Just the Carb?

[kajamo240 3]

For some reason, all of a sudden, I have to keep the choke on a bit to keep my tractor running. (And it runs crappy with the choke up.) I've done some searching on this site in regards to this issue and came up with the fact that the carb needs a good cleaning.

So then I did some research on that. In my head, this should be a fairly easy project but as I'm looking at some of the info and documents, its seems to be a little bit more than just an easy project.

Now, since I have NEVER worked on a carb before, (Crazy, right?) is this a difficult thing to do? Would I be better off bringing it to my local small engine repair place here in town?

The oil also gets really 'sooty' and dirty quickly. Is this part of the carb problem or do I have another issue on my hands? I bought it a year ago and the guy I bought it from, said that it had just been tuned up by a Wheel Horse guy in Southern MN a couple years prior to my purchase.

Any ideas? My wife is giving me crap because this is mine and hers is running great... I gotta get this bad boy fixed AND FAST!

[Jim_M 178]

Sounds like just the carb to me. Sometimes you just need to readjust the carb. Run it at full throttle and adjust the high speed screw, then idle it down and adjust the low speed screw.

Normally you would do it the other way around, but I've found that this way works better when working on a dirty carb.

If that doesn't do it, you need to take the carb off, take it apart, soak it overnight in carb cleaner, blow it out and reassemble it.

It's an easy job. Before you take the high and low speed screws out, turn them in and count the number of turns, that will be a good starting point for them when you reassemble it,

[kajamo240 3]

Thanks Jim. I'll try that today and hopefully that will fix the problem!

I can't let the wife show me up any longer than necessary!

[shorts 182]

after you take the carb apart ann soak it and blow it out with compressed air take a can of carb/choke cleaner with the straw on it and spray out all of the small passages to double check for blockage, their is a hollow needle that comes up from inside the float bowl that has some real small pin holes that have to be clean, also look at the outside of the carb and you will see what looks like a rib running diagonaly towards the engine, that is the fuel tube for idle speed and it has several hair size pinholes that deliver fuel to both sies of the throttle blade when it is closed and just starting to open, if they aren't clean the engine will stumble and not idle right. use air and carb cleaner only DO NOT use a wire or foriegn object to poke in the holes, only cleaner and compressed air.

[kajamo240 3]

Thanks guys! She purrs like a kitten again. I just took it apart, cleaned it up a bit and adjusted the screws a bit to get the fuel/air mixture right again! Saved me a couple hundred bucks!