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OK,so I've been pondering the idea of using my 96 Grumman (Chevy Chassis) step van (12' box area in back) for my mobile small engine rescue mobile van and I've got the whole right side of the van that has custom made wood shelving cubby holes that are about 15" wide, 9" tall, and maybe 15-18 deep.

I work on chainsaws, weed eaters, edgers, blowers, trimmers, mainly two stroke stuff but, I do get the occasional mower thrown in at a good deal.

I've got a 4x8 stake bed trailer I can tow behind it but, with the step bumper I have on the back, I'm a little concerned how low the receiver hitch would be once I mounted it underneath.

OK, so, remember all those bins I mentioned?? I'd like to have a good stock of parts to put in them. I'm talking basic repair parts like a few sizes of gas line, gas filters, spark plugs, weed eater heads, string, chains for saws, etc.. etc..

I've got a pretty decent supply of used parts already for a lot of weed eaters, a few chainsaws that I've been picking at, some blowers..

So, if you had like maybe $500-1000 to stock up your truck for the season, or a month, or however long that would last you, what would you buy?

I know that's not a lot of money, I'm just trying to figure out like what percentages of your stock would be on plugs, versus gas line, filters, etc..

Any recommendations on where you'd buy the parts from would be very helpful as well.

Wow, over 260 views and no one has anything to say?

If you're not running a mobile van, how about some ideas on what you sould spend $500-1000 on in parts and supplies to use in your shop?

Maybe I'm in the wrong forum, does anyone do repair work on this forum??

Common belts, common cables, common carbs, common blades, starter parts both recoil and electric, and most hand tools

Bulk starter cord and a few spare handles, spark plugs, air filters, primer buttons and gaskets, LOTS of carb cleaner. You can go a long way with those parts and they are for the most part very inexpensive. Maybe keep a few basket case engines in the back in case an odd part comes up needing replacement.

For mowers, the only parts I stock up on are Tecumseh air filters and primer buttons, Briggs flat head diaphragms (various types), Briggs Quantum air filter/primer gaskets, spark plugs and starter cord. Those alone will fix 90% of mowers I get in. I always keep a few spare engines around to pull things like cylinder heads or oil sumps if I need them. Usually on the flat heads I replace the entire carb/tank assembly with a working one and keep the old one for a rainy day. This is for mowers mind you and $200 would be many months worth of those parts especially how I keep track of who has the best prices in town, the other stuff I'm not as familiar with.

edit: If you have a power inverter and a bench in there you could get a bench vice and sharpen/balance blades too.

Excellent information Verve.. Just what I was looking for. I've got a lot of storage bins in my van and putting things like gas tanks, and recoil units in them would fit nicely.

I do have in inverter for my van and even plan to run a marine battery in it so I don't run down my van battery. Also have a small bench grinder but, may swap it out because it's a 5" size and it's a royal pain to find any decent wheels for it. I need a good wire brush wheel to mount on it.

I've also got an older 4000 watt generator I can haul around but, friggin thing weighs a ton. Might use my 1800 watt generator for that purpose. I've got a small compressor that's used for roofing nailers I've really been thinking of adding to one of the bins. Nice to blow things clean and use the occasional air tool. Filling tires, light ratchet use, impact maybe.

You mentioned you're buying your parts locally?? Man that's got be pricey.. I've been searching the internet for decent pricing and things like gas line and primer bulbs are pretty tight. I went to a local repair shop the other day because I need a rare belt for a Tomahawk chipper hammermill and picked up some gas line there.. It was $2.00 a foot!! That's over twice what I'd have paid if I bought it online. Still on the search for buying bulk primer bulbs. Those dang weed eaters eat those things from the inside out.. That and a stock of airline hose and I can get most of them running fairly easily.

I'd definitely like to get a good selection of plugs to save me trips to the local shops. Picked up a good batch of plugs still in their boxes at an estate sale for $15 along with some other odd tools.. I've used 5 of the plugs already and that's paid for the lot easily.

I'd like to find a list of generic plugs that will fit a variety of machines. I guess I can go pull all the plugs from my assortment of weed eaters, chainsaws and blowers and just come up with one that way. It'll take a little work but, if I can stock those various plugs and get them at decent prices online somewhere, it's money earned all day long.

Thanks for your input. I'll be looking for a spool of starter rope and a batch of handles.. also saving every handle, rope of decent shape and recoil set that I can come across. I've already repurposed a couple of the recoil sets.

