GlockSpock

This is a large part of an "an issue". Not "the" issue or "this issue" even, but "an issue". I'm 27, I don't know which generation that does or does not make me. I don't really care. I'm not defined by whatever that generation is, but I've been told by numerous people that I'm an "exception" to whatever "my generation" is. Ok, cool I guess, I just wanted to be successful so I've tried to do so over the years. However, know what? It isn't all my doing, in fact it wouldn't be fair in my opinion to say any of it is my doing. I was blessed being born in this country. In the "lottery of life", I could have been born to any third world country without electricity and running water; I doubt I'd be where I were today if that was the case. I'm not attempting to bring gender or race into this reply, but I will admit that being a white male has likely given me a lot of opportunities as well. Having two parents that are still married helped me out a lot as well. Having parents that were able to purchase a vehicle when I was 16 helped me out a lot. Heck, even learning how to drive helped me out a lot because apparently I've met a several people over the past couple of years that are my age but cannot drive and do not/have not had a driver's license. Their fault? To some extent. But if you were to consider their upbringing and situations, then I think you'd be able to dismiss at least some of it as not being their fault. Try to get a quality job (even with a college degree, as one of their cases) without a drivers license around here. Sometimes. I still consider myself "younger" at 27 (and am trying to hold on to that feeling for at least another 10 years). A lot of people I've met are indeed blind to many of these differences, but one thing I've noticed is that a seemingly large proportion of these people that are "open-minded" are only "open-minded" to people that agree with them perfectly. As an example, an extremely "open-minded" or "blind to differences" person may be 100% ugly towards a gun owner. Or, I will tread very carefully with the following but how often is it seen "extremely open minded people" that are in support of topics such as homosexual marriage but they lash out towards anyone that doesn't fully support their ideas and call these people bigots, etc? In my opinion, being open minded isn't a bad thing per se, but it goes beyond being accepting of the "hot topics" such as and not limited to: lgbt, race, religion, gender, etc. Being "open minded" means also accepting the people that may not agree with you on those issues as well. If someone's actions are filled with hate, then I understand not accepting them/their viewpoint. But if the sole issue is that someone isn't "as accepting" as you, don't hate that person just because they don't agree with you. I won't get into specifics, but over the years we've seen many, many posts and threads that are rather quite anti-gay, pro white, anti-muslim, etc and etc. We don't "need to know" any of those details about a specific member; if any of the members of any of those groups were to join TGO today and find many posts that were "against" them, I don't think it matters whether or not we know those details or not. That person is not going to feel included in our community. That is also why it is extremely important that the staff here at TGO shut threads like that down ASAP and try to prevent them going in that direction in the first place. Myself, living in eastern TN (Bradley County) with the neighboring Polk County, I will try very much to be extremely tactful in what I'm about to say. Wikipedia shows that Bradley County is 92.98% white. I'll let you do the math for the other people in Bradley County. As such, going to school I was generally limited in my exposure to other ethnicities, period. Once you consider the percentages of white people in our county, I suspect it is decently easy to extrapolate from that data the percentages of difference races at my employer. I myself attempt very much not to have prejudices against any kind against groups of people, but it is not as easy as simply trying. Due to the general environment and my upbringing, I'll admit that I have certain "biases". It is difficult to rid oneself of such biases. I think that the majority of people have certain biases, whether it be regarding race, religion, etc. I say all of this to say (in response to your question). Yes, I've been somewhere I felt that I didn't belong. My Wife and I were flying out of Atlanta, we know almost nothing about Atlanta. As such, we stopped at some Chipotle. As tactful as possible, I will simply say that out of a room of roughly 50 people, my Wife and I were the only white people there. Period. I can honestly say I think this was the first time in my life I had ever experienced something such as that. I firmly believe that some people would have turned around and left. I tried to use it as a learning experience. I wondered if the way I felt at that moment was what it was like to be any of the "other" races in my home county (oftentimes being the only non-white person in any group setting). We ordered and ate, and ultimately had a good time. Most people were friendly and not a single "bad experience", but the feeling was one as if we didn't belong. We don't want new members to either TGO or the firearm community as a whole to feel that way. Some people here at TGO get that, many do not I fear. To those completely clueless as to what this entire thread is "about", consider the following, all of which are just made up in my head by me. A homosexual person showing up into a gun-store for their first time, and then being bombarded with a poster on the wall stating "Marriage = 1 Man + 1 Woman" and overhearing the employees talk about "them faggots". Perhaps that person is there to purchase a firearm to protect their loved ones, knows nothing about firearms, and ultimately leaves because they didn't feel they were welcome. Any female that agrees to go to the range with one of their gun-guy guy friends and is in any way belittled over "being a woman" and any of the stereotypes that are typical when it comes to women and firearms. A Muslim whom shows up to take his (or her) class to get an HCP but is shown extreme prejudice during the class from the other students. How likely is it that any of these people dissociate from the firearm community as a whole? There are many people in the firearm community, many of you know someone like this and I fear that some of or members here may themselves be very close to this mindset, that simply do not care if other "groups" of people make their way into the firearm community and are accepted. Well, that is simply hurting the firearm industry as a whole. As a completely different topic, one thing I've been doing over the previous few months is reading articles on "The Root", which describes itself as "Black news, opinions, politics and culture". It has a very liberal bias. I do not agree with many of the articles. However, what is allows me to do is read directly from the source what the "other side" is thinking and feeling. I cannot discredit their thoughts and feelings. It allows me to consider things from their perspective. I have really enjoyed doing so, simply for the reasons stated above. https://www.theroot.com/

