tecumpseh/wheelhorse

[Larry Harding]

my 14 year old neighbor loves to fool with old lawnmowers and someone gave him a rough but restorable wheelhorse riding tracror/mower with a 10 horse tecumpseh engine. it has no spark, so we removed the shroud and flywheel to check things out the plug wire goes into a potmetal box mounted above the flywheel with one wire going down in to the alternator coils. there are no points anywhere that i can see. this setup is nothing like tecumpseh magnetos i have dealt with over the years. i don't know how old the tractor is but i didn't think it new enough to have electronic ignition, but i could be wrong. anybody know how to check out this system?

[Chris Waskosky]

Is that the one with the vertical shaft engine? if so they were an odd duck. I have 1 good unit and a parts one. They used that vertical shaft engine, and had a cast iron block. If this is the one, then you are correct in your assumption that that box is the ignition control module assy. Our local wheel horse dealer is a real old boy that has been dealing with them since the beginning and he said that wheel horse wouldn't admit to building them later on as they were such a terrible unit. I guess that is why I hang onto mine! LOL.

[Larry Harding]

this engine has a horizontal shaft. i will try to get the engine number later

[Randy Hart]

Larry, That is big T's idea of electronic ignition.. I worked on Wheel Horse from 1978-1994 and we had an extra unit around to swap out for testing..
Very costly and I'm not aware of a simple fix.. If I remember correctly there was a trigger unit and raised pins on the flywheel that triggered the coil..
Good luck.. Randy Hart Ohio

[Ed Stoller]

It sounds like a TECUMSEH HH10O or HH120 from the late 1960's or early 1970. The are covered a little in the TECUMSEH 8 TO 18 HP Cast Iron Four cycle Engines, form 691462A. The are a Capacitane Discharge Ignition ( CDI ) or electronic ignition. I replaced mine with a Mopar transistorzed ignition. edstoller at earthlink dot net

Ed

[Walter Kaufman]

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Originally Posted by Ed Stoller

It sounds like a TECUMSEH HH10O or HH120 from the late 1960's or early 1970. The are covered a little in the TECUMSEH 8 TO 18 HP Cast Iron Four cycle Engines, form 691462A. The are a Capacitane Discharge Ignition ( CDI ) or electronic ignition. I replaced mine with a Mopar transistorzed ignition. edstoller at earthlink dot net

Ed

Ed, did you use the pickup out of the distributor and the electronic modual or re-work the original Tecumseh CDI using the MOPAR components?
Thanks Walt Kaufman

[Ed Stoller]

Walt,
I made my own trigger coil out of a bobbin from my wifes sewing macine; she wond some thin wire on it for me like filling it with thread. I taped the center of the bobbin 1/4 x 20 and mounted the bobbin on a 1/4 inch bolt, drilled a 3/16 dia hole about 1 / 16 deep in the head of the bolt and mounted a rear earth magnet from RadioShack in the hole with JB Weld. I made a bracket from some folded sheet metal and mounted the trigger on it. This was the most time consuming part since it deternines the ignition timeing and and spark advance from TDC at start to about 14 degrees for run. I would include a picture but don't know how to.

All most any coil would do, like one out of a lawn tractor starter selonid.

Ed

[Walter Kaufman]

Thanks Ed , This sounds like a good fix
Walt Kaufman