Generator switch broken. Now what?

[5030tinkerer]

I have a little Harbor Freight 11HP generator - the "US General Thunderbolt model 5708", made by McColloch (Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices. My framer has been using it for power on the new home construction site and one of his guys evidently broke it - I found the on/off switch sheared from the base this evening. I am going to be calling McColloch tomorrow to see about getting a replacement, but does anyone know how these switches work? In other words, is there a way to bypass this switch for now to allow the continued use of the generator?

 

[schmism]

Those on/off switches are usually a ground. When you turn it off, it CLOSES the switch to ground the stator? ie no spark.

but its one of 2 things. either it closes the ground circut, or it open's the spark circut. either way its easy to bypass and or wire in a simple toggle switch to do the same thing.

 

[Ford960]

Just take one of the wires off the switch and try to start it. It should run but you would have to touch the wire back on the switch or to a metal part of the generator (depending on which wire you removed) to stop it. Or if you have to, put the choke on to kill it.