WM throttle cable spring question

[Jim_Rogers]

So I was sawing a nice white oak this afternoon and all of a sudden the engine just quits.

I checked the usual things and finally found that the spring at the top end of the throttle cable broke.

I have part of it, but not all of it, as the broken hook end is missing and now it's dark out.

I was on the phone with WM tech support and they say that part is just the spring and not part of the throttle cable assembly.
It hooks around the bolt that goes through the upper end of the throttle cable and into a hole on that little governor thing that pivots.

What I need is for one of you to tell me what the length of the spring is.

From hook to hook.
One end has a long hook end at least I think it does and the other end is short.

Here is a shot of the broken one:



What I need to know is how long is it overall?

Thanks.
A close measurement would be fine, like 2 1/4, 2 1/2, 3" like that.
I don't want to put one in that's too short or too long.
And I'll need to go to the hardware store and buy one; local instead of getting one from the factory.

Jim Rogers

[beenthere]

If in doubt, I'd buy two or three starting at 2 1/4, up to 2 3/4 in increments available in between.
Maybe they'd let you return the ones that do not fit, or just keep them for spares.

[Jim_Rogers]

I was thinking of doing that exact thing. But I thought about asking first as well....

Thanks for your comments.

Jim Rogers

[Chuck White]

Jim; I believe you have the 24hp Onan (same as mine)!

The spring in question "I think" is the one that lays horizontally, tucked in under the breather!

My spring broke early this summer almost exactly where yours did and I went to find one at the John Deere place. 

Found one physically the same size, but I got it installed and it would only increase rpm by about 200.  It didn't have the same tension.

Well, I ended up just taking the original spring and bent another hook into it and reinstalled it.

Had to adjust the rpm a little, but I was back in business in less than a half our after putting the hook back on the spring!

The same hook is still on the mill!

[levans]

I can measure mine in the morning, I have an LT40HD with a Kohler engine, if that would help

[Okrafarmer]

Broke ours a couple weeks ago, too! It must be spring-break time!

:

Anyway, we got one locally, it wasn't nearly strong enough, but I've been milling with it until some time I will have to get a new one from Cummins. It's nearly strong enough.

[Jim_Rogers]

I can measure mine in the morning, I have an LT40HD with a Kohler engine, if that would help

Thanks levens but I have an Onan engine and I would think that the springs are different.

I'll try and see what I can find on the way home.
And if someone can measure it that would be great.

I can always go to another local hardware store in the morning.

Thanks to everyone for all your advice and comments.

Jim Rogers

[woodmills1]

when mine broke years ago on my first mizer I just took two pliers and rebent the hook......................2 years till replace

[LOGDOG]

Jim ... I have a '95 LT30HD, with the 24 H.P. Onan. I just went and measured that spring. It's 2 and 5/16" overall. The body of the spring is 7/8'', the hook towards the armature is just shy of 3/4" and the hook towards the mast is 3/4". Hope that helps. 

[Jim_Rogers]

Thanks, Logdog.

I went to Home depot and they didn't have anything.

I went to Lowes and they didn't have anything either.

I went to Autozone and got an assortment pack that may have something in it but the springs were much lighter wire. And didn't look strong enough.

I went to a hardware store this morning and figured out the wire size is 7/16 and now I know the overall length.

So one of these should work:



Looking at the picture I think one of the one's in the assortment looks right.

Hopefully the rain will hold off enough for me to try it out.

I'll let you know how I make out later on.

Thanks to everyone for their advice and comments.

Jim Rogers

[LOGDOG]

Jim ... A word of caution. I broke that spring on one of my Onan's in the past and tried to replace it with a spring off the shelf from the hardware store. It didn't work for me because the elasticity of the hardware store spring was not as rigid as WoodMizer's is. So I ended up getting one from WoodMizer. That elasticity plays into how the governor responds under load.

[Jim_Rogers]

I will probably be returning nearly all the springs I bought locally as I just order some other parts from WM and had them add 3 springs to my order.

The spring part number is 016033 which sells for $2.27 each, plus shipping of course.

Something you should have on hand, just in case.

What happened to me was I was sawing the log so my clutch lever was down and my engine was running at high idle of course.

And all of a sudden the engine just stopped.

I released the clutch lever and backed the blade out of the log.

I tried to restart it and it wouldn't start.
I'm assuming it didn't start as the linkage didn't hold the throttle open enough for it to run.

So, I had to start figuring out what happened.

I was sawing a large log so the blade was up at 30" or so, which meant I had to lower it down to a level where I could see the engine top.

I first cleaned the air cleaner and looked into the carburetor for gas. I really couldn't see any gas, so I removed the output line from the fuel pump to see if it was pumping gas, figuring it could be the fuel line or fuel pump. Sometimes the quick release connection can foul up and prevent fuel from passing through. The fuel pumped pumped fine when I turned over the engine a few turns.

I put that all back together.

I thought maybe it was spark, and as I had just replaced the coil a short while ago, that maybe the coil was gone again. I removed one spark plug and turned over the engine, and I had good spark.
I removed the other spark plug and did the same check and had good spark there too.

I think my engine has one of those "low oil" sensors and that if it does then if I had low oil it could shut down my engine. But I checked it and it wasn't low on oil.

So it was back to fuel again.

I went into the shop and got a small bottle that has some gas in it from starting my plow truck and poured a little gas into the carburetor to see if it would run with that. I figured if the carburetor needle valve got some junk it in and it wasn't working right that maybe it was the reason why it wouldn't run. And that direct gas may make it run.

