Hi folks - I just found this forum when looking online for 'Lawnboy Oil'
I had been out of the active Lawn Boy users for a few years. I had passed my LB on to my son when he bought a house a few years back. It had been generally sitting in the back of the shed because I was using a Craftsman rider for my 3/4 acre yard and trimming with a weed wacker. Well we just closed on a small building lot in town (only 1/4 acre, I'm getting tired of cutting grass and dealing with trees) and I told my son that I would need to start borrowing the LB to keep the lot trimmed while we decide what to build there. He said I could bring it home as they had gotten a sweet deal from a lawn service and hadn't fired it up this year. He had run it dry last fall and put it in his shed.
I picked it up along with the empty gas can and brought it home. Yesterday I bought some Toro 2cycle oil (since it had the ratio for 1:32 misture on the label and I knew I wouldn't find Lawn Boy oil) mixed up some gas, filled the tank and moved it out to a smooth spot outside the shed. I pumped the bulb about 8 times and pulled the cord. It sputtered. I pulled the cord again and it ROARED. It ran rough for about 10 seconds then settled down. I moved it to some grass and decided I need to reset the height. I let go of the deadman handle. It died and I adjusted the wheels. Went behind it grabbed the handle and pulled the cord. I don't think it got 1/3way thru the pull when it roared back to life. I can't say I'm surprised I've used Lawn Boys for years and once they start in the spring they always start.
I realized today that I've been using Lawn Boys off and on for 50 years. Always 21" pushers, never a self propelled model. There were a few years I strayed from LBs. When I bought my first house I was in a city far distant from where I grew up. Couldn't a ford a Lawn Boy but needed a mower. I borrowed one from a neighbor a couple times. It was a generic B&S engined machine. It ran okay and I learned how to nurse it into starting and running. Suddenly he was transferred overseas and offered me the mower (and some other yard tools) for a nominal price. For the postage stamp I had it worked. A few years later I moved back 'home to central MD and kept using the 'beast'. I was at a local hardware/home improvement store (Hechingers if anyone remembers them) and saw a Lawn Boy offered on sale. It looked like it had been used once or twice. the Department Manager told me a woman had bought it because her husband was travelling all the time and she was tired of fighting their mower into starting. That was on a Wednesday. She used it twice before her husband came home from a trip and said he didn't want to be bothered with mixing gas and she didn't know anything about engines. The mower was returned and it sat in the back. It was now September and they wanted to clear the back out to get ready for Winter items. We dickered a few minutes and I got him to come down some more. I can't remember now what I paid for it but I think it was about 50% of list and about 25% below what I had seen the best sale price.
That was 1986. It has been cutting grass ever since.
First Lawn Boy was bought by my father in 1964. It was supposed to be an 18" pusher but the Department store didn't have any for their advertised sale and we got a 21" for the same price. We had just bought a house with 1.5 acres most of which had 'gone wild'. I wish I knew the model number. It had a magnesium deck and the under deck exhaust. The next year I was 11 and Dad figured I was 'big enough' to handle the mower. From then til I went into the Air Force 11 years later it was my job to cut the entire 1.5 acres. The front 1/2 acre had to be kept like a yard. the back acre was a work in progress. That LB handled 1" thick wild rose, sassafras seedlings and wild forsythia. It also took out a few snakes, wild mice and a couple ground bee nests.
I can't remember when we got the second LB. The big difference was the steel deck and that the rear wheels had a single lever to adjust the height. I never really liked that one but it never let me down. Funny thing the month I went to Basic Dad bought a riding mower.
Oh well thanks for listening
I had been out of the active Lawn Boy users for a few years. I had passed my LB on to my son when he bought a house a few years back. It had been generally sitting in the back of the shed because I was using a Craftsman rider for my 3/4 acre yard and trimming with a weed wacker. Well we just closed on a small building lot in town (only 1/4 acre, I'm getting tired of cutting grass and dealing with trees) and I told my son that I would need to start borrowing the LB to keep the lot trimmed while we decide what to build there. He said I could bring it home as they had gotten a sweet deal from a lawn service and hadn't fired it up this year. He had run it dry last fall and put it in his shed.
I picked it up along with the empty gas can and brought it home. Yesterday I bought some Toro 2cycle oil (since it had the ratio for 1:32 misture on the label and I knew I wouldn't find Lawn Boy oil) mixed up some gas, filled the tank and moved it out to a smooth spot outside the shed. I pumped the bulb about 8 times and pulled the cord. It sputtered. I pulled the cord again and it ROARED. It ran rough for about 10 seconds then settled down. I moved it to some grass and decided I need to reset the height. I let go of the deadman handle. It died and I adjusted the wheels. Went behind it grabbed the handle and pulled the cord. I don't think it got 1/3way thru the pull when it roared back to life. I can't say I'm surprised I've used Lawn Boys for years and once they start in the spring they always start.
I realized today that I've been using Lawn Boys off and on for 50 years. Always 21" pushers, never a self propelled model. There were a few years I strayed from LBs. When I bought my first house I was in a city far distant from where I grew up. Couldn't a ford a Lawn Boy but needed a mower. I borrowed one from a neighbor a couple times. It was a generic B&S engined machine. It ran okay and I learned how to nurse it into starting and running. Suddenly he was transferred overseas and offered me the mower (and some other yard tools) for a nominal price. For the postage stamp I had it worked. A few years later I moved back 'home to central MD and kept using the 'beast'. I was at a local hardware/home improvement store (Hechingers if anyone remembers them) and saw a Lawn Boy offered on sale. It looked like it had been used once or twice. the Department Manager told me a woman had bought it because her husband was travelling all the time and she was tired of fighting their mower into starting. That was on a Wednesday. She used it twice before her husband came home from a trip and said he didn't want to be bothered with mixing gas and she didn't know anything about engines. The mower was returned and it sat in the back. It was now September and they wanted to clear the back out to get ready for Winter items. We dickered a few minutes and I got him to come down some more. I can't remember now what I paid for it but I think it was about 50% of list and about 25% below what I had seen the best sale price.
That was 1986. It has been cutting grass ever since.
First Lawn Boy was bought by my father in 1964. It was supposed to be an 18" pusher but the Department store didn't have any for their advertised sale and we got a 21" for the same price. We had just bought a house with 1.5 acres most of which had 'gone wild'. I wish I knew the model number. It had a magnesium deck and the under deck exhaust. The next year I was 11 and Dad figured I was 'big enough' to handle the mower. From then til I went into the Air Force 11 years later it was my job to cut the entire 1.5 acres. The front 1/2 acre had to be kept like a yard. the back acre was a work in progress. That LB handled 1" thick wild rose, sassafras seedlings and wild forsythia. It also took out a few snakes, wild mice and a couple ground bee nests.
I can't remember when we got the second LB. The big difference was the steel deck and that the rear wheels had a single lever to adjust the height. I never really liked that one but it never let me down. Funny thing the month I went to Basic Dad bought a riding mower.
Oh well thanks for listening
