55 REAR ENGINE RIDER CARB DESCRIPTION

Tecumseh the builder had a repair manual for these engine. It is "Tecumseh Engines Mechanic's Handbook 3 to 10 HP (light& medium Frame)". The part number is 692508. A Google search should find you a copy in pdf format you can down load. There might even be one on this site. The book has a long section on carbs. Roger

Roger,
Thank you. I have a deere service manual that is a general manual for 55,56,57, 68 but it does not cover my carb at all. This one I have does not have a bowl on it, rather a diaphram like most smaller engines have. I am having issues getting it to run constant as well as not pour fuel out of the intake when I shut it down. I have rebuilt the carb 2 times thus far and same thing happens both times. I thought maybe soemthing was in between the needle and seat for the fuel inlet, but no such luck. i have been searching on google for the manual you have explained and found a lot of them for sale. You wouldnt happen to know of a manual in PDF that a cheap guy like myself could download without buying the paper version. Actually, I really would like to get right on this and would like to start reading it asap... it is bugging me not knowing why this is happening.
Thanks for the response as always

The diaphragm carb is completely covered in the manual I referred you to. Have you replaced the diaphragm and did you put the gasket on the correct side? Did you replace the needle and seat? That is about the only 3 things that can go wrong with that carb. This is the carb manual for all Tecumseh carbs and it is also covered in here http://www.barrettsmallengine.com/manual/tecumsehcarburetormanual.pdf. Roger

Roger,
Thanks. I replaced diaphram, put the gasket on the correct side, replaced needle, seat, spring and gasket. Still leaks out the intake. I read and reread the instructions as outlined in that manual. Still no avail. I will have to reevaluate and try to figure this thing out. Thanks for all of your help. I hope to look at it more this weekend. On the positive side, after taking it apart the second time and flipping the diaphram over to the rivet head contacting the needle it did idle better now. If I could just get the dang thing to quit leaking fuel out intake after it has been shut off. Everything is new, so that is what currently has me stumped. There really is not much to these carbs and I feel like a dummy here.

the only thing I can come to is this. I cleaned thouroughly all passages. I cleaned tank out very well. I installed a fuel filter and extended the hose to include the fuel filter. Kind of rigged tank up for now in an effort to get machine to run well with the fuel filter on. Everything should be very clean. I used a torch tip cleaner to clean all the holes and passages in the carb out including all the ones under the welch plugs. The only thing that I did not touch is the main nozzle check ball. there is no way i can find to clean and inspect that. I dont think I want to try to remove that as it does not look like a fun task to get to. I am wondering if that could be causing my problem though? Before cleaning, this carb was completely gummed and varnished. nothing would move in the carb and the tank was completely covered on the bottom with varnish. It all looks new now. Please advise if this could be a problem with that check ball and if so how does a guy fix that issue?

I thought I would let everybody see this thing. I have not found a bunch of pics on this website of 55 RERs so here is one at least. It is covered in dust. My dad painted it back around 2000 and then it has sat since about 2003. It defenitely needs a good bath.

Blake if you had read the manuals the first thing they tell you is to shake the carburetor. You should hear the check ball rattling in the carburetor body. If you hear nothing basically Tecumseh tells you to replace the carburetor. That part is not a serviceable item, Roger

Roger,
Did that, but was sporatic at rattling. Something makes me think that there may be something in there like varnish around the ball. Last night I sprayed a good amount of carb cleaner into the hole, but I dont think it did much good. I read in there that it is not serviceable. The throttle and choke shafts are nice and tight, so I would hate to replace it, if I could find one somewhere. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas as far as a trick that I was not aware of. Beings as it is most probably just varnish, time and Sea Foam may clear it up, although in my mind that is not the correct way to do this.

Blake if you really want to do it sprays will not work. They clean the outside but not the passages. Buy a gallon can of carburetor cleaner and let the it sit for a couple of days. I have a 1971 JD push mower with the same type of carb and I let my carb sit for a couple of days before removing it from the cleaner. It has worked flawlessly since then. I don't know if you will get lucky or not trying that. Roger

Roger,

Left it in an ultrasonic cleaner for about an hour turning it every 15 mins. Put it on last night again, and ran it for about 1/2 hour. Cross our fingers there was minimal gas at intake this morning. The first two times I cleaned it, I left it in the ultrasonic for about 20 mins. total both times. I put it in for an hour and then sprayed the hell out of the passages. Cross our fingers it cleaned it out. Thanks for all of your help again. As always, your a wealth of knowledge