Please help! The shift lever on my unit has come completely loose! A broken pin came out of one of the holes holding the shift lever to the shifter. Does anyone know what that is called? I really need my tiller up and running but can't get it into any gear - it won't even roll on its own. Is there an easier fix than trying to find a pin or has anyone had luck with replacement pins? The earlier post from adnaw52 is asking the same question. When I search this message board on Google it appears that a pbuckner answered the question but the reply isn't on this thread or in the cached version. Anyone have that information? (Or know why someones helpful post would be deleted?) Thank you, thank you, for any insight!

I used Castrol GTX SAE 30, but I average about 30 hours per season. Synth would be better if you use it more. Otherwise, I cannot see it, unless you are in a really hot area. As far as the Briggs ELS, I had one of those mis-designed air-filter covers with the yellow flip-up handles. I found numerous threads on this problem, and then found one where a person was able to retrofit the engine with a new style intake elbow, blower housing, and screw down air filter. So, I emailed Briggs asking for the correct part numbers to do the retrofit. I wanted to purchase them and make sure my engine didn't fail. Well, they were so impressed with my trying to prevent the failure, that they sent the parts at no cost (considering the engine was a 2003 and I was going to purchase the parts). A couple of shipments and quirks to get the correct parts, and I completed the retrofit in less than 1 hour. Saved me about $120 in costs to purchase. I cannot complain about their customer service. That was about the best I have ever had.

***"added benefit of not drowning the engine, if that IS what is happening."***"first the plug: The pictures were taken BEFORE running it at all, after it had sat from the night before"*** OK, so, "sat from the night before"??? Does that mean you parked the tractor immediately after running, while the engine was "hot from use"??? OR you had been trying unsuccessfully to get the engine started and running....prior to it having sat through the night??? This detail is quite important because: If you stopped the engine while "hot from use", there "should not" have been ANY wetness (unless from oil, but you say engine does not smoke) or "sheen" visible on the plug. The heat from use would have left the plug completely dry and any soot or carbon (from rich mix) would have been "dry and powdery". But, on the other hand, if you had been repeatedly cranking the engine (unproductively), and then just decided "to heck with this!!!! I'm done for today and I'll come back tomorrow"........and then next AM pulled the plug and photo'ed it, I'm afraid we still can't say for sure if your carb is "drowning" your engine, or if the wet condition of plug is simply from all the unproductive cranking. I'm thinking that "drowning" might already be taking place, and may be contributing to your present problem. One thing kssue should do at this point is to "pull" the oil dipstick and: (1)Smell the oil for the presence of gasoline. With so much unproductive cranking of the engine, plus the indicated "over rich" condition of the carb, even if the engine has not been "drowned", it certainly has been "flooded", and gasoline "might" be present in the fuel.(2) Do a "runny test". In the "old days", if a mechanic suspected gasoline contamination of the crankcase lube oil, he might perform a SWAG "runny test" by pulling the oil dipstick and then touch the wet end of the dipstick to one of his fingertip or palm callouses. Then he would observe how the oil "dispersed" from the central drop, into the swirls and whorls of the friction ridges in the skin. If the oil was thinned or contaminated with gasoline, he would see a relatively rapid spread of "color" into the network of tiny grooves that are the "trough" counterpart of the friction ridges of skin that comprise our "fingerprints". If the oil was not thinned, the drop of oil would tend to remain in the form of the single drop that was deposited on the hand. I no longer suggest that anyone perform the "runny test" in the manner of putting suspected oil on human skin. A similar test can be done using a piece of "unwaxed" or "unfinished" cardboard. This "plain ole cardboard" is the kind most packaging boxes are made of. All you need is a clean, dry piece of this cardboard. Using the oil dipstick, deposit one or two drops onto the cardboard. After the oil is put onto the cardboard, lay the cardboard on a flat surface, oily side up. Use a watch or other timekeeper to measure elapsed time. If the oil is very thinned (high gasoline content), the entire amount of oil will be absorbed into the cardboard in a matter of 3 minutes or less. The less gasoline in the oil, the slower the drop will be absorbed. Because there is no way to control all the possible variables of this test (moisture content of specific cardboard, type of cardboard, ambient temperature, etc.), it helps to also use an identical (or the same) piece of cardboard and test some other "oil samples" from different sources to compare the time it takes for the oil to absorb. Even that will be inconclusive unless the oil samples originally were the same product. But, if you use a couple drops of suspect oil, a couple drops from a different engine (believed to be ok), and a couple drops from a container of fresh, unused oil, you can get a pretty good idea. When I do this, I use a pencil to "graph" the growth of the "halo" that will spread outward from the center of the initial drop. Using the "timer", I mark the progress of the "halo formation" at one minute intervals. If you plan to test other sample for comparison, do them all in about the same hour using the same source of cardboard. Realistically speaking, the "runny test" is kinda "long and drawn out" for using to determine if oil is fit for service or not. It mainly serves as a way to get an indicator of gas in the oil AT THE TIME OF THE TEST only. In the case of the engine in this thread, I would probably be inclined to just say, "I don't know if I have gas in the oil, but with all that's been going on, there should be some gas in the oil. Therefore, I'm going to install the inline fuel shutoff valve and then change the oil for "peace of mind". ***"first the plug: The pictures were taken BEFORE running it at all, after it had sat from the night before"*** Oh, you mentioned "Have read of that under some other post as well but forget the circumstances...too many hours of sifting thru posts". In response to that, I am going to create a new thread to outline a "trick" I use a lot to "streamline" researching and saving found information. I'll probably come back to this thread and post a "cross link" to the new thread as well.

It sure takes patience! The rose seems to keep get mixed up with Erinnerung an Brod. I still hope an American rose nursery will import roses from my clone of SDAL. I posted a picture on HMF today showing the Buds and sepals of the rose - to help people distinguish it from Erinnerung an Brod. Here is a link that might be useful: SDAL pic posted on HMF today