Using the Honda Governor??

jimraysr

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I figured as long as the Honda GXH50 has a governor I would use it.

My logic being as you hit a rise and the engine slows, the governor would open the butterfly and try to maintain the RPM. Kind of a cruse control?

The linkage was easy, but with the spring from the speed lever (now operated by the throttle) to the governor at a minimum, the engine idles higher than the kick in point of the GruBee clutch.

As the transmission all but covers the governor linkage, it is hard to see if it is adjustable?

Don't want to remove the transmission unless there is something to be gained.

Pride would like to make it work. Practice says go direct to the throttle plate with the cable and forget the governor.

Anyone here that has made the governor work?

Jim
 
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Honda Governor Works!!!

I really made a mountain out of a mole hill on this one. I would be red in the face except I am always red in the face, used to be red headed, Irishman.

I wanted to use the throttle if possible, but the factory setting held the idle above the GruBee Clutch kick in point.

Problem was the transmission covered the governor linkage and the arrangement was unknown and the Owners Manual doesn't say a thing.

I didn't want to dismount the transmission but had to in order to see how the lever was attached and indexed to the shaft out of the crankcase.

Turns out the flat on the shaft is just for reference. The lever doesn't use it. Only thing I had to do was loosen the lever and turn it to the shaft minimum position and re tighten. The engine now idles at a much lower RPM and the clutch isn't engauged.

Nice thing is when the governor senses the carb is starving the engine it opens the throttle a little.

Add that to the original point to have the governor automatically compensate for hills or rises by opening the throttle and closing it when you hit a dip or down grade.

Problem solved for me, on to the church parking lot for sea trials.
 
This must be the biggest breakthrough of the month. Well done Jim. If I'd known this 3 weeks ago I'd have done things differently. I doubt if I could remember how the governor goes back on even if I wanted to put it back. It's quite complex from what I remember and from looking at all the bits and pieces left over in the box.
 
Thanks big time Jim. I have just bought my first Honda 4 smoker and had no idea how to address this. I bought the grubee kit and engine from a gentleman who bought it a yr ago and never used it. Some parts are missing. My question is if I jury rig the throttle cable to the butterfly valve on top of the carb, would the governor still operate?

Again thanks for the information. Really cleared up some questions for me.
 
My prediction is that when you put some miles on, you won't want the governor. You will want direct control of the throttle...but to each his own.
 
My prediction is that when you put some miles on, you won't want the governor. You will want direct control of the throttle...but to each his own.

Think you are right Hough. Again Thanks for taking all the time and all the advice. The pics helped big time.
 
I bought the grubee kit and engine from a gentleman who bought it a yr ago and never used it. Some parts are missing. My question is if I jury rig the throttle cable to the butterfly valve on top of the carb, would the governor still operate?

It is probably easier, if you leave the governor on, to attach a cable to the lever on the side of the governor (the right side of the engine) than to the butterfly lever on top of carb. Jimrayser explains how he did this with pics attached. Attaching a cable to any throttle control requires a couple of springs so the return pull is stronger than opening the throttle. It is hard to do this without having to attach struts and cable barrel holders which is quite difficult although HoughMade's one looks good. I use a lot of Honda motors with Grubee gearboxes and I find it cheaper to buy the carby off the HS engine as a separate item and use those because they have everything attached for a throttle cable and work the exact same as the Honda carby. Recently I've run out of those carbies and if I can't get any more I'll have to devise my own methood like HoughMade's. I wouldn't be happy leaving all the governor clutter on the engine so I'd use the top butterfly thingy.
The answer to your query about the governor is that you won't need it if you connect to the butterfly thingy so take the governor off. If you connect the throttle to the governor lever on right side of motor you will need the governor.
My advice is take it off because it's not necessary and press on with your jury rig throttle controller. Please post pics of your solution so I can copy your technique. Hope it's a really simple solution.
 
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http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm48/dan3xd/inlinespring.jpg

Just made a bracket and used an inline spring return. Used parts from the engager and Gov. Used small arm from original throttle. Back yard work for sure but could be done pretty. Attached small solid arm to cable with a wire nut/stop off an old 10 speed brake. The spring (and now spacer that works as a stop) were the big expense. around 2 bucks. But works great.
 
Throttle cable connection to use governor.

Here are a couple of pictures I took this morning. The bike is on the overhead lift in the carport. I have the rear carrier and gas tank off for painting.

I used a cable strap to hold the sleeve to the throttle bracket. Then an other larger one to hold the spring at the proper length. Of course I backed off the self locking nut that normally provides the tension to hold the manual throttle position.

Finally as you can see, I made a slot in the lever arm to allow the cable in, then tapped the end to trap the cable in place. The cable has the lead slug on the end.

I loosened the governor lever bolt at the bottom where the shaft comes out of the crankcase and turned the shaft so the engine would idle at a minimum speed where the clutch was not engaged. Then tightened the bolt.

Hope this is of help.

Jim

 

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Thanks Jim that's helpfull but a few more pics of the complete assembly including governor etc would help even more.
 
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