I removed the bowl and the float moves freely so I assume it is resting in the slot. There is fuel in the bowl, becuase when I remove the shut off solinoid fuel comes out. Yes, it will only idle, not speed up or slow down. I drained the fuel and replaced with fresh and also once again moved the throttle lever on the "dash board" and looked at the levers. Moving the lever from slow to choke resulted in the the choke plate closing, but when I moved the throttle lever on the dash board from choke to fast, there was not a cooresponding movement in the linkage to move the throttle plate in carb. All springs and links are in place, but it seems to be hanging up on the carb. I will remove the carb and try to adjust where the linkage is attached to the carb. Thanks for your help. Chuck G.

Electrical problem with the Rectifier. Lost it's internal ground and can not "tell" the alternator to produce the amps needed to operate much more than the head lights. Simply run a wire from one of the screws that hold the rectifier to the engine block and ground the other end to the frame. Problem solved. Common problem with Command and Courage engines. I have saw countless people waste hundreds of dollars trying fix this very problem when all is needed is a piece of 14 Ga wire.

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".

Old thread, let us fast forward to update it: Briggs now intentionally makes plastic carb throwaway small engines called Briggs EXi or "Just check and add oil" engines... No small Briggs for push/self propelled mowers have an iron sleeve now, not even Pro model engines have it anymore.. According to Briggs site there is none being built today, what iron sleeved engines left on the shelves is all there is left!! Pro 850 was the last to have it. All Kohler engines are made China. Briggs Vanguards are made in China. Kohler's head gaskets still fail (fixing my sons 3 yr old cub now) & also suffer oil seal leaks from poor machining today, all are made from cheap grade materials in China and won't last long anymore! Very soft aluminum & plastic abounds them. Regardless where anything is built it's made by people who never even knew nor do they care about our American pride or our history of quality or about the products longevity! Anyone 30yrs old and under today simply grew up replacing products not repairing them unless they were dirt poor like I was and always tried repairing first but hey it was the 60's and everything had nuts/bolts/screws then and was steel. So why would today's engines have so many problems only after a few yrs running when they once ran for many decades without majors? Well' it's called "Planned Obsolescence" and its a fact most corps have now adopted this. Google it to really understand it well if you never heard of it, you'll be so thrilled. So everytime I read about engines online I'm really glad I'm a pack rat and keep everything. Well' I keep stuff until problems show up so I still have my 76 B-100 8 speed Wheel Horse tractor with the cast iron Kohler K series engine. It's engine/trans has never been apart once and not reached its first ring job yet & if it ever does I'll never worry about it again in another 30+ yrs or in my lifetime at least. It still burns no oil and cuts just as good as anything today without any of the mechanical problems. Why people keep buying these junk newer mowers again & again instead of buying the old brutes for a fraction of the cost that have outlasted them all by several decades idk? Restoring these if needed, is a lot cheaper than new mowers now days and it's an all new cast iron brute again ready for decades of service! I see some very nice cast iron garden tractors on craigslist all the time. Real garden tractors because GT used to actually stand for Garden Tractor but now it's just a sticker slapped on them and they can't even run anything, example: My Wheel Horse runs 23 different implements including Generator, side sickle, snowblower, tiller etc... Visiting websites about old Wheel Horses, old JD's & old Cubs (non MTD) tractors etc..and everyone is bragging & very proud of their mowers longevity and still use them regularly, sold or scrapped their newer ones they bought just after a few yrs usage. Been there done that with a Husqvarna myself! Visit any site like this one about newer mowers and what you'll always find is its junk, its in the shop, motors bad after 3 yrs, hydro rear ends out second time around. I'll sue them all! Lemon Laws anyone??..ect.....lol Even the expensive Zero turns have very costly engine/hydro repairs I read about them and have friends who own them too. In fact I'm good friends with people who care for football fields and cemeteries here so I hear first hand but they are very fast cutters while they are problem free, rarely make a complete season without a shop visit though. Expensive upkeep no doubt. Sorry but its just ignorant to me to pizz away money for landfill delight. Simply amazing and very sad for the old crying indian too. Now that really shows my age huh? *Peace