[Gwiz]

There's a rewind tool?
I've never had one, always used my fingers! I suppose that it might be worth getting the tool if you have never fitted one of these springs before, but it would be one of those things that lay at the bottom of your tool box for the next 20 years unused.........
The spring normally fixes in a slot near the centre/ underside of the pulley.
the other end usually goes through a slot in the recoil housing. I say normally and usually as there are a few variants. yours is a metal recoil pulley?
I haven't seen one of those for a few years.

[dorimower]

If I recall correct the spring is pulled into the housing from a flat relaxed state through the hole on the cowling side..locating the end into the tin notch or plate just before it disappears inside.....
If you purchase a genuine B&S spring then they used to have full fitting instructions in the box with the spring....I wonder if they still do.??

I also seem to think our rewind tool was "home brew"..from a piece of square box section steel...was it 3/4" ..that fits in the pulley centre...and then a means to hold it whilst the rope is threaded into the pulley and tied off etc.......

"Dori"

[geordie-exile]

Not got round to the spring yet, even though I've bought one,  but I've had a play with the carb.  I've ordered new gaskets and a diaphragm but took it to bits in the mean time.  The diaphragm was undamaged and the filters weren't too bad.  The tank had lots of bits floating in it so it's had a good flush out.  The carb has had a good blast of carb cleaner (2 cans worth) through every orifice, including the small holes under the diaphragm plate.  There didn't seem to be any resistance to flow in any direction.  Reassembled with the old gaskets and diaphragm as they seem ok.  Put a bit of petrol direct into the carb again and had a pull or two with the duff spring in the starter.  No immediate effect so I screwed the mixture screw right in and backed it off a half turn, tried again and had a slight splutter.  Tried another quarter turn and a few more pulls and had about 7 or 8 seconds of running this time.

I'm moving in the right direction but had no improvement on this for the next 20 mins of trying.......

Any more ideas??

[Gwiz]

was the diaphragm "baggy", if so replace it.
is the fuel tank cap breathing?
you have definitely got a carburation problem by the sounds of it.
without looking back through all the post's, is the choke working correctly?
if the engine will not suck fuel up from the tank, then there is a problem with the carb. was there any damage at all on the needle when you looked at it?
just a thought, but you sometimes have to have the tank almost half full on these to get them going

[geordie-exile]

The parts manual I have been using is the first one at the link below.

User manual download

I should have looked closer as I did not realise where the needle was.  I was expecting it to be operated by the diaphragm.  The diaphragm just seems to work against spring and flow pressure and the other side is open to a chamber which, in turn, is open to two drillings from the carb body controlled by flaps from the diaphragm.   The drillings come from the fuel suction pipe and a hole on the underside of the carb which directs straight back into the tank.  There are two fuel pipes and one goes into a separate chamber at the top of the tank. I'm assuming that the diaphragm controls the suction from the tank rather than metering with the needle.  The diaphragm is slightly baggy below the spring so I'll replace it when I get the new one tomorrow.  I'm beginning to think that something must be missing from the carb which I haven't noticed as it seems to be in decent condition.

The operation of this carb is slightly confusing me which is quite embarrasing as I'm an aircraft engineer by trade and work on multi million pound engines as a norm............................Mind you, helicopters and jets tend to come with quite good maintenance manuals.

I'll whip the needle out for a look next.  I really need it running now as I still haven't got much in the ground and I'm far too busy to do it all by hand.

[dorimower]

Hello,
  The diaphragm is the fuel pump....the two flaps on the diapragm are the non return valves of the pump.

Fuel is pumped from the tank and deposited into a chamber in the tank top...this goes on all the time the engine is running....constantly overflowing back from chamber into the tank...thus maintaining the chamber full at all times.  On some tanks with fuel cap off and the engine running you can just see the fuel dribbling back down.
 Also this is why these engines can often take several pulls to start if run  low or empty or stood for a while as it takes several pulls for the pump to have done its job of filling the chamber.

Fuel for running is drawn from the tank top chamber and metered by the side mixture screw....

With the mixture screw and its seat removed it should be possible to see 2 holes in the casting of the carb body back into the air passage...I believe one is invloved with low speed run and the other with main running.
 Both the mixture screw and the union that it is mounted in, I seem to recall, are aluminium and easily damaged.

The mixture screw is adjusted usually at full working revs...wound slowly inwards until engine starts to slow weak....then out past best running 'til it starts to slow rich then set just a fraction rich of mid way between the two events..  These engines should be set just very marginally rich...so that there is a good pick up to sudden load....there being no auto adjustment of timing or fuel acceleration to sudden working loads applied...but not set so rich as to wash the rings away....difficult to describe but comes with practice..
 Usually see if it ticks over...1750rpm being standard tickover....then see if it will accelerate again...if it dies out then a fraction richer on the screw maybe needed.

One and a half turns out from very gently seated is often a good starting point for the mixture screw....I stress the very gently seated in ref the aluminium point of the needle..

