Not sure how it works Max, but I think the second it grabs the other side would grab as well. Not that it matters much how it works, they work very well and grab withing 100mm of pulling on the cord and they never slip and I have been doing them this way for a number of years now
Even if only one pawl is doing most of the work gripping the cup, it will all average out as far as wear and you'll turn over the engine in the end.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
Yep, pawls can’t be reversed because of the shape of the inner components and their fit around the mechanism which won’t operate correctly if they are.
Friction washers frequently stick to the steel washers of the starter mechanism but this isn’t an intended part of the design. It just happens because of long term contact and moisture in the atmosphere.
You have to assemble the whole thing the right way up and in the correct order as specified in the manual. That part is available here on the site. I’d put a link in but it’s easy enough to find.
My pawls that I hardened work well. I guess they changed to a less expensive source for the pawls at some point? Which would explain why some seem to last a long time and others are problematic.
Just letting you know that Norm's fix has worked a treat for months now, everything great. An old hacksaw blade did the trick, and it catches nice and easy when starting. The mower itself starts first go and runs perfectly, so the bloke wasn't telling porkies.
MF, I think I got the decomp mixed up. Looking at it now on the new PT here, I reckon it is actually one of the old top mounted decomps off the VC160's, but it seems to work perfectly with a 2016 PT, so I certainly won't complain. Now that I think about it, the rebuild kit I got for the decomp said "VC 160 decomp rebuild kit" which should have given the game away.
Just while I have you here; Old G4 carb on a VC160 I am rebuilding. It has a black poppet needle, with no markings on it, but does have the control knob for idle revs. What is the best way to replace this without having the old A, B and 3 markings on the poppet needle?
From memory the black poppet valve is shorter and is used on the Victa Vortex that runs at a lower RPM also used in the Victa compact 85cc so it's not suited to the VC 160cc.
The A B C poppet should be used with the correct carby body.
I only use the ABC poppets and always set them on C except one recently that was running rich, no idea why so I set it to A and it runs fine and this was on a 24 inch slasher
I wonder how and why this black one got in there? Ah what am I thinking, it is a Victa carby, I should be getting used to finding 500 different parts in the same carb by now. I will dig out one of my spare marked poppets and give it a go.
Sapper, only decompression valves with the longer stem are rebuildable. I did not know they could be run on a PT. Must be a somewhat awkward fit.
NormK, I remember you said you just stick in the first poppet valve that comes to hand with your rebuilds/modified G4 carbs.
Maxwestern, how do you tell which body goes with a certain poppet valve?
Hey MF, how is everything?
The fit is ok. The most difficult part was the 90 degree angle for the hose to go on, so I just took my time getting the vacuum hose around so it went on to the 90 degree stem and off it went. If I remember, I will take a photo of it tomorrow and post it up so you can have a look.
Hey Sapper, in the process of getting rid of some mowers at long last. Trying to separate the non ferrous metals. Quite a bit of work at times. I aquired a very sorry looking red 83 -84 Vortex and with a bit of fillers and paint, got it appearing almost like new! After replacing some minor missing parts like decompression valve, some vacuum hoses and giving the carby a squirt with carb cleaner, it came to life very well. I had to travel to Cessnock to get this Gumtree freebie.
I also restored the yellow one.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
