my ultrasonic is gonna get a workout whether it likes it or not

D

dodge trucker

Tractorologist
Senior Member
Member
actually got to go to an auction today. have missed them. Not that I really need any more junk, (cuz I sure don't) but I just like the experience.
the local, every other week consignment sale hasnt happened in months, and farm/estate sales have been all but nonexistent the last couple of years.
I missed a few things I wanted, got cold feet on one thing I REALLY wanted, got a few things I wasnt planning on, and passed (kicking myself now) on things early on that I would have snagged had I known Id be making a 2nd trip back to pick up part of my haul anyway...

among the junk I ended up with; 2 old weed whip mowers from the 60s, a Jacobsen reel mower from about 1972 (going by engine numbers) and stopped by a garage sale that I found yesterday after I wound up with the weed whips.... one has a stuck engine, and I remembered the garage sale had a "close enough" engine that needs work but has compression,, in case I can't get the stuck engine freed up.
All but the Jake have the nastiest gas tanks I have ever seen in 40-ish years of messing with small engines. the glass sediment bowls look like the residue left when boiling brown sugar in water.... I had to poke the gas tank outlets on all with a screwdriver, to get flow.... on one I had to take my cordless drill and a bit to break thru the crust so gas would flow out the fitting on tank bottom.... both weed whips are old enough that they have oil bath type air filters on them.... all 3 are 2 pc flo jets.
weirdly the 2 weed whips look like twins but one is a '64 (going by engine code number), its engine is a Briggs 143402; other weed whip engine is a '66, model 170402; garage sale engine is a 190432 from '71.... put side by side, all engines look identical/ except the garage sale engine has a paper filter.... it would mount right up if needed. after seeing how fast the water + simple green tuned nasty with the 3 sediment bowls and housings in it, then I changed solution to fresh, I put about double teh simple green in that I normally do.... I dunno if these are gonna be salvageable or not. I have a couple of new Stens sediment bowl assemblies here that I can put on if needed/ but that scares me on the cleanability of the carbs.... any suggestions on a stronger cleaner for the ultrasonic that won't flash-fire in my face? in case the simple green dont cut it.....
the gas tanks on all 3 are just as horrendous about the bottom inch of each, within.... they would fit in the ultrasonic width wise, but are about 1/4" too long to fit lengthwise.... Im wondering if I could put them in the cleaner tank, as much as will fit, w/o the cleaner tank's basket/ with the long end of the tank, on the rim of the cleaner, run it a few cycles, then put "long end down" in the ultrasonic and 1st end that was in the dunk, on ledge.... and fill tank with solution as far as practical each time and clean the sludge out of tank bottoms? All seem "not nearly as bad" above 1" up the walls from the bottom....

at the moment, I want to get the carbs boiled out from the weed whip with the engine that isnt stuck and the garage sale engine.... will worry about the one on the "stuck" engine if I can free it up..... the weed whip with the stuck engine may be put aside as future parts for the one that spins free..... yet to be determined.... might put the garage sale engine on that unit. I know the garage sale engine is an 8hp, I think the stuck engine (170000 series Briggs) would be a 7hp, what would an alum block 140000 series be considered?
 
well, surprisingly, going better than I could have expected. None of the carbs are nearly as bad as the old gas in the tank and glass bowl strainers had led me to believe. the one on the 170000 was the worst looking, had a coating of varnish in the bowl, top half was clean. I got all the filter/strainer assemblies clean. surprisingly. have been resetting the ultrasonic all day, having to change the water/Simple green about every 3rd 1/2 hour cycle.... found a deal on multi packs of screens and gaskets for the strainer assemblies.....

