OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Engines Questions On Briggs & Stratton Engines Piston right way round?

Hi everyone

Can anyone tell me if I have the piston round the right way? Its a 9000 series B&S (you probably already know that )



The reason why I am asking is because when I installed the camshaft, cam gear and conrad (I hope I have the terminology right), the whole thing became almost impossible to turn using the camshaft. I smothered everything in oil so that shouldn't be an issue, I'm thinking. When I loosened the conrad connection thingy around the camshaft it turned a little bit easier. Once I took the whole thing off the camshaft turned easily in the sump. And when I took the camshaft out the piston moved up and down fairly easily.

So I don't know for sure how easily the whole thing should be able to be turned by the camshaft when it is all connected but I'm thinking it shouldn't be so hard that I need both hands, using rags for grip, to turn. I'm trying to eliminate probable issues. Can it be a bent conrad arm? To heavy tightening on nuts (I'm using a torque wrench).

Any help, as always, appreciated.


allan

I suspect you mean crankshaft, not camshaft.

No, piston orientation is of no concern on a low-tech engine like a Briggs; they don't use offset gudgeon [aka wrist or piston] pins, or pegged rings. Those do require specific orientation, and there's always a mark on the piston crown to indicate it.

It will be difficult to turn the engine over by hand, just by gripping the crankshaft end. With the flywheel fitted, it should be fairly easy, by grabbing its outer edge. A matter of leverage...

Do you have the workshop/service manual for that engine? That will give you the correct fastener torque settings, as well as valve clearances and other essential info.
If not, get the Part Number from http://www.briggsandstratton.com/us/en/shop/parts-and-accessories/repair-manuals then do a bit of Googling - it's not hard to find free PDF downloads these days.

Thanks Gadge.

I have the parts list and manual and have all the torque settings. Just wanted to make sure it being hard to turn was not because of something I was doing wrong.

Yep, crankshaft, still learning the terminology