Something New... hey, it no work no more. :(

ok, So I wired up the tractor wrong.
I never said I knew how.

The old magneto was cooked by me.

The New Megneto has now been filleted on a nice long slow burn. no fire though, but either way its cooked.

Appearantly I didn't know that I had the wrong wire hooked up to it.
I was trying to follow the many many Wiring diagrams and write ups I had found on the web. all just a little bit confusing, and appearantly none really working the way it should.

So I am out another 50 bucks for another Magneto.

Sigh.

But if its true then it should work after I get the new one this time and not hook any wires to it. Should just spark without anything attached. just the plugs, and thats where step one will be. if that works, then I ground it to a different switch and everything should.. (I repeat SHOULD) be ok with the tractor.

I pick up the missing pulley monday as well as a new magneto.

Then It hopefully will be running again. and I can start exploring other possible problems with the old beast.

Craftsman - Murray Ohio.. Circa.. late eighties. Motor B&S 1995 Twin II 18 hp.

wish me luck. haha.

tractor mayham

Well today I tried to rewire the beast.

I shouldn't have. it worked.

Now it doesn't.

After rewiring it I tried (and thought I figured out how to) hook the wires up to the ignition switch.
First round. lots of smoke from a black wire coming off it, hope I didn't damage the switch.
ok. that didn't work, must be hooked up wrong.
Tried changing the wires around after checking online again.
hooked it up.. no smoke.. good, turned switch, POP. nothing. Blew the fuze. damn, don't have another. get one tomorrow.. for now we will direct wire it. (yes I can be dumb)

Tried it again, lots of noise, pop, smoke. and a little fire under the metal cap of the engine.

Shit.

I guess it was wired wrong still. (wnd with no fuze to protect it, surge went right to something else.)

got mad, gave up. worry about it another day.

Me and Ricki also tried bending the pulley underneath into place, but
its bent all to hell now, and it will just have to do where it is, had
to grind some metal off cuz we had managed to push the pulley into the
support, Oh well, we will see how that works too. haha.

NEXT DAY!

rewired the beast back to the way it was, when it worked, got it to turn over.

and over.

and over.

and over.

and over.

:(

its dead, it will turn from the starter but not fire.

after a full day of figuring it out. My megneto was the victim in the fire. So tomorrow I will go and get a new megneto. its too late now.
After searching the net for a gooooooood long time. I finally found a easy to understand wiring of an ignition for this type of engine with a 4 post ignition switch. I already burned the Megneto, so no fires are gonna start, so why could I hurt. (Got lucky this time)
It Works!!!
Well the ignition switch anyways.
It doesn't burn or fry as it sits, and when I turn to start, it whirrs away like its suppose to, and stop when I let go of the key, if I ever get it to start again, it will hopefully also turn off when I move the key to off. haha.

Also today I put the mower deck back together after its bearing job. Good Job Rick. only problem I had with that was the main pulley was assembled and the pulleys don't fit through the hole assembled, so I had to pound that back apart, and put it in the hole that way, the other pulleys fit nice though. Just gotta sharpen the blades now before I put them back on.
Also put the belts back on the deck, that was a little puzzle, even with a diagram.

I am missing a pulley! dammit. I don't see any lying around so I wonder if steve still has it. Oh well. not a worry, they aren't expensive, I don't think. haha. famous last words, Might as well pick one of them up too while I am getting my Megneto. I keep thinking of the guy from Xmen when I say that. haha.

I have a problem with Megneto, Call the XMEN! heehee.

Checked online, Megnetos seem to be about 30 bucks. lets hope this is true. :D

Wish me luck again.

Oh and I got engaged May 8th

Yup, gave Ricki her special little shiny on May 8th.

shes very happy!

So am I. :)

Got a pool!!

We bought a huge 18' pool off of kijiji the other day, and it was delivered on the 20th. But we started setting it up today.

Why do I say started. we have a well, it will likely take us to the middle of June before we get it filled hahaha.

Hey its raining tonight, thanks for the help weather. heehee.

its one of those blow up ring ones that look kinda like hersheys kisses.
we got it for only 80 bucks. makes us happy.

LAWN TRACTOR

Well my brother gave me a lawn tractor. Thats wonderful. needs some work tho.

Day one, unloaded tractor, noticed more wrong with it than my brother originally told.. no biggie.
My brother said "It needs 2 new bearings and a starter"

Day two, Dug deeper into the fun, looked around it, checked things out a bit more. Theres no air filter, or air filter box.

Day three, Ricki's Dad came by to help me see if we could get the beast started. brought a little tiny battery by but it didn't work well so we used the jeep to start it, took some time but we got it alive. First we had a look at the starter, Rick took it apart and checked it and it seemed to be ok, and once on he good battery seemed to start no problem. Had to bypass all the wires to get it going, and choke off the carb completely, but it ran, and we even had it moving. but the belts keep falling off. odd. and I don't think I can get it any gear but forward slow and reverse makes the belt fall off. gotta check that out.

We took the deck apart, there is 2 bearings per blade, and 3 blades and a main pulley. two sets were gone, the other were on there way out, one was very stiff, the other was very squeeky.

Day Four. Finished taking apart the deck, so Rick could press in the new bearing, he ended up breaking the covers trying to remove them, put them on order.

Also noticed that one of the belts is dragging on a cross bar. thats not good. Took it off so that we could trim and strengthen it.

Also took apart the ignition switch, it was completely cooked, it was just a mass of grease rust and mess. maybe why we couldn't get it started without bypassing. Gonna have to rewire the beast to make things work properly. but not today, have more pressing work to do.

Bought the bearings, Battery, and a few odds and ends, and Rick found a old ignition switch in his garage and an old air filter box. so I also got a new filter.

Redrilled the hole for the ignition switch. hope it works. and jigsawed the hole in the filter to fit the carb of the tractor. things are movin along.

Day Five. played with it a bit more, bent some metal so that the pulleys line up better and the belt hopefully won't come off anymore. Also started it by myself today, I hadn't before, Rick did. but she ran off its new battery. must remember to rewire the beast into the new ignition and try that out. Rick finished pressing the bearings for all the blades today. so those can go back in, should have the deck together soon. and the Tractor is coming along.

so is the grass.. very long. haha.