Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

I have a Briggs and Sratton Vanguard 11 hp Merry leaf blower made by Mackissic. Specs are: Model #235432, Type #0540E1, Code #98062549. Great machine but one problem. First start of the day it starts up easy with 2 pulls of the rope. If I shut her off or she runs out of gas and restart right away it’s very difficult to pull the starter rope. I feel as if the motor is holding back and have a counter pull from the motor. When that happens I need to hold the blower down while I pull start otherwise the machine comes along. If I let it sit a bit its a lot less of a problem. I’m thinking the problem lies in the area of a wrong valve clearance. Can someone on the GREAT forum lead me in the right direction and tell me what the clearance should be at and how to set it.

I would set both valves to .007

niper99 wrote:

Nipper, I threw a rod on that motor so I need to replace it. It has a tapered shaft so I'm not sure what it can be replaced with. Would love to go with one of the decent imports but not sure if anything has that same shaft configuration.

You might have to find a similar Vanguard and swap your crankshaft. Your crank probably has buildup on the rod journal though. Did the rod punch a whole in the block? I know some generators, water pumps and power washers use tapered shafts, but not sure if they would be the same.

hirschallan wrote:
ya trying to find a tapered crank is not going to be easy at all... if the block or internals of the engine aren't destroyed then putting a new rod in it might be your only choice...

My mistake. Just realized that the tapered end is the flywheel end so now it will be easier to match something up. looking at HF and NT. will find something to make it work. Thanks to all, Allan