For me shopping locally is the only way to go. Retailers overcharge by a huge margin to ship to Canada, even going as far as including an import fee to cover duties, even though there are zero duties on shipments with under $100 value. Prices definitely are cheap if you shop around and buy things when you happen to be at or near the store. For example, Home Hardware stocks Tecumseh filters for about $3.50 each and about the same price for primer bulbs. A that same filter would be almost $10 or even more if bought online. Wal-Mart has good prices on plugs, any hardware store or camping store for the nylon rope, buy the best you can get, it isn't much more expensive and will have a much better feel and wear. Briggs Quantum gaskets I do buy online, they are much cheaper that way. I actually keep a list on my computer with common items and where to buy for the best deal, and when I happen to be at Home Hardware for example, I will typically empty the stock they have on the shelf, usually 3 or 4 and keep them in my workshop. I also keep an eye out in the clearance section of all these stores. I may not need a 21" Murray specific blade right now, but for $5 I'm sure it will come in handy in the future. I have about 10 blades, new and used, hanging on a couple of hooks in the shop. I also have a small supply of new bolts. Look at the common bolts that hold together recoil assemblies and such, there really are only a handful of bolt types. I took a few and matched them at the hardware store, and keep them in separate bags for when I need one. They are very cheap so they don't break the bank. The hardest part to get is blade brake cables. I have 5 mowers in stock waiting for me to buy these cables. They don't seem to be available locally so Sears has to order them in. Yes, here Sears is still much cheaper than buying online...

Briggs Flathead (and a lot of other small engine stuff like weed whackers) filters are a wash and re-oil type, so it couldn't hurt to have a small wash tub, even just a Rubbermaid container with soapy water.

Vervepipes said:

For me shopping locally is the only way to go.

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I tend to do a good bit of that as well. I love hitting yard sales for chainsaws and weed eaters that I can get dirt cheap (Paid $2.00 for a Craftsman Brushwhacker, $5 in a primer bulb and 6" of new hose and it was running and ready to turn), usually $5-10 per unit.

But, where you really find some of the good stuff for our business is estate sales. I've picked up boxes of new spark plugs, many quarts of 2 stroke oil, spools of weed whacker cord, lawn mower blades, pretty much everything at estate sales for virtually pennies on the dollar. A different type of people generally go to estate sales than yard sales. Estaters tend to be the collectors of the group and they aren't really looking too much at what's in the garage area or out in the tool shed.

A LOT of my hand tools like nut drivers have all been picked up at yard sales for as little as .25 to .50 cents each.. Even scored a Craftsman 18v Evolv drill driver with battery and charger this past weekend for $3.00. Had to attached the charging cable to the base because someone had cut it but, it charges and works great.

For those cables, that's definitely one thing I'll grab off a mower before I have to totally scrap it.. The handlebars are another keeper if they're in great condition. Sometimes you can reuse the motor, other times it's just the deck but, a lot of them are universal.. Ohh, and I always take the blade off the motors if the motor is destined for the scrapper. My wire wheel on my bench grinder cleans them up, then a good sharpening and a coat of Rust O'leum paint (.50 a can at yard sales) helps keep them from rusting a bit more.

Still trying to decide what I want to put in my step van but, it's getting closer.. Gotta stop and answer phone calls, fix stuff, and sell stuff all the time..

Too get hooked up with the mower distributors, you need to get a state sales tax number, and set up accounts, etc., for
dealer pricing, I have pretty much retired from the repair end, so I no longer have a tax number, but I still have a few accounts
that let me order still, they just have to charge me the state sales tax, if you lived on the eastern side of the country, I could hook you up, but they are fairly regional.
But I am sure that you have some folks around there that are dabbling in the Dist. status arena, and they carry a line card that includes Stens, Oregon, Rotary, etc, as well as Poualan/AYP, Homelite, etc. And they could probably also sell you Briggs
and Kohler at a 10-15% discount, maybe.

Roselyn said:

I study small engine repair, which requires frequent visits to a large campus that has many small engine-powered equipment. I envision a 'mobile' version of my classroom laboratory which would be housed in a van and stocked with various shop tools. This would allow me to bring the shop experience to remote classes and make mobile repairs of small engines, such as lawn mower and chainsaw, easier, more convenient and more efficient.

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Good Idea
Do you have a question?
The thread you tacked this onto is 8 years old

That mobile thing sounds interesting. But working in a comfy setting, where you know where everything is, and you have everything at a hands reach, is much easier. Plus you get the pick up & delivery charge that's help with the gas. Driving all over the place, unknown locations, dealing with kids, their pets, ants, and lord knows what else. I did a few mobile repairs. But always had to take the equipment to the shop, or go back to the shop for something.

