Tillotson HL Carb Rebuild w/pics

[Freehand]

Great post davidbradley360... thank you for adding some more info to the thread.

Best part about this forum is that there is always more info to learn... even from those of us that have been doing certain things for years...

After I had discussed the "88" kits with another well known saw guy here in WA... he told me to yank that needle and seat out of the carb that I had initially used. I will admit there was a noted difference.

So... I wish I could go back and edit the tutorial and reitterate the use of the RK88 kits instead of what I used... which I thought were an "improved" design... maybe the mods will let me do that some day.

Dave? Dan? What say ye?

Gary

I'm glad to see this old thread gettin' kicked up...definitely one of the top ten quality posts on A.S. .At least the mods should let you edit Gary,and I'm giving a strong vote for sticky status

 

[lumberinspector]

I'm in the process of rebuilding the carb on my 2100.

Does it make a difference in the height of the inlet seat?

I've attached a photo of the two. Old and new.

Thanks

 

[ProMac1K]

I'm in the process of rebuilding the carb on my 2100.

Does it make a difference in the height of the inlet seat?

I've attached a photo of the two. Old and new.

Thanks

So long as it's able to thread in the same amount, and the seat of the valve is at the same spot in relation to the float movement, that would work. If not, then definately not. Maybe with adjustment of the float, though.

 

[Deprime]

Does the RK-88 kit work for a HL63? I have a Mac 250 that I am working on.

 

[lumberinspector]

Thanks ProMac.

I have the RK-88 kit so I was suprised to see this after following Gary's thread.

Maybe he will chime in since he went back and used this kit.

 

[Deprime]

Response from Tillotson customer service reguarding major and minor kits for the HL63 Carb in a McCulloch 250.

The parts that you require are

USD

RK89HL 18.65 EA

DG2HL 7.38 EA

 

[Wildman1024]

Sticky???

Can a mod make this thread a sticky?? I have found this super helpful and used it a few times now. I hate having to do a search to find it though.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has found this to be a great thread. Thanks Gary

 

[Jtheo]

This is a very helpful thread, and even I can understand it. That's saying a lot too.

 

[davidbradley360]

Great post davidbradley360... thank you for adding some more info to the thread.
Best part about this forum is that there is always more info to learn... even from those of us that have been doing certain things for years...
After I had discussed the "88" kits with another well known saw guy here in WA... he told me to yank that needle and seat out of the carb that I had initially used. I will admit there was a noted difference.
So... I wish I could go back and edit the tutorial and reitterate the use of the RK88 kits instead of what I used... which I thought were an "improved" design... maybe the mods will let me do that some day.
Dave? Dan? What say ye? Gary

your method does work, basically you can use the forked needle valve lever from the newer captivated needle, on the 88 type needle valve. It would just be resting on top of the needle valve, instead of in the groove like on the improved type. But you can't use the type 88 needle in a type 113 seat, or vice versa- due to depth difference. Only the levers are interchangeable, which is a good thing to know- no harm done there.

since I posted on this thread, I got another 5.8 DB saw running, and found the mixture screws in the wrong holes, and one mixture screw tip bummed up a little- I switched them back to how they should be, and now it runs.

I'd like to stress to anyone getting these old saws running, always change the spark plug- I had one here that was giving me fits and would not start, and when it did it would only run for a few seconds and stall. Sanded/gapped points, rebuilt carb, cleaned out gas tank, changed fuel line, cleaned reeds- still would not run. Cleaned the old plug and it had spark when checked. Still would not run.

I went to Walmart and bought 4 new plugs, one for each of my DB saws- put a new plug in the "problem" saw- it fired right up and stayed running.

the old, bad plugs will spark when removed from engine and checked, but won't run the engine. 2-strokes are finicky on plugs.

 

[lawnmowertech37]

Response from Tillotson customer service reguarding major and minor kits for the HL63 Carb in a McCulloch 250.

The parts that you require are

USD

RK89HL 18.65 EA

DG2HL 7.38 EA

the rk89hl was superceded to rk88hl back in march of 1992

which i can sell them all day long on my website for $ 12.50

they retail for $ 13.34 now i am nice enough to try to save the consumer some funds

the dg2hl changed around the same date to a dg5hl $ 7.20 each
which is also on my site

hope this update helps you
calvin

 

[Deprime]

Thanks lawnmowertech!:biggrinbounce2:

Haven't been in a real hurry to rebuild the carb. Kinda waiting to see if anyone had any input first.

 

[scrampbell]

Gary, crane linked me to your post from here:
http://www.arboristsite.com/showthread.php?t=117181

Thanks for putting all the effort into this great post. I just started rebuilding my first carb (Walbro WT-324) and the only thing more helpful than your post would be if you were working on the WT-324 instead. Thanks again!

 

[Eddie39]

THANKS for the picture tutorial it made striping a carb look alot simpler than i first thought which is great because ive an old carb to strip thats got alot of build up in it through not getting used CHEERS

 

[boda65]

HL 19E variations

I want to start out by thanking Gary for this awesome thread. I'm not worthy!!

