170 governor failure

 OK, Thanks for looking. jc

Governor weights and pins/clips have (for me) always been a maintenance item. Always replace at engine overhaul time and probably once mid-way thru the 3500 to 4000 hr service life of an engine OH. I many times did it when doing a complete tune-up service. Doing this helps keep the chances of an explosion from happening. When ordering parts, the 170 and 175 governor weights themselves are unique and are not used anywhere else in the 201/226 engine family. If these weights aren't available, you'll have to use weights from a WC-WD-D17 engine AND change the governor spring to a D-17 spring to get your 2,000 RPM high idle speed.

They are indeed unique !! They are much lighter and have a different ramp fulcrum on them. The WC-WD-WD45-D17 weight assemblies are identical. The E and E3 combine weights are the same but have a different ramp fulcrum on them. The 170-175 are different on both.

So, let this be a "public service announcement"  !!!   For the most part, governor weights fly apart because they are WORN OUT !!  The pivot holes get worn badly and eventually break thru the hole and then it's like a hand grenade going off. There are exceptions to this, as the oldest D-17's with the governor gear driving the power steering pump and the gear gets loose on the PS pumps drive shaft causing bad things to happen. There is also the scenario where the timing gears (camshaft) are worn causing the camshaft to rotate in herks and jerks instead of smoothly spinning. This situation would usually be related to when the engine was overhauled, the gears were suspect to being replaced then, instead of letting them go for another 4,000 hrs of run time. And finally, when governor weights have exploded, the repair person (you too gals) thinks they can just replace the governor gear and weights/pins and get on with life. Maybe.....for a while, when it does it again because of damaged gear teeth on the camshaft and maybe crankshaft gear. SMOOOOOTH running is key to long governor life. This ends the public service announcement. Governor weights are a maintenance item !! They do NOT last forever.

Have to turn off the ignition key !! No need to kill it by standing on the brakes.

That's a major bite in the shorts, JC. Hope it didn't do more damage.
Just for my own knowledge: What's the trade off on the WD-45, D-17 weights? less HP, less performance under load?

WC-WD-WD45-D17 weights (when properly adjusted) have a 300 RPM droop from high idle (no load) to full load (full open carburetor butterfly).  Gleaner E/E3 weights are about 150 RPM droop, much quicker. Both of these weights weigh the same and are heavy.  The 170/175 weights are about a 200 RPM droop.  The 170/175 weights are much lighter than the other weights. I believe this was an attempt to reduce governor weight explosions, and remember the 180 4-cylinder gas tractor engine was going to run at 2,200 RPM high idle, so lighter weights were a good idea. These droop numbers were by design and that's the way the Engineers of the day wanted it to be.

Edited by DrAllis - 14 Aug 2023 at 10:11pm