Was mowing the grass with Miss Cubby II (Cub Cadet model 70 with a K301 12HP engine). It started acting funny, engine speed was erratic, then all of a sudden it was like the throttle wasn't doing much. I moved it back and forth and it didn't do much, eventually it came off an idle and was running a bit faster than I was comfortable but the throttle lever wasn't doing anything. I shut it off before I let the noise out of the connecting rod. Opened the hood to see what I could see. Noticed I can't move the governor arm back and forth with the engine off. I play with it a little bit and the governor arm pops off the carburetor arm. H'mm maybe that's the problem, I look some more and the arm on the carburetor looks like it's bent down, I grab it and try to bend it and the whole darn throttle shaft comes out the top of the carburetor. At this point I've identified the problem- the throttle plate has fallen off the throttle shaft explaining why the throttle/governor wasn't doing much. I rolled it back to the shed and finished the grass with the walk behind mower. I took the carburetor off the cub and the throttle disc fell out (no surprise) I look up the back side of the carburetor and one of the screws is MIA, the other most of the head is broken off. I get the screw shaft out with a pair of needle nose vice grips. I've gotten replacement screws for the butterfly and a new bushing to go into the top of the carburetor and some lock-tite to keep them where they belong.
Here is the question -I can't find the missing screw, how worried about that should I be? Should I remove the fuel tank and the shrouding, pull the head and see if it's in the cylinder? Or do I figure it's really small, made of brass and probably some where south of the exhaust valve, re-install the carburetor and call it good?
My mother bought a "cottage" and this was in the garage of the place when she moved in. The spark plug threads in the head were stripped out and the PTO clutch had been "improved" to the point it didn't work anymore. I installed a used head, PTO clutch and clutch lever and it has been working pretty good. With the quality of some of the work on this unit and the fact it was someone's "up north mower" it wouldn't surprise me if the screw's disappearance pre-dated my ownership.
Here is the question -I can't find the missing screw, how worried about that should I be? Should I remove the fuel tank and the shrouding, pull the head and see if it's in the cylinder? Or do I figure it's really small, made of brass and probably some where south of the exhaust valve, re-install the carburetor and call it good?
My mother bought a "cottage" and this was in the garage of the place when she moved in. The spark plug threads in the head were stripped out and the PTO clutch had been "improved" to the point it didn't work anymore. I installed a used head, PTO clutch and clutch lever and it has been working pretty good. With the quality of some of the work on this unit and the fact it was someone's "up north mower" it wouldn't surprise me if the screw's disappearance pre-dated my ownership.