I'm trying to fix up an old rover mulcher. Found a 6.75hp Briggs (121602-0528-E1) from a John Deere mower which I was working through adapting, first thing was to try to get it running.
It seems unnecessarily difficult to start - if it doesn't fire up on the first couple of pulls, it gets very hard to pull the cord. If you pull the spark plug it has a fair bit of oil on it, so I expect that's causing that. When it does run, it misfires, and intermittently blows grey smoke. I'm not quite sure, but I suspect there's also a tapping bearing. I'm used to diagnosing this sort of thing on cars, so not quite sure what it sounds like on these. The other thing that didn't seem right to me was the crank end float - while I didn't measure it, there's a noticeable amount.
Here's a video of it running. Reckon it's worth trying to save this thing?
Still need to adapt the blades to the crank - while the crank diameter probably be ok, the keyway needs to be enlarged. And the fuel tank will need to be moved to allow the chute to go back on. In retrospect, this motor probably wasn't the best choice, but I had a very had time finding anything 5hp or more locally.
For those curious about the original motor (130901-0625-01) - it was seized. It freed up very easily by turning the motor over with a spanner, but when trying to get it running it would only chug a couple of times after pulling the cord. Comp tested and it has only 30psi compression.... Also, less than 100mL of oil drained out (of the 800mL it takes) so I suspect it's not worth saving, but I haven't dismantled it.
