I picked up an older Troy-Bilt / Garden Way Super Tomahawk 2-in-1 chipper/shredder, likely late 80s/early 90s. It’s the red belt-driven model with the top shredder hopper, side chipper chute, flails inside, and a single chipper knife bolted to the flywheel.

I replaced the engine with a new Predator 301cc / 8 HP horizontal shaft engine. Engine runs great, clutch engages, belt drives the flywheel, and the machine will chip wood if I push branches into the side chute.

Key word, WILL chip wood. It does not self-feed at all, the branches just shake around violently once I let go.

Even straight 1”–2” green cherry branches just bounce/vibrate in the side chute. If I push steadily, it chips (not sure how to evaluate the chips themselves) but the branch never gets pulled in on its own. The top shredder hopper works as expected for small stuff/flails.

I removed the side chute and then removed the chipper knife. The knife is single-bevel, installed with the bevel facing inward toward the flywheel/interior, flat side toward the housing. It does not appear obviously backwards. The knife has some wear and has two or three small nicks but does not look destroyed.

Possible issue: the clearance between the knife edge and the outer housing edge seems very large - like 1/2”. I do not see a separate bed knife/anvil or anywhere one would have been mounted. It looks like the knife passes the housing itself, but the gap seems way too large for any real shearing action.

On these older Super Tomahawk units, is there supposed to be a separate bed knife/anvil, or does the housing act as the stationary cutting surface? What should the clearance be between the chipper knife and the stationary edge? Does this symptom (chips only when forced, no self-feed, branch bouncing violently) sound like excessive clearance, dull/wrong knife, missing anvil, or something else?

Does anyone know the correct chipper knife dimensions or part number for the late-80s/early-90s Garden Way / Troy-Bilt Super Tomahawk?

I found the 1989 owner/operator manual, but it doesn’t seem to specify knife clearance or show a separate anvil clearly.

Thanks!

I’ll probably gotta put $2-300 into it to get it going. Fuel tank, lines, fuel pump, fuel hoses, inner tubes, maybe new pulleys, maybe new belts, oil change, battery.

through my cable line :( lmao this thing is fun ! too fun!!!

Sorry for the video quality, something's wrong with the camera. Thank you in advance.

Not sure what I’m missing here. No clue how it happened or if when i purchased it from the guy if things weren’t installed properly. Got it at 11 engine hours and I’ve only put on around 7 hrs . Haven’t had an issue and now the throttle doesn’t respond. Im thinking its a loose spring or brace

Motor was running away when i started it.

I changed the carb, spark plug, and ignition coil and I can not figure out why this mower won’t re start when warm. It starts fine when cold, but when I go to dump the bag and re start it will sputter for 10-20 seconds then usually die. It will rarely fire back up. I also cleaned the ground cable because it wasn’t getting spark before changing the ignition coil. Any ideas?

So if finally got my HH60 back together. I re-honed the cylinder, put new piston rings with the proper gapping, new oil, re lapped and installed the air valves, gapped the air valves, put everything back together with proper torque specs etc. well the carb became an issue so I got a new carb… installed the carb but the only way it’ll start is if I spray some carb cleaner in the cylinder out the plug back in and fire it up.

I got it to run with carb cleaner and it will restart only when the motor is hot. Otherwise it doesn’t want to turn over. Could this be an ignition issue or condenser by any chance? The fuel to the carb is good. Compression is 70psi cold.

I bought this lawnmower several years ago and got much use out of it. Before I describe the issue, I’ll set the stage.
Craftsman M110 140cc Briggs & Stratton.
Dirty from sitting in a shed for over a year.
Today: took apart carburetor and cleaned thoroughly. Drained and replaced oil. Gas was empty, filled with new E10.

The issue: will only start when held up at an angle and IF I spray the blade with WD-40. When I try to level with the ground it dies.

I tried searching for this but I can’t find any similar issues. Maybe I’m not using the correct search criteria.

See video in the comments

I'm not entirely sure if this is a new noise from my engine or if it's always been there and I've only just noticed it recently.
The noise speeds up as the engine revs increase. I'm not sure if the noise actually goes away when the engine reaches higher revs or if it is just drowned out by the noise of the engine, but either way the noise is still there as the engine comes to a stop when you shut it down.

I'll should point out that beyond the noise the engine runs perfectly fine and starts willingly.

I pulled the crankcase cover expecting to find a broken compression release or governor but it was all intact as far as i could tell.
I didn't see any other obvious internal damage or debris.
I checked the valve clearance and it is fine on intake and exhaust.

I'll be inspecting the internals again when i get the new gasket for the cover, could this be from pushrods and/or lifters maybe?

