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Some folks have tried loosening the small philips head screw at the bottom of the fuel petcock thinking, as it turns out incorrectly, that it was a friction device. It isn't and backing off the philips screw at the bottom of the petcock will only ensure that you loose your petcock handle. The job of that screw is to retain the handle by fixing itself into a slot cast into the handle body, and by doing so capture the handle.
Instead, remove the screw and the handle which will pop out with a small spring. Clean the handle body and the internal body of the petcock, put a dab of grease on things, but the handle and its spring back in the petcock body, and hold the assembly in place with the retaining screw. Tighten that screw so it won't fall out.
The handle must go in the way it came out otherwise the handle won't grab the part of the petcock that controls the fuel and the screw won't properly engage the slot in the handle. How things go together should be obvious once they're apart and you have a look at the handle mechanism and internal valve.
It's an easy job, shouldn't take more than a minute (unless the spring makes a get-away), and the petcock should work better than new.
Cautions - don't be smoking and don't lose the spring. No gas came out of my petcock but I didn't poke around to find out how the internal fuel valve works so I suppose it's possible for things to go awry if you're not careful. It's best to do this job with the tank empty, or at least with it on its side so the petcock feeds aren't in the fuel, but that's not how I did it.
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