How to adjust governor on Briggs and Stratton. Fix over revving or throttle wide open on small engine. Mechanical governor adjustment for small engine.
I know this video is old, but I had to say thank you for saving me hours of scratching my head. Adjusted just like you said and it works perfect. Turns out the little 3/8 bolt had come loose. Adjust your max rpm with the spring pressure. Easy as pie. Thanks a million!
@@thekenpokid21 Mine was on a newer engine, but I adjusted it and ran perfect.....until the internal governor exploded about 20min later. Had to remove entire engine, remove crankcase cover, and replace governor assembly inside the engine. If your rod is doing nothing, it may be damaged inside the engine.
@@ryanhoaglin9907 oh no. Yeah I'll have to start the engine again. I spoke w my neighbor and he said the engine has to run for this to work. I'm not sure about that though. I'm not up to opening up the engine but if that's what I have to do then I'll have to doit. Thanks for the tip
The engine does indeed need to be running for the governor to exert it's influence on the throttle. It operates with flyweights which are weights on levers which work against a bushing linked to the external governor arm. As the engine spins faster the weights fly out harder and thus pushes the throttle closed by an amount determined by the governor spring tension. This keeps the engine from overspeeding. @@thekenpokid21
Right on, i took the throttle linkage off for a bent spring an rod replacement while servicing the carb. Once done, the engine took off like a jet, spent far too long trying to troubleshoot. Your video helped me out big time. Everyday you learn something new is a decent day :)
Same here man. You would think since you didn’t mess with the governor that it would simply line up and work. LOL I still don’t understand this mystery.
Not only did you show me how to set the governor but I have the exact same throttle set up as in the video on my Comet pressure washer so I see the correct spring setup also. Nice job and thanks for the vid my friend.
WOW this is fantastic. I was loosing my mind because my governor wasn't working. Turns out my screw got loose and fell out, and this video made it easy to see what my problem was. Thanks so much for making this!
Excellent explanation of which way to adjust the governor shaft. This important information was omitted on all the other videos concerning this adjustment. Good job Mark.
Thanks for doing this, Mark. I still have the problem I'm chasing down, but this helped me eliminate a root cause I thought I had. I didn't realize how the governor turned the arm; I thought I had a problem with a missing spring because the throttle was stuck open, but as you show the governor will pull the throttle back when the engine starts running. I did go ahead and double-check the governor was set correctly while I was at it though, based on what you showed. Thanks again.
My B&S 850series Craftsman 17" Tiller OHV engine governor is on top like yours unlike most videos showing the side mount governor setup. Thanks for showing how to adjust governor.
Great job on this video Mark. Very helpful. If anyone has disassembled their governor arm make sure the nut goes on the right or it can come in contact with the frame causing the arm to bind and not move the throttle.
great info. thanks. took apart/off the governor to repair some wire damage by mice. never knew the governor shaft had any orientation to the throttle body. wasted about 3 hours on the rototiller fiddling with everything else. Then 4 minutes watching this video on the web fixed the problem. Thanks!
thank's for posting this you saved me .i bought and mounted a new carburetor and armature and tore half the stuff off the motor. i finally put it all back together and started it, the motor raced really high and so after watching your video i removed the gas tank and discovered the governor arm was not adjusted right and had the wrong governor spring that came with the new carb so i used the old spring and adjusted the arm and it ran good.
I used the new spring, too, and although it was shorter, I thought the new one was just needing to be broken in or the old one was stretched. I guess I need the old spring rather than the new spring. Good comment, thanks.
Today for some reason my wood chipper did not start. I cleaned the carburetor, drained the gas tank and filled with fresher gas, sprayed easy start in the air intake …..still no starting. Then I realized that the throttle did not move the little arm. I thought that a spring was broken, missing and else. So I came back home ( by the way….my electric weed waker stopped working as well….it’s toasted! :( ) and came across with your video. It has the same assemble like yours. Now I have an idea on what to do next time i see my wood chipper again. Hopefully I won’t mess it up for good. I’ll keep you posted. Than you.
I have the same problem on my chipper. When I move the throttle lever, the throttle doesn’t move. I still can’t tell from this video if it is supposed to or not (the video is super blurry). What did you find out?
@@lisakeller149 well….after replacing the spark plug, cleaned the carburator , cleaned the gas tank, changed the oil the chipper started at the first pull. The governor want the problem, but now I can’t keep the idle. It either full throttle or off. So now I have a new problem. It runs only at high speed. Any clue?
Great video! Mine was doing the same thing. One thing I discovered is the shaft screw only turns about 1/4 turn either way. I thought mine was frozen or rusted. I quickly realized it only turns the 1/4 turn. Thanks for the info.
Thank you for making this video. I had a mouse nest and mud dauber nests underneath the shielding below the governor, that would not come out with an air gun or any tools, so I had to take off the governor arm and did not realize until it came off that I had not marked the position between the arm and governor. Put it all back together and it was revving a bit too high, I knew I had the arm wrong but could not find the answer for my type of governor until I found your video. All the rest are saying go clockwise. Thank you.
Thanks for sharing. My throttle butterfly is in the wide open position regardless of where the lever is. My 1st time to work on this specific type. Take care from Tn.
Man!!! You sir are awesome! Very informative. It fixed my issue and my pressure washer runs like a top now. Thank you so much for puting this out there.
