My Lawn Mower Repair Thread (56k warning)

[hanyoukimura]

I just got working on that chainsaw again and boy are my arms tired! It did finally start but dies if allowed to idle. Guessing carburetor adjustments are in order. Still, at least the blasted thing finally fired up.

Here's some photos of that Poulan mower:

 

[hanyoukimura]

After a disappointing late season and a stupidly cold and snowy winter, its finally time to get back into the swing of things!

I haven't yet acquired any new mowers to play with, so Instead I decided to tackle the basket case Poulan Pro from last year. This poor machine has had the piss beaten out of it and jimmy rigged in ways I wouldn't have thought a sentient being was capable of doing.

First task was the gas tank.

Somehow the owner broke the large bolt mount right off of the tank. I was originally going to right it off and chuck it, but the only other tank I had was pretty rusty inside, whereas this one is actually spotless. A test fit of the broken piece revealed it actually fit back in snugly with no gaps, so I elected to use some JB Weld to repair the tank.

I then scavenged a throttle bracket from a parts engine, but while replacing the broken one I found that the coil wire was frayed. Closer inspection revealed it wasn't frayed at all, but it actually had broken off and the wires were tied together to make it work!

Unbelievable!

While I have a bunch of Tecumseh coils, I'm very short on supply of Briggs coils. I managed to scavenge one off of an old Murray with a bent crank. On it went along with a boot and a new plug. Gave it a test spin and heard something grinding. Come to find out that the screws which used to hold a show of some kind over the recoil had been sheered and threaded far enough own to contact the flywheel.

With that, the rest of the engine was buttoned up, oil added (it had very little), and I borrowed the zone control cable from another mower.

Lastly, I swapped the mutilated blade out for a decent one.

Put some gas in, primed it, and gave it a few pulls. The good news is that it started up and ran. The bad news is that it smokes and, more worryingly, it knocks.

So after all that, the engine is pretty much junk. I am disappoint. I guess if there's a silver lining the deck is in ok shape and I have a tank/carburetor assembly ready to go as well as a good muffler and more parts. Still a bummer though. Great way to kick off the season!

 

[primerbulb120]

Hanyoukimura, what do you use to restore the paint on your mower decks? It makes them look new! I am interested in trying it myself.

 

[hanyoukimura]

Hanyoukimura, what do you use to restore the paint on your mower decks? It makes them look new! I am interested in trying it myself.

I wash them as best as I can, then use rubbing compound. On the large areas I use a 3" buffer attached to my drill and on hard to get areas I buff by hand with a cloth. Honestly, it does take that long and makes a world of difference.

 

[primerbulb120]

Thanks! I am going to try that on the 2 mowers I have to sell.

 

[hanyoukimura]

Today I did a bit of Spring cleaning in the garage. Tomorrow should be a busy day.

I plan to strip 3 mowers that have been sitting around for parts and scrap them. I'd like to wash the mowers that are done/mine (plus my car) and clean the garage more.

The Poulan is going on the back burner for now. That engine's no good as it is, which sucks, but I may try rebuilding it using an engine with a bent crankshaft. Probably won't happen tomorrow. In the meantime I might finally tackle a mower that's been sitting n the back corner of the garage for a three years now.

 

[hanyoukimura]

Not sure how but the whole deck has a crusty yet oil residue on it from sitting. The paint has peeled in front of the motor too. I think I'm going yto see if I can get it running, then remove the engine and repaint it.

Today was more about cleaning than anything. I finally got around to stripping four scrap mowers for parts so I can be of them. All of the mowers got washed off and I swept the garage floor. Hopefully I'll be able to make more room.

I haven't acquired any "new" mowers yet this year to work on, so I'm going to see about getting a few that have been on the back burner done. The Grand Prix will be first, followed by either the Poulan engine rebuild or a Craftsman I've been meaning to fix.

 

[hanyoukimura]

With the sun setting I decided to tackle the Grand Prix. Pulled the shroud off and tried cleaning the rusty contact points on the coil and flywheel, but no spark. So I took the magneto from the Poulan and installed it. Spark! I put it all back together for the night, but before I put the mower away I shot some carb cleaner into the carburetor. Sure enough, it gave a cough!

Next, I'll clean the carburetor out, the tank was bone dry and perfectly clean inside, so that's always nice. Then some fresh oil and I'll see if it runs tomorrow.

If it does, the next step will be to remove the engine and clean up then paint the deck. I've got Chevrolet Orange for the Ariens mower, so I'll go with that.

 

[hanyoukimura]

Well, today I sold the gray Craftsman. To celebrate, I got out the degreaser and sprayed the Grand Prix and the Ariens. I have yet to really know why it vibrates so badly most (but not all) of the time when the clutch is off, but when the blade is spinning its perfectly fine. In the meantime it was my daily mower last year, and this year it needs some touching up.

The paint in several areas had rusted from underneath again and began to peel, plus there was some scuffing on one side, so after power washing it and the GP, I set to work wire brushing priming, and painting the trouble areas.

Much better! The hazard label came off pretty clean, so I'm going to try and reuse it.

Here's the state of the GP:

It's going to get taken apart and cleaned up. I will probably paint it Chevrolet Orange like the Ariens.

Finally, these are the poor souls I couldn't save, but their useable parts will live on in other mowers.

 

[mmanter]

You do good work. Gives me hope for my Dad's mower. A 6 or 7 year old Toro Recycler mower. Once I had a good loaner mower for him I took his mower home so I could start repairs. Seeing your hard work fixing and restoring mowers makes me hope I can get his mower back in good usable shape.