How to Remove LO206 Valve Springs Without Pulling the Head

Engine cold. Pull the plug wire off the plug and keep it away from the plug.

1. Remove the valve cover. If a series seal wire is on one cover bolt, that wire belongs to your sanctioning body. Do not cut it unless their process says the cover can come off. The two Briggs seals on the side of the block are a different seal. Leave them alone.
2. Turn the flywheel by hand until both rockers have free play at the same time. That is compression top dead center. Both valves are closed, and the piston is up under them. The piston crown is what stops the valve from falling in. You do not need shop air in the spark plug hole. If you take a spring off while that valve is open, or you bump the piston down, the valve can drop into the cylinder. Then you do have to pull the head. Do not turn the crank again until both springs are back on.
3. Write down the lash on the valve you are about to open, with a feeler gauge. You will put that same clearance back.
4. Back off the adjuster nut. Lift off the rocker arm and the rocker ball. Leave the stud in the head. Work one valve at a time.
5. Set the KM600 on the head with the open slot hooked around that stud. The forked jaw sits on the retainer, not on the spring coils. If the jaw hits before the clamp locks, or the clamp locks without moving the retainer, turn the threaded adjuster on the clamp so the jaw meets the retainer and still has travel left.
6. Swing the red handle until the clamp locks over center. The fork pushes the retainer down and the spring compresses. The two keeper halves should sit loose.
7. Pick the keepers out with a magnet. They are small enough to fall into the head and disappear. Bag them.
8. Open the handle. Lift off the retainer and the spring. The valve stays on its seat. Do not bump the flywheel.

Shop air is optional. A hose in the spark plug hole puts pressure in the cylinder, and that pressure holds a closed valve up against the seat. It does not suck, and it does not compress the spring. The KM600 compresses the spring. Use air only if you want a second hold on the valve. The valve you are working on still has to be closed, or the air leaks out the port and holds nothing.

A screwdriver on the retainer is how a valve stem gets bent. Use the clamp.

1. Set the spring on the seat and the retainer on the spring. The stem sticks up through the retainer.
2. Hook the KM600 the same way and lock the handle until the keeper groove is clear above the retainer.
3. Set both keeper halves in the groove. A small dab of grease on each half holds it there while you release the clamp.
4. Open the handle slowly and watch the keepers. They should be captured by the retainer. If one pops out, compress again and reseat it.
5. Tap the retainer lightly with a plastic handle so the keepers click home. Both halves should sit even, and the retainer should sit square.
6. Put the rocker ball, rocker, and nut back. Reset the lash you wrote down. Repeat for the other valve if you took that spring off too.
7. Valve cover gasket flat, bolts in a cross. Snug them until the gasket seats. Do not bow the aluminum cover. Put the seal bolt back in the same hole if your series uses one.

The tool for this job is the KM600 Animal Engine Spring Compressor. It is built for the 8mm metric rocker stud, Briggs part 797441. The slot hooks that stud. It does not screw onto the threads.

The 2026 Briggs 206 rule set also allows the US stud, part 694544, which is 1/4-28. That is a different stud. Check which one is in the head before you count on this tool. The KM600 is made for the metric stud.

On a legal LO206, the spring is the stock single-coil Briggs part 26826. That is the only spring the 2026 rule set allows, intake and exhaust. We stock it as the Briggs 26826 valve spring. Reuse the stock retainer and the two stock keeper halves unless they are worn. The rule set calls for stock Briggs keepers.

The flathead valve spring compressor is a different tool for a side-valve engine. It does not do this LO206 job.

Set the exhaust lash while the intake valve is open, and the intake lash while the exhaust valve is open. That puts the lifter on the base circle, off the ramp. Put back the clearance you measured before the rocker came off, unless your builder gave you a number to use.

The "zero clearance" line in the Briggs 206 rule set is only for the valve-lift check at tech. It is not the clearance you run.