Couple New Projects

[hanyoukimura]

Well I have a couple new projects! Came across a Craigslist add for two lawn running lawn mowers for $10, one with deck issues. The price was too good to pass up.

They're both basic MTD Yard Machines of a similar vintage with similar decks using 3.5 hp Tecumseh engines, though the engines aren't identical. Now when he said one has deck issues he meant that two of the wheels had rusted off. It's in rough shape. But that's ok because I have a spare deck. As for the engines, both of them started right up on the first pull after 3 primes, so I'm very pleased.

Here's a shot of the "fleet".

Here's the first one.

Not bad under the deck either.

It's deck seems to be pretty solid, it just has some saggy wheel issues. However I can steal the two remaining wheels from the other mower...they're exactly the same.

Now about that other one...

And that's nothing compared to how it looks underneath.

But that's ok, because I have that green 22" (which is also a Yard Machines as it happens) left over from my Brute build.

Couple minutes later...

Ze operation vas a success!

So what's my plan for these? I'm going to clean the engines and tune them up, then repaint the decks and resell them, make some extra money on the side, which can be used towards other projects, like my car!

 

[hanyoukimura]

Not sure if anyone's interested, but if they are here's a little update.

Pressure washed the mowers today, engines cleaned up nice, the orange deck lots a lot of paint, which is fine since it's going to be repainted.


Tomorrow I plan to patch a small rust spot on the orange one and disassemble it so I can get to work sanding it and prepping it for paint on Wednesday, if all goes well.

 

[jt2953]

For the saggy wheels, you could put a short small pipe with a pare of washers if it bothers you. I know i would with me :laughing:

 

[hanyoukimura]

I've unexpectedly ended up with 2 more free mowers. One is a Yard Man with a Briggs Quantum that didn't run, however some new gaskets and a really good carb and fuel system cleaning later and it runs and cuts well. This one is pretty much ready to go pending a new throttle lever.

The other one I acquired (just yesterday) is a Yard Machines mower very similar to the green one pictured above with a Briggs classic on it. Doesn't run either, looks to have the same bad gas, dirty carb issue the Yard Man had. I will toy with that later.

I've finally started work on the red-orange Yard Machines. Stripped most of the paint down to metal on top. I'm debating what to do with the underside of the deck. I was thinking of just leaving it, or maybe get all the paint and grime off, then spray truck bed armor on it.

Has anyone tried bed liner under their decks? Its tough stuff and I'm thinking if I do this it may help keep rust away and be durable enough to not erode away.

 

[hanyoukimura]

The current project is this one, an MTD (all of these mowers except the Brute are MTDs) Yard Machines 114-034F000.

Unlike the other one, which is pretty identical, this deck seemed solid, just pretty rough, so I elected to "restore" it. I want to get better at painting anyway, so its a good project I don't have to worry about making mistakes on, since it won't look any worse! I was originally going to just do the top, but after uncovering some small rust holes I decided it would be best to sand down the whole thing and patch the holes with Plastic Metal.

This is how it looked when I got it.

And after a good pressure washing, took a bunch of the paint off it!

Ready to prime!

 

[hudster]

Don't stop. Want to see it painted and back together.

 

[hanyoukimura]

My pleasure.

Engine being cleaned and tuned up.

And the finished product.

It is essentially a brand new mower.

 

[hudster]

Thanks for posting the follow up and all the pics. Nice job, hope it sell quick for you.

 

[rb411bl]

Well thats a bit of work for an old mower, but well done! I've got a couple of trucks and a k-5 back here if you have some more spare time. ha. ha. ha.:smile:

 

[hanyoukimura]

Sure but I charge by the hour.

It's already been sold to a friend. Fun project, more work than I'd normally put into one, but I wanted to practice body work.