30+ year old 4hp Briggs on tiller

john *.?-!.* cub owner

Well-known Member
I have 2 questions.

1 - recoil starter, ball bearing type. It occasionally, but getting more frequent, will while running make a squealing noise and the rope will unwind an inch or two. Will a drop or two of turbine oil where the outer shell goes into the ball bearing housing to lubricate that bushing help it?

2 - pointless ignition, it will on occasion kick back severely. Not all the time, but on an average of 1 out of 3 times. I know of no way to set the timing, but did notice the legs of the coil assembly were very close to the flywheel compared to the older point type engines I am familiar with. .005 in (.15mm) by my feeler gauge. Could that be causing it to fire too soon and kickback?
 
on the recoil, I have popped the tin cover off and cleaned the unit and the steel balls, then a bit of oil on them and fixed a lot of them,, those coils pickups should be like you say I have brass gauges to set them, but I cannot say that would make them backfire I would think it sure would affect it being to close
 
As Case says in the pull start part clean things up and lube them up. As for the pull back check the flywheel shear key it could be part way sheared and that will cause problems like that
 
You don't want any liquid in there. It won't take long for you to have gummy innards and then it
won't catch to start. I used to do them that way and then I was back in them again in six months.

Pop the little cover off and clean it very well. I use brake or carb cleaner. Make sure it is dry. Put
some powdered lubricant in there (graphite).

Those things squealing is enough to wake the dead!

I know if the valve lash is off it can cause a kickback. I'll never forget our neighbor lady took her
Ariens rear engine rider in for a tune up. It had an 8 horse Briggs on it. They had done too much
when they adjust the valves (ground them) and that mower would tip up on one back tire when
you pulled the rope. Ran good but a bear to start. Betty would push it out to the light pole in the
yard and chain it to the pole to start it. I'd never have believed it if I didn't see her do it every week.
 
The other mechanic I work with says 'no oil'. The old briggs manual says 1 drop in the hole in the end. Your call, I guess.

If it was me, I'd put 1 drop on it. . . . .
 
NOTHING wrong with a little non-gumming oil in the rewind's ORC vs. running dry/squealing.

As to the "kickback" since there's no timing advance, these engines fire quite "early" and can "kick" if you don't have a firm grip on the starter rope and pull it QUICKLY, and with attitude!

It's YOU against the machine!
 
The recoil needs to be cleaned. The shaft needs to be
sanded to remove the rust. The balls must be clean and
dry. There is a felt inside the square shaft that needs a
drop or two of oil.

The coil legs need to be set close to the flywheel.

Don't know if your engine is new enough for this. If the
exhaust valve is set too loose. The decompression feature
won't work.

One more thing. If the flywheel key is sheared it will
kick.

Is this a vertical or horizontal shaft engine?
 
It is a horizontal shaft. When I removed the 2 screws holding the flywheel screen the recoil starter fell apart. I didn't bother to pick up the balls, the one mine takes is only $21 on Amazon. No sign of any distortion in the key, but I ordered a package of them anyway. Here is a link that was sent to me showing the settings for different Briggs engines. According to it my coil should be .006 to .010 rather than the .005 it currently is. I will change that and also check the valves while it is apart.
http://www4.briggsandstratton.com/miscpdfs/RNT/Engine Specifications Chart_ms3992.pdf
 
Never said to put liquid in there,, I said oil the balls a BIT,,, but I have only done them like this for 45 plus years and they worked fine,,, yours do as you like,, I Do
cnt
 
I haven't had one apart/off for a while but doesn't the end of the crankshaft turn inside the
square part of the starter. It would need a drop of oil maybe.
 
Messing around with those B&S starter clutches is not worth it, I sell them new for $22 here, if you grease and oil them they will either stick or end up collecting a bunch of dust
 

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