Garden - Recent Questions, Troubleshooting & Support

read your manual and pull the deck off and inspect it

Before servicing or repairing any power equipment, disconnect the spark plug and battery cables.

Some precautions need to be observed:
Turn the unit off and remove the key.
Disconnect the spark plug(s).
Wear heavy leather gloves when working around the cutting blades.
Never defeat the interlocks installed by the manufacture.
Do not leave guards or deflectors off when you are done.
Most important, read your owner's manual.

Basic Troubleshooting
The next thing to check are the basics.
Did you just install new blades? Are they on upside down? This happens quite often.

How's the tire pressure? If the tire pressure is not as recommended per the manufacture, the deck could easily be off by a 1/4" from side to side, especially if one side has more air than the other.

Is the deck itself level? With the blades side to side, they should measure within 1/8" of each other. Then with the blades side to side, the front should measure 1/8" lower than the rear. The adjustment nuts will be located to the side and front of the deck and attached via rods to the deck.

Step Cutting
Step cutting is sharp ridges left in the lawn surface. Step cutting is usually caused by mower deck damage, misadjustment, or mower blade damage. Normally the deck just needs to be re-leveled. To check for this:
Park the unit on a flat surface.
Manually turn the blades perpendicular with the direction the tractor is sitting.
Measure the outer tip of the left blade to the surface your parked on (don't measure from the deck shell, it has to be from the blade tip).
Write the measurement down.
Go to the right side of the tractor and measure from the tip of the right blade to the surface.
The two measurements should be the same. If the measurements are a 1/4" or more off, it needs to be corrected. The next thing to do is to turn the blades and measure again. If the measurements are not the same, one of the blades is probably bent. Other things to check for are damage to the deck shell, and bent or loose spindles.

Streaking
Streaking is another common complaint. Streaking is when thin strips of uncut grass are left behind the mower. Streaking is usually caused by operator error or poor blade maintenance. Streaking can occur if the engine speed is too low. All mowers are designed to run at full throttle. Believe it or not you are doing more harm to your engine by running it slower than full throttle when you are mowing. Blades need to be spinning at the correct blade tip speed. They need to be sharp and not have too much wear on the uplifts. The speed and uplifts pull the grass up just like the barber lifts your hair up with a comb to get a straight cut. The air movement within the cutting deck is very important. Decks plugged with grass clippings can not move the air the way they were designed to do.

Design of the Tractor & Deck
Another cause of both streaking and step cutting is the design of the tractor and deck themselves. If the operator does not over lap the cutting row enough or makes very tight turns, marks can be left in the lawn. The easy way to see the cause of this is to use a jack to raise one rear wheel of the tractor a little off the ground. If your tractor does not have a full free floating deck doing this will cause the deck to tilt. This tilting in tight turns and when one wheel is lifted higher than the other by uneven ground contours will leave marks. The only fix for this is to slow down, make wide turns, over-lap cuts, or buy another tractor with a free floating deck.

Scalping
Scalping is when the mower deck comes close to or hits the ground. Scalping can be caused by the mower deck misadjustment, unevenness in the lawn, or by the mower deck bouncing because the ground speed is too fast. Check the mower deck for misadjustment, slow down or raise the deck if its too low.

not sure if this is your model. your wiring harness is already there, so unless it is burned out, it doesn't need replacing.

https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/385972630537704892/

There are a number of wiring schematics here including a thumbnail of a GT3000 but the site is defunct

https://www.google.com/search?q=craftsman+yt+3000+wiring+diagram

What about the operator presence safety system. Have you looked into that?

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/32498/Craftsman-917-289211.html?page=16#manual

Carburetor needs cleaning / replacing.

or

The primer bulb needs replacing.

Known issue

https://www.google.com/search?q=Murray+2500+weed+eater+will+not+idle

The self contained ignition module and coil generally has a single wire that goes to the on/off switch.

There only is the possibility of a switch problem, the failure of the switch to ground the wire or there is a fault with the wire itself. If there is no external fault then the fault must be within the coil.

I bought the Wilson & Fisher Shadow Creek 5 piece Patio Seating Set and love it. Can i buy covers for the set.

First thing is to get down and look at the linkages. You may have a weld that came loose, or a nut that worked it's way off. You may also have something that bent.

Does the lever move all the way up but the deck doesn't move with it, or does the lever stick at the low level.

If it's sticking, you may just have picked up an obstruction like a stick or stone in the wrong place. You may also have a bent or damaged linkage.

Does one side or just the front or back lift up? One of the pins that hold the bars that it pivots on may have come off or broken as well. Looking underneath while someone works the lever for you can tell you a lot.

Sounds like it. Run a straight edge between at least 3 pulleys including the idler.

You meant air filter is saturated with fuel?

Yes, then likely the carburetor inlet needle valve is not functioning. Could be stuck valve, bad float, debris in fuel. Remove carburetor bowl for inspection.

Timing of the magneto to the coil is critical. so is the gap between the magnet and the coil. Double check both, the gap can be set to .01 to .019 depending on the make and model of the motor and you did not post that.

SORRY WE CAN NOT HELP YOU GET IT REPLACED

I couldn't with any certainty tell you there are no reed valves in the engine of your mower but reed valves tend to be fitted almost exclusively to high performance 2-stroke engines. Compressors have them and it could be argued diaphragm type carburettors have them (with a stretch of imagination).

Most ordinary duty 2-stroke engines use piston controlled ports while virtually all 4-stroke engines made in the last century use poppet valves and I strongly suspect that applies to your mower.

worked on alot of John Deere motors at the shop we torque them in 2 increments 15 ft. lbs. , run for 15 min. let cool down. then 30 ft. lbs.

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/32637/Craftsman-Ez3-917-270631.html?page=31#manual

pg 31

CHECK WITH BIG LOTS

Removing the starter either meant pulling it out the front by removing the flywheel and front engine mount plate or out the rear where the other engine components got in the way. I wish Kubota had made this more serviceable.
I removed mine from the rear. You have to remove the motor vibration weight (that heavy hunk of metal engraved BX1500 that sits above the motor. I guess it's to counterbalance the motor and reduce vibration, but I could find neither the weight nor mounts in the BX1500 parts list. And I discovered that the smaller mount on my tractor had broken so I had to weld that back together as well.
The counterbalance weight mounting bracket needs to be loosened below the starter. You can remove the top two screws, but the bottom ones can only be loosened to make enough room to remove the starter unless you want to remove the entire motor from the chassis.
Also remove the engine cover and the flywheel shield in the front to gain access to the starter bolt as well as the smaller exhaust shield. I did not have to remove the exhaust system itself.
Then remove the oil pressure sensor and oil filter (drain the oil first!) and the starter can be wiggled out and replaced. My tractor has the front loader which adds to the levels of obstacles, and I was able to do this without removing the loader.

Adjust the main jet/s for the correct fuel mix.

It flattens the material.

sounds like it seized to me. remove the spark plug and look into the cylinder with a small light. it also could have dropped a pushrod if its had no adjustment done to it

.020" Engines built after Code Date 110630x
.030" - built before Code Date 110701xx*