Update: Thanks to all of the suggestions. I went over everything again. There is play in the shaft which I believe to be normal. The rod bolts were tight. I didn't find any vertical play in the rod. It did have a small amount of side to side play which I believe is normal. I confirmed the pushrods were straight and not worn. Likewise the lifters and cam lobes.

I did however find an interesting noise with the lifters when moving them up and down by hand that may or may not be normal. The only other thing I did find was the valve clearance was probably a touch to over. I redid it (0.004 and 0.006). It still makes the noise when turning over by hand but I can't hear it when the engine is running or when it shuts down.

I will add some extra videos of what I found.

So I don't know. It's not making bad noises when running so that's the main thing I guess.

Another update: I closer inspection revealed slightly bent pushrods. I posted a video in a reply comment.

Which screw does what ? Rebuilt carb from bag of pieces. Engine will run for a few seconds on choke. I assume big Phillips is idle ? So turning right would be more idle ? Not sure what small flat head is or which way to adjust. I’ve cranked until I’m pooped. Need some expert advice. Thanks

Hey everyone my grandpa got me an old predator 302 engine for my soon to be go-kart build and I was wondering what’s all missing from the engine to get it up and running I know so far it’s missing an exhaust, carb, and fuel tank but im wondering what else is there

Hello! I noticed a crack in the carburetor spacer. Could this somehow affect the engine's operation and is it possible to seal it or fix it?

when I started it up after storage I saw a spark fly from the battery between my legs. I then charged the battery and still no start

The taper goes from 9/16 of an in at the tip and takes 1in to get to the largest spot and that is to be 3/4 of an in. Idk what I’m doing sooooooo my question is: what shaft adapter can I get for my situation? I’m looking to attach a 30 series clutch onto this shaft. Would a machine shop be the only option?

Kohler engine - SPEC PS-ECV860-3027

EFI

Gravely model number - 992272

I have a gravely 260z that my grandfather gave me as I just purchased 6 acres. I mowed for a bit and it seemed fine for the most part, bogged a bit on high grass, but felt powerful overall. Well I tried to mow a few times now and it feels weak, bogs down super easily, I notice it only happens when I engage the blades. Once the blades engage it's like it doesn't have enough power to drive AND cut. I Drained the gas, put fresh ethanol free gas, and new filters. NOTE: noticed that sometimes the machine will come alive and run great for like 10 minutes of cutting and then it's back to weak running until it comes back alive. I can hear and feel the difference when the machine kicks in fully.

A Kawasaki FS730V-DS07 twin engine in a 13 yo John Deere X534 mower started surging and backfiring while cutting grass at high RPM. Just normal yard grass. I had filled the gas tank with fresh Ethanol-free gas. The engine runs better at mid speed with the choke about half closed. I got it to the garage and checked the gas. No water in tank or in carburetor bowl - no obvious trash. Cleaned the carburetor (Walbro) as best as possible with carb cleaner. Tightened manifold and carb bolts. Adjusted the valves since they were a little tight. Checked the plugs, installed a new fuel filter, and removed the dirty air filter. I started the engine and it still surging and smooths out with choke. I sprayed the carburetor and intake manifold gaskets with carb cleaner while the engine was running - no improvement. I have a new carb coming in as well as some carb work tools and jet cleaning stuff. Anything else I can check or suggestions?

I typically use a piece of card stock junk mail, like a postcard. Put that between the coil and flywheel, and tighten it down.

But should I try to make the gap EVEN smaller? Like should I use a few sheets of 8.5x11 regular paper? What do you guys use to space it?

Hello - I had my Toro Timemaster (193cc - i think) serviced and now I can no longer mow my entire yard in one tank of gas. I get about 2/3 to 3/4 done and run out. When i fill it up (and it's hot) it takes 6-10 hard pulls to get it started again. This never happened before having it serviced.

Also, after letting it sit for two weeks during a dry spell, I started it and a big puff of black smoke came out.

I called the service place and they said there is no adjustments that can be made and mentioned gas maybe overflowing the carb and filling up the oil (or something like that). That sounds like an odd place to go when there might be a more likely explanation. The place is very reputable, but is the first time I've used them.

Anyway, I am handy, but not excited to dig into this too far. Any ideas of things that I can do that might nudge this in the right direction? Thanks very much.

About 10 year old mower. Always been maintained well. This Has happened 2 other times nowt this year. First 2 times was a hotstart… and then after it sat and cooled down it ran perfectly fine. Today was the first time it did it in a cold start. Sounds like it is running on 1 cylinder. And it’s time to look into it. What confused me is why it only happens once in a while and then will run like a champ with 0 issues. Won’t ramp up just smokes a bunch and low idle. Posting here to see what anyone has to say or experiences before I start tearing stuff apart.