MH 20 (and others) - measuring governor spring tension ....

[Crazy Horse]

I have a '45 Massey Harris 20 .... I'm assuming that this question would also apply to models 81, 82, 22 and maybe even the later Mustang as well. Here's my question. How does a person go about measuing the spring tension (strength maybe?) of a spring? There must be a device to do that.

And if I had such a device, what do I compare the measurement to? Is there a recommended or standard governor spring strength for a MH20 with a Pierce governor? Here's a photo of what I have and the yellow arrow points to the spring that is on there now. Somehow I suspect the spring is too strong to allow the governor to control or counteract high reving whish seems to be my current problem.

 

[Ron(Ont)]

You can get a spring gauge which is basically a weight scale and measure the amount of "weight" for say 1/2" of spring stretch.

 

[Crazy Horse]

You can get a spring gauge which is basically a weight scale and measure the amount of "weight" for say 1/2" of spring stretch.

I thought that might be the case, but a guy would have to be able to refer to some standard or factory spec to compare to. The reading from one a spring being tested would have no real meaning.

 

[Ron(Ont)]

I was commenting based on your question. You could sort through a bunch of springs and find ones that are less strong than the one you are using now.

 

[Crazy Horse]

I was commenting based on your question. You could sort through a bunch of springs and find ones that are less strong than the one you are using now.

Yes, that's a good idea. I suspect that maybe something inside the governor is maybe jamming or not working as it should. I might take it apart and look, problem is to spot an issue isn't in my skill set, along was a few dozen other things relative to tractor repair .... ha!