I started the Massey 30 this morning, only to have it die in the driveway. Out of gas. O.k. it had driven 35 miles home and done a full day's work as well as a bunch of short hauls, so the $35.00 in gas went a long way. I added five gallons, and then things went downhill quickly.Seems not enough gas was getting to the carburetor to run the tractor. The sediment bowl was painted red, so I cleaned the flakes of junk out of it, polished it and did the other usual things, finally getting soaked with gas when the fuel started to run. But in the middle of the process the bendix drive on the starter stopped engaging. Not good. I took it to the starter guy in Smiths Falls. He glanced at it, grinned, and picked a spring out of a box at his feet. "I'll throw one on it right now." Ten minutes and $20.00 later it was fixed. He blames the alternator for the broken spring. "12 volts makes the starters engage too violently, and they break this spring." I said that my boat's M47 engine has used a 6 volt on 12 for the last twenty years. "Some are built to take the impact better than others. This one is really exposed." I said I'd likely be back for more springs. He said I certainly would be. Nice guy, very helpful. The Massey started and ran well for the rest of the day, helping me pull an old cast iron furnace out of the basement. Short of switching back to 6 volt, is there any way to soften the impact on the starter spring?
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