Small Engine Repair

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Just repaired a Husqvarna pole saw two weeks ago. Left fuel in it over the winter and couldn't get it to idle. Then I couldn't even get it to start. Tried fresh fuel with no luck. Ordered a new carb and fuel lines rather than mess with cleaning it out. The fuel lines were brittle and just came apart. Total cost of repair was $20 and about an hour of my time.
 
CiscoKid said:
Just repaired a Husqvarna pole saw two weeks ago. Left fuel in it over the winter and couldn't get it to idle. Then I couldn't even get it to start. Tried fresh fuel with no luck. Ordered a new carb and fuel lines rather than mess with cleaning it out. The fuel lines were brittle and just came apart. Total cost of repair was $20 and about an hour of my time.
Click to expand...
Welcome to the world of ethanol fuel.

Fortunately for me, booze-free is plentiful where I'm at. Costs a dollar a gallon more, but worth it. And I have a small engine - attached to a small motorcycle, with a carb. Online, I've seen what corn squeezin's does to that carb.

With pure gas, I left the tank full, over the winter (no condensation, ergo, no rust) and it started and ran just fine.

Eventually, the Corn Pop Gestapo will take ethanol-free away. We have it here because there's a lot of recreational use - ORVs and boats - and the Forest Service search-and-rescue and Smokejumpers, all need portable small-engine power. They don't want to get stuck like the Battery Boys want for the Little People. So, there's booze-free everywhere.

Soon, I expect the Forest Service/Park Service/Smokejumper School/NWS (they're all in one big compound by the airport) will put in a private underground set of tanks, kept from Deplorable access.
 

This Lawnmower Starts & Dies And Makes A Strange noise - Let's Fix It!​

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Clever MASTER MECHANIC'S Wrench Idea! ¡Idea inteligente de llave inglesa MAESTRO MECÁNICO! NO WAY!​

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Making 14 Hp Brush Mower - using Lawn Mower parts​

Jun 22, 2023

34:50

We will try to add a longer and more detailed test in the next video :)Using parts from an old broken lawn mower, we decided to do something very useful.
Brush Mower It is very necessary for high and varied green areas. It can cut grass, weeds and even small trees or branches.
We used a 14 Hp engine and a hydrostatic gearbox for the drive.
Blades bought at a farm store for an orchard mower.
 
This one's a bit different.

Weird N' Wild Equipment from Con Expo 2023 4K​


26:41
 

This TORO Snowblower Won't Shift Gears - Let's Fix It With Donyboy73!​

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Customer Says Snowblower Sputters & Dies - Let's Fix It!​


8:23
 
Solution is simple.

Just buy a Chin-made ELECTRIC snowblower. It'll last half a season; the lithium batteries will go into a landfill and poison ground water near YOU...but it will make the Woketards happy. And the Washington State Woketard-Legislature is now about to MANDATE such "choices."

Sorry to go off-topic. Some things are just maddening to me.
 

Everyone Hates Plowing Snow. The Updated Yarbo Robot Cleans Up While You're Inside​

When I was a wee lad growing up in rural Illinois, I dreaded snowstorms because they meant I'd have to bundle up and shovel the driveway for my mom the next morning. I dreamt of a utopian future in which robots could do this work for me. At CES 2024, that dream became reality.

More:

 
That's about like self-driving cars.

Just because it's possible, doesn't mean it's a good idea.
 
Not touting this. Just a bump.

YesWelder - Firstess CT2050 Stick TIG & Plasma Cutter Review​

Jul 4, 2024 #donyboy73 #stihl

YesWelder - Firstess CT2050 Stick TIG & Plasma Cutter Review


14:44

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Troubleshooting A Craftsman Lawn Tractor That Won't Start And Keeps Popping​

In this video I'm dealing with a major problem before this machine even comes off the trailer and the tricky part is that it ran when I picked it up!


18:09
 

Wild and Crazy Tools from Equip Expo 2024​

Nov 15, 2024
This years show was better than ever!


27:42
 
Casey Jones said:
Welcome to the world of ethanol fuel.