They tend to like full choke to fire but often then need the choke off quickly to finally run up..

I always tend to add the ref to only running machinery outside...never in the shed etc due to dangers of exhaust fumes...and do be very careful during tuning as whilst you are concentrating on every sound of the engine you can become oblivious to other dangers...  I wrote that once including the ref' to the spinning blades of a mower...and in his reply the guy mentioned he was the Engineering Officer of the Swedish Joint Forces Helicopter Command...seems he might have come across dangers of spinning blades before  :oops:  :oops:    ....but all the same these things can bite.

If all has been apart it would be best bet to treat it to new gaskets...the tank top one may well leak if not...leading to petrol swimming about just under the exhaust box. :shock:

Hope you can get the machine beat and running all ok...

All the best,

"Dori"

[geordie-exile]

Thanks gents.  I should have posted yesterday but forgot.  I sussed out the carb operation and got the engine running yesterday morning when the diaphragm and gaskets turned up.  I disassembled the mixture screw assembly and found that the brass seat for the needle had been fully wound in.  This meant that the fuel inlet hole was covered by the carrier nut.  As soon as I wound out the brass seat and reset the needle it was easy to start with a small capful of petrol down the carb.

The bowden cable for the throttle control is a different matter though.  The thumb control has stop, slow and fast but at the other end it seems to be all or nothing regardless of how it's adjusted.  I'll have to have another go at it tomorrow.

The only thing that actually concerns me is that every now and again, whilst running, the starter clutch makes an awful scraping noise and kicks out the rope.  I wouldn't be that bothered but it lands right where the tines would be if they were fitted.  Has anyone come across that before?

The spring was a lot easier to fit than I thought.

Getting there slowly, at least it lives now....

[Gwiz]

Sounds to me like the recoil/cowling isn't lined up correctly, OR there could be a problem with the clutch starter. (ball bearing dooberry)
did you damage the crankshaft at all? if so, a few passes with a file might stop it from sticking (if thats what the problem is)

[geordie-exile]

Definitely no damage to the crankshaft and I can't see how the recoil / cowling could line up any differently.  Do you mean how far the spring is wound in or something else?  I think there may something wrong with the clutch as it runs fine and then all of a sudden there is this scraping / screaming noise, the clutch spins the other way and the rope comes out.  Sometimes just an inch, sometimes about two feet.  Having said that, the clutch is so simple I can't see what could go wrong with it, 6 ball bearings and some cams.  It works fine in the hand and there are no flat spots on the cams or ball bearings.  The rope can be immediately wound back in with the engine running.

[Gwiz]

from what you describe, the recoil pulley is certainly touching the flywheel/mesh screen, or something. take it off, and see if you can spot shiney metal where it's rubbing, because it's hitting it somewhere!
bolts all done up tight? recoil pulley retaining flanges bent over correctly?
you're right about the clutch starter, It's very simple, and doesn't go wrong normally, thats why I asked about the crank. some "tap the end " to free the flywheel.you can't on this model without causing problems later.... :roll:

[geordie-exile]

Just been out having a look and there's a little bit of frayed rope where the knot is.  Maybe I'm just a big girl and didn't tie it tight enough.  I think the rope may have touched the mesh now and again.  I'll sort that then try again when the neighbours are up.

[geordie-exile]

I sawin another post that there may be  pdf manual on the forum for the titan.  Any idea where it might be?

I'm rubbish at this search malarky.......keep getting anything but what I ask for.

Thanks

[dorimower]

Hello,
  Pleased to hear that you have acheived some running...bit puzzled by the brass seat having to be repositioned though ??

The starter clutches doing the rope trick usually emit a most frightening piercing screech...and then the rope seems to "pour" from the cowling...it always seems to happen in one of those slow motion effects to me....bit like a fire alarm that is so loud that it stops you thinking what to do next. :shock: .

I seem to recall that the end of the clutch has a little oil hole and a felt? pad to retain a bit of lubrication over the crank end extension to stop this chatter and drive transmission from crank to clutch.  Just any tiny bit of light oil might sort it.  

"Dori"

[dorimower]

I sawin another post that there may be  pdf manual on the forum for the titan.  Any idea where it might be?

Perhaps try this link..  http://merrytiller.dyndns.org/

See if it appears to be your version of Titan....the model names got re used on subsequent versions...as in  re use of car model names Ford Fiesta etc etc..

I should add that...the Super Major listed is from the later last design series and the photos are of that and not the earlier Titan... but think the Titan manual will likely be suitable???


"Dori"

[geordie-exile]

Thanks for the link, it looks like the right one.  The way you describe the noise is exactly right, it sounds awful.  I'll try a bit of oil.

The brass seat had been wound in all the way until in was fully seated.  That meant that the next bit had been wound in so far it blocked the pick-up hole from the pipe below the carb.  I lined up the slot in the brass seat with the pick-up hole, reset the mixture needle and it started first pull.  The only time it's made me smile this week.