[cheeezzy24]

Hi guys,
I have just aquired a Wolseley Webb Wizard and after a few days tinkering with it have managed to get it running. I took it up the allotment with high hopes and found that as soon as any load is put on the tines it seems to have no power,and will almost stall. With the belt disengaged the enging gets back to full revs.It has a 3hp Briggs and Stratton engine.
Does anyone have any ideas what could be wrong as its beaten me!!

[Gwiz]

First stupid question, whats the ground like that you're trying to turn over? Clay or something lighter?
How is the air filter? is it clean? it would have been a light green colour when new.
Does the machine run a gearbox that the tines go through? if so, has it got any oil in it?
If you remove the drive belts, can you turn the drive pulley on the top of the gear box by hand, and when you do so, does the rotors turn?

[cheeezzy24]

Hi, yes everything is clean and moving freely. The engine will happily run at full throttle but as soon as the belt is engaged it slows and starts to struggle. I wondered if it could be the compression?!! I can move the small pulley round by hand and there isn't a great deal of resistance. New rings maybe?

[Gwiz]

if it was the rings, I'd expect a Briggs engine to smoke more than even I used too!
might be worth doing a compression test on it, could be a dodgy valve if you can turn it by hand over the compression stoke easily.

[R Tallentire]

In your first post you mention “a few days tinkering”, if you altered the governor mechanism it may not come in and increase the throttle when a load is put on the engine.  With the engine stopped set the hand throttle to fast and pull the lever on top of the carb butterfly against spring pressure, it should move easily and spring pressure should pull it back as soon as you remove your finger. Alternatively a weak mixture may be OK at low throttle openings but when the governor tries to open the throttle, the engine, starved of fuel, just cuts out.  This can be checked by running on partial choke, it is a bit rough and ready as too much choke  will also cause problems but if it runs better with a bit of choke, your mixture is out.

Incidentally , it is no good doing a compression test as B & S use the “easy spin” decompression system. They recommend that you remove the belt, and the plug lead from the plug, then flick the crankshaft round backwards by hand. If the crank bounces back against compression, it is OK.