue I believe. At least you now know the engine will run. One step at a time fix one problem then look at the other. Good luck!:o)
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Sounds Like You Have Varnished Fuel in the Carbs main jet or idle passages or both. take carb apart and soak it in some Carb Cleaner you can get a gallon soak can at your auto parts store.make sure you have no rubber or plastic parts left on carb when you soak it because they will be junk when you take it back out soak it for about an hour or so but dont let it soak to long as you could end up with bigger problems the carb soaks that I have used are extermely potent!! also when done rinse all soaked parts off with boiling hot water and blow everything off with compressed air.you should probably see about a carb kit for it also since you have it apart. than I believe you will have a Machine that runs and a lot of your problems will be solved I agree With Reed 100%
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If you do decide to install another engine, your tranny should have no problem at all handling 5 or 6 hp, if it's in good shape.. but actually a smaller hp engine should work just as good. I'm not sure which model /year you have, but I have a book which shows some of the earlier 1950's models , (which only had a 2 1/2 or 3 hp motors), pulling very heavy loads. These were factory test photos showing them pulling very large trucks up and down grades. I have a 1947 model (1st year made I believe), with the 2 1/2 hp motor. Pretty much unstoppable. Dave
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As for wondering about the transmission handling the power I would say yes .I have one with a plow that has a 5hp put on it and it has enough power to push a full size truck around the yard when the truck don't run.
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Thanks for the website. Mine seems to be pieced together, of course I haven't checked the s/n yet. It has a 5hp engine, as well as a hood, but none of them were made with 5hp engine and a hood. Guess it was originally a 2 or 3hp and then when it went bad, it was upgraded to a 5.
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I have a 49' and as far as I can tell from info it never came with a hood. Sparks out the muffler is probably carbon deposits letting loose because of the cleaner. I would clean the carb and tear all the covers off and clean the cooling fins. If the governor is shot and it knocks I would just use the replacement engine if you have one.
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