Fortunately for me, booze-free is plentiful where I'm at. Costs a dollar a gallon more, but worth it. And I have a small engine - attached to a small motorcycle, with a carb. Online, I've seen what corn squeezin's does to that carb.

With pure gas, I left the tank full, over the winter (no condensation, ergo, no rust) and it started and ran just fine.

Eventually, the Corn Pop Gestapo will take ethanol-free away. We have it here because there's a lot of recreational use - ORVs and boats - and the Forest Service search-and-rescue and Smokejumpers, all need portable small-engine power. They don't want to get stuck like the Battery Boys want for the Little People. So, there's booze-free everywhere.

Soon, I expect the Forest Service/Park Service/Smokejumper School/NWS (they're all in one big compound by the airport) will put in a private underground set of tanks, kept from Deplorable access.
Click to expand...


I've learned my lesson. After replacing the carb and fuel lines on the pole saw, I broke down and bought a $20 a gallon can of that "engineered fuel" they sell at Home Depot. I just don't use the saw enough to keep the fuel from going bad. And while $20 a gallon is ridiculous; the can should last me at least two years.

Back in July, we had a big storm come through and it broke some large limbs and left them hanging. My pole saw fired right up on the second pull despite the fuel in the tank being more than a year old. So, for now, I'm sticking with the expensive stuff in the can.
 
As for storing gas for winter I've used Sta-Bil for years. Seems to work well. I get it at Walmart.
 
searcher said:
As for storing gas for winter I've used Sta-Bil for years. Seems to work well. I get it at Walmart.
Click to expand...
I just make sure it's corruption-free gas, and store it as is.

That's worked for 20 years of motorcycle ownership.

In case there's a question, I'll just siphon out the winter gas, and pour it into the car gas tank. Never had a problem that way. Fresh into the tank, and if I can get it started (bad gas in the fuel lines has to be worked out) than once running, it's all set.
 
I use Sta-Bil for winter storage of both zero turns. Just fill up the tanks (for less condensate) using fuel that has been treated with Sta-Bil. Both diesel tractors get Seafoam on top of a full tank. All two-stroke small engines in my barn use "engineered fuel" from now on. What the ethanol does to the fuel lines is criminal. You can pull them apart like overcooked spaghetti. I also dump a bottle of Techron on top of a full tank in my Corvette before plugging it in for the winter.
 
so nice to live in a state with no ethanol in the fuel. Start my small engines about every six months: 2-stroke or,4-stroke.
Store gas a year with no additives.

I do have a smoking homda mower I bought rings for but just don’t make the time to address it. So I mow in windy conditions only.
 
CiscoKid said:
I use Sta-Bil for winter storage of both zero turns. Just fill up the tanks (for less condensate) using fuel that has been treated with Sta-Bil. Both diesel tractors get Seafoam on top of a full tank. All two-stroke small engines in my barn use "engineered fuel" from now on. What the ethanol does to the fuel lines is criminal. You can pull them apart like overcooked spaghetti. I also dump a bottle of Techron on top of a full tank in my Corvette before plugging it in for the winter.
Click to expand...
What ethanol does to motorcycle (and other) metal gas tanks, is just as bad. For YEARS, I worked with golf-course and yard-care equipment - snowblowers, professional mowers with Kohler power, old Ford 8N tractors (and some newer gasoline tractors). I'd seen a lot of age and weather damage, and a lot of abuse...but always, gas tanks were bright metal on the inside.

Not now. Shopping for used motorcycles, as I have done several times in the last dozen years...first thing to do is look inside the gas tank. The clueless casual riders will fill the tank up with ethanol rotgut, and leave it sit for years...and then decide, since he's not using it, just sell it.

The tank is damaged. So are fuel lines, carburetors or FI components, but it's obvious from a look, what it does to metal - in severely damaging the tank.

The amazing thing to me is that the riding community is not totally opposed to this vandalism. In fact my motorcycle mechanic, a good mechanic in many ways, thinks eth gas is just fine. I should point out, he didn't become a mechanic until after gasoline came to be poisoned, back in 2007.

