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I've been lurking for a little while and besides an intro I haven't posted. I have been tinkering with mowers recently as a hobby as they are so easy to pick up for free and most people would rather toss and buy new than repair an older mower. I currently have 3 ready for sale and another 6 awaiting repair or dismantling.

The grey Craftsman has been my workhorse for a few years. My first gas mower, and first free one to boot (I've never paid for a gasser). 6.5 HP Craftsman, it was a year old when I got it. Previous owner couldn't get it to start so he gave it away. I filled it with gas, shook it around a bit and it started right up.


The red MTD had a fouled spark plug and a badly bent blade. After a new blade and spark plug, it runs perfectly. The deck is rotten so it's currently selling very cheap as a 1 or 2 season tie over for somebody, but if I get around to it this week I have a newer black deck that has a lot less rust that happens to have no motor, then I can sell it for a little more.

The black Yard Machines has a gash from what I figure was a rock caught betwixt the blade and deck, not too bad otherwise. It is a newer model and runs flawlessly as well.

On the side burner is an old Toro SP 53 with 4 cycle Suzuki(data plate is missing so I don't know what model it is) which is a bit of a basket case, missing a few components and had been sitting in the rain for a long time without an air filter cover. That one I may buy a cheap honda clone motor to use as my main mower if the pulley will work on the shaft. I also have an old Lawn Flite that the owner threw a lot of new parts onto but doesn't run, haven't touched that one yet, a 4.5 HP craftsman with bad rod knock, a 6HP craftsman self propelled with a broken starter shroud and bolt broken in the engine block (the shroud will be donated from the knocking mower), a 6 HP mulching mower that I forget the brand, and 2 Tecumseh Craftsman mowers. I like the Briggs engines, they seem bullitproof but the tecumsehs seem to have finicky carbs. I have enough to keep my busy for a while, There are a few people who repair and sell mowers in Halifax but they seem to ask quite a premium price. Hopefully business will be good, but as a hobby, I'm more concerned with stock piling up and looking like a hoarder!

business seems to be good after all, people are coming today for the craftsman and Yard Machines this evening. Last night I picked up a compact electric mulcher, a 20" Poulan in very good physical shape and a solid Murray mulcher/bagger. The Murray is also a 20", but is very heavy for it's size, it will not rust through for years to come. The Murray has no oil in the crank case though and the small deposits left on the stick are black, so I'll try filling/flushing the engine and see if it runs after that. It does have compression and turns freely(I pulled the starter a few times with the spark disconnected).

On a side note about the Toro, it doesn't have very much compression at all, I can almost free spin the blade and it is not a model with a blade clutch, so I will probably part out the engine or sell/barter it to a rebuilder. I could always use more briggs parts. I also have a small collection of edge trimmers, most people seem to give them away when they need new line. What a throw away society...

Pics to come later, I'll show all my goodies so far.

Well, this Murray 20" mulcher/bagger was an easy fix. I changed the oil, cleaned the spark plug and it runs beautifully. It smoked grey for about 20 seconds and cleared up after that, and hasn't smoked again since. It starts on the first pull every time. The governor spring setup must be missing something though, or it can be used as though it has a manual choke. This is the one that I mentioned was very heavy for it's size. The bag has a loonie sized hole, but it will still get the job done for somebody on a tight budget for a few seasons.

The black mower with the gash sold for $50.

This electric mower is tiny! 14" cut. The circuit breaker was tripped so I re-set it and sharpened the little mulching blade. It has a nice single adjustment lever. This one will be an easy 20 bucks even with the missing bag.

This Poulan looked very nice on the outside, not much rust, looked like it had been kept indoors, but looks can be deceiving. I looked in the tank and it was full, but the primer was not working. I took off the carb and the screen was completely coated in rusty varnish. This lead me to examine the tank a little more, which was filled with a rusty slurry of a mess. No problem, I have a matching Briggs mower with a rod knock which is becoming a donor for the cylinder head and shroud on a self propelled Craftsman, so I transferred the entire tank/carb assemble to the Poulan, taking care to re-install the springs as they were. Started the mower up and the throttle ran away, tremendous overspeed! Now it won't start and the output shaft seal is leaking. Nuts. Maybe it was leaking before, but I hadn't noticed. For now I'll pull the 4.5HP Briggs from the rotten MTD and install it on the nice Poulan deck with the Poulan shroud, should fetch me more than the rusty MTD would have for sure. I'll play with it at another time. Worse case, I have another parts donor engine for when I will eventually need it.

Once I re-activate my photobucket account (lost my password, the confirmation email address is locked because I also lost that one...) I'll link pics that way for easier viewing. In the future when I accumulate enough money I intend on going further with these mowers with paint and sand blasting. This is a hobby for me, so I'm not selling the mowers for much, but the money is going to things like tools which I'll be using to restore a '77 Toyota Celica, so some good sand blasting and paint practice will be a benefit to me.

