snowman

As described earlier, the Briggs engine 15C1 34 2143 F8 appears to have come with a no-name carb. 

Is there a hardier brand or type that can be used on this engine, and will it make any difference?

Removed the spotless carb bowl and used auto spray carb cleaner on every part I could see.  Cleaned a hefty amount of carbon off the spark plug.  Ran great, idled without choke at a low speed, backfired as always if I cut the throttle quickly.  Let the carb run dry for storage, greased the fittings and drained the tank. 

The Teumseh carb on the old snowblower seemed a lot hardier.  The no name (unless I missed something) carb on this Platinum Deluxe impressed me as more like a toy than equipment.  

It's a Briggs engine 15C1 34 2143 F8 engine that according to info online has a Briggs 590907 carb.   Is there a higher quality interchangable carb that I could be using that may not be prone to problems, was this issue a fluke and should I ignore it or be doing something else?

Will add that I've been using Stabil.

Have an Ariens Platinum Deluxe 24" snowblower and it runs great, as long as the choke is engaged one slot. 

When the choke is off, the engine seems to run OK, but it has a sound of backfiring almost constantly and it emits light blackish smoke through the exhaust.  I also noticed that when the choke is off, it makes no difference what the speed lever is set to; it won't change speed above something like idle.

I guess it's something with the carb but don't know exactly what it will take to fix the problem.  Where to start?

Have an old Ariens snowblower, the classic 70's design.

Sometimes the shifter will not allow me to go beyond forward speed two, other times it'll go right to four without a problem.  I can just stand there, bouncing the shifter back and forth while holding the clutch constantly in, until it just slips into fourth.  Nothing appears to be binding,

I don't want to force it to go beyond two when it's being temperamental, and I can continue repeatedly going from neutral to fourth until it actually gets there.

So, in the end my question is what can possibly cause sporadic stubbornness of a shifter?  I took the bottom off and cleaned and applied some synthetic oil to the track the rubber wheel slides on.  Everything in there looked fine.

I can continue the shifting game, but don't want to be encouraging something to break.

Second part of my question is how to prevent the chute from rotating on it's own.  It easily rotates into position, but vibrations and snow being shoved through it cause it to typically rotate to the right on it's own.  I see nothing to create any tension to keep it from rotating.  Tempted to add a barbell weight to the handle to keep it always down and to stop the chute from rotating.   I'll add that the inside of the chute looks like sandblasted burnt sugar because of the corrosion.

My 2004 9 HP from HD has run flawlessly.  Purchased as a serviced unit on sale and with a coupon, but that was a joke of sorts.  The machine appeared to never have been started, and the fuel line was kinked and blocked just under the tank and before fed into the engine.  Straightened that out, it started right up and has run fine.  I only regret not getting the DLX with a differential, but that's my problem.

I bought it to replace a 1970 7 HP because the growing number of times it wouldn't start I really had a problem.  Kept it as a "backup" but prefer using it to the newer one and put a NOS engine on it.  Use the new one to throw distance and do the initial "dig", and the nimble and easy to turn older one, which is still incapable of a long snow throw, to cleanup with.

The local dealer really has his "nose in the air".  I only once bought a belt there in desperation.  He made it seem  like I was buying a bag of gold, and charged accordingly.

I see nothing wrong with buying one from HD.  Seems everyone here is inclined enough to assemble one from the box, and shouldn't be set back if "Timmy" doesn't set it up to perfection.