1440
 

Winter before last installed a new Vanguard 18 in the 1440. Now have about 100 hours. Everything is fine until about 2 weeks ago. On starting, the starter motor spins but doesn't engage the flywheel. Thinking that maybe there is a slight misalignment, i manually rotate the engine and sure enough, the starter engages. Today, went out and no luck. Starter spins, but not engagement. Thinking that the gear on the starter is toast, i pull the starter. Metal gear on the starter is fine, but about 20 teeth on the flywheel are toast. Gone. Has this happened to anyone else on a new Vanguard. I think the warranty is up so it looks like i have to replace the flywheel. Would it be easier to pull the motor, or can this be done with the motor in place. Any idea what caused the problem? Doesn't look like there is any adjustment on the starter installation. Thanks for any help.:crap:

Not ever heard of that happening... on a new motor anyway.

You have to pull the motor.

You can get a new ring gear without buying a flywheel.

I'd check for warranty.


Cause:
Trying to start the motor with the starter grinding on the gears. If it makes that noise, STOP CRANKING. Also, could have just been a bad ring gear. Could also be a starter misalignment. The ring gear appears to be aluminum, so it isn't real heavy duty. Look everything over and see what is causing it. Easy to do while the engine is out.

I've seen the older vanguards shell the teeth on the ring gear but this is the first I've heard about a problem on new engines. I suggest that you contact who ever you bought the engine from.

I believe the warranty was one year, and this engine is two years old. I was surprised that the pinion gear was steel and the ring gear aluminum. I thought all of the Briggs motors used plastic pinion gears. The engine came from the Small Engine Warehouse. Can't see how the mounting of the starter allows for any adjustment. Please educate me on that. Are all of the ring gears aluminum? I am thinking that a steel one would be preferred. Looked at some ring gears, but based on my engine number, supplier needed more info. They also listed steel ring gears in their ads, but not necessarily for my engine. They will get back to me by email. Not looking forward to pulling that engine that is for sure. Thanks for your input.

Didn't say it could be adjusted. I said starter misalignment could cause it. Broken or bent starter mounting bracket. Bearing/bushing wore out or missing in the starter. Bad bendix. Loose mounting bolts on the starter.... any of those things will cause a misalignment. That's why I said check it all out while you have it apart. As far as how long it should last? Well.... I don't know how many times you start your tractor. Maybe your one of those guys who shut it off to go take a leak, or pick up a stick. Maybe your like me and basically start it to go work and don't seldom shut it off until you are done 4 or 5 hours later. Just depends.

On another note, and this is just for informational purposes, engines are kind of neat. When you shut them down, ALL ENGINES, stop their rotation in the same spot. Now, multi-cylinder engines may have 2 or even 3 places they stop at, but out of the 2 or 3, one of those will be "landed" on more often. Kind of neat. Has to do with compression, idle speed and such. Soooo..... you found out already that your engine lands in basically the bad spot almost every time. You can just turn the engine a bit to get past the bad spot and start it until you can find the parts.:beerchug:

Thanks for the info. The starter bolts were pretty tight, and the upper one was really difficult to get to. Did not appear as if the starter had moved, so i would guess that any alignment problem was related to the starter drive. Think it would be wise to replace the starter drive parts when i replace the ring gear. I have not heard back yet from the vendor as to whether or not the replacement ring gear is steel or aluminum. I will try and find a steel gear. I usually leave the machine running when i am working, only shutting it off if i am going to be doing some other task like cutting up a felled tree back in the timber. Otherwise i leave the motor running. Never had any problem the first year after the new engine was installed. Looks like pulling the starter and checking the pinion gear might be a good idea. I could rotate the engine to bring it to a good spot on the gear, but i do have two other tractors that i can use in the meantime. Mowing is done for the year, and i have my old B-10 horse to plow with. I suppose i could put the cub plow on the 1872 that i picked up in August, but i really wanted to do some work on that before i used it. Thanks again for your insights. Always something to learn on this site.