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I bought this last year, and I cleaned the crab and gas tank, changed the oil, and got a new spark plug. It was running but currently won't start. I could use the money for new equipment, so I was just wondering, is it worth anything? Thanks

As I see it not runing isn't worth much of anything. Get it runing first and then sell it. Or maybe part it out and sell parts on E-Bay. Just maybe you can find the right person looking for a old snapper to restore? Hope you the best of luck

Put it on eBay I bet you will get $100 for it. I would just fix it and use it is the best cutting mower ever made

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Is it really that good of a mower? I did have it running, and it cut ok, but you can tell the engine is wearing out. The wheels are wobbly and it doesn't have the self propelled.

You pretty much have to go with Snapper's commercial line to get a deck like that anymore. The wheels would be an easy fix. You could even go with steel ones with bearings to make it even better. Side discharge chute and mulching cover, if you don't have them are fairly inexpensive. Dress it up, clean it up, and it would make a pretty darn fine mower.

Here's a parts list.
http://bsintek.basco.com/BriggsDocumentDisplay/ahenrJvLlSZk.pdf

It may be the best mower ever built, but some people just don't want to repair mowers. This is the very reason I can keep busy
in my small repair shop. The thread is, this old non running worth anything so they can buy a new mower. I can well understand the
reasoning. As I see it this old mower should be completely restored or its just going to be one repair after another. For one person
this is OK but not for everyone. I say see if you can find the right person on E-bay or crages list looking for a cheap non runing
old Snapper push mower sell it and buy that new mower. You may not understand this but not everybody has a compleate set of tools
and do their own repairs big or small. This is the reason I am doing small jobs like just changing oil, filters, and spark plugs.

I understand just fine. Price of parts to make this one usable would be far less than a new mower, even if having someone else do the work, and the end result would be a better mower than many on the market today.

Either way, sell it for a small bit and apply it to a new machine, that still would need to be maintained, or spend a bit to have a very respectable mower that would compare in features to a comparable Snapper commercial push mower.

Yes as for me my two toro mowers are well over 30 years old and still running good because I keep them well maintained.
They also lack all the new safety features and I still have all my fingers and toes. Yes he will have a lot better mower if
he repairs it, but will he do this?? We really don't know his skills or desire to do so. Now if the mower needs a lot of work
with high labor rates and high part prices what will this person want a new or old mower? A new mower has a nice looking
paint job with all the newest safety features which can mean more to some people then others. As I recall the question was
what can I get out of this old snapper mower, not how can I fix it. Which on this forum he would get a lot of good advice.
Lets hear of LawnBoy97 what he wants and lets stick to the question.

No, I would love to fix it up, it's just that I am in highschool with my small mowing business as my only job, so it gets hard for me to decide how to spend my money, even if it is only $20 or less. I would be fully willing to fix it up, I don't know about a full restoration with paint and everything, well maybe eventually, but at least new wheels and some work on the engine would be good. I have basic tools but would be willing to either purchase more or borrow them from a neighbor or my local lawn mower shop, so I'm not worried about that. I'll check out the link, but I was just wondering about the engine, I think I remember it just smoking slightly, like more of a smell of smoke than actual smoke pouring out of it, so I guess maybe I will need to learn how to replace rings? But yeah, I was using an older Snapper Hi-Vac which I really like because of how well it is built, but the engine is only 3.5hp and is starting to smell of burning oil, too. So probably I will get a new engine for my other mower and then start on this one this summer, and maybe I can get back together and how it should be, depending on the cost of course. So now I just have to decide, new engine for my newer hi-vac, or my 20331 Toro?

OK now I understand a high school student and no money. Your best bet would would be is get the Snapper running. It needs 4 things and it will run,
spark,fuel, compression, timing. Start working on it and I am sure you will get help on this forum. Just for a start try a new spark plug seeing it was smoking a little.

It is a pretty new spark plug, but I will check and when it gets warmer I can start looking into it more. It's just no fun to work on a mower in 30-40 degree weather.

Don't worry, I don't intend to preach to you about what you should or shouldn't do, or pretend to know what your intentions are. Just saying, you've got the bones of a good mower there, and if I ran across one like it, I'd be all over fixing it up, and here's why.

I had an older Snapper High Vac that I reconditioned over time, thus keeping my costs to a minimum at any one time. I tuned it up first. New plug, air filter and fresh gas and oil go a long way in keeping the old Briggs running. The front wheels were first, the rear wheels later. They were after market wheels, not Snapper. I picked up a new blade along the way. It came with the rear bagger when I first got it, and I added the side discharge, mulch cover when I ran across them for a good price. I eventually found a good used engine to replace the original. The deck was as sound as the day it was made, so it was worth the time, effort and cost, or at least it was to me. It probably took me the better part of 3 years to do all of those things. I used the mower for 5 years and sold it on CL for more than the total of what I had invested in it.

If you have access to tools of your own, or can borrow them, you're way ahead of the game there. The tools to do most of what's needed are really pretty basic, and common.

Good luck with what ever you decide to do.

Thanks, I understand what you mean. I will have to give it a good look over, but from what I remember the deck is pretty good. Could use new paint, which that might be fun and a good learning experience. The newer hi-vac I have, newer being like 80's or 90's, just needs could use a new engine, and it already has the self-propelled and a very nice deck. My dad bought it for about $50 maybe like 5 or more years ago and it still runs great, but just doesn't have enough power. So hopefully I will find the parts for the old one, and the engine for the new one, to make them both great mowers again. Because I think Snappers are my favorite mowers. Thanks for all the help so far, and I'm sure I will need some advice later on. Thanks

Since you are in Ohio,and in high school,you could just ask a friend who attends a joint vocational school how long the waiting list for customers who want machines repaired is at the small engine repair class. Even if there is no high school program for this,it is almost certain that there is a class in adult education.
I taught carpentry at JVS,and the customer got a real bargain on yard barns with materials + 25% --and the school got 50% of that for lab fees and the student club got the other 50%. At the end of the year,the kids each got a real nice set of Craftsman tools with their surplus club money. Better than blowing it on parties and such...
Then there is Harbor Freight with their replacement engine of 6 horsepower or so,but I do not know if it is a good fit for Snapper.
When these old engines quit running,it is often a little thin rubber diaphragm in the carb assembly that essentially pumps gas to the carbs,or simply a dirty carb.

Hope this helps.

Okay, I will have to look into that. Especially for a shed....... Anyways we had nice wheather this weekend and I tried to start it again, but no luck. There is a spark and the plug smells like gas, but it still isn't running. It does seem like something is leaking from the muffler, it doesn't quite smell like gas, but didn't look like oil, so I don't know.

It's been awhile, so I thought I would do an update. I got the motor running. Just needed some fresh gas, but it it smoking pretty bad and it seems like there is a leak from around the head, and then something coming from the muffler. Then I got the idea to take the engine from my newer snapper and put it on this one, and then use this engine I had lying around to put on my newer one. I am not sure if this will work, as I haven't really checked the shaft sizes, but I really hope it does, because not only do I need more power for the newer snapper, but I am in need of a mower to give to a family member.
http://www.lawnmowerforum.com/build-yourself/15662-3-engines-2-mowers-1-goal.html#post104992
Here's the thread, so if you have any tips, they would help out a lot.