Simplicity Tractors Refurb Thread.

[Fawteen]

Tackled the wiring on the 7116H today. Some butcher had been at it and what wasn't missing completely (Ignition switch, starter solenoid, battery, cables) had been taken off and thrown in a box. The wiring harness was old, crusty, brittle and bare in a few spots.

Fortunately, it uses a standard 5 terminal off/on/start switch and I had a usable one laying around. I peeled back about 23 miles of electrical tape and traced the wiring and figured out pretty much everything. There was some confusion involved in the way the ammeter and hour meter fit in, and the wire to the starter solenoid travelled via a neutral safety switch, a center PTO lockout switch and something else that had already been jumpered. Had to jumper all the safety switches to get it to spin over but I need to go back and go through the process of elimination to figure out which (or both?) switch(s) were the problem.

Next was getting spark. It's a goofy system with the usual flywheel-fired magneto but through a set of points. There are two absolutely identical wires poking out of the fan shroud. One is the output from the mag, the other is to ground the mag to shut it down. I'd have had to remove the engine to get the cover off to trace the wires, so I flipped a coin. And got it bass-ackwards, of course. Swapped them, cleaned the points and now I have spark. The plug that was in it isn't even close to the right one, WAAAAY too long for starters. Good thing it's a flathead, it would've poked a hole in the piston for sure.

Waiting on the link from the governor arm to the throttle plate and it should be ready to start.

 

[Fawteen]

 

[Fawteen]

Got the throttle link in and installed it and the 7116 is running. Stinking carb leaks around the main jet which is "normal" for that model and the first fix I tried was a failure. I have a couple other tricks up my sleeve but sometimes that particular issue is a "live with it and remember to turn the gas off" deal. Engine started normally and runs well considering I haven't done any tuning. Mildly concerned about a noise but pretty sure it's the drive train rattling, not something in the guts of the engine.

Was a little worried that that Hydrostat trans didn't seem to work but some fiddling found the issues. A derelict lift cable was fouling the linkage, the tensioner pulley for the drive belt was missing (I wondered what that little pulley in the parts box was for...) and the spring for the tensioner arm was unhooked. Easy fixes.