What Not To Do In An Argo or Any AATV

[Swamper]

"taking the Argo to periscope depth"

Hey Roger,
Yea your are right, I was the one who sank it. I was already wet before it went under. But what isn't in the photos is that we we dead straight on to the bank. The bank on the right side of the Argo gave out and I didn't get off the throttle fast enough, and Tim was hopping around in the back before he bailed. I was trying to get out of the Argo next to the bank as it was sinking. Then to keep it from floating away I grabbed the trailer hitch and kept it close to shore until Will got his Argo out of the water and over to winch it out.
There is always a first for everything, and this was definitely my first for going down with an Argo.
"Taking it to periscope depth" would be the operator's eye level. LOL
The starter on my 16hp doesn't have that problem, so would that series of engines have starters that might not have enough windings, or???

Cheers,

Al

[Roger S]

OK after your explanations, I withdraw all my accusations

All those starters have tiny windings, and cheesy magnets. If everything is working right, (compression release), it doesn't take much starter or battery to crank it, after all it's supposed to be able to pull start. My modified 18 doesn't have a compression release now, and there's no way you can pull start it, but the starter, if in tip top shape, still will.

[Swamper]

Yea my 16HP will pull over by hand pretty easy and the starter rolls it over pretty fast. Of course my engine has only about 45 hrs on it, so I would guess that it will get a little harder to start as it ages.
Cam had mentioned that he priced out having the starter rewound, but the shop wanted way more than the price of a new starter. It is puzzling that the starter on one engine in a cetain model has no real problems, yet the same engine in a different model has this problem. Would almost sound like a wiring issue.
Cheers,

Al

[Roger S]

How hard is the frontier to pull start compared to your 16. Maybe we can figure out if it's the engine or the starter. Like I mentioned, cleaning the gap between the commutator segments and keeping the intake valve lash tight makes the difference between mine cranking or not. The compression release mechanism could be faulty.

I imagine the 23 starts good when new, so something is happening. There are a couple different length briggs starters, don't know about vanguards. Also there is a "real" starter from briggs, made to crank an engine that's under load all the time, like a pump. It takes a different flywheel with a steel ring gear. Don't know if it's available for the 23 hp w/ the high output charging system. Wheel and starter would be a few hundred.. but I imagine the stock frontier stuff could be fixed if looked into. The guys who modify engines w/ high compression, and lose the compression release in the stock cam, use these HD starters.