I have referred to this thread for several HL rebuilds. I recently rebuilt an HL-19E from my McCulloch 1-72. There were a few minor variations from the Zip carb in this thread I thought I would share. This carb has the low profile fuel inlet. The inlet nipple is part of the fuel pump body, rather than being on the end cap.

Under the endcap, you will see a second boss, which is the fuel inlet into the pump from the nipple. Also, instead of a thin wire mesh screen, it uses a sintered bronze wafer, quite a bit thicker than the screen. I had to use an X-acto knife to enlarge the ID of the gasket, as the filter has to fit inside of the gasket due to its thickness.

The other difference was in the metering needles. There was a less pronounced difference between the H and L needle tip angles. The high speed needle is the long one, and obviously the shorter one would be the low speed needle. These needles do not have the seal, washer, and spring. Instead they use a single O-ring near the outer end of the needle. I used a 1/16 diameter cross section O-ring with a 1/8 inch ID and it seems to fit well. This ring serves both to seal the needle, and provide friction to hold the needle in place.

I put a light coat of thin grease on the O-ring area to provide a little lube so it doesn't bind or cut the O-ring.

I like this lubriplate grease. It is a thin white grease, much thinner than axle type grease. If a little gets where it doesn't belong, it will wash away rather than plug a passage.

Hope this helps someone.
Jim

 

[Freehand]

And why prey tell has this one not achieved sticky status?

 

[ZIPFAN]

tilly hl rebuild

Thanks a ton for the rebuild walk through and pics. You did a super job throughout. I have an old zip and was thinking about a carb rebuild soon. I just stumbled up on your thread, and i was very surprized to find it. This will be a huge help when I rebuild my old tilly. Thanks again.

 

[davidbradley360]

I'd like to add something to this very useful thread about the Tillotson carbs. Just recently acquired a David Bradley Model # 91760002 saw (my first direct drive DB saw) and as usual it had the typical fuel delivery problems due to sitting, which led to running problems- no power when cutting and stalling. Instead of springing for a carb rebuild kit ($15) or diaphragm kit ($6), this time I disassembled the carb and just cleaned it really well and tweaked it. The diaphragm looked like it had been replaced at one time (no severe creases around it). But what I did notice was scrape and rub marks inside the needle valve assembly- some slight corrosion on the needle valve itself, and scrape/rub marks inside the needle seat tube- as if the needle valve may have been sticking. I polished the needle valve and seat tube with 1000 grit fine wet polishing sandpaper (the same grit used to polish metal to mirror finish). Also washed out the gas tank with the garden hose, and flushed/dried it out- disassembled the petcock and cleaned it. Replaced the fuel line and crankcase pulse line that leads to the carb. When reassembling the carb, noticed that the needle valve actuator arm was slightly below the floor of the chamber, but when the stud was loosened that holds it in place, it popped up a bit and was flush. So also polished the shaft that the actuator rides on- then bent the arm up slightly so it was "just" above the floor, a tiny bit.

Now the saw runs great with no cost to rebuild, only labor to clean/adjust.

How you can tell if a Tillotson has a problem, it will become unresponsive to the low speed mixture setting. A saw that is getting proper fuel delivery, will be sensitive to adjusting the low speed mix screw 1/4" turn in either direction. If turning the screw doesn't change the idle, then the saw is running either too lean or too rich, so the screw can't adjust anything- the mixture is totally out of the ballpark, beyond the low mix screw adjusting capability. Typically when the carb gets worn, the saw goes lean and doesn't get enough fuel and wants to stall for no apparent reason.

Now this saw responds to the slightest turn of the low mix screw. I don't know how long this no-buck no-cost fix will last, but if it goes sour I can always then invest in a $6 diaphragm kit. To be honest if a saw has a metallic needle valve and seat with the rubber insert, the needle/seat can easily be made to work by lightly polishing it. All it does is turn the fuel on and off. But if a diaphragm is worn, then it has to be replaced, because on these types of carbs, the diaphragm acts as both the fuel pump and float. It provides the fuel pressure to force the fuel into the metering circuits of the carb, and opens/closes the needle valve at the same time.

 

[davidbradley360]

Thanks a ton for the rebuild walk through and pics. You did a super job throughout. I have an old zip and was thinking about a carb rebuild soon. I just stumbled up on your thread, and i was very surprized to find it. This will be a huge help when I rebuild my old tilly. Thanks again.

per above, I suggest just try a carb clean/adjust first- about half the saws I get, respond to just a good cleaning/adjusting, and in fact don't really need a rebuild kit. Most of the carbs and fuel tanks have foreign gunk and dirt buildup in the gas tank and carb over time- and sludge from old gas.

 

[john taliaferro]

Thanks a lot of help

 

[arrow13]

Outstanding photo tutorial and follow up by other members. Thanks everyone! Although I do not have a saw with this type of carb, I sure learned a lot and will know where to go when I do find a saw with these carbs.