Which leads me to the big point: WHY it's happening. It doesn't clean the exhaust. It marginally reduces some emissions that the EPA is fixated on - but increases others that they haven't had bureaucrats regulate. Which is why there's an ozone haze over Brazilian cities, where they run E85. That stuff is no solution; it causes problems, and the price of making it - in 2010, when I looked up figures - was over $8 a gallon.

SUBSIDIZED BY THE GUBBERMINT.

Via the magic of MMT. Money-printing. FIAT DOLLARS.

Sound money, gold-backed money, would stop this wholesale destruction INSTANTLY.
 
KnowWhy said:
so nice to live in a state with no ethanol in the fuel. Start my small engines about every six months: 2-stroke or,4-stroke.
Store gas a year with no additives.

I do have a smoking homda mower I bought rings for but just don’t make the time to address it. So I mow in windy conditions only.
Click to expand...
Every state has ethanol in the fuel. EPA regulations.

There are conditions that allow the sale of non-ethanol fuel. I don't know what they are, but a state cannot just say, we won't have it.

Here, it's getting harder to find. And they're putting nozzles on non-eth pumps that keep them from fitting in modern cars. It's the re-purposing of the old leaded-gasoline nozzles. Old geezers will remember that when catalytic converters came onto cars, they required no-lead gas; and they had restrictors on the filler neck, and narrow-nozzle pump handles.

Those became industry standard. NOW, they're pulling the old handles out for No-Eth gas, to keep Deplorable Garbage from putting it in our cars. I have to fill up with three 5-gallon jerry cans. Fortunately I don't drive much, these days.
 
CiscoKid said:
Just repaired a Husqvarna pole saw two weeks ago. Left fuel in it over the winter and couldn't get it to idle. Then I couldn't even get it to start. Tried fresh fuel with no luck. Ordered a new carb and fuel lines rather than mess with cleaning it out. The fuel lines were brittle and just came apart. Total cost of repair was $20 and about an hour of my time.
Click to expand...

pmbug said:
...
I also have a large gas powered generator that I can hook up to the house power line should we get a nasty storm/hurricane. I do pull it out once a year at the beginning of hurricane season and run it for 10 min or so while checking the oil and such.
Click to expand...

pmbug said:
Oh my. We finally got power back.

Woke up this morning around 6am and there was no power. It went out around 3am. Wind was howling and rain was heavy. From what I gather, the eye of the storm passed by fairly close and we were on the dirty (east) side of it, so we got the worst of the wind.
...
I got our generator out of the shed and tried to crank it up, but that was a no go. It didn't even come close to ignition. I'm guessing the fuel line is gunked up even though I had tested it (run it) a year ago. ...
Click to expand...

My generator is still sitting as is since Hurricane Beryl. I really should see about getting it working again if I can.
 
I thank all gods that my old man had a Gravely Model L. So, even though he'd heartlessly send 14-year-old me to go clear the blizzard drifts...at least I could do it with style.

Later, I had, as an emergency buy, one of those traction-drive snowblowers. Used. What a PITA.

And it's criminal that they no longer make the original Gravely two-wheeled walker-tractor.
 
Casey Jones said:
Every state has ethanol in the fuel. EPA regulations.

There are conditions that allow the sale of non-ethanol fuel. I don't know what they are, but a state cannot just say, we won't have it.
Click to expand...
Casey, I’m just not finding that. I see where about seven states (incl Montana) REQUIRE it but no on the EPA saying states must. I see where vehicles are required to accept it and refiners are required to purchase it but exceptions.No refiner in Alaska puts it in our gas, and most of it comes from Kenai.
This state uses small engines ALL over and one NEVER sees ANY pumps advertised as ‘ethanol-free” nor does one see ANY pumps stating an ethanol content as one does in the lower 48.

The four minibikes, three chainsaws, two weed wackers and two generators in the garage attest to that. They all run. Only the two strokes have additives in the mixed fuel. The outboard and atv run after sitting eight months of winter. Oh, and the mower.
Sheesh, I’ve got too many motors

A company just got in trouble for shipping poor heating oil to some bush communities. They take their fuel seriously and etoh contamination isn’t worth it?
 
