My Lawn Mower Repair Thread (56k warning)

[Two-Stroke]

Thanks for the photos of the 2-stroke Briggs. I can't remember ever seeing one of those. It's labeled commercial so I guess it would be very durable.

Please let us know how that comes out.

 

[hanyoukimura]

All kinds of good stuff today!

I was given a couple of weed wacker by a coworker. A Homelite and a Weed Eater. The Homelite is missing parts and is a pretty cheapo one, so I may just get rid of it on Craigslist. The Weed Eater is a pretty beefy machine and looks to be complete, so I'll try to get it running then sell it.

Then this evening another coworker brought me 4(!) chainsaws to look at. Identical Craftsman and Poulan models, some other brand...I think Jonsered, and an older tank of a chainsaw by John Deer. They want the JD and the Poulan fixed and they'll give me the other two as payment for labor.

Finally when I got home tonight a MTD push mower greeted me from a guy who bought one of the Brute's last year. He'd like to get it running to have a mower at his father's house. Apparently he tried but had problems, so I'll fix it for him. Pictures tomorrow if weather permits.

 

[Two-Stroke]

All kinds of good stuff today!

I was given a couple of weed wacker by a coworker. A Homelite and a Weed Eater. The Homelite is missing parts and is a pretty cheapo one, so I may just get rid of it on Craigslist. The Weed Eater is a pretty beefy machine and looks to be complete, so I'll try to get it running then sell it.

Then this evening another coworker brought me 4(!) chainsaws to look at. Identical Craftsman and Poulan models, some other brand...I think Jonsered, and an older tank of a chainsaw by John Deer. They want the JD and the Poulan fixed and they'll give me the other two as payment for labor.

Finally when I got home tonight a MTD push mower greeted me from a guy who bought one of the Brute's last year. He'd like to get it running to have a mower at his father's house. Apparently he tried but had problems, so I'll fix it for him. Pictures tomorrow if weather permits.

That's a very good brand. I've never had one but would buy one if I got a good deal. Most chainsaws made for the consumer market these days are so junky that I wouldn't waste my time working on them.

 

[hanyoukimura]

That's a very good brand. I've never had one but would buy one if I got a good deal. Most chainsaws made for the consumer market these days are so junky that I wouldn't waste my time working on them.

Cool, if I get it running I'll know which one to keep. :smile:

 

[jakewells]

the john deere was most likely a echo built saw or could be a efco or homelite if so is still a great saw.

 

[hanyoukimura]

I'm interested to get to work on them although I that MTD comes first as does my Toro.

Yesterday I went and got a new belt for my 20684, had time to reinstall it. I'll have to order wear brackets for it since the dealer didn't stock them...but that can come after I've got it cutting grass! The cable bracket came in a day early although I won't get a chance to install it until Friday. Then hopefully I'll finally be able to mow the grass with it!

 

[hanyoukimura]

Well today was a mixed bag.

I took the Toro to a welder to get the sheered bolt out. He tried twice and it sheered both times. Looks like I'll have to drill it out.

On the bright side the new cable bracket came in and I got to install it. BBC works great now. However, I really need to get those wear plates because back wheels pop out if adjustment very easily. Oh well, progress at least.

Next I tacked the Aries I got last fall with the Tecumseh Vector. Ended up buying a new OEM zone control cable, however it wouldn't prime. Got a new primer gasket, and decided might as well clean out the carburetor. That was a pain. The carburetor itself wasn't bad and wasn't really dirty, but when I put it all back together today it ran awesome. It would sputter and barely run. After a couple hours of disassembling and reassembling it, I discovered that there's a spring and primary jet behind the drain screw that must have fallen out while cleaning and I didn't notice. Took some looking but luckily I found it on the garage floor. Finally got it to run properly. I'll have to try a cold start tomorrow to see if it primes correctly now.

After that I worked on the Yard Machines.

Apparently he had it running but it died after 10 minutes. Come to find out it ran out of gas......

With that said, it had the wrong spark plug in it, was overfilled with oil and needed a general tuneup so I'll be doing that tomorrow. He told me his brother ran it out of oil and must have overfilled it...which explains the mild rod knock... He just wants a beater mower do as not to run his nicer one into rocks and stuff in tall grass at his father's.