It's very reasonable to hope that this thread never dies. Not quite sure of the "bump" from earlier today, most of the time it is someone that goes to Google, finds this thread, joins TGO, and then posts on this thread as if it were created a week ago. Bumping for the pure purpose of bumping? Seems a bit like schadenfreude to me.

True, but the correlation goes both ways. People who have extreme emotional baggage/issues and are depressed/suicidal are more likely to abuse drugs.

Duplicate threads on topic merged.

It is an interesting idea, but what happens when an anti-gun teacher reports anyone that is pro-gun? Or liberals report conservatives and vice-versa? I’m not saying it’s a bad idea, we just need to be careful with that direction.

I found an article very interesting in Guns & Ammo this month. The manufacturer of the topic is: http://www.truevelocityinc.com/ I immediately thought of weight savings in using polymer instead of brass casings, but something that did not occur to me is that weapons will operate cooler on the polymer casings. Brass transfers heat quite well, polymer doesn't. As such, when fired, once the casing is ejected, most of the heat goes with it. Of course the barrel will still get hot, but the brass will no longer directly transfer heat to the chamber and surournding parts. I found that interesting. Through their tests, an M134 minigun operates 20% cooler at the bore on these rounds. I am now convinced that polymer ammo will likely be the future of shooting, at least until we get ray guns. The article didn't mention anything about it, but I doubt that these casings can be reloaded. I'm sure there will always be a brass segment to the market for reloading, but if factory brass ammunition widely disappears, it will have to contribute to a rise in the cost of reloading. I'd like to buy a box of 5.56 from them, but I don't think they are selling commercially yet. I just think the rounds look cool, and I'd like to buy a box to keep just in case some flaw is found in the idea and never catches on.

I too fear Tapatalk (and similar software) is on its way out and fast. At this point, TGO is the second forum that I use in the last month or two to abandon it. Shame really, because it did have a lot to offer. Oh well, the decision will make your life easier. Removing it (Tapatalk) from my iPhone right now, it's useless to me at this point. It was sweet when it lasted...

Also, the 2nd or 4th Amendment are 100% irrelevant when dealing with private companies. These Amendments, as well as the Constitution as a whole, are for keeping government in check. If a shipping company states that they will not ship firearms, that is not an infringement of anyone's rights. If a shipping company wants to open every single package before shipping, that is not an infringement upon a 4th Amendment right. In fact, I would suspect that the TOS of all shipping companies state that they reserve the right to inspect any and all packages if they wish. This is the same concept that the majority of those employed wave most rights to privacy at a workplace. Employers can come and search your office, company vehicle, and in many cases your personal bags and vehicles. Not a violation of the 4th Amendment, unless theoretically you work for the Federal Government (that would be an interesting debate).

To anyone interested, I have lots of good news this evening! First thing I did when I got home from work today was to remove the side panels on the heads. This allowed me to see the starter motor just fine. When I tried to test the motor, I noticed that the gear was spinning but was not turning the engine at all. Upon closer inspection, I found that the plastic starter gear was stripped. There is a guy locally that is retired but has thousands of mower parts. He is whom I bought the mower from initially. I went to him and of course he had a gear for the starter motor. He helped me put the gear on the starter. I was there the other day inquiring about carburetors after I rebuilt mine; He at the time could not find any identical ones. I thought I'd mention to him again today, and he had an engine sitting outside with a compatible carburetor on it. I negotiated and told him I'd purchase the carburetor (he threw the manifold in too) for $20. I couldn't pass that up so I bought it just in case I found that mine was damaged from any of two mishaps (mistakes). It is the one with the three hole fuel pump but also has the adjustable low jet as discussed above. A steal for $20! I got home, and after removing that fourth screw discussed previously, I installed the repaired starter. Fired that sucker up and then quickly adjusted the idle set screw to what sounded like a decent idle. Then mowed my entire yard without a hiccup. Too long, didn't read: Mower now starts and runs better than it did when I bought it. I've learned a lot in the last week, made some mistakes but fixed them too.

