That's in the shut off position.

The lever in that last picture that pivots when you move the throttle control is the stop lever as in it stops the engine. The little pivoting dealie that the spring hooks on is the idle stop for the low idle setting and the latch for holding the rack in cutoff position.

As shown in the picture, the stop is pivoted counterclockwise (spring hook to left of pivot point) and the tab below the end of the stop lever has it pushed up and rack is in cutoff position.

You need to rotate the idle stop/latch clockwise so the stop lever can pivot downward. Then the spring hook will be to the right of the pivot point and hold the low idle stop tab so it sticks out to the right and the stop lever will be prevented from rising up into the fuel cutoff position that it’s in when the picture was taken.

As suggested, I got the spring for the brass stop moved up and clockwise so that it’s now on the right side of the pivot.

She started right up and purred away. No coughing, sputtering, or the like. EXCEPT, now I can’t get past a high idle. The external linkage lever will only move from a 7:30 stop position to a 6 o’clock idle position.

It seems like something in the positive locking control group is limiting the movement. Is there a right and wrong way to install the spring loaded pawl assembly in the housing? Other than taking that off I didn’t disassemble anything inside the governor - except to gently pry the idle stop spring to the correct side of the pivot and make sure that the brass lever was underneath brass stop “crescent” - not above it.

First I need to clarify my last post. I said I couldn’t get the throttle past high idle. What I meant to say is I couldn’t get it past a fast idle, just above shut off actually. Sorry about the mistake.

It took a little bit of experimenting but the limited throttle movement was connected to something in the positive locking control assembly. I don’t know exactly what the problem was. It was either that the internal flat head machine screw wasn’t threaded all the way in or it was in the pawls - or a combination of both.

It’s unlikely that I didn’t tighten the machine screw enough but it’s possible that there was something keeping it from seating all the way. I use blue thread locker on fasteners without lock washers. Maybe there was some thread locker on the end of the screw and it hydro-locked it from seating all the way. At any rate If it wasn’t in all the way it could interfere with the pawl movement.

There is nothing in the 318 manual about which way the pawls should face out. I had them inserted with the part numbers facing in since it seemed to match the wear on the cover. In the end I installed them with the part numbers facing out. I really don’t know if it makes a difference - but it seemed to. I’d say if you have a similar problem then flip them over.

Anyhow, I have full throttle swing now. I have ordered a handheld tach so that I can set the governor. Il have some questions about where to position the throttle for setting the low speed idle. Since the tractor hasn’t shoved anything in 2 years I’m sure I’ll have other bugs appear in the very near future. I’ll find out next week.

Thanks for your help and stay well!

Hi doggman,
self created problems are hard to T/shoot as you found out.
Old T/shoot method suggests to go back to the last area or item that was worked on and start from there.

With the Pawls I would reckon that turning them around would offer a less worn ratchet edge and so they would grip better by at least 50%.
Cheers,
Eddie B.