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Are the vintage Snapper push mowers a good bet to actually use?

#1

dedou

dedou

Hi there folks,
A lady here who likes to mow but I went and got one of those Fiskars Momentum mowers and it's just awful on my yard. Mostly because I have dips and valleys in this lot that it just can't cut well. I see on Craigslist a vintage Snapper push mower near me that I could afford, but want to know what to look for. I did read the sticky about buying used mowers and I guess I'm just wondering if vintage Snappers had a good reputation or not. Other than looking dirty, the photo looks not too bad. Old red deck, white handlebars, ad says "it runs", not "it runs well" tho. And is there a place on this site where I can find out what you all use to clean your mowers and how to go about doing that? I am not afraid of getting dirty, but don't want to harm the engine. Any help appreciated!

Oh and my mower under my member stats says Craftsman, because I thought I had a deal with another guy to buy his used $50.00 Craftsman, but he sold it to someone else after saying I was next in line :( So currently,
no mower and that grass is growing!


#2

Myamada1230

Myamada1230

All I mow with is older snappers, you really can't beat them. What engine is on the one you're looking at?

image-2405723790.png

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#3

dedou

dedou

Myamada1230 said:
All I mow with is older snappers, you really can't beat them. What engine is on the one you're looking at?

View attachment 21050

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Can't tell from the photo myself, maybe you can? Snapper push mower


#4

Myamada1230

Myamada1230

It's got an older briggs on it. Easy to maintain and get parts for, I'd pick it up if the price is right.

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#5

dedou

dedou

Myamada1230 said:
It's got an older briggs on it. Easy to maintain and get parts for, I'd pick it up if the price is right.

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Click to expand...

Hey thanks, wish me luck and I'll chime back in here as soon as I know one way or the other~


#6

dedou

dedou

Going to go pick it up in the morning. I'm sure I'll have questions galore after that. It doesn't mix gas and oil, they're separate. He said he used 10-30 oil in it. Can you help me with what should I pick up to clean the mower with, and how do people avoid getting the engine ruined by cleaning their mowers?


#7

R

redmondjp

First, congratulations!

Second, use straight 30W oil in that engine (it will last longer).

Third, for cleaning, are you talking about the exterior of the engine, and top and bottom of the deck? Any mild soap/detergent solution will clean off the deck along with a parts brush (or old toothbrushes which I frequently use). Then rinse with water. You're not going to hurt the engine if it gets splashed with a little bit of water, so long as you don't blast water at it - if you get too much underneath the flywheel you could cause ignition problems (although I suspect yours has electronic ignition if it was made in the late 1980s or after).

For the engine exterior, any degreaser (I like the foamy Gunk spray) will work to remove the oil residue that inevitably creeps out of most everything on those older Briggs engines. Too much of that will attract dust and reduce the cooling effectiveness. Pressurized air also works well for cleaning off the top of the mower, as well as the engine underneath the metal shroud (which can clog up with tiny grass clippings).

For the underside of the deck, I use an old, flexible putty knife if the clippings are dried on and hard. If you just scoop out the fresh grass right after mowing (if any, depends upon moisture level), that's all you really need to do. You can use water if you are really particular about it, but I have never found this necessary. So long as a buildup of grass isn't present, it will dry out quickly and rust or corrosion won't be an issue. Do use water if you mowed right after fertilizer application as some fertilizers are extremely corrosive.

If the mower has steel wheels, they have ball bearings in them which can be cleaned out by soaking in a solvent, and then rinsing/drying with some engine oil to relubricate. Or, just squirt some oil into them, spin around a few times and call it a day.

Keep the engine RPM high for the best bagging performance, and your chute will likely clog if you try to mow grass that is too tall and/or too wet (so don't get overly frustrated when this happens). At least this was the case with my 1970s Snapper (the newer blade designs may have helped with this issue somewhat) but that one only had a 3.5HP engine on it.

Enjoy your new machine, and don't give up if it needs a few items repaired now and then - any machine of that vintage will and parts are readily available.


#8

dedou

dedou

redmondjp said:
First, congratulations!

Second, use straight 30W oil in that engine (it will last longer).

Third, for cleaning, are you talking about the exterior of the engine, and top and bottom of the deck? Any mild soap/detergent solution will clean off the deck along with a parts brush (or old toothbrushes which I frequently use). Then rinse with water. You're not going to hurt the engine if it gets splashed with a little bit of water, so long as you don't blast water at it - if you get too much underneath the flywheel you could cause ignition problems (although I suspect yours has electronic ignition if it was made in the late 1980s or after).