Lastly, it appears I'll be buying back (for $45) the Ariens I sold last year. His son hit a stump and did something to it. He was going to have me fix it, but his neighbor gave him a new mower.

Hopefully his son is more careful with the Cub Cadet!

 

[hanyoukimura]

That Yard Machines was the biggest paint in the #@$ I've had to deal with since the Craftsman that kept leaking fuel from the bowl.

This was supposed to be a pretty easy fix. The guy had it running and then it stopped. Come to find out he had run it out of gas! So I thought this would be an easy service. Well it also wouldn't prime. removed the primer bracket and replaced the gasket which was in poor shape. Nothing. Removed it again and tried doubling up the gasket. Nothing. Removed it again and inspected the carburetor. Seemed fine. Put the bracket back on again, but accidentally cross threaded and stripped the threads of one of the flange bold holes!

Left it alone and came back to it today. Took the the bracket off again and removed the primer bulb. The bulb was actually fine, but the screen behind it was clogged. Cleaned it out, took a carburetor from a parts engine and put it back together. Still nothing! Tried one more time doubling up the gaskets...finally it worked! About time. Replaced the incorrect spark plug with the proper one, sharpened, balanced, and correctly mounted the blade (it was mounted backwards), cleaned it up and changed the oil.

Ready to go back to work and get the F&*% out of my sight! :laughing:

Big news today is my latest score. Until recently I didn't know Briggs and Stratton made a 2-stroke engine. Well I acquired one recently and got it running. However It's gas tank is broken and I've been in need of this very rare and apparently very expensive (+/- $100) tank for this apparently very rare engine. Well now I have not one, but 2 of them!

Happened to be browsing CL for cheap mowers when a Sarlo commercial mower caught my eye with the very engine I just acquired.

What luck! I offered him $35 for it to which he agreed and just got it home a little while ago. The engine had bad gas and a broken pull cord but its not seized. I'm going to commandeer its fuel tank for the other one and put it in storage while keeping an eye for another tank...then I'll have 2! :biggrin:

As for the deck, from the above picture I had no idea what to do with it since its an attachment with only 2 wheels. Thought I would end up having to toss it since I'd have no use for it, which would be a shame since looked extremely solid and well made. However upon further inspection it appears I could mount rear wheels and handlebars to it and make a push mower out of it.

Weather permitting, tomorrow I plan to remove the Tecumseh from the 18" Toro and install the 2-cycle Briggs with its "new" tank on. Can't wait!

 

[Two-Stroke]

That Yard Machines was the biggest paint in the #@$ I've had to deal with since the Craftsman that kept leaking fuel from the bowl.

This was supposed to be a pretty easy fix. The guy had it running and then it stopped. Come to find out he had run it out of gas! So I thought this would be an easy service. Well it also wouldn't prime. removed the primer bracket and replaced the gasket which was in poor shape. Nothing. Removed it again and tried doubling up the gasket. Nothing. Removed it again and inspected the carburetor. Seemed fine. Put the bracket back on again, but accidentally cross threaded and stripped the threads of one of the flange bold holes!

Left it alone and came back to it today. Took the the bracket off again and removed the primer bulb. The bulb was actually fine, but the screen behind it was clogged. Cleaned it out, took a carburetor from a parts engine and put it back together. Still nothing! Tried one more time doubling up the gaskets...finally it worked! About time. Replaced the incorrect spark plug with the proper one, sharpened, balanced, and correctly mounted the blade (it was mounted backwards), cleaned it up and changed the oil.

Ready to go back to work and get the F&*% out of my sight! :laughing:

Big news today is my latest score. Until recently I didn't know Briggs and Stratton made a 2-stroke engine. Well I acquired one recently and got it running. However It's gas tank is broken and I've been in need of this very rare and apparently very expensive (+/- $100) tank for this apparently very rare engine. Well now I have not one, but 2 of them!

Happened to be browsing CL for cheap mowers when a Sarlo commercial mower caught my eye with the very engine I just acquired.

...

