You're welcome. I was as perplexed as you with the "lack of" detail regarding how and when the fuel solenoid became energized. There is only one other circumstance I can liken YOUR situation to (engine acts like it wants to run when cranking, but dies when key is released from START position). Back in the '40s, '50s, and early '60s,, some automotive engine OEMs employed a "ballast resistor" in the ignition coil circuit. This "ballast resistor" was placed in the ignition coil circuit so that the normal system voltage, was cut by 50% before reaching the ignition coil. This meant that on a vehicle with a 12 volt electrical system, only 6 volts was fed to the ignition coil from the RUN position of the ignition switch. 6 volt systems cut the power to 3 volts. The most compelling reason for having to "rig up" the coil feed this way was due to the woefully inadequate batteries, switches, wiring and other things electrical, of that time. Mainly, it was the "weak" automotive batteries of the time that had to be "compensated for". Here's why: All applications that utilize a battery to power a cranking motor, will experience a dramatic "system voltage drop" throughout the entire electrical system during cranking. The "drop" is caused by the very heavy "current draw", or LOAD, of the starter. The voltage drop causes the ignition coil "sparkability" to diminish significantly. Add to that, a good frosty morning where the battery is cold and even weaker. Factor in further that the starter itself has worn brushes and sticky bushings and you will have so much current draw.....you might not even get a spark out of the coil. Enter the wizards of yesteryear (uhh, maybe they were just engineers). They developed a method to assure good sparks from the coil during cranking. The idea was to use a 6 volt rated ignition coil on a 12 volt system instead of the usual 12 volt rated coil (3 volt coil for 6 volt systems). But how can you do that? Wouldn't a 6 volt coil "burn up" if you powered it with 12 volts? Yes, it would........but not if you feed the normal RUN position power through a "ballast resistor" to reduce 12V to 6V before it reaches the coil. HUH? The "key" to how this arrangement assured dependable starting was in adding a SEPARATE circuit that would "BYPASS" the resistor while the starter was engaged. Bypassing the resistor meant that the ignition coil would be fed a "higher voltage" (in spite of system voltage drop) when cranking, than in normal running mode. After the engine "caught on", the starter was disengaged and the bypass circuit disabled. The current feeding the coil once again flowed through the ballast resistor and the 6 volt rated coil was safe from burning up. It was somewhat common in those days to confront a vehicle that acted similar to this Scag. (It wants to start while cranking, but dies when let go of key.) Most of the time, that particular problem would be due to a failed ballast resistor. But those systems had some other shortcomings. Sometimes you would find a vehicle where the owner would complain of "it just cranks and cranks and cranks, but if you turn the key loose, it might start up at that moment. THIS condition was due to the BYPASS circuit being open for some reason. OEMs accomplished "BYPASS" in different ways. Some added an extra post to the ignition switch that would power the bypass circuit during cranking. Other OEMs added an extra wire to the starter solenoid that powered the bypass circuit during cranking. When something became open in the bypass circuit, the coil would only be fed the reduced voltage. Then you were right back to the situation before the ballast resistor systems came into use. Advances in battery, ignition, starters, and conductors in general, made the use of ballast resistor systems disappear in the 1970s (except for some industrial applications). Oh yeah, magneto ignition systems were unaffected by voltage drop in the vehicle electrical system because they are "self contained spark generators".

tomplum, I looked at it more closely tonight, including opening the electrical box. Seeing where the wires go is somewhat reassuring, I think I can label them sufficiently, if they have to come off. For now, they're all still connected, from the stator to the Rear Bearing Carrier, and then into the electrical box. I had enough slack to simply move the Bearing Carrier to the side, for now. However, I would welcome any tips on how to remove the rotor. I removed the long bolt, it came off easily. I had read something on another forum (http://www.broadbandreports.com/forum/r18965592-Portable-generator-disassembly-help-needed) where the person took his (different) genset to a shop. They threaded a longer bolt down through the rotor, into the crankshaft (so there was still "extra" bolt sticking out of the rotor). They then suspended it by the rotor, with the engine hanging down, and hit the bolt with a hammer, which succeeded in popping the engine off of the rotor. I tried something like that (the long bolts that hold the generator closed are the same thread, but a few inches longer), without success, so far. However, I can't hang it with the engine hanging below the rotor :) I still have the engine bolted down in the frame, but it's bolted onto the rubber mounts, so it could still briefly move away from the generator, if it wanted to. The generator is being supported from below by my car jack. I was leery of actually unbolting the engine, since the engine & generator could then slide out of the frame and fall on the floor. The stator is still installed. Any thoughts on how to loosen this would be quite welcome :) Thank you!

EVERY answer I posted was specific in leading you toward EXACTLY the correctly sized softener for your water usage and conditions (limited as they are) as you posted them and explaining how I arrived at that conclusion using simple arithmetic. If you can do simple arithmetic I posted numbers that show what the correct size softener should be and why your Sears was wrong. What could make you more SURE than that? Your expert(?) spits out 48k with no facts to back it up and you believe him/her? Neither your water conditions nor your water usage is unique but having a softener that was the wrong size is VERY common and people come to these forums to correct that often. You are in a large group of people who don't know what they don't know about water treatment and bought the wrong softener or simply inherited someone's wrong choice of water treatment equipment. I don't care what softener you had before, how it was set up, or how you think it was working... you asked for help correctly sizing a new softener and YOU decided it should be a twin resin tank softener and YOU determined the water use and you got the specific recommendation you asked for. If you came here wanting an education in water treatment then I'm not your guy. I do HOW questions not WHY questions. I can tell you what we need to know to correctly size and set your softener for efficient operation and then determine both for you and you get that for free. When you chose to determine your own water usage and conditions and provide limited water condition details then that's what values get plugged into the formula. I'm not the least bit upset cause my softener works great and I have 45 gpg hard water. I have nothing to gain or lose from what you buy. Do what you like with whatever information you choose to believe. This post was edited by justalurker on Wed, Aug 28, 13 at 15:22

As a mom, I understand your wife's feelings. I have two sons ~ 20 & 23. The 23 left at 18 because he didn't like my rules, he came back several times because he couldn't loaf in any one place very long... but when I allowed him to come back, he ALWAYS had conditions! Had to find a job... spend his day looking, not sleeping all day. He had to do chores... more chores if he wasn't working because he had more time. He had to pay $50 a week. and he had to follow our house rules.. no staying up all night watching movies or playing video games, clean up after yourself, and he could only fix himself meals when we were preparing our meals. (He was welcome to eat what we were having but if he didn't like it, he could fix himself something else... but he could only do so when I was making dinner~ not after all the dinner dishes were done & kitchen was clean, because even though he had to clean up after himself, he is not very good at it so we'd end up having to do it over.) Consequently, my son CHOSE to not stay with me very long.. usually a few weeks & he'd find someone's couch. That's why he came back several times. We stuck to our conditions and he kept coming back, hoping we'd let him slide. He eventually joined the military and has matured a lot in the last two years. But, I am also going through it with my 20 year old son... having to stay firm & consistent with the rules. If they don't like it, they are "adult" age and can go do something else. You should not feel like a prisoner in your own home & suspect your wife agrees but it's her son & she doesn't want to turn him away, but maybe is conflicted because she remembers how bad it was when he was there before... I feel for her. Oh yeah, if he is leaving Dad's because he doesn't like the rules or being told what to do, does he think it will be different in your home? I think this is one time you & your wife should get together with Dad & stepmom to have the same rules/expectations in both houses.