Governor installation experience requested.

[fiddler]

Hi!

So the governor linkage on this 48 cub was all bound up. I pulled the governor cover and found the weights had been hitting the cover, and the ball bearing was missing from the shaft. So I got the ball bearing, installed it and installed the governor cover and upon looking at the diagrams I noticed a keeper that I did not remember seeing. So I took the governor cover back off. This time however the gasket from my previous installation got jammed between the cover and the governor and the whole governor came out. Now I have pulled the magneto and am looking for the marks on the idler timing gear, but there are none on the governor side and if they are on the magneto side of the gear they are not visible. I have set the engine to TDC with the number one cylinder on the compression stroke. I am ready to set the governor to about 35 degrees off of horizontal, and time the magneto around that and give it a whirl. Any better ideas before I get this thing backfiring??? Oh and the keeper was indeed on the shaft so if i had just kept going I would be in fat city now.... Thanks for any suggestions...

[Jim Becker]

Do exactly what you said. Make sure the crankshaft is at TDC (pulley notch at the pointer), then use trial and error until you get the governor installed at 35 degrees off of horizontal at about 2 o'clock - 8 o'clock position.

Be careful not to damage the oil seal.

[fiddler]

Thank You!

[Glen]

Hi,
There is a timing mark for the governor on the rear facing side of the idler gear, which runs the governor gear.
You probably need to use a good light to see it.
The gear may need cleaning where the mark is.
Below is a post I made with info showing the governor gears, and how to put the governor in the engine.

It has info about replacing the oil seal also.
TM Tractor has a new governor oil seal if you need one.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=110067

[Rick Spivey]

The marks are very small, and not very deep/ Keep looking until you find it. Magnetos don't like "guesses" on timing. Both gears visible will have a small, usually round dimple or such.

[Dale Finch]

Looking from the rear, the small mark is almost completely hidden by the governor seal, if I remember correctly. Maybe using a good light and a mirror to get a better angle on it, you will find the punch mark. Instead of making a "chalk" mark that might wash away over time, I made a punch mark on the front side of the gear on the same tooth, so that I could easily spot it from the front this time (AND next time, if needed).

If you still can't find it, you could remove the seal, then do the above, then install a new seal. Be aware that the seal requires a specific depth...and there is no "shoulder" to stop it.

[Jim Becker]

There are only 18 teeth on the governor gear. Missing by one tooth. the closest you can get and still be wrong, will leave it 20 degrees out of position. That is either 15 degrees or 55 degrees from horizontal.

All I'm saying is that if the seal is in place and there is no other reason to remove the seal, you are very unlikely to ever find the punch mark on the idler gear. So just do your best shot at putting the governor in and see where the drive slot ends up. Based on that, try again if needed. If you can't tell the difference between 15, 35, and 55 degrees by eyeballing it, you are probably never going to be able to time it anyway.

[fiddler]

Thanks All. Jim I feel much better about eyeballing that with your logic. I had not thought of that, or tried moving it one notch. If you are that far out of line the magneto is not going to click in when you try to time it anyway. So if the magneto is clicking when you push it to the block when you are at tdc then the governor has to be right.. I am gonna reassemble and put some gas in the lawn mower tank I use for testing and give it a whirl. Sure would be nice to have the governor working. Previous owner had the throttle lever direct to the carburetor. I am hoping that the weights hitting the case was caused by extra forward movement due to the ball bearing missing. Any thoughts on that??

[Jim Becker]

. . . the magneto is clicking when you push it to the block when you are at tdc . . .

Ultimately, that is all that matters.

. . . I am hoping that the weights hitting the case was caused by extra forward movement due to the ball bearing missing. Any thoughts on that??

There is a good chance that will fix it. The thickness of the bearing will move the weights quite a bit. (However, I have never run into one where the bearing was gone. They always fell apart when I opened them up.)