Are you trying to make a living doing this?

No, just a hobby. There is a very easy supply of broken mowers here so it's something that I can keep myself busy with. There is very little profit at the price I'm selling these at.

Yeah, they don't sell too high here as well....

I do this as a hobby to. I make a decent chunk of cash this time of year I get about 1500 profit... Of off free mowers no investment except parts. Rest of the year its about 600-800 dollars a month and winter is pretty slim. I don't do repairs for people I get a mower or buy for close to nothing and sell them a working one. Fun hobby

It is a fun hobby for sure, and easy to learn, especially the Briggs. No pics of today's progress, but I got the grey Craftsman self propelled mower working perfectly now. The head had a broken bolt from the recoil assembly, so I used the head and recoil assembly from the basket case parts mower (really has been worth it's weight in gold, only thing left on it now is the deck and wheels!), the fuel tank had grass and water in it but luckily not enough to make it rust, the spark plug was faulty, carb was filthy and had a long blade of grass in the fuel feed tube, transmission linkage was seized. I think that's all... There are a couple of screws still missing that I will have to grab at Home Hardware to keep the recoil and drive belt shrouds in place. I'm impressed enough with the work done on it that I think I'll keep this one as my personal mower until I get the Toro going.

Somebody said they wanted the other grey Craftsman I have pictured above, but never showed up. Oh well, it's a nice mower, powerful and starts first pull, it'll sell. Don't know tomorrow's plan yet. I took off the carb from the red Murray to try to get to the bottom of the fluctuating idle, figured maybe an obstruction in a fuel passage. Cleaned it up, slapped it together and now it doesn't start, primer seems like it's pushing air. It's getting a little dark so maybe I'll take another look at it tomorrow or let it cool off a bit and try to resolve the over revving Poulan. Heck, maybe I'll even try my hand at one of the troublesome Tecumseh's

Yeah, lot's of them on the curb with the bent crank, some money there....

exotion said:

I do this as a hobby to. I make a decent chunk of cash this time of year I get about 1500 profit... Of off free mowers no investment except parts. Rest of the year its about 600-800 dollars a month and winter is pretty slim. I don't do repairs for people I get a mower or buy for close to nothing and sell them a working one. Fun hobby

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I'm right there with you Exotion.. I prefer not to take any small engines with the promise to repair them. I'll sell them a replacement and give them a discount if they offer a trade-in that I think I might be able to use.

Just today, I had a chainsaw that was given to me and I turned the recoil spring around the right way, cleaned it up, put fresh gas in it and it ran great. I was going to ask $80 for it on Craigslist but, a guy that's been after me to sell him a chainsaw finally came by and gave me two chainsaws, a Craftsman 18.2 with a broken recoil spring, and a small Homelite that needs some carb work. I knocked $25 off what I was asking for the McCullough. I've already got the Craftsman running, just need to check the oiler as it's not oiling the chain.. The Homelite, I've got an exact copy in a donor machine I've already been able to use the bar off of and a couple of other parts. I'm going to swap my carb onto this one and see if it fires up.. If not, I'll take the original carb apart and get down to the nitty gritty.

I'll probably ask $60 for the Craftsman, and $50-60 for the Homelite.

So, three chainsaws:

First sold for $65
Second will ask $60
Third will ask $60..

That's $185.00. Not too bad for swapping out a recoil spring from a donor, a carb from another donor, and the McCullough just needed the recoil spring turned around..

It's a hobby for me but, being unemployed, it gives me some decent 'Walkin 'round money..'

I think I'm going to make an order for some fuel filters, primer bulbs, and fuel line here soon as that seems to be about 80% of the problems I find. I haven't gone into the motor for any repairs yet and right now, don't really plan to. Even with a free or $10 pickup, the parts cost and my time and what I can get for the saws just wouldn't pan out..

BTW, one way to help raise your prices a little is to see what the local rental shops would charge. Locally here, the Home Depot charges $50 a day plus you have to buy a new chain..

If I can sell a used one for $10-40 over that, it makes sense to a lot of people..

Especially when a lot of the older chainsaws I'm getting are built to last, real metal covers, not the plastic stuff..