I am 99% sure I have what he’s referring to as the non adjustable idle jet. I’ll go home, remove it, and upload a picture. I’m learning a lot. Too bad the learning process is typically a mistake, trial, and error process. Gonna kick myself hard if one of the main problems since the rebuild has been that extra screw.

I have not messed with the governor. I think I'm close, if I can get the starter going again I think I can get everything. So, first I should probably screw that idle jet out 2-3 turns. Then, I can adjust the idle speed. In taking another look at that video, I suspect I found another problem that I'm ashamed to admit. At 6:30, where it shows the housing for the air filter that bolts to the carburetor, I think I made a mistake putting it back. He mentions three screws, let's just say I put four screws in:( I now suspect that the "X" above is a vent allowing air into or out of the carburetor, etc. There is currently a screw in that. So, I'm going to go home, remove that screw, hope I didn't damage anything by making this mistake, set the idle jet out 2.5 turns, investigate the starter, and then take a look at the idle speed. The governor should be good, I mowed all last season. I don't want to mess with it if I don't have to. I hope my screwing a screw into that "X" didn't put any metal shavings into the carburetor.

So, at 12:14 he claims that is not an adjustment ("this is the one with the fixed jet"). Should this be screwed in all the way or 2.5 turns out like you suggest? Ok, so the idle speed is what I was messing with last night. I think I'm close.

Hmmm...thanks! I'm going through right now to the points you mentioned. For the governor, what timestamp are you talking about?

Quoted only to bring attention to my above post.

Well, I have some more information. The first thing I did when messing with it this evening, I tightened that brass main jet up. Then I started looking at one that the video shows at 17:43. I messed with it a bit, attempting to see how it worked. In doing so, it started running much, much better. However, more importantly, I discovered that I had failed to attach a link the other day, as shown here: I reattached that, optimistic that this was the problem and would fix everything. It took my about 30 minutes, and I came very close, but I just couldn't get it. I eventually adjusted that screw shown at 17:43 in quarter turn adjustments. It would idle very, very good. I could throttle up most of the way. However, most every time, at full throttle it would die. Engaging the blades would kill it. It would drive though decently. At some point, I hit rock bottom, this is the current state of the engine: https://www.dropbox.com/s/0me7w16bj4znzth/Video May 07%2C 3 54 09 PM.mov?dl=0 (That link should take you to a Dropbox video showing the noise it is making). So, unless that linkage came loose the other day, I literally have zero idea how I mowed at all with it disconnected. Also, more relevant information: Craftsman Mower: 917.270810 B&S Engine: 42E707 I never called myself a mechanic, I'm just brave enough to give things a try. Generally, with enough reading/Youtube, I can figure most things out. This is stumping me. I wish I hadn't messed with that one screw today, I wish I had noticed the 17:43 screw first. Ok, so help me help you all out. In the original video: 12:14: Main jet, not adjustable? 17:43: What do you call that? Peejman, you were mentioning mixture adjustment screws, do I have them?

Well, it's a tough situation I think. If she truly "does not want anything to do with guns", then you may be inviting more issues than you are solving. Pistol safe that could be secured? That means either bio-metric, combination, or key. With the last two of those options, you possibly have the issues of either forgetting the combination or location of the key, or the inverse problem where the key is stored in the lock or the combination entered already. Both of those options introduce the possibility of her roommate or other guest gaining access to the firearm at a party, etc. I won't even pretend to know what the laws are in Chicago for such a thing. Legal or illegal? I don't know. I'm just saying, if she truly does not want it at all, I personally don't know if "forcing" the issue is the correct answer. At least not without some proper conversation and planning behind the issue. If you go for it, sit her down and explain why you are doing so (to help you, Dad, sleep better at night) just in case she needs it. Explain to her safety issues, and that likely her best bet is to not disclose the location of the firearm to people coming over.

I know. I usually respect that, greatly. Yet when I fixed steering the other day, I was eager to get everything running and I went to the nearest gas station without even giving a second thought about ethanol because I didn't remember to. I don't think that caused any issue (letting gas sit there over winter likely did thought). I'm optimistic about getting this going tonight.

Right, so thus a 50% seafoam and 50% gas (that is 100%, no ethanol) mix. Right?