I see the downside to no-ethanol is a lower “high octane.” Ethanol cheaply raises the octane rating. The sports car drivers complain online because their cars state a requirement higher than available, but without etoh, too expensive to produce here.
 
KnowWhy said:
Casey, I’m just not finding that. I see where about seven states (incl Montana) REQUIRE it but no on the EPA saying states must. I see where vehicles are required to accept it and refiners are required to purchase it but exceptions.No refiner in Alaska puts it in our gas, and most of it comes from Kenai.
This state uses small engines ALL over and one NEVER sees ANY pumps advertised as ‘ethanol-free” nor does one see ANY pumps stating an ethanol content as one does in the lower 48.

The four minibikes, three chainsaws, two weed wackers and two generators in the garage attest to that. They all run. Only the two strokes have additives in the mixed fuel. The outboard and atv run after sitting eight months of winter. Oh, and the mower.
Sheesh, I’ve got too many motors

A company just got in trouble for shipping poor heating oil to some bush communities. They take their fuel seriously and etoh contamination isn’t worth it?
Click to expand...
I wouldn't know where to look.

Your information may be wrong, though - because I'm in the heart of Montana, and this is an EASY place to get eth-free. It's everywhere - not every station, but even small towns will have at least a couple of pumps.

Here, in my city of 80,000...there's SEVEN stations that pump it, plus two that I know of in neighboring towns. Lolo, on the way up to the pass on the Idaho-Montana border (where there's a lot of snowmobiling) has ALL their stations selling eth-free.

Places like Ohio and Washington State...don't have it readily. In Ohio, I've heard, the only way to get it is at an airport or boat livery. It can not be sold at land-locked gas stations.

Washington...I couldn't find any, the dozen or so times I've been there. Maybe it's available but hidden.

It's one of those hidden public-law or regulation things, the DS is so fond of.
 
KnowWhy said:
I see the downside to no-ethanol is a lower “high octane.” Ethanol cheaply raises the octane rating. The sports car drivers complain online because their cars state a requirement higher than available, but without etoh, too expensive to produce here.
Click to expand...
Depends on the state and/or the oil company.

When I was working out of South Dakota, 15 years ago...Casey's, the convenience-store chain, sold eth-free regular. It was 87 octane, and posted.

Most other states/places have it as premium, with posted octane of 89 or 91 octane.

I use it all the time, and never have had it ping on any of the handful of cars I've owned since 2007 when it was forced on us.
 

Snowblower Parts I Used The Most During This Winter Storm! December 2024 Muskoka Winter Storm​

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10:24
 
Gravely.

All gear driven. The only thing not coupled by gears, in those things, were the internal cone clutches - a hi/lo range selector for both drive and PTO.

The Gravely walk-behind tractors, later donated the same transmission to the 800-series riding tractors. Those looked strange, with a fake hood in front that housed the gas tank and battery, and the 12 or 16-horse engine under the seat; but they got the job done.

Some of these current chain- or belt-driven setups I see, I just shake my head at.
 
searcher said:

Why Did My Customers Blow So Many Snowblower Auger Belts? Here's Why & How To Prevent It.​

Dec 20, 2024

9:06

Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@donyboy73
Click to expand...
Watched the vid...don't know why; I'm long past the age where I'm gonna be snowblowing. But I was curious - as a 20something kid, I worked a lot with snow-removal stuff.

Have we all really become so stupid, that someone running a snowblower, will KEEP ON trying to force a frozen-up snowblower to rotate, while the belt squeals and smokes? This is common sense. It ain't working; free it up.

I don't know that I'd go in there with a torch - that steel is tempered; you can draw the temper right out of it. With the above-mentioned Gravely, I'd use a 2-gallon pail of steaming hot water, right into the machine. It would free up, and of course the water would ice again, but I'd be running it. Just a crusty lining in the auger housing.
 

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USE This Snowblower Feature Before It Seizes!​

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We're dealing with electric starters here.


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Don't Buy A New Snowblower Before Watching This! TOP 6 Recommended!​

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