Hello all, hope you can help me out again with some advice about what I just dragged home. The last time was a snow chief snowblower, and this forum was alot of help in getting it going again.

The latest acquistion is a 42" craftsman rider mower, about 5 years old. If I mentioned the price, or that it included chains and a snowblade, or what it goes for new, a grown man would cry. Pushed it home from the neighbors garage, charged it for 10 minutes and runs like a top.

Anyway it's deal is a bad battery (probably an easy one, the gauge shows good charging once it runs), and a skipping starter. Best description is it sounds like it's missing a tooth on a ring gear (if it were a car). Supposedly been doing this since nearly new

Now for the good stuff, the engine. It's a 21 HP briggs 2 cylinder "I/C" with cast iron sleeves.

I really have 3 questions-
#1- is that engine actually good stuff, or can I expect it to die soon and render the mower useless because the engine is insanely overpriced. I know knothing about the reliability of the bigger engines, only that some are notoriously bad. I maintain my stuff faithfully, and it's not had a hard life.

#2- any suggestions about the skipping starter's cause, and how far I'll have to take it down to fix it? I'm setup as a hobby auto shop, so the actual repair should be no biggie, just wondering what I'm in for. Do these things have starter bendix issues and shimming and teeth chipping like a car would?

#3- it's an auto trans, which made my other neighbor drool when he saw that(??). My friends have used an old cub cadet to push cars into their transmission shop for decades without trouble. Will my auto trans take pushing a car 3 times a year?, or am I asking for trouble? We're talking level ground crawling speeds here, nothing crazy. The fact they sell snowblades for makes me say yes, but still curious to hear what the guys who work on them say.

As always, thanks for any advice!

The I/C ( Industrial Commercial ) engine is a great engine.... I have a 12horse I/C thats just pasted its 17th birthday, uses a little oil (cracked or worn out oil control ring I beleive) but runs good and strong.... I'm the third owner ( I did know the first two ) and it was used hard...., the cast iron bore is for much longer life... Right now I will yank on the governor from time to time and rev the heck out it for a minute at a time, and still it refuses to die.

For the starter, there should be a plastic cover right over it, take it off and look at the starter gear, probablly stripped... if not, spin the flywheel over by hand and check for a broken ring gear tooth. New starter gears can be found at lowes and such. Use a OEM gear.... Sometimes they may get caught and break a tooth off the starter gear, or they just wear down to the point they strip.

A hydro can and will be a strong trans... just takes good care and fluid changes if applicable.
I wouldn't pull or push a car with it though unless I had to. Just my opinion. Its uneeded stress on it. If you got the mower free or very cheap.... just because of a battery... the neighbor must feel? well......

Thanks Bugman. Good to know that engine had a good track record.

Since the original post, it's stopped cranking entirely. Pulled the shroud and sure enough, not a single tooth left on the plastic starter gear. Aluminum ring gear looks perfect.

So now I've got 2 more questions-
#1- can I just replace the starter gear from the top? I've found an exploded diagram, and looked at the actual starter, and it looks like a snap ring can be removed and the gear swapped with the starter in place. Is that correct? If they're selling them at Lowe's, this must happen alot.

#2- I call it a bendix- it's the spring mechanism that engages the starter gear with the ring gear. So- on this engine, does the starter gear stay engaged with the ring gear full time?- The deal is that mine appears to stay engaged full time. I am wondering if a dirty/stuck bendix is to blame for the stripped teeth? Or is it that the stripped teeth allow the bendix to stay extended when it shouldn't?

As far as the drooling neighbor goes, he actually knocked on my door wanting me to test the battery. I did the troubleshooting as a neutral party, then both neighbors haggled and ended a few dollars apart. I went home, realized what a deal it was, then went and asked both guys if I could buy it for the seller's price. (OK, I'll mention it, $200, this thing looks & drives brand new! Score!) So he can cry all he wants, cause he passed it up. :) Don't think either of those guys expected me to have it running in 15 minutes though!

Plus, don't think the battery is bad either. Think somebody left the key on, so it's really just the starter gear, and maybe a bendix. Less than $50 and it's on the road again! Well, on the lawn again.

Edit- almost forgot, and the headlights don't work. Any ideas? I've unhooked the snap connection for removing the nose and jumpered to the battery, they light right up. So I'm guessing switch or fuse???

As always, thanks for any advice you can offer.

Ouch... $200, the engine is worth that alone in good shape. When you turn the starter, the gear slings up that screw there, engages the flywheel and turns it over, that spring pops it back down. The gear itself is cheap, and they do strip from time to time. On that 12horse... I was in such a hurry, I scavenged the starter gear from a worn out engine. You can flip the gear over for more use out if it, but when it's stripped, you can't get anything else out of em. If its sticking, don't oil it, clean it up good. For the headlights, Can't remember if they used a fuse on those.... though of course I don't find the lights very useful myself, only on rare cases.... he probablly cut a wire or pulled a wire so it wouldn't have lights.

Oh and yes, you can leave the starter in place when you do it, take that spring out, and it should be a pin you have to tap out. Can't remember exactly, I'd have to go look at mine tommorrow on exactly how it goes together.

Lowe's was good advice. $4.99 for a Briggs brand gear. Had to remove a C clip that retained the starter gear, then had to pull the flywheel to slide the gear on/off. Works like a charm. Flywheel was a hassle. 30 minute job total.

If anyone reading this needs a gear- it was ONLY Lowes that sold the gear. I did the hardware store shuffle because the Lowes was furthest. Menards, Depot, and Sears did not stock the gear.

Starts and runs like a champ!

Thanks for the advice Bugman

Glad to help, Also that you got it going. Btw, I have seen the starter gears at ace.... BUT they are aftermarket. Not the same standards or plastic. Heard of non oem gears getting wasted alot easier. LOL, after getting a lowes around here (well 30 miles away) I've been in there, and they do carry alot of the small parts like these. Walmart isn't so good for them. They will carry plugs and air filters, not much more.

OK, not quite done yet. It's all tuned up, adjusted, and working great with one exception. The lights. I know it's a minor deal, but I cannot stand things that don't work.

So, the wire diagram shows 2 outputs from the alternator. One is 3 amp, and is for the tractor. The fact it runs, and the amp gauge moves to +, tells me that wire is charging. The second wire is a 5 amp output, just for the lights.

I cannot get any voltage out of that 5 amp charging wire at the ignition switch. The ignition switch has continuity between the poles in the headlight position, so it's working fine too.

So, I am suspect about the generator/alternator. How do I test any of it? How does it know when the headlight switch exposes it to load? There must be some kind of regulator in there, maybe it's what's bad? Are there seperate systems for the 3 amp and 5 amps charge circuits? I am confused. Any common failures that would do this? Help!

Thanks!

Some use a dual stator system, one for just the battery, and the other for just the lights. The battery one would have a diode on it, the lights just a fuse (if it has one that is) usually its the stator that goes out if it has no fuse or its good.