On Fri, 20 May 2005 18:43:10 -0000, (Chris
Lewis) wrote:

I have an early 70's Craftsman "Shredder Bagger" (chipper,
model 917.285761) that has a 143.226032 engine (Tecumseh
V60-70233H. Vertical shaft 6HP 4 stroke, "L Head" I believe).

Pretty good shape, not used in about 4 years.

After degunking the carburator, it starts first pull even
when cold.

I had to remove the carburator/disconnect the governor
links. I don't think I buggered anything up putting it back
together (ie: the links didn't get bent, they're _definately_
in the right holes).

Problem is it's running a trifle fast. I _assume_ it's
supposed to be tuned to 3600 RPM. It seems to start out
around 3800, and then slowly creeps up. Ie: 4000+ RPM
after a few minutes.

No surging. Just smooth slow increase.

That's worrisome (the thought of those blades or a rod...).

So the assumption is that the governor either requires
adjustment or is borked.

I've gotten the Tech manual for it, but as I've not
had to fiddle with governors before, and I REALLY REALLY
don't want to pull the crankcase apart to get at the
internals, I was wondering if anybody might comment
on the symptoms:

[If someone has the docs that say what the idle/fast
speeds on this specific model _should_ be, I'd appreciate
that too!]

The governor arm (with the rod/spring linkage to the carb)
is always "hard to" the "slow" side. If I gently move
the arm counterclockwise (long arm towards the carb), the
engine speeds up (even more). It has no travel CW
(no movement right from dead vertical), and hence the
governor _can't_ slow it down.

I haven't _yet_ tried to adjust the governor, I have to
study the manual a bit more before that.

Does this sound like (just) an adjustment/external linkage
issue, or would you think something inside borked?

I have no evidence (yet) that the internals will actually
move the governor arm based on engine speed.

The governor linkage looks almost exactly identical to this:

http://www.small-engines.com/tvs.html (first one, upper left).

The only difference being that the governor clamp(? short
arm) and link (long arm) is at the 6 oclock position instead
of the 3 oclock position in the diagram.

[Think of the long arm as the minute hand, and the short arm
as the hour ;-)]

The manual talks about swinging the clamp to 9 oclock,
but only with motors = 5HP and made prior to 1977. It's
6HP, but I assume it was prior to 1977.

It's really not clear which way it should be from the manual, except
perhaps I should be assuming that the diagram from the above link
(they're from the manual) _is_ correct, and not that specific to
TVM series. My carb is slightly different than the one pictured
for the TVM. None of the other generator linkages come remotely
close to mine.

Sounds like ,, when you reassembled the linkages.. something was
turned 90 or 180 degrees from where it should be..