Handle ripped off Mantis tiller

The following was extracted from the Mantis owners manual..

At some point, you may find that the tines won't turn when you press the throttle. This may mean the engine isn't sitting all the way down on the worm gear housing. Perhaps you've been using your Tiller
for several years. Or perhaps you've removed the engine for use with the Mantis hedge trimmer attachment, then replaced it. In either case, the flange bolt may have come loose and lifted the engine up.
If this happened you'll notice a gap between the bottom of the engine clutch case and the top of the worm gear housing.

To fix this, loosen the flange bolt. Take the engine off the worm gear housing. Notice the hex head on top of the drive shaft . Inside the clutch case, you'll find the clutch drum. Make sure the hex head
lines up with the clutch drum inside the clutch case. Then put the engine back on the worm gear housing. Make sure the plastic carrying handle is not under the fuel tank. If you've followed these steps properly, there will be no gap between the clutch case and the worm gear housing. Make sure you tighten the flange bolt.

all of the mantis tiller manuals can be found here:
http://mantis.com/mantis-owners-manuals.asp
just pick out the appropriate one and away you go.

as far as starting it goes, make sure the switch is set to "I" and not "O" (top handle.) be sure you have gas in it, pull out the choke knob (front of the tiller) and depress the bubble once. pull the engine cord until the machine tries to start, then push in the choke and pull again - the engine should start within a couple of pulls. let it warm up before you try to do any tilling, and you're good to go!

take the crank rope cover off and in between rope reel and cover there is a wind up spring either its broke or has come out of its slots.

The coil spring has either broken or come loose inside the pull rope housing. You must disassemble the housing to fix it.

Jim

Look here. Select yours from the list based on your model and engine, year of purchase and type of handles.

good luck.

nb

Electric tiller, and it will not run ?
I would check the cord that you plug into.
You must remove the plastic housing, by removing the screws.
Next look at the plug, is it in good shape, has anything been pulled out of it ?
The motor brushes should also be inspected.
Please let us know, we repair all Mantis equipment.

Your problem is a common one on Mantis tillers. The engine sounds like it is not breathing properly. I have fixed dozens of these problems and it is almost always the spark arrestor clogged up. The spark arrestor is found inside a small housing on the muffler (easy to fix). There are 3 screws that need to be removed to get the muffler cover off, then you will see a small housing a little over an inch long with another 3 screws...remove them and you will see a small screen that is probably clogged. Clean it and the housing with a solvent (I usually use carb cleaner) then re-install the arrestor and reassemble the muffler cover. This will fix your problem about 80% of the time.

If that is not the problem you may need to fix the carburetor (take my advice and just buy a new one...not much more expensive than the repair kit and a lot simpler.

I had same issue with my 2 year old 4cycle. Check if the carb is moving full stroke with throttle movement. I had almost no movement at carb at full throttle, found the trigger in throttle handle was cracked and bent rather than pull cable. I called mantis and they promptly sent a new handle bar ***'y with new cable, throttle ***'y Etc and that solved my problem.

BTW: If you cannot wait, I did figure out that if I pushed the carb to open with the throttle trigger fully pulled it would run at high, but when you let go.....LOL

Rich in Wethersfield, Ct

OOOPS...this sounds bad, like a locked up motor. If it is a 2 cycle engine it is especially bad...and it probably is toast. Take it to a shop and have someone check it out, but doesn't sound good..Sorry

it sounds like the recoil spring in the "housing" is jammed( or something is broken) youll have to take this apart without breaking it. you may have internal engine damage if it was unusually hot and the pullcord jammed. try using a richer oil mixture for fuel also if you fix the pullcord. hope this helps, keep me posted.