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1970 Simplicity Sovereign


hansen

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Well first off welcome to the club.

And for your question referring to the (L) that is how you set your parking brake. Push brake in and tighten that up and it should not move .

Someone will chime in on your engine question.

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Welcome! d:)

I think the L shaped rod is the parking brake. Push the pedal all the way down, and see if you can move the rod into position to hold the brake on.

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Try using the Tab "resources", then "articles", then "engine repair and rebuilding" and some of the others to get some hints on how to do various things on the tractor. It sounds like you should check out the fuel and electrical systems and general tuning first and if they are OK, then consider rebuilding - at least that's what I would probably do. You can also use the search functions to get lots of background info. Welcome. That looks like a good tractor, hope it works out for you.

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Welcome to the club! Low compression could be a head gasket or valves not closing all the way. These motors also have a compression release built into them. Briggs doesn`t publish a compression value. They say if you spin the motor over by hand and it kicks backwards it is fine.

I will look in the manual and post their actual words on compression.

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Nice machine, I currently have 4 of them in my herd. 3 with the hydro-lift and 1 manual, Looks to be in good condition for it's age!

Your engine code 300421-0127-01-7002111 says to me that it's a 12hp model built in early 1970. The 300421-0127-01 are your important numbers for parts, and the last set of numbers are the date code, the first 2 of which indicate year of manufacture. So to me it would be quite reasonable to believe that that is likely to be the original engine! Those numbers can also be broken down to ignition type among a couple of other things but I don't recall all of the details on that, just the basics. BTW welcome to the club!

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Welcome Hanson...That is 1 SWEEEET machine for sure. Very nice. From one newbie to another, WELCOME to a great site. The answers to your questions are here in the heads of the incredible members of this site, of that I am sure! Pretty darn hard to stump these guys!

Wiz

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Welcome,

Your engine model number 300421 - 30 is a 30 cu., 0 - design series, 421 is 12hp (4 Horizontal crankshaft with Flo-Jet carb.

Type 0127 identifies engine mechanical parts, governed speed, etc.

Code 70021111 - 70 year, 02 month, 11 day, last 11 is mfg line and plant.

As for compression 60psi is low, still runnable. Most are hard starting with that compression. Hopefully just a head gasket or needs a valve cleaning and lapping.

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Welcome to the club.

Thanks for posting pix of your cool old Sovy traxtor. After you get it running you'll probably want some bug-eye lights for it. As said, it looks to be in great original condition. I noticed it says 3212V on one side only. Is there a piece missing on the left side, or is the decal missing, or was there ever a decal on that side? I am not familiar enough with this tractor to say.

The manual was mentioned - if you have the "model #", also known as the "MFR" or "MFG" (manufactur(er) manufactur(ing) number, you can get the manual via download here:

http://www.simplicitymfg.com/manuals/

That MFR number is a 990xxx number; and likely it is 990571. If the power lift was added later, it could be a 990570; but really those tractors would be very very similar. Until all the little mysteries and other questions are sorted out, I would go with 990571, and year likely 1970. Plug the numbers into that manuals link.

Pursuing the mystery through the engine code is good also.

Things can get changed, or not, or modified, or not, or substituted, or simply be original - figuring all that out is fun. If all the facts and figures line up properly, then you know exactly what you have.

990571 will, at least, get you started - see if that describes your tractor accurately.

There's also tons of info on the

www.simpletractors.com

site;

SEE THIS LINK:

http://www.simpletractors.com/simplicity/new_in_1970.htm

(pix looks a lot like yours)

And tons of info on the many forums on this, the CLUB site. (Search function)

You can also, if you want, become a paid Club Member for annual dues of $10. People often say it's the best 10 bucks they've ever spent. Full Club Membership opens up all areas of all forums - yes, there is more behind the scenes. As a full Club Member you can post pix directly; altho they often need to be resized. (see Stickeez)

Also, there's no limit on questions. More pix are welcome - especially if you are working on a specific part of the tractor.

Congrats on scoring an early Simplicity Sovereign. I'm jealous. :D

It will likely RUN soon.

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The "L" handle is the parking brake. It screws into a collar that slides on the brake rod. Push in the brake, then turn the "L" handle clockwise and it will lock the collar on the rod and prevent the brake from releasing.