I get around most people wanting onsite service by charging an higher labor rate for onsite service for the reasons you mention PT. To do full time onsite would require me to purchase huge enclosed trailer with generated power. This way I could carry most of my tools and many of the parts needed. Which in turn require me to purchase a bigger pull vehicle. Matter of fact I would something the size of a big rig and trailer.

Most customer will find a way to get the equipment into my shop.

Hand helds and push mowers must come to me
However I am happy to do on site jobs & my customers really appreciate it
I charge out at the same rate but book out an extra 1/2 hour .
The mobile tool box lives in the van with it's own set of ( cheap ) tools
Mostly this is for breakdowns and most times I do a temporary repair then book the mower in for a full service
Now I only do 1 or 2 jobs a day so it is not like it costs me money and in any case I am yet the build the trailer so I am limited to 48" decks on the trailer
I always find it funny that some one will buy a 10 acre block but not have a vehicle that can tow a trailer .
The shops from town charge $ 100 ( aus ) each way for pick up & delivery

bertsmobile1 said:

Hand helds and push mowers must come to me
However I am happy to do on site jobs & my customers really appreciate it
I charge out at the same rate but book out an extra 1/2 hour .
The mobile tool box lives in the van with it's own set of ( cheap ) tools
Mostly this is for breakdowns and most times I do a temporary repair then book the mower in for a full service
Now I only do 1 or 2 jobs a day so it is not like it costs me money and in any case I am yet the build the trailer so I am limited to 48" decks on the trailer
I always find it funny that some one will buy a 10 acre block but not have a vehicle that can tow a trailer .
The shops from town charge $ 100 ( aus ) each way for pick up & delivery

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$200 for P&D? Sounds like he doesn't like P&D. LMAO..
Why not do push mowers on location? Those are easy peasy, usually.

It is 10 miles to town from here & 15 from the edge of my service footprint.
SO that is a 20 to 30 mile round trip , not much change out of 1 hour.

Set fee servicing
Push mowers - $ 45 + parts
SP mowers = $ 60 + parts
Tractor ride ons $ 350 + parts
ZTR's = $ 400 + parts

I only know of one tech who does home servicing of push mowers and he charges $ 30 Flat fee, filter, plugs , oil & blades included .
He also replaces starter ropes ( no extra ) and wheels +/- bearings for extra
And this is to SERVICE a running mower and he does all of them twice a year.
However he does them in runs so he will do an entire street / suburb in a single run over a day or 3
He buys the oil in 44 gallon drums directly from the blender and the filters in hundreds direct from the factorys in China so gets them for a few pennies
Blades come through the wholesalers in workshop packs of 1000 pairs (we use swing back blades ) , don't know where he gets bar blades from as very few wholesalers keep much in the way of Yankee push mower bar blades down here .
Thus he is only a couple of minutes between jobs and can knock over up to 40 / day on a good day
And because he sees every mower every 6 months knows exactly what is needed to be done to each of them
Calls himself "First Pull Mower Servicing" does not advertise & works a 5 day week , cash only .
I get some cast off repairs of hand helds for some of his customers that are reasonably close ( about 15 miles away )
Tells me he has around 2500 customers
I bump into him now & then when picking up parts from one wholesaler.
Now I can see Honda SP owners paying $ 60 / year for servicing mowers that are all north of $ 1000 be he reckons about 1/3 are supermarket home brands that were $ 100 to $ 200 brand new

I was a traveling service rep for 40 years. Had its plus and minuses. The local JD dealer i get parts from has a mobile service van and wanted to hire me to run mobile mower service with it. I told the owner no thanks. He can't keep anyone to do it. I don't do mobile service. I have a 6 x 12 trailer and most of my business i pick up and deliver. It would take a very large outlay of cash to properly purchase and outfit an enclosed trailer to do mobile service. I probably wouldn't live long enough to turn a profit. Some folks think charging $150 an hour for mobile service is outrageous but it isn't. By the time you figure in all the overhead like fuel, vehicle insurance, liability insurance, vehicle payment, vehicle maintenance and the like $150 isn't wrong.

I did field work myself for 16 yrs.Actually it was considered one man service office. Many times I had to make second trips after parts came in. And that particular work didn't need the tools I need for the repairs I do now. I have done some local on site repairs and it took several trips most times as I always seem to need tools and parts that I did carry with me on the first trip.