On Jun 30, 3:03*pm, Jon Danniken
wrote:
On 06/29/2012 11:02 PM, wrote:









I have a push mower with a Briggs engine. *It's about 4 years old. *On
the handle there is a lever that must be held down all the time to keep
it running. *I find that thing annoying to say the least. *Everytime I
had to move a garden hose or anything else on the lawn the mower would
shut off. *I finally wired that lever to the handle so the mower keeps
running. *That has worked for several years. *Now the cable broke, going
to that annoying brake/shutoff device, and since that operates a brake
to lock the engine, I cant pull the string to start the engine.

I want this thing gone. *I'm not going to spend money for a new cable,
when that thing serves no purpose other than to annoy me. *How can I
completely disable or remove that thing? *I jammed a bolt in it, and the
mower started, but the bolt fell out in less than a minute.

Anyone know an easy way to disable it, or some way to permanently keep
that thing pulled open, so the brake is not locking the engine?

Yea, I know it's a safety feature, but I dont need a speech about fiing
it. *I've safely used mowers without that annoyance for many years. *The
only thing I'll not have is the shut off device. *Which is as simple as
shorting out the spark plug with a shovel, or just quickly running the
mower into real tall grass to kill the engine. (which is what I've been
doing since I wired that lever to the handle). *Just more useless crap
to break and irritate the user. *I'm surprised they dont include a
*required* safety belt on these push mowers too.

On my Tecumseh motor, the deadman has two effects; it opens up a clutch
brake that surrounds the flywheel (a mechanical stop), and it opens up a
switch that shorts out the ignition system.

It was the first thing I modified, before I ever ran the mower. *Maybe
if I had a sloped yard I would have let it be, but it is nice when to be
able to leave the mower running when I go to the porch for a drink of wawa.

Jon

Just curious...

Why do you like to leave the mower running when you stop to get a
drink?

My mower takes about half a slow pull to restart once warm. Not really
worth even the small amount of work it would take to defeat the kill
mechanism.

Besides, I'd rather it be quiet when I take a break for water, but
that's just me.