My Lawn Mower Repair Thread (56k warning)

[hanyoukimura]

They both look fine. I hope you told your co-worker and LB owner what a fine machine she owns.

Yeah I did, I told her she should take care of it now that its all set, you can't buy one like that anymore.

 

[hanyoukimura]

First u is a little update on the Lawn Boy. I used steel wool and water on the handlebars, and boy what a difference! I can't beleieve how well they cleaned up. not perfect, but much better than before.

The main project for the day was this Craftsman.

I guess its only fair that since the Toro was easy, with a relatively clean carburetor and dry, clean fuel tank, that this one would give me a hard time.

First up thing was to give it a quick was to get the crud off. Then I began work by addressing the ignition coil, which was missing the end of the wire. I replaced it with s spare I had, pulled out the old plug to find it nasty looking, and put a new one in. Next up, the was the carburetor.

Yuck! That's easily one of the worst I've dealt with so far, and only the second one that was so bad it wasn't worth keeping. The air filter was disgusting and the bracket it hooks onto was covered in corrosion...on plastic! The intake manifold was no better, one of the bolts the held the throttle bracket on sheered off, so the entire assembly was junk, I just had to throw the whole thing out. The only thing I ended up reusing was the throttle bracket, which I hit with a little flat black and WD-40 to free up the linkage.

Luckily, I had a spare carburetor, intake manifold, and air filter bracket that were the correct type and in decent shape. A little cleaning and she was good as new.

Much better!

Of course it didn't end there. After I got it back together I went to add gas and and realized there was still old fuel/water in the tank, so I had to take it out, take the carburetor off, and clean both out. After it was all back together it wouldn't start, a shot of carb cleaner got it to cough to life and blow smoke then die. Finally, it started, the surged to a very high rpm while blowing blue smoke. Adjusting the throttle down didn't do much, but when I let go of the blade brake it kept running. Had to yank the coil off the plug. Turns out the while the cable was fine, and the mechanism connected to the cable worked, the release for the brake itself had seized. After freeing that up, I went to start it and ran for second then died. After that I couldn't get it to so much as cough. Pulled the new spark plug out and found some oil on it. Cleaned it off and tried again. Nothing. Stumped, I pull the plug out again and grounded it. No spark! Turns out the replacement coil was junk, so I grabbed another spare, put it all back together yet again, and tried once more. Success! Started right up on the first pull, no smoke, idling at normal rpm.

Now it just needs a new blade (old one is rotted), and I'm debating what to do with the deck. It's solid but could use some love to make it more appealing. I thought about touching it up, but that would mean getting the right paint, which always seems to be tricky. I have some silver paint, I could just use it, or perhaps to make it look uniform, take everything off, lightly sand, and spray the whole thing.

Here it is for now. A lot better than it was.

 

[Two-Stroke]

That's a good tip for the Lawn-Boy handle. I've never tried to make one look better and now I'll have to give that a try.

It's prime mowing season down here so I'm putting lots of hours on my mowers.

 

[hanyoukimura]

That's a good tip for the Lawn-Boy handle. I've never tried to make one look better and now I'll have to give that a try.

It's prime mowing season down here so I'm putting lots of hours on my mowers.

Yeah, I'm impressed with how well it cleaned up.Gonna try this trick on the Suzuki Toro and the Jacobsen.

The Craftsman is all done now. Turned out pretty good I think!

 

[Two-Stroke]

How is your Suzuki-Toro? You may have updated us but, if so, I forgot... and this thread is HUGE. :laughing:

I've been using mine a lot lately and it always seems ready to tear through tall grass. I like the mower so much that I have a spare one ($20, non-running but good compression, etc.)

I was even tempted recently when I saw a couple of commercial Suzuki-Toros on CraigsList (both for $100 non-running but probably pretty good.) That ad disappeared in a couple of days. I think these mowers are getting a following.

 

[hanyoukimura]

How is your Suzuki-Toro? You may have updated us but, if so, I forgot... and this thread is HUGE. :laughing:

I've been using mine a lot lately and it always seems ready to tear through tall grass. I like the mower so much that I have a spare one ($20, non-running but good compression, etc.)

I was even tempted recently when I saw a couple of commercial Suzuki-Toros on CraigsList (both for $100 non-running but probably pretty good.) That ad disappeared in a couple of days. I think these mowers are getting a following.

Well, it's clean and running, but I haven't done much with it yet. It needs a belt or something, since as I recall from last year the belt would slip and the blade would slow down/stop in thick grass. I need need to mow the grass though, guess I need to decide which mower to use! :laughing:

 

[hanyoukimura]

Cleaned up the electric mower I got, looks brand new now.

I've also been working on this Craftsman from last year. Earlier in the thread I mentioned it was really beat up. Muffler had blown off, rear wheel/handlebar brackets were so lose the handlebars just sort of flopped back and forth, deck had a crack at one of the engine mounts.

Still, I enjoy a challenge and have been working on it off and on. I fixed the brackets and recently had a friend weld the crack as well as a metal plate under where it cracked. This of course left and area of primer (he primed the welded area), and Craftsman paint colors are a paint to get, so I got some Duplicolor Perfect Match automotive paint, sanded the area, and painted the whole deck. The photos below are today after applying clear coat, which I will wet sand then buff to see how it comes out.

If it comes out smooth and shiny, it'll have been good practice for the Jacoben I've decided to restore. It won't be orange, since I can't find any metallic orange I had wanted to use. So I'm thinking one of of my favorite reds instead: Chrysler's Inferno Red Metallic.

 

[hanyoukimura]

As of tonight, the Toro is gone to a new home.

 

[hanyoukimura]

So this little Craftsman has been a good learning experience with paint, clear coat, and wet sanding. It coming along pretty good I think, and the lessons learned will be applied to the Jacobsen and other mowers I want to repaint, as well as for automotive body work.

 

[Two-Stroke]

As of tonight, the Toro is gone to a new home.

You sold the four-stroke Toro that you mentioned about two weeks ago -- right? If you sell the Suzuki-Toro, I would hope that you find a special buyer. Not everybody appreciates fine mowers. :laughing:

That painted deck looks great, BTW.