I think a potential issue is that I was "adjusting" the main jet, I'm going to go home and screw that all the way in. According to the above video, that should be screwed all the way in. Secondly, I guess I never messed with the actual idle adjustment at all as seen at 17:43. I'm going to go home, try screwing the jet in all the way as needed, and then turn that adjustment 1 full turn, slowly, counter clockwise. If that doesn't do anything, then I will reverse it back to the starting position.

You mean 50% seafoam and 50% gas (100% gas), correct? So, ~16 oz seafoam and 16 oz gas.

Interesting note, I just watched more of the video I posted above. At 12:14, he mentions that the screw that I considered a mixture setting is a fixed jet and not an adjustment. Perhaps I need to keep it screwed in all the way.

I have slightly checked for vacuum leaks, I'll spend some more time with that tonight with a flashlight. As for the vacuum operated diaphragm, I think so. The fuel pump is attached to the carburetor and operates off a vacuum. Unsure exactly what you mean by "slide". I'll check the hoses (air and fuel) that I can. Think I should try anything regarding the carburetor without dissembling it?

Didn't replace the float, but replaced the needle and cleaned all operational parts in the carb as much as I could (but still not confident it was 100%). I had planned on running it dry at the end of the season, but when the steering broke I forgot all plans to do so. My mistake. If tonight I cannot magically make it work by checking something simple (plugs, battery, etc), then I suppose it may be time to break the carb down again and give it a take two.

19.5 HP Briggs and Stratton Twin Turbo Craftsman Mower So, first I will attempt to give a bit of a backstory. In 2017, the last time I mowed I lost steering on my riding lawn mower. As such, I pushed the whole thing into the shed and let it sit over the winter. A few weeks ago, I fixed the steering issue. It works great now! However, at the time, I cranked it up and it would only run on full choke. Anytime I closed the choke it would die, 100% of the time. My research showed that was because it wasn't getting enough fuel. So, over the last week, I rebuilt the carburetor. I used this kit from Amazon.com. As painful as it was to watch, this following video showed me what I needed to perform the rebuild: This guy knows what he's doing, I just wish they would quit trying to be actors and just show me what I need! So, Saturday, I completed that job and also changed oil. Cranked it right up and it ran better than it has ever ran for me before. I mowed ~80% of my yard for about 20 minutes. Then it started having issues again. Since then, I cannot get it to run full throttle. Even on full throttle, it sorta rumbles around and never runs high enough RPM to do anything. The choke is "in" or "off" when running, which is better than a week ago! At this point, I "messed with" the fuel/air mixture a bit by screwing/unscrewing the single adjustment screw on the carburetor. I haven't had much luck with it. I think I can get it back to close where it needs to be by screwing it ~80-90% in. What I've checked so far: Spark Plugs have fire (I haven't removed them yet, planning on checking that tonight to look at the gap) Carburetor seems to be getting fuel and enough of it (opening the plug at the carburetor drains gas out of it) Fuel filter seems to have good flow (disconnecting fuel line above filter and it flows freely out of from the tank through the filter) Gas Cap (supposedly an improperly sealed gas cap can cause issue, I've tried it with gas cap off as well) Air filter (it is dirty but I've tried running it with it off. Perhaps a bit better but unsure this is the problem) Battery (I've made sure the cables are nice and secure) Gas (Admittedly, I had a complete brain fart and put ethanol gas in in after fixing the steering. After fixing the carburetor, I suppose this ethanol gas was what I ran for 20 minutes. When I started having these issues, I drained at least half the gas out and replaced with 100% gas. There is probably still a certain percentage ethanol in the tank currently) Here are my plans for tonight: Pull each spark plug and inspect gap and spark Possibly replace fuel/air filters Attach booster cables to see how it runs with juice from my car. I don't think it would be a battery issue but it will be quick to try in diagnosing. It cranks from the battery and shows charging "+" on the dash when running. I have learned a lot throughout this, but generally feel pretty dumb right now and don't know exactly how to proceed. I don't want to break the carburetor open again but will if I have to, at least I know how this time. I'm wondering if running optimally for a few minutes may have broken something loose in the fuel line or carburetor and clogged something in the carburetor. I did try my best to get it clean but I'm open to the possibility I didn't do a good enough job. Also, ethanol seems to be the worst. I usually put 100% gas in it but since that was the first time of the season I completely forgot. If need be, tonight I can siphon all the gas out of it and try 100%. Also, when I was rebuilding the carburetor, a small strip of paper in the kit instructed that I soak one of the pieces in oil. I didn't do this as I couldn't determine which part it was (it gave a part number). Now I'm wondering if the carburetor worked for a while but since I didn't oil something that caused something to become brittle, etc. I'm looking for things to try. Maybe there is something that I'm not thinking of. EDIT: To anyone that watches the above video, I have the three screw fuel pump version.