Gave it a try with counter-clockwise and actually revved even faster. I readjusted to clockwise and ran much better. So a diff model I guess but still your video helped. Thanks
Kudos on this vid. Fully counter clockwise will ensure the governor engages to the max. You can go a little bit clockwise, AFTER you've gone counter clockwise all the way until it stops. That will bring the revs up a bit when the throttle is all the way open....................Z
I just watched the video for adjusting the governor on a B&S engine. All I can say is thank you. My tiller wouldn't start so I started on the fuel system. It was very dirty, 20 years of dirty. I cleaned the carb and tank as well as could. I tried to adjust the gov with no clue to what I was doing. I started the motor and it was running wild. The choke was the only way to attempt to operate it. This motor always had issues. Couldn't run it without some choke and surging was always a problem. I'll try to adjust the gov tomorrow. After watching your video I'm hopeful to get it right. If need be where can I get a new carb? TIA.
Excellent, thanks for making it clear. _yes it seems all I've seen was to turn clockwise. Thanks for verification that turn direction governor arm goes. Thumbs up ×2
I installed a new gas tank on my unit like yours. It came with a new mount for the new gas tank. The governor works properly but I have no speed adjustment. It runs full speed all the time. Do I need a new spring?
This is my problem exactly. But my question is why would it go out of adjustment if I never messed with it? I mean I took my whole carburetor off to clean it and when I put it back on, it started to over rep to the point my exhaust was cherry red. Just don’t understand why when I re attached my linkage it wouldn’t be like it was before without having to re do it.
I see that I am missing the smaller spring that is attached lever. I also don't have a throttle control arm on my snowblower, but otherwise the same setup. Thanks for posting
I thank you.. I have to rewatch video again. Can you so a 12 hp briggs and stratton on a rer snapper mower...lol and do I need the little spring cause I cant find it on my mower just the linkage throttle and chole but the govenor spring is missing
That looks like the governor on my Troy-bilt tiller. I just replaced the carb with an aftermarket, and it only runs at full throttle now, so I guess this is what I need to mess with.
i did what you explained but my engine still revving very high looks like governor is not doing anything i have 16 hp B&S on ariens snowblower any thoughts thx
hello i have a snowblower that has a huge gap in the throttle. i have to push it 3/4 open for the engine to start reving faster and the high rpms are not as fast as i would like? i changed the headgasket and notice the issue after? the mecanism is the same as in the video.
Having issues with my engine surging. Have replaced the carb, spark plug and have new gas. Also had oil and white smoke blowing out of the muffler. Have a Poulan Pro 725exi. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you so much for this video I had to search quite a bit to find one that had the same set up as mine. Would you happen to know if I leave the governor hooked up when using motor on a go cart and installing throttle cable?
thanks. Please help. My engine problem is speeding up & slowing down. I'm sure it's a governor problem. My Briggs engine has two springs attached to the swinging governor arm. One seems meant permanently on the end of the governor lever, the other goes to one of many holes or teeth. The end of the governor lever has a rod going to the carburetor. I have no clue which hole or notch the variable spring is to go to--no one talks about it. I've tried Many variations, even stiffer springs, even a new carburetor. Please advise how to fix the revving & slowing.
Usually in your case the secondary spring goes into the number 4 slot. There are about 5 holes to choose from and they are numbered. That said, it seems like you engine is surging. In other words, not getting a steady flow of fuel through the carburetor system. The culprit is usually that the pilot jet is plugged. Unscrew it all the way out and see if it is clear. If not take a small welding tip cleaner or fine piece of wire to clean it out. After reassembling if it still surges, you may need to drill out the pilot jet one size bigger. You need very fine drill bits to do this.
Thank you for the video, would you know why if I am on full throttle and decide to move the choke from run to choke, the rpm jumps way to high, over 4200.
That could be a lot of things, try maybe cleaning your carb. Or maybe you have an air leak somewhere and when you choke it it’s pulling in air from that air leak.
Awesome video of the mechanical governor. I had to order a new linkage rod/spring for a repair. I know where the rod ends go but where the heck do the tiny wire ends from the spring go? Can someone help me?
Usually there are very small holes near each end of the rod where it attaches to the carburetor and the governor arm. At least on mine anyways. It doesn’t help they make so many styles of the linkages to the governor arms.
Well I will give this a try on my old riding mower I put a new carb on and its still surging and over reving so I will mess with th governor next and see if that will work but if it dont then I give up and it goes up for sale as is lol
yes you need to drain the oil and remove the crank case cover. If you are careful not to damage the gasket you can reuse it. I got lucky and the gasket stayed on the engine side with no damage. Inspect the governor shaft,bushing, and gear for damage and replace if needed. On my engine the governor shaft is held in place with a push nut style lock ring from the outside of the engine underneath the governor control arm. Happy wrenching..
HE is physically moving it clockwise but the shaft is moving back home in a counter-clockwise direction via its own action. It's how the shaft turns when let go of, not how he is pushing it for illustrative purposes.
Start it up and take note of the position on the carburetor when it revs up to full throttle. You will know what it looks like then. Also, if you have the linkage attached and it is reving at full throttle just adjust the governor one way and try it. Then adjust it the other way. Two options, one will work.
