I just brought home a B that has lived a pretty hard life.  Some joker slapped a WD decal on there at some point - I'm not sure if it was for comedic effect.  I have no idea who manufactured the mower - it looks a lot more burly than the ones I've seen fitted to these small tractors in the past.

I bought it with the Marvel-Schebler TSX154 carburetor in bits - luckily I was able to rebuild it and get the tractor started so I could load it.

The big problems are

Governor problems...

Removed mag and governor between rain storms...

Dropped the governor housing off with a friend who has an amazing machine shop in his basement. He recoiled when I said I would just glue the pivot post in with JB weld.  In the meantime, the radiator needs help.

My machinist friend fixed the loose pivot post on the governor housing. I'm really pleased with the result!

I was fitting the magneto I got from Phil48ACWC when I noticed the crank had a lot more end play than the 1-5 thousands specified by the book. More like 1/32".  I dropped the oil pan, removed the main caps and took a look at the crank, which seems fine to me.  Although there was some goo in the pan and the remains of the thrust bearings, everything looks pretty good in there as well.  So I'm thinking I might get away with just replacing the bearings.

The only marking on the bearings I see is a script FM with 2 51 underneath that.  This makes me think this is a stock crank since I don't see the usual 010, 020 etc. stamps in undersized bearings.  Is this assumption correct?

Removed the front end since the pivot bolt head blocked the pan just enough.

And the pile of parts is getting bigger.

Had a little bit of time to make a magneto clamp out of 1" flat stock

The tractor is mostly back together and it runs pretty nicely except I cannot figure out why the governor goes from idle to pretty much full speed with very little in between.  All the linkages are free and greased.  The governor doesn't show any signs of sticking or heavy wear and the bearing is installed correctly.  Is it because this engine didn't start life as a tractor engine and it really wasn't supposed to have more than one speed?

Here's the governor itself - looks OK to me!

I double-checked the relationship between the governor cross arm and carburetor throttle rod, and it was within the 1/32" to 1/16" preload figure the manual specifies.

I guess the idea is that the governor spring should pull the throttle lever to WOT just a hair before it runs into its own stop.

you might try to loosen the set screw on the throttle lever and pull the small rod out  1/8 - 1/4 inch and try that... then looosen and put it in 1/8  to 1/4 inch from Original position and see if either of those changes things for the better... fine tune from there..... assuming you have the RIGHT SPRING on the gov and not just a hardware store replacement.

You guys were right! The governor cross arm was pulling too hard on the rod to the carburetor.  Once I bent the arm back towards the carburetor by a little over 1/16" it started working perfectly. I'm guessing this was the governor from the original engine that was slapped onto this one without adjustment.

Next job is to get the shutters back on and button up the engine cover.  Then it's on to the hydraulic rams, which are stuck.

Except one factory manual says to bend the cross arm to shorten the carburetor rod, while another manual from a different year says bend the cross arm to lengthen the carburetor rod - the typos get confusing some times.  Anyway - it's running and moving on its own now without any fuss.

 All the Large (201-226) engines need to have the rod just a bit too long.

This is the discrepancy you are seeing and not fully grasping.

Well, I do believe that to be true, but I have two manuals that are indeed contradictory.

This first screen shot is from the I&T manual which is known to be unreliable; however, not everyone is aware of that.

This second screen shot is from another manual, possibly an official version?

I have been able to glean useful information from both manuals as sometimes one gives a more thorough explanation than the other.

This is from the 1960 issue of the Allis Chalmers Shop Manual produced by Technical Publications Inc. and available in several places online.  You can see clearly it's for the B-C-CA-RC engine - not the WC-WD engine.  Also it says the carburetor connecting rod should be 1/32" longer than necessary.

This next one is from another AC shop manual - the provenance is unknown, but it does seem to originate with AC themselves - this is the correct instruction.  Confusing, no?

steve(ill) wrote: that last sentence about having slight tension on the governor spring when the throttle lever is in the LO  IDLE positon .... i have fixed that by loosening the square set screw on the LEVER and sliding the throttle rod in or out  1/8 inch.... You would be suprised now much  effect, 1/16 inch will make in the carburetor rod or the throttle rod...

You can say that again!  I assumed that the settings were copacetic since nothing looked *too* far out of adjustment. Little did I know that these adjustments are far more critical than they are on small single-cylinder engines as found on garden tractors and lawn mowers.  I've prudently kept my mitts out of the governor in my big Kubota (my other favorite orange tractor) because it just works and it's buried in the high pressure pump.

Changed the watery oil in the transmission and dropped the pans on both final drives. Looks more like tar in there!

And cleaned up with new cork gaskets cut

 Nice documentation on your work with the B! Good looking tractor that you have made many positive improvements in too. I will be watching the set up ( throttle linkage ) on our CA when we get to that point. 

What plans do you have for the B? the sickle bar would work good for mowing ditches.

 Regards,

 Chris and Cheryl