For the engine exterior, any degreaser (I like the foamy Gunk spray) will work to remove the oil residue that inevitably creeps out of most everything on those older Briggs engines. Too much of that will attract dust and reduce the cooling effectiveness. Pressurized air also works well for cleaning off the top of the mower, as well as the engine underneath the metal shroud (which can clog up with tiny grass clippings).

For the underside of the deck, I use an old, flexible putty knife if the clippings are dried on and hard. If you just scoop out the fresh grass right after mowing (if any, depends upon moisture level), that's all you really need to do. You can use water if you are really particular about it, but I have never found this necessary. So long as a buildup of grass isn't present, it will dry out quickly and rust or corrosion won't be an issue. Do use water if you mowed right after fertilizer application as some fertilizers are extremely corrosive.

If the mower has steel wheels, they have ball bearings in them which can be cleaned out by soaking in a solvent, and then rinsing/drying with some engine oil to relubricate. Or, just squirt some oil into them, spin around a few times and call it a day.

Keep the engine RPM high for the best bagging performance, and your chute will likely clog if you try to mow grass that is too tall and/or too wet (so don't get overly frustrated when this happens). At least this was the case with my 1970s Snapper (the newer blade designs may have helped with this issue somewhat) but that one only had a 3.5HP engine on it.

Enjoy your new machine, and don't give up if it needs a few items repaired now and then - any machine of that vintage will and parts are readily available.
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Great, thanks for all that information! I was thinking of the topside cleaning, but I'm sure I'll have to get more into it than that, maybe right off. I Google Earth'ed the guy's place and it looks neat and tidy, so I'm praying the mower was well taken care of - if it was his all along. I regularly do the putty knife to the deck on a regular mower, as I had to end up borrowing my brother-in-law's mower for the end of last year's season. No idea what year this might be, but no bag is being offered, so I'll have to look for one of those used as well. Bags are just made for that one model of mower they're sold for, aren't they? So about the oil creeping out of all over on the older Briggs motors, how would I know if that was a bad creep or just normal? I'll tell you, I am a total newbie so look out! But I promise pictures so you can see how much you've both helped:smile:


#9

R

redmondjp

dedou said:
. . . So about the oil creeping out of all over on the older Briggs motors, how would I know if that was a bad creep or just normal? I'll tell you, I am a total newbie so look out! But I promise pictures so you can see how much you've both helped:smile:
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They didn't seal up the engines very well from the factory back then - the thin paper gaskets used on the crankcase and valve cover will slowly seep oil that creeps over the whole engine if not cleaned off periodically. And just about every engine seeps some oil where the governor shaft exits the crankcase, not to mention at the oil fill plug/dipstick tube. It's not a big deal, more annoying than anything. When I rebuilt Briggs engines as a kid, I experimented with using only Permatex instead of the gaskets and had good success with that.

For the older Snappers, there were two different types of bag connections to the chute - the older style has elastic around the bag opening which has to be stretched over the end of the chute, which makes it take longer to reinstall. The newer style has an adapter which stays attached to the bag that slips over the end of the chute (called 'easy bag' or something similar, can't remember exactly at this moment) and that's what I would recommend.

There are also variations in how the back of the bag is closed off - the older style bag had a C-shaped clip that held the folds together (took longer to reinstall), while on the newer versions, the entire back of the bag is a hinged door that can swing open after the bag is lifted off of the handle cross bar/rear bag support.

I'd scour Craigslist and Ebay for those bagging parts myself - chances are, you can find an entire parts mower with a blown motor or rotted out deck with the bagging pieces that you need for less than what it will cost to buy them new one at a time. But this may not be an option if you want to start using it soon.


#10

dedou

dedou

redmondjp said:
I'd scour Craigslist and Ebay for those bagging parts myself - chances are, you can find an entire parts mower with a blown motor or rotted out deck with the bagging pieces that you need for less than what it will cost to buy them new one at a time. But this may not be an option if you want to start using it soon.
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Thanks for that information. I've only seen one other one around here on CL, but will look. That one was more than I just paid for this one, but I'll keep my eye on it in case he comes down on the price. I did get the mower this morning:smile: took the ferry over and the fellow selling it felt bad that it wouldn't stay running for him and said he had just had it running for awhile while waiting for me to get there. I believe him, as he was obviously embarrassed.
Anyway, a friend of his drove up and recommended I replace the filter (at least I knew that already) and the guy lowered the price to $25.00, so I'm hoping I didn't do too bad. I just finished getting it home and taking it out of my trunk and removing the filter. The belt for the - what, is it rear wheel drive, self-propelled or? has some little cracks on its edges, but they are small - should I replace, and if so does anyone on here know of an online or paper manual I can look at? I have to go into town this afternoon so will pick up 30wt. oil and a filter then. The oil looks very black and goes all the way up the dipstick. How do I drain the oil? I wish I could find a book or manual on how to take the thing apart and completely re-do it, but I have no garage and I need to mow that lawn and trim if it ever stops raining long enough for my grass to dry. Please take a look at the photo/s and let me know if anything jumps out as needing replacement or help. I just love the broken back flap that says "replace if broken" or something like that.

