OK Pete, my condolences on your loss, but I'm sure you are used to it by now. I'll just mind my own business.
There are some tricks of the trade for getting screws out without damaging the slots. Once you damage the slot, you are down to a list of unsatisfactory options. The secret as long as the slot is undamaged, is to make the downward force on the screw much larger than the turning force to undo it, and that is difficult in your situation. The easiest trick is to use a hammer-operated impact driver to undo the screw, but if you don't have one, that option doesn't exist. There is an even better device but you'd have to make one, and that probably isn't practical. It consists of a Y-shaped top welded to the shaft of the right sized screwdriver, to make a Mercedes star. All you then do is lay a piece of solid bar into the top Y, at an angle in the direction you want the screw to move, and tap the bar into the base of the Y. I don't recall ever seeing a situation where that didn't shift the screw. Caution: if you use this trick for tightening screws, you will always overtighten them until they shear off. Unfortunately you have to make one of these star-screwdrivers for every size and shape; replaceable bits introduce a little bit of slack, and the tool becomes completely ineffective (I've tried it).
hey guys, have finally got down to replace the condenser and clean the points (used condenser from other mower)points on other mower don't look too good. but for the life of me i cant get the hair pin back in the fly weight. I can get it too the little clip on the end but can't get it underneath the flyweight edge. any suggestions ?
I don't think there will be many people here who have ever seen a Lawnboy D400 engine - I certainly haven't - so we are going to have to rely on you posting high-quality pictures, plus pages from the Lawnboy technical manual (which fortunately is very good). At this point I haven't even found the right page in the manual, and have no idea what this hair pin is. Can you post a picture, and the page reference in the manual please?
Meanwhile, I hope you haven't had to remove the hair pin from the other mower, so we can see what it is supposed to look like.
Hiya Grumpy, I had to remove it from the other mower to get the points and condenser out, but it came out so easily. in the manual its in the Ignition section 6 and also section 8 Powerhead teardown/reassembly 3rd page down. the photo attached shows a close up of the hair pin going through the flyweight and drive shaft. that little clip on the end is whats stopping it from going under and staying on the inside of the flyweight. your probably going to say take the clip off. But i didnt take the clip off to get the hairpin out it just slid out real easy.
I can see a bent wire device out of focus in the background, but I can't see what it attaches to or how. Is that the one you mean? As you said, it is not difficult to remove the Jesus clip in the foreground, or to put it back on. If you just wanted to get that mechanism out of the way of the points retaining screw, the easiest way would be to rotate the engine half a turn.
Hi Grumpy that bent wire is for the governor. it's the small shaft with the spring and the tiny as you call it Jesus clip.(must be called Jesus cause Ive said that a few times. No offense if your religious)i tried rotating the engine but you need little fingers to get underneath to put that clip on plus it's underneath the flyweight so you cant see the groove it sits in.
GOT IT !! took the Jesus clip off and clipped it back on further up the shaft slid the shaft through and the spring pushed the clip backwards and into its groove YAY !!
OK now need to set the points gap manual says .020 i don't have any gap tools so any idea how much that is. like the thickness of a piece of paper or something else business card ?? Pete
Pete, a business card is typically about 0.012", which is not enough. Two thicknesses of business card is a bit much. A piece of letter paper is about 0.005". I guess a business card plus either one or two pieces of letter paper is fairly close.
Ok went and got myself some Feeler gauges so that everything was gapped properly, have put it back together (minus the tank) and tested the spark again this is what happens. when i put the plug as the manual says 1/4 inch away from the engine and give it some pulls NO SPARK ! If i put the plug touching the engine and give her some pulls i get a little blue spark no cracking noise. have tried 3 spark plugs one which is new i get the same result. I followed the manual for setting points and correct wiring positions for condenser, i gapped the flywheel as per manual. any suggestions on how to get a stronger spark ? or do you think this spark may be enough to start it ? thanks mate Pete
I think there was a misunderstanding when you read the manual. You don't hold the spark plug a quarter inch from the engine, you hold the end of the plug lead a quarter inch from the engine. If you are using a spark plug for the test, you ground the spark plug body to the engine, as you did, and watch for an even series of blue sparks across the plug gap. There won't be any cracking noise if you do it that way. If you have a healthy new magneto (i.e. very strong magnets) and you do the test without the spark plug, you will get more than a quarter inch of spark and will hear a crack. However magnets weaken with age, and normally if the engine is more than say 3 years old, you should use an old spark plug with the gap increased to about 0.060", and ground its body. If you get an even stream of sparks across that gap, you should be happy. That is the Briggs & Stratton recommended test.
It sounds as if your spark is at least reasonable. If you have an old plug handy, set the gap to 0.060" and try it. Don't panic if it won't spark across that gap though - there is often leakage across the surface of the central insulator, so sixty thou is quite a lot to ask of an old plug. The Briggs test uses a special test tool rather than a spark plug, but it does use a 0.060" gap. Meanwhile don't worry, you have enough spark to run the engine.
