I've had a Cub Lo Boy 185 for about 5 years now. The Lo Boy would start right up with the slightest pop of the ignition. Idled correctly and the throttle allowed it to rev up. The last time I had this machine running "decent", it was stalling after running the mower for about 10 minutes. 3 years ago I cleaned and rebuilt the carburetor using a rebuild kit from Hamilton Bob's. After that, I was never able to get it to start on it's own again. If I gave it a shot of starting fluid, it would run very briefly and hard, so I knew I had messed the carburetor up. Fast forward 3 years...
Once again -a shot of starting fluid would run the engine briefly and hard. After trying to clean the carburetor again and inspect, I was unable to get it started. I removed all gas from the tank, removed and cleaned the fuel strainer bowl and have ensured that the carb is getting adequate fuel supply. I must have messed up the rebuild. So I bought an aftermarket carburetor.
This is the one I purchased -> https://www.reliableaftermarketparts.com/item/97057/70949c92-70949c92-new-zenith-carburetor-made-for
I installed it doing the governor lever to throttle plate, "wide open" recommendations, hooked up air hose and fuel line. Still will not start. However, when I crank the machine over...it will run very briefly, then sputters out. If I continue to crank the machine over, it acts like it's running, but will only run for 3 seconds after I move the key from the start to run position before sputtering out....The exhaust is constantly putting out smoke and exhaust...so it's cool to pretend it is running.
Also....there is fuel dripping from the cork looking spot directly under the carb towards the air hose intake.
Does anyone have anything I can try or additional steps to get this thing started?