As far as the engine, I would replace the points and condenser (set the points at .020), and also install a new sparkplug. Once the engine starts, you need to adjust both the idle and main jet to get the engine to run properly.

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If you want to avoid paying shipping, I go to my local small engine repair store to buy points Ect. Be sure you have the number sequences that are on the shroud of the engine ( in case motor swap had taken place) . Tractor model / year can also be handy. Jacks small engines online is good as is parts tree. Both sites have excellent info and parts diagrams as well as fast shipping and pretty fair prices, though shipping can be a little high if you have a small order. I am sure others have different sources that they buy from.

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Welcome to the club. Regarding the comp. release, it is my understanding that there is a slight bump on the cam just in front of the intake lobe. That is the reason for the .009" clearance for the intake valve, vs .018" for the exhaust. The bump raises the valve just enough at cranking speeds to work as a compression release.

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quote:Originally posted by hansen

How does the compression release work?


id="quote">
id="quote">There is supposed to be a slight bump on the intake lobe of the cam. I have never seen it it on the few engine I have disassembled. And if there was one, I would not think you would record a compreesion reading over 70 PSI nor would the flywheel rock back and forth when the engine is stopped.
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Condensor = 298060 ... current list = 8.85

Points = 298185 ...current list = 23.25

I would test the condensor or just replace it first.

Gary

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There is a bump on all of the cams in the engines with "Easy Spin" starting. It is very small and only lifts the valve a few thousandths. Just enough to bleed off part of the compression at low speeds. The bump becomes insignificant at operating speeds.

I have one engine that does not have the bump because I filed it off. This engine definitely needs a fully charged battery and a tight S-G belt. Sometimes it just comes up against compression and spins the belt. When this happens, I just spin the engine past compression by hand so that it gets to spin up for two revolutions before hitting compression again. It will almost always start when the starter is engaged this second time. I did this when tractor pulling so that the engine would still produce power at the lower engine speeds and not cut off.

I have a friend who did not want his elderly mother using the push mower, so he filed the bump off the cam on it. That was a vertical pull cord, and if you didn't brace your foot on the deck you would lift the mower off the ground. The elderly mother was not strong enough to start that mower after the change.

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Badly worn cam bearings and or a cam lobe for the points will allow the point adjustment to wonder on these older engines. I would recomend you gap it slightly more than the .020 and then play with it when running to find the sweet spot. That or change it to an electronic trigger device. These are cheap but some folks have varying results.

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Originally posted by D-17_Dave

Badly worn cam bearings and or a cam lobe for the points will allow the point adjustment to wonder on these older engines. I would recomend you gap it slightly more than the .020 and then play with it when running to find the sweet spot. That or change it to an electronic trigger device. These are cheap but some folks have varying results.

id="quote">The link is about Kohler. It's about static engine timing (or timing light) being more important than 'points timing', which could throw engine timing 'off'.Maybe a Briggs expert could cover this idea better.I was thinking you might try gap at .025 (ish). = Larger rather than smaller, like you already did. Might be worth a try. This has to do with general wear on older engine.Sorry I don't have info on static timing for briggs - maybe someone else? Maybe something in the Briggs maintenance section.???
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  • 1 month later...

The wire coming from the mag, where it goes through the point cover, is famous for shorting due to insulation breakage. There should be a rubber grommet that the wire goes through to under the cover. If the mag is grounded, you will have no fire. I'd also check along the length of the mag wire where it goes through the shroud for grounding.

I am old fashioned, refuse to use the electronic gadgetry!

If your points are burned, that is the sign of a bad condenser. Change it. If you have filed the points flat, they should be good to go.

As for your carb. Be sure you are getting fuel flow to the carb, and that the needle shuts the flow off when the float tells it to. Adjust the float by turning the carb body upside down, with the float in it. The top of the float (bottom when turned upside down) should be level with the carb body. It never hurt anything of mine for the float to be set a little high or low.

Welcome to the Club! There are enough folks here that have either played with the tractor you have, or have tinkered on the engines most of their lives to answer most anything you can ask.

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One other thing. The points plunger could be badly worn. Do you have oil under the points cover? If so, oil on the points will make the engine not start and/or run. The plunger is still available, though I think the engine has to be apart to replace it. I think I saw an article here one time about how to do it without dismantling the engine. I just put a new one in every time I have an engine apart.

Good luck!

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