Project: 1986 Cushman 3 Wheeled Turf Truckster

[ballencd]

I have this Cushman for awhile now but after 12+ years sitting in the woods it is time to get it running again.
Wires were chewed up pretty good by some rats but that is fixed.
Replaced the light and horn switch.
Replaced the choke cable.
Got the engine running but the case started filling with gas so I am changing out the mechanical fuel pump to an electric one. Almost complete.
My gas tank is rusty and has a hole or two in it but not too bad. Plan is to clean and coat inside with epoxy. Meanwhile I am using a peanut butter jar for a test tank.
Chassis has some rust and tires are shot so after the engine is running I will replace the tires and repair the chassis.
Baby Steps.

Charley, Thanks for the info so far. I am about 20 minutes south of Hendersonville right off of I-26. I've had the carb apart 2X so far and I think it is clean. I have a new filter before the fuel pump. I will look for a new float and valve.....probably a accelerator diaphragm is that is what I see in there too. Points are set. Plugs look good and are set. I have not tackled valves or timing yet. I think I am having issues with the governor.....it was tied up snug with wire when I got it and if I loosened it it ran very poorly so still looking at that. Time will tell.

[CharleyL]

So you are about 2 hours from me.

For the governor, it would be best to get that manual supplement and read about it. It's in Acrobat .pdf format, so it downloads and prints well including b/w pics. My governor was totally defeated and with parts missing, so I have no governor that works. Somebody way before me bypassed what is left somehow. This is not good, since these motors don't hold together all that well when they exceed 3500 rpm for long periods. At my differential gear ratio, that is about 30 mph. I don't need to go faster than that. It gets hard to steer at that speed. 25 is much better.

Your carburetor looks like it might be a Keihin. www.directparts.com or a nearby forklift repair shop should be able to get you the parts that you need for it. The forklift shops once maintained these back when they were in common use. Another possible source is www.denniscarpentercushman.com. They are located just North of the Charlotte Motor Speedway off hwy 29, if you feel like taking a 2 hour ride some day.

Rodents (rats, mice, squirrels) like the insulation on wires. Soybean was the source of some of the ingredients used in making the plastic insulation.

Charley

[ballencd]

Charley,
Just got the old fuel pump hole capped and changed the oil again. It starts right up and idles OK but not great. I have to feather the choke a bit to keep it running. The throttle arm from the pedal is connected, with an internal spring loaded rod that has snap-on ball joints on both ends, to the throttle on the carburetor. When I press down the gas pedal the arm moves but the linkage to the carb does not. If I manually move the throttle on the carb the engine revs but not with the pedal. I'm not sure how it is supposed to work but I will look in the documentation that I have and see if there is any more I don't have on the Silly Little Cars site.

If I rev the engine manually the governor looks like it is working and tries to adjust the throttle on the carb. Maybe the spring in the rod is too weak? The linkage from the pedal to the arm above the carb is loose but it still moves the arm so that can't be all of it.

Any ideas where I should start looking?

Thanks

Charlie

[CharleyL]

Again, my Truckster governor has been bypassed and is not working. Something a previous owner has done to it. I haven't tried to figure out what he did or how it works. Best I can offer is that manual supplement on www.sillylittlecars.com that I put there.

My Truckster has only run a few times in this past year because I had a right leg problem that kept me from walking from last year August to about April of this year. I'm still relearning how to walk again.

From what I've been told by others, that governor design is terrible and they told me that I was better off with it bypassed. I just have to
be careful not to over rev it. Does your Turf Truckster have a tachometer? Keep it below 3600 and you should have no problems.

The weakest part of these engines is the cylinders. The aluminum spark plug holes go bad easily and overheating the engine causes the exhaust valves to break. Those bellows assemblies in the ducting under both sides of the engine are likely bad from age. When they fail, they don't open the air flow dampers to allow the fan in the flywheel to cool the cylinders. Keep all of the cylinder and crankcase fins clean of debris and remove those bellows assemblies, then open the dampers and drill and thread a bolt hole in the engine front casting right next to the damper doors. Insert a large head bolt so the head of the bolt holds the damper open. This way, if the temperature control bellows are ever found, you can put them and the dampers back in service. About all they do when working properly is provide more cab heat, but with no cab, you don't need them or the cab heat system. The finned exhaust lines aren't needed either. You can still buy new cylinders with valves installed, but the last price that I saw was $150 each plus shipping. The exhaust valves are original and not stainless. In fact, both valves are the same size too, so the cylinder will fit and work fine on either side of the engine. When I needed new exhaust valves, I went with new stainless valves in the exhaust positions, so they will last longer. This isn't necessary if the engine hasn't been overheated, but a good idea if you have valve problems from overheating. Mine came from url]www.denniscarpentercushman.com[/url], mostly because their place is only 15 miles from me and just North of the Charlotte Motor Speedway. They will tell you that they only have parts for Cushman Scooters, but there was a one cylinder version of the OMC motors. It just had a cover over the crankcase opening for the second cylinder. So all of the rest of the one cylinder OMC motor is the same as the 2 cylinder version and it's an 11 hp. Same distributor/timer, but one coil and a higher ohm resistor to keep the one coil voltage correct. One of the Cushman scooter models used this engine. BTW, the starter is the same as used in many 2 cylinder motors. The Miller Bobcat truck mounted gasoline welders use the same starter.

Charley