Yeah, the quotes on the word "new" means it's not a new carburetor, but it's new to me. The carburetor that came on this tractor is a Stromberg UR-3/4, which in and of itself is something a little unique. Someone on the Baird Beaver forum took one look at a photo of it and said it was probably from the late 20's/early 30's. Wow, a 90-year-old carburetor. Here's a photo of the Stromberg. If you'll note the air intake of the Stromberg, it is facing directly at the muffler, so an air cleaner won't even fit on it. This carburetor also has a small intake manifold between it and the engine block, which isn't a stock piece for the Wisconsin AKN engine on a Beaver.
Be that as it may, online information is a little light on what carburetor is supposed to be on the Wisconsin AKN engine but I've narrowed it down to a Marvel Schebler VH-53. And a Marvel Schebler carburetor bolts directly to the engine block. Anyway, last week when I had this tractor at our local county fair, it was being temperamental so I went on ebay and happened to find a Marvel Schebler VH carburetor for $24 plus tax. The person didn't specify a number after the VH, but I just went ahead and took a chance that this carburetor would fit since the price was right. Oh, and the air cleaner that came with it is wrong but that's not a big deal.
When the carburetor arrived, I immediately looked for a tag that told the model number. And you know what? It was a VH-53. It's difficult to read the tag but the 53 is there.
One funny piece on the carburetor is poking out the top. It looks to me to be a propane valve that someone added at some point. I will just remove the valve and plug the hole with a pipe plug.
This air cleaner won't work on the Beaver but I happen to have an old generator with a Wisconsin engine that has the correct air cleaner. I'll swap the two items.
The carburetor was in surprisingly good shape for what I paid for it. And amazingly it also came with all its bits. The ebay ad said "for parts or not working", so it could have been missing the float, needle and seat, or any number of other things. I was very fortunate.
I got the carb all taken apart except for the main nozzle, which was very, very stuck so I left it in. That was a mistake...
I'd put the carburetor back together after cleaning and it didn't work right, so I had to take it apart again, and this time I had to remove the main nozzle. I almost didn't get it out because the threads in the pot metal carb body were quite corroded. Some propane heat helped get it unstuck. It took probably 20 minutes of working the nozzle back and forth as it slowly made its way out of the threaded hole.
Before putting the nozzle back in, I filed the screwdriver slot on the nozzle that had gotten a bit mangled during removal.
This next photo shows the "new" VH-53 carburetor on the engine, and the air cleaner from the generator also installed.
I also bought some steel tubing and fittings to make up a hard line to replace the ancient rubber gas line. The engine runs very well now with the right carburetor. I do still need to make a simple steel bracket that runs from the air cleaner threaded hole to a bolt on the engine block.
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