# Deere Weed Eater wont rev up without choke?



## WeedEaterGuy (Mar 1, 2006)

I just got a john deere weed eater for free, it starts fine with the choke on, but when you turn it off it dies. It will rev up some with the choke on atleast half way, but when it does you can tell its not going at it's fullest and bogs down some. When i turn the choke off past half way it dies and wont start with the choke off, it has to be on. And when i checked the spark plug it had some oil on it? Is that normal? Like i said it starts fine just wont run without choke. Would this be the carburetor? 
Im planning to make a tiny scooter out of it with some super low gearing. Yes iv'e seen it done. :dude:


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## hankster (Jan 1, 1998)

I would guess the carb is dirty and needs a rebuild. That would be the place to start.


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## WeedEaterGuy (Mar 1, 2006)

Yeah i kinda figured the carb rebuild? Could i pick up a rebuild kit at the tractor supply? I was also thinking maybe the piston rings are shot? Could that be where the oils coming from? Thanks


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## bsman (Jan 22, 2006)

I would just order the right rebuild kit off the net, much easier. If it's a 2 cycle (which I'm sure it it) the oil on the spark plug could just be the gas/oil mixture. Check the lean/rich screw, could bee to lean ( I think there is a lean/rich mixture on 2cyc. I used to 4-cyc) Turn in so it's snug, then 1.5 out. As for rings, it's hard to tell, because if it was a 4 cyc and puffing white/blue smoke, then you know it would be buring oil. Hence the rings would be shot. But a 2-cyc smoles all the time, because it burns a small amount of oil along with the gas. Good Luck, post if ya fixed it.


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## bugman (Aug 12, 2004)

If it were rings, you'd get bad compression, since this is a 2 cycle, it uses oil in the gas for its lubrication, so its gonna smoke (depending on how rich or lean its set it could smoke more or less) , but bad compression on a 2 cycle, most likely won't start. That oil on the spark plug is probablly the unburned oil/gas mix. As for tractor supply, its worth a shot, but if you have a small engine shop around you, they'll make sure to get the right stuff you need. And depending on the mixture screws, it could have, if its old enough a high speed and low speed (idle) mixture screw. 1 to 1.5 times out from snug is the baseline. My guess is the previous guy probablly didn't use stabilizer in the gas and its gummed. Take the carb apart, soak it in carb cleaner overnight or a few hours, then blow it out with cleaner, and rebuild.


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## bsman (Jan 22, 2006)

What he said :thumbsup:


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## WeedEaterGuy (Mar 1, 2006)

Well i got it back to running condition :dude: I got the rebuild kit from the tractor supply for 5 bucks. Soaked it in cleaner for a few hours, rebuilt it. Put it on, ran clean fuel through it, cleaned the tank out, filter, and played with the high speed and low speed screws, no it runs great. Now i just need to find some gearing to run? I was thinking something like 6/60. My weed eater bike SHOULD move then. What do you think? :freak: :thumbsup:


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## camos85 (Apr 19, 2006)

Forget gears. Just do a direct drive wheel on a bike tire. That will work better. And YES it will definetly move! People dont realize how powerfull weed eaters really are. I got an old electric scooter (you know the ones you stand up on) and weed eater engine. Im using a chain drive system with a pretty low gearing. So far i have been having alot of problems getting the weld to hold between the sprocket and driveshaft. Since no cetrifugal clutch is used, the engine is directly connected to the wheel. There is no key, battery, or ignition. To start the go-ped you simply push foward with your foot on te ground. The problem occured when I tried to stop. The disk brake halted the but the engine was still trying to run. The torque ripps the weld right off. I decided to look at it again. After closer investigation i remembered that the throttle was originally electric and that i had simply added a old brake cable from a bike to use instead. The wires and internal switch were still in tact so i switched the brake cable and the throttle cable around and then connected the switch to "kill" the engine so now whenever the brake is applied the engine will stop and not tear the whole thing apart.

the speed:
I am very close to getting this working. I hafe to grind off the old weld on the sprocket and get a new one and i have to reattach the fuel line (which popped off for some reason) During by first test the engine mounting sustained heavy damage and the weld broke on the sprocket. I was running on weed eater for about 3 seconds and very slowly since the engine mounting bent back and the engine was dragging on the back tire.
The second test (which i conducted today before I came up with the kill switch) went a little better. I broke the weld again when i used the brake. But after i pushed the scooter foward a couple of times the engine started. At first it ran very badly but as I gained speed the engine smoothed out and really purred. At this point I stopped pumping the gas. Now im a pretty big guy (220 lbs) but this thing had to be going at least 15 - 20 MPH and thats at engine idle speed. It picked up speed pretty fast too. I was on a straight road but i didnt really want to totaly open it up because the road was short and it was only the second test.


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## VIR3NT (Jan 14, 2006)

hah, you dont know fun until you put a honda 4 cycle 5hp on a scooter, hah. I built it myself and its heavy as hell, but it works.


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