wrenchin on the mule

Did a little wrenching on my mule this weekend. I changed the magneto with the rebuild David Kelone did on my old one as a result of the capacitor failure at Aberdeen. I also had to change the T fitting on the carburetor since I stripped the 1/8" side when I replaced it after checking for pressure on the return line. The old T fitting was partially blocked requiring a higher idle setting to prevent stalling. changed all of that now I have a 6' stream of fuel comming out of the top of the top of the T with the return line disconnected and the engine cranked.

Ha ha! That formed a picture in my mind!( Nick, now has a mule that can shoot a 6' stream)!

Great Nick! Glad to hear the mule is back in running order again after the fiasco at Colemans! Oh, by the way, sorry I have to do this:

Sorry I don't have pictures of the 6 foot stream as usual it happened so fast.

Hmmm, I'm getting ready to swap in a rebuilt magneto from Bill Watson this weekend on my 274A5. I'll try to take some photos although I don't think that I'll try to compete in the stream shooting competition...

I've also got to mount the new tires...

Update:
I had to call Bill while working on my Mule... He has a page on his website that details how to ensure that your magneto is properly timed. Only thing is that the illustrative photos and directions are for a Mule that has the "stock" pully on the crankshaft. Mine was rebuilt at Ft. Campbell in 1981 and was converted to electric start (and wide tires/fenders) and got a double pully installed that does not have the timing mark on it. Bill said that the trick was to pull the nut and washer off the crankshaft so that one could see the keyway on the pully. When it is straight up (at the twelve o'clock position), the engine is in the right position for the Magneto to be clicking. Thus, in the attached photo, I have marked the small diameter pully flange in line with the keyway, the larger diameter is marked with an arrow to show when the magneto should be clicking (inbetween the 28 and 18 marks). I also marked the 28, 18, TDC, and -5 marks on the fan belt shroud.
Hope this helps someone down the road...

Thanks CG for your concession thus leaving me in the lead on the longest stream! Just so you know, it was just a dribble and once I cleaned out the T fitting it became a long shot.

Thats great information on the timing issue. I too have the double pulley setup with the electric start. David told me at Aberdeen I had to move the magneto one tooth to get mine in time.

David told me at Aberdeen I had to move the magneto one tooth to get mine in time.

Click to expand...

Nick, Chuck W. here....your statement above has me confused. Are you refering to the note in TM 5-2805-213-14 that says "For Model A042-KM engines with serial numbers lower than KM003275, turn magneto gear counterclockwise and position magneto gear timing mark two teeth from camshaft gear timing mark", or is this something else? I have timed several mules and always align the magneto and camshaft gear marks, they seem to run fine this way. Should I be doing something different that the timing instructions in TM 5-2805-213-14 page 32? Thanks.

Charlie, If you time the your mule using the timing marks and it starts you are fine. In my case it would not start so we had to skip one tooth to get it to start and then we fine tuned by rotating the magneto. I hope this helps. Next months issue of MVM should have an article on changing the magneto and trouble shooting as my mule died at Aberdeen

Bill Watson's method of checking timing/adjusting timing can be found on his website in the motor pool section.
See:
http://www.m274mule.com/page/page/3903243.htm