spottedpony

Prompted by the multitude of posts about the craftsman hydrostat mowers, but more of a Rant & in some cases maybe alternate solution  for others.

Early last week the pto (electric blade clutch) on my 10 year old craftsman rider went south. no big deal, parts wear out or break after years of usage.  I call up the local sears parts center, check availability (its in stock) and order a new pto with projected delivery date of july 5th. 

July 7 now & no parts, phone call to the parts center & i'm told it wasnt in stock and on back order & with luck i'll have it july 22. so i ask why i was told it was in stock & i get the standard reply "i dont know"

to make a long story short i got all the parts information off the old pto clutch, did an online search for the manufacturer,   got on the phone and called them, got refered to a distributor in mich.  ordered and confirmed the part was in stock and it'll be here in 3 or 4 days at less than half sears cost.

total cost from sears $238 and change (which has been canceled to say the least) cost  $107 and with shipping from the distributor $125.

Now assuming both suppliers pay close to the same wholesale cost and another company can make a fair profit  what does this say about sears percentage of markup?

The moral of this, if your lucky enough to  find manufacturing information and part numbers do an online search and contact mfgrs. In this case Warner Electric gave me the 800 number for a distributer and saved me close to half without the bull$#%* everyone seems to get from sears anymore.

In the last year ive had some real warrantee issues with sears,  in particular a 60 gallon upright air compressor that has continuing problems now out of warrantee. needless to say because of these problems as well as some poor customer service issues, sears has lost a customer for purchases items of this nature.

My initial thoughts are that it shouldnt be a problem, thinking in terms of being on a mower and mowing uneven ground the carb would not always be level, something to consider though, is it possible to modify the forward engine mount to level the engine in the frame? hard to see in the photo but it might be possible to fabricate and weld on a modified mount to raise the front of the engine.

from what i see in the photo also it looks like its going to be very necessary to fab and install a belt/pully guard.

check your lines to and from the primer.....a crack or air leak here would allow it  to suck air and create a vacuum leak, or possibly the diaphram in the primer bulb has gone south. try replacing the primer bulb and while your doing that go ahead and replace the primer bulb lines

i had the exact same problem on a leaf blower and what i mentioned above turned out to be the problem

Dead short somewhere on the switched side of the ignition switch. since it doesnt blow with the switch off you know circuitry between battery and switch are ok, and since it blows the fuse before you turn the switch to the start position, you know that portion of the circuits are ok.  I'm not familiar with this specific mower but there should be 4 or 5 wires off the ignition switch to the various items the switch supplys, (start circuit, power to ignition circuit, lights, pto etc) it will take some checking with an ohm meter and test light to isolate the problem wire, then trace it and look for bare spots, cracks places where its rubbing against metal that can short it out. you may also be able to remove the wires from the switch one at a time after determining which is the battery wire, then when you disconnect one wire and the fuse doesnt blow, you've isolated the problem conductor.

good candidate for tig welding though you may have to rethread the hole your fitting screws into