Simplicity Broadmoor - no power with PTO engaged

[mswovela]

I have a early 90's (I think it's around that age) that was given to my by my father-in-law. It has the Briggs vanguard on it and shortly after he gave it to me it started pouring oil through the air filter. From all that I found last year on that it pointed towards the head gaskets, so I replaced those.

After replacing them it seemed to run like a dream again, and I was able to mow for about 1.5 hours with any issues. But with about 10 minutes left to mow it just seemed to fall on its face. It was really struggling to even spin the blades, even though I had it full throttle it really seemed like it was at about 1/3rd throttle. With blades disengaged the engine seemed to rev to full throttle just fine. But as soon as the blades were re-engaged it really would kind of bog down and definitely not spin the blades fast enough to mow with.

Any thoughts on what to check? Even for the age on this mower I really like the beautiful striped lawn it leaves behind. Plus I made an informal bet with my father-in-law when he gave it to me that this thing would outlast the new Cub Cadet he bought at HD to replace it. So now I definitely have to figure out how to keep it running at least until he forgets about me saying that...

 

[FL_Rob]

Aside from engine problems ,what about a siezed belt pulley?or a blade brake still engaged?

 

[mswovela]

hmmm, any quick checks for the blade brake to see if that's it?

 

[FL_Rob]

I dont know the setup ,if its electric or manual.If its manual with the engine OFF have a helper engage the pto ( you might have to put the front on small ramps to see under)you should see a cable movement to a brake shoe lookin thing ,this could be above the deck too, though.Alse check for bad pulley bearings ,Ive had them go out too.

 

[SKIIS]

I'm living through the same pain with my 1994 Broadmoor with the 12.5 Vanguard from briggs. Tore the carb apart and cleaned it last night - zero affect. Does anybody know anything about PTO safety switches? My PTO switch has been busted for 5 years, never been an issue. However, there is a rubber bulb inside that seems to have cracked. Not sure if there is some sort of vacuum like switch for safety? TOTALLY frustrated. I'm not aware of the unit having anything along the lines of blade brakes - if you get an emergency stop, the engine simply dies. My pulley bearings appear fine and dandy. FRUSTRATION!

 

[motorcity]

You may want to try over on theis forum, they are very helpful people on it. mytractorforum.com

Go down to the lawn and tractor section, they have a Simplicity section.

 

[SKIIS]

Thanks motorcity - that was quite helpful.

So last night I went to check the fuel filter and line for when I pick up replacements. When I pulled the carb side fuel line off the fuel filter a small amount of gas burbed out. Then I pulled the fuel tank side and to no surprise, fuel poured out steady. The filter has debris in it, but not much - and I could blow air through it no problems. I was surprised that it would have that much impact with the little bit of debris it had. When I put the filter back inline tank side, fuel was pouring out the filter. So I slap it back together and turn it over. Fired immediately and ran well unchoked. Tempting fate, I pulled it out of the shed and engaged the PTO. Green light, worked great. I decided to really push my luck - and mow the back yard (in the dark...). No stalling or surging issues at all. The only problem was that the engine was racing at a really high RPM. Too high. I was screwing with the carb adjustment screws - must have one out of line. I'll try to play with those adjustments and report back out.

 

[motorcity]

They are very helpful over on that forum. Those briggs are very touchy on valve adjustment also. Its not to hard to do. their are a couple of video's on yutube showing how to do it. As far as fuel filters, I use a Purolator F21124, its for old VW's and is a perfect replacemnt for lawn tractors, and way cheaper. I buy them at PepBoys.

 

[SKIIS]

Pulled the carb and let it soak in a gallon of carb cleaner. Blew it out, slapped it back on, adjusted the idle mix and she purrs like a kitten!!!! WHEW HEW!!!!!

 

[mswovela]

Update to my original post of no power w/ PTO engaged. I headed over to mytractor forum as suggested and they pointed me in the right direction, one of my push rods had slipped out of place and bent one of the rocker arms. Finally scrounged up a locked up engine from craiglist and pirated the rockers and push rods from it. Seems to be running pretty good now.

I was able to mow about 30 minutes and then I stopped and put about a 1/3rd bottle of sea foam in the crankcase and the rest in the fuel tank. mowed for about another 30 minutes and dumped the oil out, well wasnt so much dumping as it was just pouring out when I opened it up. Refilled with some new gf-5 Pennzoil Conventional and a new filter. I'm thinking to run this for for a short interval to catch whatever seamfoam gunk is left over, plus hopefully clean out things a little further. Any suggestions on how many hours to run the Pennzoil Conventional before changing it out?