OK, I just re-sized all my photos and uploaded them to "manage attachments" and am under the size limit, but after I uploaded them, I closed the window and when I just went back to bring them to this post - poof, gone:frown:
I don't see anywhere on this posting area how to add them, either? What am I doing wrong please?


#11

R

redmondjp

To drain the oil, you can remove the plug from the bottom of the crankcase with the mower up on some blocks over a pan.

Or just place the wheels up on blocks and tip the entire mower sideways towards the front of the engine (discharge chute side of your mower) and let the oil drain right out of the dipstick tube - you probably want to leave the dipstick cap on and then drain the remaining gas out of the tank first. Then do the oil.

When refilling the oil, it is a bit tricky reading the dipstick, both due to the clean oil which is hard to see on the stick, and also due to the fact that one side of the stick will almost always read higher than the other because it is up against the side of the tube. Always look at both sides of the dipstick and read the level from the lowest side. Wait a minute after adding oil for the level to stabilize and drain down the tube. When reading the stick, always wipe it clean first and then recheck the level - for some inexplicable reason, oil seems to creep up the stick when the mower just sits there (at least it does on most of my Briggs motors, esp. on the riding mowers).


Your carb (assuming that the pic in your profile is of your new mower) has a diaphragm-style pump in it and these are known to fail (especially at that age). You can get a repair kit for very reasonable, and detailed repair instructions are readily available online. In the short run, you may have some success by using some Seafoam in the gas, and also by adjusting the mixture screw, which is accessed through a hole in the fuel tank support bracket, to the left and up from the spark plug.

The self-propel mechanism is easy to work on - parts and instructions are also available online (do web search and you'll probably find plenty of pictures as well). If it works now, I wouldn't mess with it for the time being. There are several bearings which are replacement items, as well as the rubber friction ring and the belt. You can always mow without all of this working anyways.

I'd suggest downloading a service manual if you haven't done this yet.


#12

dedou

dedou

redmondjp said:
To drain the oil, you can remove the plug from the bottom of the crankcase with the mower up on some blocks over a pan.

Or just place the wheels up on blocks and tip the entire mower sideways towards the front of the engine (discharge chute side of your mower) and let the oil drain right out of the dipstick tube - you probably want to leave the dipstick cap on and then drain the remaining gas out of the tank first. Then do the oil.

When refilling the oil, it is a bit tricky reading the dipstick, both due to the clean oil which is hard to see on the stick, and also due to the fact that one side of the stick will almost always read higher than the other because it is up against the side of the tube. Always look at both sides of the dipstick and read the level from the lowest side. Wait a minute after adding oil for the level to stabilize and drain down the tube. When reading the stick, always wipe it clean first and then recheck the level - for some inexplicable reason, oil seems to creep up the stick when the mower just sits there (at least it does on most of my Briggs motors, esp. on the riding mowers).


Your carb (assuming that the pic in your profile is of your new mower) has a diaphragm-style pump in it and these are known to fail (especially at that age). You can get a repair kit for very reasonable, and detailed repair instructions are readily available online. In the short run, you may have some success by using some Seafoam in the gas, and also by adjusting the mixture screw, which is accessed through a hole in the fuel tank support bracket, to the left and up from the spark plug.

The self-propel mechanism is easy to work on - parts and instructions are also available online (do web search and you'll probably find plenty of pictures as well). If it works now, I wouldn't mess with it for the time being. There are several bearings which are replacement items, as well as the rubber friction ring and the belt. You can always mow without all of this working anyways.

I'd suggest downloading a service manual if you haven't done this yet.
Click to expand...

Awesome, thank you. Yes, that is my new baby in my profile pic. I have the other photos of it moved to "my home" on here, but can you tell me how to bring them from there to here on posts? Thanks!


#13

A

afoulk

I love these old snappers! I think they give a nice cut, and the beauty of the drive system is that even if you break a belt or something while mowing, they are still very easy to push. Some mowers with other types of drive systems are very hard to push with the drive system disengaged. May wanna pull the plug out of the top of the differential and make sure the grease level is good in it. They use a special grease and they all ususally leak a little bit after a while.


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