Well after doing all these tests trying to start the engine, the battery started to get a little weak. So to eliminate any chances of it being low voltage, I got out the battery charger and hooked that up.

Testing the engine or trying to start the engine with a little gas poured into the carburetor seemed to make it like it wanted to start but wasn't just right. It would fire enough to have the starter pop out but not really enough to run. But finally it ran a little and at a very low idle.

I reached up and pushed on the pivot linkage and the engine picked right up. Wow as I happy then. I was thinking the worse you know.

So when I let go of the pivot it stopped. So I adjusted the low idle screw on the linkage to make it run at idle. Thinking that somehow the screw vibrated out and wasn't set right, but I really couldn't see how that would effect the high idle while sawing.

Well, the engine ran fine at idle. So I pulled down on the clutch lever to see if it would run at high idle. And nothing changed.

That's how I figured out my spring on the top end of the linkage had broken. Looking at the spring I could see it was down and not horizontal as it should be.

I may put in one of the springs I bought to use the mill in the morning before my delivery from UPS comes in.

It's great having a WM parts office in Maine as I can get parts the next day without any extra shipping expense.

Jim Rogers

[Chuck White]

Even though it's right in front of your eyes when it's down at your level, that broken spring is hard to spot.

When mine broke this past summer, I did pretty-much everything you did before I finally spotted the broken spring!

[woodmills1]

unless the spring broke off the cable take 2 pliers and rebend a hook on the end



fixed

[Okrafarmer]

Even though it's right in front of your eyes when it's down at your level, that broken spring is hard to spot.

When mine broke this past summer, I did pretty-much everything you did before I finally spotted the broken spring!

Thankfully, I spotted mine sooner than that! That's because my engine started up and ran fine at an idle without the spring, so it was only when I tried to engage the clutch that I found it wouldn't run up. That was my clue.

unless the spring broke off the cable take 2 pliers and rebend a hook on the end

fixed

Except that now your spring is shorter. You don't want it to be too short, or it won't work right.

[Jim_Rogers]

The spring part number is 016033 which sells for $2.27 each, plus shipping of course.

UPS man just left and I opened up the package, guess what wrong spring.

This part number is the spring for the end of the cable where it hooks onto the mast frame. Not the end that hooks to the governor.

I need the spring on the end that hooks to the governor.

Well I guess I can still use the three I have now when that end breaks, as they have before.

Now I'll have to fit the local spring in and see if it will work.

Jim Rogers

[Jim_Rogers]

WM Maine emailed me a picture of the engine and I have selected out the blow up showing the spring:



Now I need to understand which part number is right.

Can anyone look up their slip from WM and see which one is right?

I have a Linamar engine LX990 which is suppose to be the same as a Onan 24 horse.
My old engine was a P224, so I was thinking that one should be the right spring.

I checked my old engine on hand and it doesn't have the spring on it so I must have taken it off and used it once before.

Jim Rogers

[Chuck White]

Jim I just checked the book and it's the same as your pic.

PN 14541 @ $8.76 is the one that goes on the governor end on the P224 Onan.

I still think I would just put another bend in the spring and use it!

[Jim_Rogers]

Jim I just checked the book and it's the same as your pic.

PN 14541 @ $8.76 is the one that goes on the governor end on the P224 Onan.

I still think I would just put another bend in the spring and use it!

Well after trying one of the ones that I got from Autozone which didn't work, I double checked my old engine looking carefully and found one on the pivot. But that one didn't work either.

I did manage to bend a new hook on the broken end and after several tries I got the machine to run and idle down and it sounds right when it idles up. But my tach died and I don't know if these idle speeds are correct.
I'll have to try and find my old vibrater tach and see if I can check the rpms.

In the meantime, I went out and delivered some stakes.

And while out WM Maine called and said they found a spring and emailed me this picture:



They say this is the one that they sell for 24 horse engines.
It is part number #P04497

And it looks like the right one to me.

They are sending it to me and I should have it Monday if UPS is working on Monday.

Here are some of the other set ups I tried:



This one is the autozone springs and this didn't work, not strong enough.

Then I tried this setup:



Which is the broken spring in the same position it was in when it broke. I tried this and during a high idle test the broken hook end popped out of the hole.

So I reversed it like this:



And with a few turns of some of the screws it seems to work ok now.

Also, here is the wrong spring or better the spring for the other end:



I'll be all set if the spring on the other end breaks, again like it did once before.
I tried to swap that spring one time from cable to cable and that didn't work. But I think I can do it next time if I try hard.

Thanks for all your advice and comments.

Jim Rogers



   

[Jim_Rogers]

While I was out this morning, UPS delivered the right spring:



The number on this package matched the number the local Onan parts dealer told me it was. So I feel sure I now have the right part.

Here it is in place:



Once my new tach gets here I'll be able to correctly set my high and low rpms.

Jim Rogers

[LOGDOG]

Looks like you're in the home stretch Jim. Good job....

[Jim_Rogers]

Well, it happened again. Governor spring broke. Found old spring and put it in to get through the day.
I'll have to order two this time, one for the machine and one for the parts box.

What a kick, I had four cuts to make to finish a timber and it just died. Luckily it didn't take me too long to find the old spring and get it in.

Jim Rogers

[Chuck White]

I had to replace mine, summer 2012!

Parts stores just couldn't match it!

They had same size, but the pull was too weak to work properly!

[Okrafarmer]

Trying to work out the linkage right now on the engine I got from Paul Case. He had trouble with it back when he discarded it, so I'm not surprised to be struggling with little issues like this. I just hope the governor is not malfunctioning.