Hi Grumpy, Bad news I got it all assembled and have been trying to start her BUT no go. so I took out the spark plug to have a look, and it had a bit of petrol on it so at least it's reaching the plug. so then i tested the plug whilst out and against the metal and NO SPARK again, yep that's right I've lost the spark somehow. I haven't been working on it for a couple of days cause I've been busy. really all that was left to do was sharpen the blade and put the tank on which i did today took it outside no go !! any suggestions what could be happening ? oh and i tried it with the tank off in case it was shorting it made no difference. Pete
When you get a wet spark plug, it nearly always means there is no spark. I never did believe that your points were the problem; they deteriorate very slowly, or when someone interferes with them. Because you had it working after changing the points and condenser, then it suddenly stopped working, I think the most likely thing is a problem with the kill wire. Second most likely is that something has gone wrong inside the points compartment, because first it didn't work, then it worked when you had made changes in that compartment, but after a brief burst of activity it stopped again. A loose screw in the fixed contact adjustment is a possibility - it matches the symptoms nicely. Third most likely is that the coil or high tension wire only works intermittently.
My suggestion is that you look at the kill wire, and see if you can disconnect it at its source (the points), for test purposes. If you have no spark when you also have no kill wire, it is most likely a problem with the points, or with the condenser or coil.
I'm assuming, of course, that you have a new spark plug, or you've tried sparking directly to ground from the high tension wire.
Thanks for your reply Grump, OK i have pulled the flywheel and other stuff off there are no loose screws and the nut on the condenser is tight, I have removed the kill wire from the condenser and will put it back together and see how it goes. I just wanted to ask one thing first: there are 2 little slits for the wires from the coil and kill switch to enter the space where the point and condenser are: is it possible if the wires (even though they have coating on them)to cause the motor to stop creating a spark ? what do you call it grounding or shorting or something Thanks Pete
If the insulation on any part of the kill wire is worn or cut through, and it touches ground, you will have no spark. This is exactly the kind of fault I've been suggesting you need to look for. It matches your symptoms perfectly.
OK Grumpy, Yes it is a new plug forgot to answer that. it's back together apart from the tank and kill wire and I have spark again and its stronger this time as well.(so it's the kill wire) So what now ? I have the kill wire from the other mower should i put that on or have no kill wire ? which then asks the question how to turn off the mower(pull spark plug cap off ?) Pete
Pete, Lawnboy designed it to have a kill wire - you just need to get it working the way they intended. There is somewhere between the moving breaker-point and the strange rotating switch, where it is touching ground due to a fault in the insulation of the wire, or the rotating switch itself is defective. Just examine the wire, and take a look at the switch. You'll probably find it easily. If you don't, you could just run a new wire to a simple toggle-switch, but fixing it is better than redesigning it.
It's best to have a kill switch, both for safety and convenience. I have had lots of mowers without one, and I've never actually used a kill switch on a 2 stroke mower because I like to put them away with an empty carburetor, but if I were you I'd be trying to make it work the way it should just to keep it original. As an extra benefit, Lawnboy did a lot of development work to get it to work properly - if you redesign it, you have to expect teething troubles before you get to the standard you want
changed the kill wire and even wrapped insulation tape around it and i had a great spark. tried starting it no go. took plug out tested spark again still has one but wont ignite. i tested the petrol and it catches on fire fine so petrol not old but now the plug is dry. don't know what to do now, starting to get annoyed with the old girl also changed the on/off switch made no difference, actually it sparks when the switch is on or off. go figure any suggestions mate thanks Pete
Does it spark when the original switch is on, and not when it is off? If so it sounds as if your replacement kill wire doesn't kill: it isn't grounding the moving contact of the points. Either your new wire is not connected to the points, or your new switch isn't connecting it to ground. Could be you didn't ground the other switch contact - or maybe the switch itself is defective.
Try putting some fuel (petrol/oil mixture) into the carburetor throat or into the spark plug hole, then try to start it. If it starts but soon stops, you have a fueling problem. That could be in the tank, fuel tap, or carburetor. I suggest you start by sorting out the ignition, then we can talk about the fuelling problem. Don't get discouraged, this is trivial stuff. It is potentially an interesting mower (or at least an interesting engine, here in Australia).
I will have to pull the tank off again to get at the switch to change back to original. yes it is definitely connected to the condenser which in turn is connected to the point via the points arm, ok will try the petrol into the spark plug test you suggest tomorrow as its 10pm here now bit dark to see clearly. I might try to start with the switch taken out to see what happens. will let you know Thanks Grumpy again, you have been a most helpful guy where would i be without you (still at square 1) Pete
