The starter on my horizontal shaft mid sixties mower has started to chatter while the mower is running. I've seen that kind of business on outboard engines when I was a kid.
I took the cover and rotating screen off, and five or so ball bearings dropped out. I didn't look under a magnifying glass, but it basically looked new, and w/o lubricant inside.
I'm guessing all it needs is some light, perhaps, lithium grease on the balls to hold them in place whilst I reassemble it?
tanks
mac
It should be dry...the balls need to be free (boxer vs.briefs thing)!
They jam when starting and are held out by centrifugal force when disengaged.
Also, clean the end of the crank-shaft (rusted?) that the square sleeve fits over and lightly oil that.
The noise you heard was from terminal wear. Install a new assembly. Forty years of service for a sprag clutch unit is really all you can expect.
Joe
Tip the engine on its side, so the rewind is on top. Pull the three bolts, lift the spring assembly off.
Take the clutch asembly apart, and clean the end of the crank shaft, and inside the almost square thing. Clean with solvent (gasoline, ronsonol, etc.) and q-tips. Squirt some graphite or silicone into the almost square sleeve, and slip it on the crank shaft.
Put the five balls in, spaced around. And then the washer that holds the balls in place. Put the pullcord assembly back on, and then the three bolts.
Tip engine back up.
Very often they squawk between the almost square thing, and the crank shaft. Easy fix, he's got it mostly apart already.
Although the edger is 40 years old, it has only had about ten or twelve seasons of use.
I laughed when I put it back together.... it was only then I realized it's a centrifugal design where the ball or balls near the top engage due to gravity, then fly out when it starts to spin to disengage the ratchet assembly. My grease kept them from engaging! Too funny!
It really looked good inside... sparkling, spanking assed clean. All I found were some tiny dings on the "rewind ratchet" [find 70 in the parts manual] (or, "sprag", if you will.)
I'll clean it up carefully, give it some graphite this time, and if it is still burping, try a stone on the dings.
Thanks to all.
Joe, what do you mean by "terminal wear"?
thanks
'Terminal', as in end of life. As it turned out, however, usage was far less than normal and clean and lube revived the engine starter.
Joe
??????? _almost_ _square_ _thing_ ??
Illucidate, 'sil vous plait!
mac
Scroll down to page 8. The almost square thing is inside small box 66, and is part number 70. Hope that's some help.
The problem was, simply, that the engine shaft required some light touching up with steel wool and a subsequent application of a very light Teflon grease (the ratchet appears to be aluminum and was without corrosion.) Voila! Problem solved. The starter rope had also broken off. While I had the rewind mechanism apart I noted rust in some of the weaker areas of the outer cover so I sand blasted it, gave it a sprayed prime coat followed by a couple of coats of red spray paint. It's now good for another fifty years. That damn starter rewind spring was sure difficult to get back into the cover, but I managed it on the first try. My hands just aren't as strong as they used to be, but if I did one of these every day I'd be crushing bones when shaking hands.
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