and I got the 170000 freed up, tried the acetone/ATF for the 1st time, was gonna pickle it with marvel mystery oil instead, but thought id try this...
the 60000 (2hp) on the Jake reel mower also is no longer stuck, that one had stuck valves..... I took the head off after I got it to turn somewhat and the acetone/ATF seems to have dissolved every bit of carbon from the tops of the piston too..... that was the only carb/ gas tank that was clean when it came to me.... I expected the suction tube (carb mounted to tank style) to be clogged but its like new..... I got the exh valve out, and put it in the drill press and held some emery to it as the drill motor spun it.... no wear on the valve face at all, I dont think this little thing has hardly been run since being made in '72... the top (head) of the intake looks a bit rough, but face where it seats is fine.... a set of points and a few gaskets and I think that one will actually be fine. gotta pull the flywheels on all and check/clean or replace points on all that I dragged home yesterday, none came to me having spark, all have sat a LONG time since last used......
I want to go camping over Labor Day, the wife wants to stay and participate in the local garage sales that are supposed to be happening that weekend, and not in the way I want to participate if we stay home... I love garage sales, but she wants us to HAVE one..... I dunno about that yet.....
 
dodge trucker said:
and I have pipe caps on all gas tanks, each sitting about 1/2 full of E85 as we speak to hopefully dissolve most of the crap within each of the tanks.....
Click to expand...
What does the E85 do for the tanks? Haven't heard of this before, and just curious.

I have heard about using acetone and ATF as a penetrant recently, but have not tried it yet. Where did you get your acetone from? Does ace hardware carry it?

I've got this hydraulic pump from the front loader on my little Sears Suburban tractor that I'm trying to remove the pulley from so I can clean and inspect it. The PB Blaster penetrating oil is not doing much to free it up. Been soaking it for over a week now.

Good luck on getting your new to you tractors going again. Sounds like you got a few good deals at auction.
Are you going to use those, or do you fix 'em up and sell them and start over again?

Rick
 
Ace does carry the Acetone. About anywhere that has a paint dept. should carry it.
 
Surprisingly I found E85 to dissolve alot of varnish and crud in gas tanks that have sat with old gas in them. I was told of this by a guy who tractor-pulls.... then by a diesel repair shop.
I have had this gallon of acetone around for a while. dont remember where I actually got it but I think lowe's, and farm&Fleet still carry it around here, havent tried to buy any in a while. dont shop at Ace very often, they tend to play the highway robbery game on most of what they have, vs other places that I can get the same stuff at other places around here..... so IDK if they would have any acetone but I'd bet they do.

I plan to keep and use 1 of the weed whips, my parents have a cottage on the river about 25 miles away.... the other one may go, or might be kept as a parts unit. not sure yet til I hear then run and try them out.... the reel mower is a 21" walk behind, again not sure about what I want to do with that one either, I have always liked that style of mower for being "different" in the past I have had a couple of late 50s 2 cycle versions.... one of which I completely took apart and repainted when I was still in high school. Dont remember what ever became of that one, the one I had later just line it wound up leaving "not running" just like it came here, because of missing parts.
Like many here, I have too much stuff and too many unfinished projects.....
 
Does the Simple Green work good in the ultrasonic? If so, may have to rob the piggy bank and get some.
 
I can see where you can get involved with too many projects, in that boat myself. So many in fact, some days I don't know which one I was working on the day before. But like my wife says, it keeps me out of trouble and at home.
 
Seems to. That's what most everyone said they were using in theirs when I got mine. I fill it mostly with water and just splash some simple green in. Depends on what I'm cleaning, often takes several cycles thru the ultrasonic if really nasty, about every 3rd cycle or so when the solution gets black I dump it and start over with fresh.
 
IDK if they are all like that but my ultrasonic cleaner has a heat feature, unfortunately it's calibrated in *C, not *F. The default number is 50* idk what the highest that it can be set to. I've only ever tried to get to 55* which it does without complaint. When I first got it I would usually turn it down.
Got the Jake reel mower to run and got the self propelled/reel clutch freed up, starts easy but don't hardly cut for diddily squat. It kinda cuts to the right side of the reel, but not at all from about 1/4 way the rest of the way towards the left, the grass just "ducks" as the blades pass over it and it stands right back up and no, I ain't trying to cut anything very tall at all. Grass is stagnant and turning brown from lack of water. Story for another post.
I've sloshed E85 around each tank and drained the dirtiest out of each and topped off with more for the past couple of days.
The carbs and sediment bowls that went thru the ultrasonic cleaner are like new now. Got 1 carb back together and waiting for the other 2 kits to come, I had enough leftovers from past jobs to build up 1 carb, on hand.
 
