Recent content by vintagerust

There are two within an hour of me too but mowers sell for next to nothing, someone brought a truck load of used garden tractors to the one last month, mostly all late model stuff that was all turn key and running, only two green one's went over $100, the rest went for pocket change and I'm not...

They tried that here with a few auctions and no one bid, the guys who frequent the auctions refused to bid online. I feel the same way, i'm not bidding on something I'm not standing there to inspect. If they want to do online, put it on eBay. Now most auctions either get canceled because no...

There used to be a dozen or more huge consignment auctions around here every spring and every fall but now there's none. Its a combination of the auctioneers who ran them getting old and dying with no one to replace them, a lack of attendance, and a lack of things bringing enough money to cover...

I've got a neighbor with an acre of grass that always needs mowing, anyone buying anything is welcome to go next door and try it out, the neighbor won't complain. He hates mowing. It don't take a rocket scientist to look at a machine and see its had no real use either. Anything that's 30 years...

I put new blades on it, changed the oil and filter, the belts and tires were like new, installed a new seat and pan, and listed it for $999. It was listed for two months without a single serious message on FB and CL. I got a bunch of $100 and even one $300 offer if I deliver it 400 miles away...

Found this today, not the usual find but it works as found, missing a few wood rollers but sharp as a razor. 17 passes and it mowed my front lawn in about 20 minutes. Strangely it seemed like less work than using the self propelled bagger. Model number 123.8172 It looks like a candidate for a...

I pretty much stopped picking up the rough one's like that, even if it runs like new you won't ever be able to sell it. People around here won't touch anything that don't match the one's on the floor down at Lowes or HD, then they won't pay more than $10 maybe $20 for one because they don't have...

As far as I'm concerned B&S went out of business when they filed Bankruptcy in 2020, and sold out. Any resemblance of the brand we knew before was likely gone long before that. They started to go downhill once the OHV stuff started to appear. Those motors don't hold a candle to anything that...

I had one of those back in the early 80's, got it from a neighbor who passed away at the time. It was red not gold or copper with some sort of bicentennial decals on the deck, so it was likely 1975-76 or so. It had a Tecumseh motor, they called it 6.0hp I believe but it looked like an other...

I've had quite a few of those with bent rear wheel brackets, either the handle/wheel bracket gets bent or the deck itself bends from being tipped on its side or just rouch handled. The tall handle brackets put a lot of leverage on the corners of those things and they get out of shape. If the...

One of my first jobs was at an automotive machine shop. The place was in an area with lots of farms and big lawn properties. We had about 8 guys, each did a separate process on each motor, sort of assembly line style. We would get small engines in all the time for which we used a boring bar on...

I always figured the governor spring they chose had to do with the deck size, it always seemed like the softer springs were on the mowers with larger decks. Possibly to reduce blade tip speed. Most pressure washer and rototiller motors are set to run slower, likely knowing they can be put into...

Same here, all older models, 3.0, 3.5hp B&S, and Sears with the Eager 1 Tecumseh engines. Many of them run as-found, either out of gas or with a broken recoil cord. What I am finding on them, something that I've not seen before, is Magnetron style coils that won't shut off when you ground the...

Being 'dry' is sometimes part of the problem when it comes to corrosion. We used to soak the points with WD40 to displace moisture and stop corrosion. The oily residue protects the points and has no effect on continuity. I do think that newer points are substandard to what came in most motors...

I've had a 2135 for 20 or so years that I bought without a deck off CL for $50, I cleaned out the carb, repaired some linkage to the hydro and replaced the gas strut underneath and its been used to clear snow and drag a lawn roller ever since. I actually found it a deck but I haven't had the...