Over looking the obvious

[Al Smith]

The subject is a 7 year old Toro Titan 54 .So far it's been a good one until this year .The pot licker would just putz to a stop .If it sat for 15 minutes would fire right up and it only got worse .
I changed the impulse fuel pump which took two tries because some use a right hand assembly and some the other side of the engine .That didn't get it. New fuel filter, nope .If I jambed it full of gas that fixed it .
What it was is grass clippings falling somehow into the gas tank .Sucking off the bottom with a low tank they clogged the gas pick up .Full the junk would float up above the low pick up point .Who would have thought that ?

 

[stretch5881]

Who would have thought that ?

No one.

 

[Al Smith]

There is more .I knew by design the Kawasaki engine had a bunch of safeties in the run string circuit .Problem became where in the world are they ? So it took some research via google to Toro .In the process I became very familiar with that thing .After verifying every safety on that thing it came right down to a fault of the run relay .Of course the dealer didn't have one in stock so I got the part number off the relay and went with a generic which is used by many brands for a fraction of the cost of OEM .Which I might note would be typical .

 

[old saw fixer]

I had the same problem fixing a Cub Cadet rider. Instead of grass, there were dead bugs that would clog the hose nipple in the fuel tank. No screen at the tank outlet and the nipple needed the opening trimmed.

 

[5155]

Me three in one of my toro tractors.
Trying to ignore it till season end,
Have had my best luck with toro and wheel horse.
Little HXL came as scrap, I fixed it and now can not kill it.

 

[old saw fixer]

Wheel Horse and Toro make good mowers. I collected Wheel Horse tractors for a while, still have a C-100, C-111, 416H and 314-8. Right now my grass cutter is the 314-8 with a 48" deck. Need to keep sharp blades on it for best results. The 416H needs the valves adjusted and carbon removal, a necessity with the Onan twins. It's hard to beat hydrostatic drive for cutting grass.

 

[Al Smith]

The only way I think grass could have gotten in the tank is if I forgot to install the gas cap after a fill up .It should have a screen on the fill but it doesn't .Kind of odd because I have both a leaf vacuum and a pressure washer that do have screens .

 

[5155]

Been watching for a spindle or two for my favorite one.
The ones at dealer are gold plated. 312-h If I recall right.

 

[Al Smith]

As far as my Toro by the way the high lift blades are made they bend easily .Like many they use odd ball blades by length and mine are 18 3/4" for a 54 inch cut .My only option I felt was to use several sets of heavy duty blades from Dixie Chopper I cut down and balanced .I have a total of 5 sets of blades, two Toro and three Dixie chopper with 2 of those mulchers .

 

[stretch5881]

Wheel Horse and Toro make good mowers. I collected Wheel Horse tractors for a while, still have a C-100, C-111, 416H and 314-8. Right now my grass cutter is the 314-8 with a 48" deck. Need to keep sharp blades on it for best results. The 416H needs the valves adjusted and carbon removal, a necessity with the Onan twins. It's hard to beat hydrostatic drive for cutting grass.

I have done a lot of work on Case/Ingersol tractors with Onan engines. I have yet to have to remove the carbon from the heads. Better gas and oils I suppose. There is a lot of them here being JICase/ Drott was 15 miles away.

 

[Egg Shooter]

The subject is a 7 year old Toro Titan 54 .So far it's been a good one until this year .The pot licker would just putz to a stop .If it sat for 15 minutes would fire right up and it only got worse .
I changed the impulse fuel pump which took two tries because some use a right hand assembly and some the other side of the engine .That didn't get it. New fuel filter, nope .If I jambed it full of gas that fixed it .
What it was is grass clippings falling somehow into the gas tank .Sucking off the bottom with a low tank they clogged the gas pick up .Full the junk would float up above the low pick up point .Who would have thought that ?

My brother had a rider do that. Took his mechanic a while to figure it out.

 

[old saw fixer]

Thanks, stretch5881. I've been debating pulling the heads but I know it's time to check the valve clearance at a little over 1000 hours.

 

[old saw fixer]

Been watching for a spindle or two for my favorite one.
The ones at dealer are gold plated. 312-h If I recall right.

Have you ever seen the prices for the Wheel Horse tractors back when ours were new? And the deck was extra! Red Square (www.wheelhorseforum.com) is a good place to go for info on Wheel Horse tractors and implements.

 

[stretch5881]

Thanks, stretch5881. I've been debating pulling the heads but I know it's time to check the valve clearance at a little over 1000 hours.

Glad I could help.

 

[Al Smith]

On those spindles the ones on the Toro are definitely heavy duty .However I have a mower bone yard in my woods of riders .Some of those spindles can be interchanged .The one nearest the discharge will be the one most apt to wear out first . As for the Toro which only has about 180 hours in over seven years I'd hate to guess how much they would be but I'd say costly .I also do not know if they are the type that can be rebuilt .Some can some can't .

 

[5155]

The one I'm dealing with is rebuildable. BUT it's whining and one aluminum mounting ear is broken.
I may have to remove it to find a number, there are a bunch of different ones. My parts tractors don't have a match and yes it's the outboard one. This tractor is worth fixing. Three of mine have kohlers, one a briggs.

 

[Al Smith]

On that I did review the Toro spindles and from what I found they are rebuildable or at least the heavier type are ,My departed wife's cousin had something he ordered that came with the spindle mounting holes not tapped for threads .Truth is he wasn't much of a mechanic and I tapped them out for him .FWIW some of those spindles are not that expensive at least on flea bay .The mowers I have in my bone yard have usable parts on them ,like the engines if they aren't froze up or even if they are I can unstick them .Nobody can see those piles of junk so at this point I'm not worried but I should scrap a lot of that old junk out .I've got one 8 HP ,two 12's,one 15 and 4 or 5 18 HP twin cylinder Briggs engines in that pile of junk .Actually being dumpster diver and a hoarder I have no idea how many Briggs engines I have . How many I have at my shop 22 miles away I really can't say .

 

[5155]

The one that nags me most in my "extra" pile is a 1976 JD. I have a mint non-JD engine that will fit it,
The original had been changed to a harbor freight that pushed a lot of oil. #1 prep scrap is at 14 a hundred over here. We can't save or fix it all.

 

[JB-PlantHeirloom]

The subject is a 7 year old Toro Titan 54 .So far it's been a good one until this year .The pot licker would just putz to a stop .If it sat for 15 minutes would fire right up and it only got worse .
I changed the impulse fuel pump which took two tries because some use a right hand assembly and some the other side of the engine .That didn't get it. New fuel filter, nope .If I jambed it full of gas that fixed it .
What it was is grass clippings falling somehow into the gas tank .Sucking off the bottom with a low tank they clogged the gas pick up .Full the junk would float up above the low pick up point .Who would have thought that ?

I have been keeping up a zero turn for my neighbor with the Titan and after long use, you should check the rods underneath that hold the hydroaxles in place, left to right. There is an unused position, I assume they use that for the largest tires. Think his are the 18s. Spark plug wire not making proper contact meant he was running on one cyl a LONG time, so much so, there is a 30+ psi difference between the two cyl of the Fr651v 22.0. He took it to the dealer, they messed it up, I got it and they did the valves wrong! I did the adjustment of the valves exactly as stated in the repair manual and his backfiring disappeared. In the FWIW category, that fuel pump is the same as on a John Deere, that is what I used. That zero turn has seen a lot of hard miles and abuse.