Regecon wrote:I am attaching two photographs. The first one is a picture of the front of the machine. The second one is of the pump. The pump lever resistance is inconsistent. When I pull it rearward (as if I was pulling it towards the rear of the machine), there is some resistance at times and then no resistance. There is no resistance when I push it forward (toward the front of the machine). The rather large endcap has been buggered a little bit. It is as if someone tried to put a set of visegrips on it. I believe that I have a socket that large enough to take it off. But is the endcap to be removed to refill the pump? Second, what does the adjustment screw do? Should I first try and adjust the pump by turning the adjustment screw one way or the other?
Yes, that certainly looks like a Cadet! Your mech has some later features (such as reel stop adjustment screws) which I usually only see on later models.
The small resistance on the crank which you detect is a good sign; the pump should offer little or no resistance in the counterclockwise direction, but plenty of resistance in the clockwise direction. That's the way it works. The adjustment screw varies this CW resistance, such that tightening it will close down a fluid gallery along the cylinder and make the CW resistance stiffer; in other words, it's a needle valve. Try tightening it all the way down, if it isn't already, to see if you get a better cycle out of it. Otherwise, go to the thread I posted above for instructions on a method to quickly refill the pump without having to remove the end-cap... as you see, it looks like somebody probably already tried and failed to do just that. It's not the easiest thing in the world to do.