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Probably another one I'm looking around now to see what's out there.
I was looking around to see what was out there when I got this one when my kid got it for me a couple of xmas's ago.
All of a given size seem very much the same as each other from what I can tell
 
dodge trucker said:
I know the garage sale engine is an 8hp, I think the stuck engine (170000 series Briggs) would be a 7hp, what would an alum block 140000 series be considered?
Click to expand...

Coveted! Same engine that my 1959 DB Suburban needs! :rolleyes: 5.75 hp was the factory rating. What kind of machine is this thing?
 
I might believe that rating on the 143000 engine. The 170000 I'd think is a 7hp, they looked identical except for the number stamped on the shroud.
if a 190000 is an 8hp (have both a vertical and horiz Briggs that are 19 cu. in that are stickered "8hp" here) sitting next to each other the 8 hp horizontal also looks exactly the same externally as each other
both the 143000 and the 170000 are on Roof VP75 weed mowers, Roof company isn't in business any more, they are basically the fore runner to the "DR Field and Brush mower".
 
I got a replacement, the ol one seemed "big" for small engine usage (I could usually do 2-3 at a time) but not big enough for the occasional car carb I play with.... I had a 3L one, I thought ID try a 2L one, my new one seems less than 2/3 the size of the one that it replaced. The 1st carb I tried in it was a 1 pc FloJet from an 8hp Briggs L head vertical, I couldnt fit the whole carb in the bath. The 2 pc ones, the Kohler and Tecumseh ones are no problem in this new one..... This one has dials and is in *F instead of push buttons and digital display in *C like the old one was.... It is much quieter, dont buzz at all (made me wonder if it was really working) and its longest cycle between resets is 20 minutes instead of 30. Not a big deal though.
It did seem to wok on that 1 pc Flojet/ I just had to turn it around in the bath and run another cycle to get it all done.... itll be plenty big for most small engine carbs. Ever since I got that 3L modes for Xmas a couple years ago, I was wanting (not sure which) either a 6L or a 10L for bigger pieces.... I'll shop around for that in a couple of paydays.....
DChappy said:
Coveted! Same engine that my 1959 DB Suburban needs! :rolleyes: 5.75 hp was the factory rating. What kind of machine is this thing?
Click to expand...
that 143000 and 170000 is exactly the same dimensions of the newer 190000, more common 8hp Briggs.... height, width, crank height, etc. would be a straight drop in if you wanted to do the "Tim Taylor/more power" thing.---if you can find one with the correct crank PTO configuration. (diameter, length, taper--or not-- step down, keyway type, etc) the 143000 is probably the 5-3/4 hp version. Briggs did make a 7hp right alongside the 8hp 190000 for years.... Im thinking those 7hp engines were the 170000 ones.
 
Well I have 2 now.. the 2L and now a 4.5L version. the 2L was just too small for most things.
the 4.5 does seem to work better than the previous 2, and the timer can be set longer than the previous ones....
Been busy with that one cleaning Slant 6 oil pump housing, head bolts, pushrods.... the oil pump had to be rotated and run thru twice... due to size. but everything else Ive tried in it so far is just "swallowed up".... same money as the 3L would have cost me....

Another ultrasonic cleaner oddity.... one of the Briggs engines in above posts somehow wound up with a hole in its float over the winter.... even though I have had the gas tank OFF of the machine completely.... I could hear gas sloshing around, when I held it to my ear. I put it in the ultrasonic "just to see it sink" and it was drawing the gas out of the inside of the float...... a drop at a time. Weird. never would have thought that. I do have a new float coming and the machine sold as soon as I get the carb back together (again) This is actually not the original carb from the engine/ but a clean, newer looking one I found for a few bucks at a garage sale last fall.... I had the original apart a few times, couldn't get it to run right so I threw this one as a test and it took off and ran great.... I used that machine a couple times last fall, and shut the needle at the bowl off/ ran it dry before i pulled the tank.... strangely the leak is right by the hinge for the pin to slide thru.
 
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