I bought this thing at least 5 years ago. After I got it home I fiddled with it a little bit. I seem to recall that I put some machine oil down the spark plug holes. But to this day I never attempted to start it. And the guy I bought it from didn't either.
Now my sons are big and we'd like to bring it back to life.
Since it is so old I'm reasonably sure it's no longer supported by Lincoln.
I will appreciate hearing from everybody who's ever refurbished one.
Among the things I'm wondering are whether we should attempt to get it to run just long enough to determine whether it will generate current.
Otherwise, I'm worried that we might spend the time and money overhauling the engine, gas tank and radiator, only to discover that the armature is fried.
Do y'all believe there is any compelling to reason to attempt to start it or vice versa?
Stated another way, will we learn anything by starting it that we would not learn by doing a teardown of both the engine and the generator and bench testing the components?
I am entirely confident tearing into the engine. But I'm clueless as to what to look for, inspect, test and/or replace on the generator end.
If anybody has a roadmap for a logical approach I'll appreciate hearing it. This thing is on a little home made single axle trailer with no suspension. I'd like to do a frame up restoration. But, like I said, I'd hate to go to all that trouble and only then discover that the generator end is unrepairable.
Is this a valid concern?
Thanks! Vernon