An Unlucky Day for Cold Starts - Maytag and Rare Ideal Lawnmower

[JimmyFarina97]

u need the nut that comes with the spark plug. the wire will clip right onto the nut.

[dirtbike5100]

@JimmyFarina97 Yeah I'll have to look for one next time I'm up at the fleamarket

[timefink1]

did you ever get the ideal lawnmower running??

[dirtbike5100]

@timefink1 Yeah I did! I'll have to get a video of it for you!

[skiddy8619]

Pretty neat collection you have.

[dirtbike5100]

@skiddy8619 Thanks! I've actually got more, one of these days I'm going to film them

[junkster92]

That pully my the kickstarter sheild aint suppose to be there

[taylortownmayor]

@junkster92 The pulley is part of the Maytag Starter-Charger. A pretty rare option that was available from Maytag. The engine was belted to a motor-generator set, sortof like what you find on lawnmowers today. You could start the engine electrically to wash your clothes and also charge batteries at the same time. It charged at 6V so you could charge most batteries of the day. They were also frequently used to charge 2V radio batteries with 3 of them in series. I'd love to have a complete one!

[taylortownmayor]

One other thing, don't try to start or ever run a Maytag twin with one of the plug wires off of the plug. The coil is a feed through design and isn't grounded. If you lift a wire the voltage that is impressed on the old coil insulation will eventually cause the coil to fail. If you want to demonstrate running the engine on one cylinder or start it on one cylinder, simply ground one of the plug wires to the frame or jumper out a spark plug.

[dirtbike5100]

@taylortownmayor yessir, i appreciate it. i wasnt intentionally trying to start it with one cylinder; the nut to hold the spark plug wire was missing, so it kept popping off. but i like the idea of grounding it to run it on one cylinder. perhaps i wil try that, and make a video out of it. Thanks for the tip; please supscribe!

[taylortownmayor]

Your Maytag is a bit of a rare engine as well. The pulley next to the starter is part of the Maytag Starter-Charger setup. Basically it belted the engine to a small motor generator and made the washing machine into an electric start engine and would also charge batteries. The starter charger ran on 6V and was often used to charge 2V radio batteries (3 in series).

[KrankieV2]

on the maytag- get tips for the spark plugs. screw the tip down over that wire to hold it in place.

you shouldn't use that fuel. you should take SAE30 or SAE40 4-stroke oil and mix it 16:1 with fuel (that's one ounce of oil for every pint of fuel, or 8 ounces per gallon)

they need lots of heavy oil for the bearings on the crankshaft. If yuo don't mix the fuel this way, it's going to grind up those bearings!

The high amount of oil also helps seal up the crankcase so it'll run better :)

[dirtbike5100]

@KrankieV2 i appreciate the tips on the maytag. That fuel was already pretty rich, but not 16:1. thanks for the tip

[steamwally]

Love the ideal mower engine! I have some old stationary engines too.

I also have an "ideal" lathe, but that was made in London.