I replaced the base gasket on my John Deere S82 now it will not start. I was told the timing might be out. How do I adjust the timing? I have spark and fuel. Any ideas?

Manuals online.com is a very helpful start point to find instructions

Hi,
Oldie goldie there! First question would be, has it been changed to a Magnetron ignition, has one to begin with. A sheared flywheel key will give fire but not run with a Magnetron ignition. It would not have fire with a conventional ignition. Deere will have only the parts breakdown at that age; seems to show it as a Magnetron.
John Deere - Parts Catalog (http://jdpc.deere.com/jdpc/servlet/com.deere.u90490.partscatalog.view.servlets.HomePa geServlet_Alt)
Peace,
Clarke

Hi,
Oldie goldie there! First question would be, has it been changed to a Magnetron ignition, has one to begin with. A sheared flywheel key will give fire but not run with a Magnetron ignition. It would not have fire with a conventional ignition. Deere will have only the parts breakdown at that age; seems to show it as a Magnetron.
John Deere - Parts Catalog (http://jdpc.deere.com/jdpc/servlet/com.deere.u90490.partscatalog.view.servlets.HomePa geServlet_Alt)
Peace,
Clarke

It ran fine yesterday

Hi.
There are only three systems; ignition, carburetion and compression. It literally must be one of those giving the problem. All of those must be there in the correct quantities and at the correct time.
Peace,
Clarke

It ran fine yesterday

Im new to riding mowers. I have a ton of spark and sprayed eather. The gear slid on the key way. What is the orange piece on the left side of the crank could that be in the wrong place?

Hi,
I am afraid I do not know of an orange piece unless it happens to be the Magnetron and mounted on the side of the coil. They were made in many colors at first to track failures.
The flywheel key is beneath the large nut in the center of the flywheel. You may wish to type in "S82" in that link I already gave. It will bring up your machine. Hit the "+" and take the Sectional Index to view the various parts of the machine. You can use the Print Selector to open a page with Illustration and Keylines; pick the File menu on that page and select Print and you have a hard copy.
Peace,
Clarke

Hi,
I am afraid I do not know of an orange piece unless it happens to be the Magnetron and mounted on the side of the coil. They were made in many colors at first to track failures.
The flywheel key is beneath the large nut in the center of the flywheel. You may wish to type in "S82" in that link I already gave. It will bring up your machine. Hit the "+" and take the Sectional Index to view the various parts of the machine. You can use the Print Selector to open a page with Illustration and Keylines; pick the File menu on that page and select Print and you have a hard copy.
Peace,
Clarke The orange thing was the govenor. I had it in the wrong spot, and I found a dot stamped in each gear. I lined them up, put it back together, and it fired right up