Hi Nigel,
I have so far resurrected the Briggs engine and it runs quite well. The action of the gear shift is stiff, and it is necessary to switch off the engine to disengage the gear that I am in, get back to neutral, restart the engine, then engage the other gear. This is a bit of a nuisance. It occurred to me that seeing the age of the gearbox, the lubricant by this time would be past its sell by date and lost its original qualities.
As it happens, I have 2 gear box's. The 2nd is on a spare chassis. That one is presently stiffer, but it seemed an idea to take it apart and clean out the old oil, then replace with new.
Any advice is welcome.
Cheers,
Roy