Hello Everyone,

I'm a new member to this forum but, have been reading many posts about yard equipment problems. This must be a very helpful site due to the large number of people and questions that have been posted. Just want to say thanks to everyone for their helpful advice.

Just wanted to share a successful fix to a problem that I recently encountered with my lawn tractor.

Background: I purchased a troy bilt 42" 18.5hp B&S about 2004-06 (not sure) and it ran superb for many years with no problems whatsoever. Always done proper maintenance and typical upkeep, And as far as major work I only had to replace the deck belt last year.

This year I broke it out for the season and encountered a few problems. Mind you no smoke or loud noise coming from engine.

Problems:

1. would not move in forward or reverse.

2. engine would surge at idle as well as full throttle.

3. engine did not have power when PTO engaged or when in gear. When in gear with PTO engaged the engine lacked or would not idle up to compensate for loads. Basically, the engine acted like an idle engine (never cut out but, on slopes and thick grass the engine was struggling).

Solutions:

1. The moving problem was easily fixed, new drive belts (from engine to variable speed pulley as well as from pulley to trans). they were expensive in my opinion 33$ each from Lowes.

2. The engine rough idle surge problem was also fixed. Dismantled fuel system (tank, hoses, carb) and cleaned thoroughly. Also replaced fuel filter and spark plug.

3. The third problem had me baffled for a week (loss of power when under load). At first thought it may have been governor lever worked itself lose or out of adjustment. The governor on my model had limited adjustment (could not increase rpms only decrease).

So, I could not increase rpm's under load. I began researching online at many sites including Briggs and Stratton (which was of little help due to no techs only recommendations to local dealers and repair shops).(I did download repair and parts manuals from the site though). I finally came to this site which has been the most helpful by far.

I had done everything I could short of complete rebuild when there was a thread about 18.5 problems. One of the guys suggested checking valve clearances so, today I went out and lashed valves on my 18.5 B&S, wouldn't you know it fixed the problem. I now have high rpm's and the tractor does not bog down under load. The surprising thing was that the exhaust clearance was good but the intake valve barely moved (it still barely moves) but, just a few hundredths of an inch made a huge difference in performance.

( I think by estimations the intake valve lash was out maybe by .010-.020 in.)

Thanks to everyone for your helpful advice.