# 9 HP Craftsman Throttle Unresponsive



## Destovi (Nov 19, 2013)

I recently purchased a (5 years old'ish) 24" Craftsman 9 HP tecumseh snowblower. 

I got to use it for the first time this past weekend and it wouldn't throw fairly light snow more then 6" out of the chute. I checked the belts and it appeared that the auger drive belt had too much slack. I changed this belt and the throwing distance improved, but I feel like it should still be throwing it further.

Another issue that I noticed was that the throttle lever has no impact on the engine speed, doesn't matter what position the throttle is at the engine speed stays the same. I am also thinking the speed it is at is to slow which is also contributing to the lack of throwing distance.

I took the shield off from the carb area to look at the linkages. Everything seems to still be connected as it should so I am wondering if something is just not set correctly. When the engine starts up the governor arm is pulled toward the back of the machine by the carb linkage and the machine idles. If I manually move the governor arm the engine speeds up but is then throttled back by the carb linkage. 

Is this something that I can adjust myself? If so is there a way to make sure I'm not setting the engine to run to fast, or is that something that just comes with practice and some knowledge?

Any help would be appreciated!

I attached some pictures of the linkages and the motor information.

Thanks


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## nt40lanman (Dec 31, 2012)

The system is fairly simple. The governor is connected to the throttle. The control is also connected to the governor. The governor tries to close the throttle, more as the RPM rises, and the control puts spring pressure to counteract that, more as you raise the lever. So the question is, is the governor pushing too much, or is the control not pushing enough? The small screw on the control raises the RPM so give that some turns in and see what you get.


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## Destovi (Nov 19, 2013)

thanks nt40Lanman, I'll try that tonight and see if I can get some responsiveness from the throttle as well as increasing the RPMs.


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## Destovi (Nov 19, 2013)

Is it best to set the high speed RPM screw (on the throttle control handle) first and then set the idle screw (on the carb) afterwards or does it make no difference?


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## Shryp (Jan 1, 2011)

It shouldn't make a difference. One controls how fast the engine can rev and the other controls where it stops when you close the throttle. You should be shooting for 3600 RPM on the high speed screw, but you would need some kind of tach to be able to tell.


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## jtclays (Sep 24, 2010)

Might help watching this????


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## Destovi (Nov 19, 2013)

I thought that I remember the arm moving with the throttle control but now that I've watched the video I'll check that out first, as now I'm second guessing myself

Thanks!


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## nt40lanman (Dec 31, 2012)

That's a fantastic video about the topic!!!

It looks like that way but the throttle control just puts spring pressure on that arm.


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## jtclays (Sep 24, 2010)

Shryp turned me toward Donyboy vids 3-4 years ago and they are just fantastic. Guy really provides a precise tutorial on nearly every small engine problem. Thanks again Shryp!


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## Destovi (Nov 19, 2013)

I checked out the spring and while it looks like maybe its a bit worn it wasn't broken. I adjusted the screws for the high speed rpms and the lower speed idle screw, as well as straighted out the governor arm and I am finally getting some responsiveness from the throttle. It could probably use some more fine tuning but it is doing what I had hoped it would. 

Somewhat tough to know how it should run (idle/full speed) as I'm trying to just go by sound but for the time being it seems ok.

We don't have a lot of snow yet so its hard to really put it under a load test yet. I am thinking I might give it a shot of sea foam to get rid of any mess in the system before we do get that first snow. 

Thanks everyone for the help.


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