Hold that thought, Baymee! I'm still waiting on the owner, to see if he wants to fix it, or donate it. He works for the Sports Authority, at the sports stadiums, and other venues, and isn't home much right now. Although, he did call, and sort of "gasped" when i told him the problem, and how much i'd have to do to fix it. Like i said, he has a much newer one to use, so there's no hurry. Besides, my garage is too cold right now to do much in it, so i'm getting ready to go away this weekend coming. If the truck will start that morning. S'posed to be very cold then. Sunny here (Pittsburgh, PA.) now, but that is supposed to change on Thursday! And, a lot depends on how Ruth is doing. She sez i can go, but sez it with hesitation. WE'll see. She, nor I, are "spring chickens," so caution is a must! Of course, an 86 year old banjo picker will be sitting up nearly all night, just pickin' away on the old banjo with friends! Some of those friends we see only on that weekend, so i must keep in contact with them. I'll see how this starter program fleshes out, and inform you all. Rusty Jones Baymee: The bad starter is the old style, as used on most all Tecumseh engines, for many years. The newer one, with metric threads, etc. looks like the older style, except the case is shorter, but the mounting brackets and holes do fit on the block mounting position. And, the fact that the shaft threads are metric, and i didn't get the hat-shaped thing that goes on those threads--i'm dead in the water! That thing is what i need--everything else will work. And, according to the parts thing somebody sent--it comes in a kit, and costs, as near as i can figure--around a hundred bucks, or so. MMMMM!

Also note the word "little" regarding lube for the shaft.Usually the difficulty is that the gear is not traveling down the shaft. Hence why Bill noted to check for a burr. At times the pinion itself is worn or the drive disc inside is glazed. Many of these pinions have a rubber disc above the metal drive disc at the bottom of the gear. Lube there and you will be dead in the water, er snow. A very light , non gumming lube is what you want. Standard silicone is great. The best repair is to actually take the starter off removing the gear to clean the rust away before lubing, but you may get by doing it on the machine carefully as described above.

I may be the only one it seems to prefer a toggle over air switch. I have marble counters and the air switch would have needed to be cut into the marble (more possibility of stain on marble - faucets are mounted to the sink deck). Also, I have found the switches are never large and easy enough to press that it keeps breaking my nails haha...I currently have a toggle inside the under-sink cabinet, which is push to open. Ideally, a foot-press or foot toggle would exist.

I love my push button garbage disposal switch! I can't answer your electrical question, but in my shopping experience, the only company I found making push button switches is Classic Accents. They are carried on the CA website, and they are also the brand carried on Rejuvenations website. If you look closely at photos, they always have a stylized 'CA' on the button. I think they are hugely overpriced (50 bucks for a three way!), and I haven't been all that impressed by the quality (my dimmer broke, and my husband had to fix the wiring on a differnt one). And yet, I continue to buy them because they are the only ones I have found. Maybe I need to look anew... :-) francy