Governor Gear Replacement

[SCaldwell]

I am a homeowner with a 26 month old 20 HP Briggs Intek V-Twin on my mower (yes, 2 months since warranty expired). While mowing Saturday I stopped the blades and the engine began to race. I checked all the linkage and all is fine. Checked the carb and it too is fine.

I'm 90% sure the governor gear will need to be replaced.

Question 1: What $$$ figure am I looking at for someone to fix it?

Question 2: Can I do this myself in a reasonable amount of time? I have pretty good mechanical skills, just never worked on a small engine.

Question 3: Can I forget the mechanical one and put on an electronic type governor? (do they make such a thing for small engines)

Thanks in advance.
Steve Caldwell....soon to be 'Steve, the guy that lives in that tall hay field'

[sdwally]

Q1: Probably about 3-4 hours labor plus parts.
Q2: If your up to the task, yes. Buy a repair manual for reference of settings and torque specs. You will be into the crankcase of the engine.
Q3: Sorry I don't know of any electronic governors that are available.

Another possible solution would to have shop verify problem and submit a warranty request anyway. B&S, depend on the circumstances will warranty beyond stated warranty. We had a B&S engine throw a rod about 3 months after warranty and it looks like they will at least cover the cost of parts.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

[Dave]

Did you chk the linkage at the govenor shaft to see if it had loosened,to chk,loosen the nut at the governor shaft,put the thotlle at wide open with the engine off .then turn the shaft all the way ,the same way that the thottle turns it with a scre driver or sometimes a needlenose pliers will work then tighten the nut back up,I have not heard of any problems with the govenors on these engines to date,not saying that you don,t have a gear problem

[SCaldwell]

Thanks for the advice folks. The mower is loaded on the trailer and ready for a ride to the repair shop. I will double check the linkage to see that is is set properly as Dave suggested. If not I'll set it and fire her up again.

If it isn't right then I've decided to take it to the local farm store where I purchased it for repair. I really don't have the time to dig into it right now myself.

Thanks
Steve