The Carburetor Chronicles Part II: A Linkage in Time
Last week, I fixed my chainsaw by fixing a carburetor that didn’t need fixing, so this week I decided to level up by fixing a truly broken carburetor on an old push lawnmower. Sounds simple, but add in a five year old orbiting, playing with your tools, while you’re trying to fiddle with tiny screws and delicate linkages, and it is the equivalent of a psychological experiment.
“Dad, I’m going to hammer some nails.”
“Great.”
“Dad, can I play with this spark plug?”
“No.”
“Dad, we need to put some gas in the tank?
“No we don’t.”
“Dad, I’m going to pull this rope” [pulls starter rope]
“Stop!”
The good news is I got the new carburetor on and the lawnmower running again. The bad news is I apparently mixed up the two linkages on the throttle, so the lawn mower was surging. I am not sure why I was even trying to fix this old lawn mower–maybe for nostalgia’s sake?–as it had been sitting in the barn unused for ten years or more, in the same place it’s been since it quit running. When Natalie and I first started renting the old farmhouse from her grandparents, I actually pushed our yard because we couldn’t afford a riding lawn mower. Back then, Fitbits and fitness trackers weren’t really a thing yet, but I’d love to know how many steps I took on a weekly basis cutting grass. All I know is I look a lot slimmer in pictures from that time.
“Dad, why does it sound funny?”
“I don’t know. I think I did something wrong.”
“Why did you do something wrong?
“That is a good question.”
“Well, how do you fix it?”
“That’s another good question.”
Of course, I had to take the new carburetor all the way back off, but Thomas came in handy this go round as he was able to find a tiny screw I dropped in the grass. Once we got the carburetor back on with linkages connected correctly, the lawnmower revved and ran like old times.
“Dad, can I push it?
“Maybe one day,” I said, “maybe one day.”
Nostalgia is a funny thing.