What luck! I offered him $35 for it to which he agreed and just got it home a little while ago. The engine had bad gas and a broken pull cord but its not seized. I'm going to commandeer its fuel tank for the other one and put it in storage while keeping an eye for another tank...then I'll have 2! :biggrin:

As for the deck, from the above picture I had no idea what to do with it since its an attachment with only 2 wheels. Thought I would end up having to toss it since I'd have no use for it, which would be a shame since looked extremely solid and well made. However upon further inspection it appears I could mount rear wheels and handlebars to it and make a push mower out of it.

Weather permitting, tomorrow I plan to remove the Tecumseh from the 18" Toro and install the 2-cycle Briggs with its "new" tank on. Can't wait!

Thanks for the update and photo of the Briggs two-cycle. It's amazing that you found two of those in such a short time period. More close-up photos of that engine would be interesting... please.

That deck sure looks sturdy but also heavy -- is it steel? That support tubing looks like steel. Is the mower very heavy?

 

[hanyoukimura]

Thanks for the update and photo of the Briggs two-cycle. It's amazing that you found two of those in such a short time period. More close-up photos of that engine would be interesting... please.

That deck sure looks sturdy but also heavy -- is it steel? That support tubing looks like steel. Is the mower very heavy?

I know, I can't believe I acquired not one, but two of them in less than a month! I will get some close up photos for you.

The deck is a very beefy deck. I think it is steel although I haven't really looked at it too closely (I was more interested in the engine today!). It's pretty heavy.

Despite showers today, I couldn't wait to get to work making myself a working 2-stroke Briggs mower. First thing I did was remove the gas tanks. It's here I noticed that the engines are slightly different. The one on the Sarlo appears to have a zone control on it, the one I already have doesn't. Otherwise, they appear to be identical.

Next I started to clean out the tank. Problem is that there are channels in the upper portion of the tank that keep all of the fuel from being able to dump out..along with some debris. No matter how much I rinsed I couldn't get it all out, so I did the best I could and put a fuel filter on.

After the tank was as clean as I could get it, I pulled the Tecumseh off of the 18" Toro and the Briggs off the other Toro. Now, most engines have 3 mounts to bolt to the deck. These engines are held down with 4 bolts, but it doesn't just have 4 bolt holes...it has 8. This means that it could pretty much bolt in any direction on almost any deck. That's a really nice feature.

I test fit the engine on the 18" Toro and it fit nice and snug sideways. These are actually pretty big engines. Bigger than the 4-stroke Briggs Classic engines. Bolted it up to the deck and went to test fit the fuel tank...uh-oh! The tank wouldn't clear the bag chute! Mounted forward the muffler contacts the chute, and it couldn't mount backwards because there would be no way to connect the throttle cable.

This was extremely disappointing. I took a break and thought it over. It was then I remembered the 21" Toro deck I had repainted last year and was in the basement awaiting an engine. Brought it out and sure enough, it's identical to the beat up deck the engine was originally mounted to. So on it went. I'd forgotten where I put the bag chute to this deck, so I scavenged it from the shot deck the engine was originally on. Got it all together and got prepared to start it up.

Set it to choke and tried to start but nothing. After much pulling I put a bit of fuel mix into the intake. Finally running! I went to pull the throttle back to shut it off only to fine out out the engine's RPM increased. It's backwards from normal throttle controls. I pushed it down to shut it off but while the RPM dropped, it kept running. I pulled the throttle all the way back and it shut off. Very strange, but to shut it off I have to move the throttle wide open.

Once I figured that out I started it back up and put it to full throttle. This thing has power and means business! Sound like the blade is spinning fast enough to lift the mower off the ground! Even though the grass was wet from the rain, I had to dry it. It was about 8 inches high and the mower didn't even notice. I bagged and mulched and despite being wet no grass was left behind on the ground. This is also without the grass delectors installed. This is a very impressive engine!

With daylight fading I got a few photos of my new machine. I was originally planning to sell this deck once I found an engine for it, but now that I have this engine on...I'm keeping the `Lil Red Mower!

As for the other engine, I will remove it from the Sarlo, clean the carburetor out and store it until I can get a fuel tank for it.

Oh and the Yard Machines got picked up.