The rusty red one sold today for $40, the cute little electric mulcher is being viewed tonight and I'm delivering the grey Craftsman to the other side of the city for a $25 fee tonight. I'm quickly running out of product to sell! I managed to pick up for free a Brigs Quantum 5HP pressure washer. It runs but I don't have a hose adapter so i can't see if the pump works. I'll have to try to track down an adapter as I also have an electric one that was given to me without it. The Quantum runs beautifully at full throttle, in the choke position, but stalls when the throttle is moved back at all. I'll have to investigate, possibly fuel or air starvation but all I've done so far is check the oil and fuel and started it for a very short time so as to not burn out the pump. I think all I have left to fix now are the red Murray bagger(won't start or prime since cleaning the carb), the overspeeding Poulan, a Briggs Quantum that smokes a bit(may be because i tested it out with mix fuel when it was all I had) and the old Lawn Flite (needs carb diaphragm), as well as that pair of Tecumsehs. I suppose I have more than I thought, but the easy ones are done and gone. If I have to I'll sell the self propelled Craftsman, but I like it and am proud that I built it practically from a bag and box of parts that came with the deck, plus many donor parts. Plus, I do need at least ONE mower that I'm not selling, who wants to buy a mower from a guy with a jungle for a front yard?

The grey Craftsman sold for $150 delivered to the other side of the city, and got an older model Mastercraft, with Briggs Quantum for free, this one has manual throttle, so maybe it'll be a good swap onto the Toro to replace the broken Suzuki. Maybe I'll tear down the Suzuki and see if I can make any money from it's parts. The buyer for the electric forgot to come today and now wants to come on Sunday, not the end of the world. The Quantum runs but the throttle cable is broken, it I can't test it fully yet. The deck is wrecked, used hard and beat up.

If the Quantum will work on the Toro and it works to my satisfaction then the self propelled Craftsman will be put up for sale. If this keeps up I may just keep the money saved to build my new garage

Please don't replace the Suzuki with a quantum. Please please please. The Suzuki is worth the investment to fix if you replace a Suzuki with a briggs ill never talk to you again !

Yeah keep the Suzuki!!! An awsome motor!

I haven't torn into the Suzuki yet but at first glance it looks like it's best suited for parts given that it has almost no compression, missing parts of the recoil, missing the air filter cover and has been flooded with water from who knows how long. I know they are great engines but not worth it to me to spend a fortune to maybe, perhaps get it running

Vervepipes said:

I haven't torn into the Suzuki yet but at first glance it looks like it's best suited for parts given that it has almost no compression, missing parts of the recoil, missing the air filter cover and has been flooded with water from who knows how long. I know they are great engines but not worth it to me to spend a fortune to maybe, perhaps get it running

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Naw. Compression is probably a new head gasket and valve adjustment I make head gaskets with gasket paper works great I've put a few hundred and counting on this gasket. I highly doubt the rings are worn.

Recoil start could be more difficult. The spring from a Honda gcv160 works well. The pulley I'm not sure about nor the wings I have 3 spare starters maybe I could hook you up.

The water logged thing is not that bad I would open up the pan run a fan on it over night check cam timing while its off. Take the oil pump out and let it get clean to.

The air filter is an easy one I liked it so much I have done it on both the engines I use commercially. Go get a used Honda air box can make it work will need to seal a couple holes on the back of it but now you have an engine that uses the same plug and filter as a Honda. Lol

When the rush of sales slows down I'll tear the engine down, my preference would really be to keep the Suzuki. What I'm afraid of is just how long the air box has been filled with water, and thus probably the carb may be a solid mass or rust.

This Craftsman Weed Eater had a partially plugged fuel feed tube, 3 different types and sizes of wheels and needing to fine tune the governor springs. The wheels are from a different Craftsman and it now runs perfectly. This one should be a quick sale as it has barley any deck rust, I doubt it's more than a few years old.

The Poulan is finally done. There was a bunch of grass in the governor linkage, that must be what caused the overspeed. Unfortunately I also found that it has a slightly bent crank, so it's not going to sell for very much and I will definitely disclose that to the buyer. It barely vibrates the mower, but it is bent nonetheless. Here she sits ready for a new home. The deck is absolutely identical to the Weed Eater.

Here is the Toro, unknown model number, SP53 with 4 stroke Suzuki. This one is on the back burner. All but one cable is seized, cracked plastic discharge cover, no compression, no air box cover so the carb no doubt got filled with water from sitting outside for what I can only assume was a long time. In a sorry state.

This old Lawn Flite has a rust hole on the discharge chute and a leaking carb diaphragm. It does start and run though but at a very low speed and leaking gas. I'll get a carb kit and find it a good home.

I'll buy the toro from you... Find out shipping 99207

This Lawnboy I picked up for free, I was going to view it at 50 bucks but found a crack in the deck, so he gave it to me for nothing. Has a tank of 2 year old gas that needs cleaning.

I'd have to check but shipping will be very expensive. I'd venture to guess at least $150+. Is there anything special about this Toro?

Not.particularly. I like the panel by the handle bars its a unique design. I could fix that engine in less than an hour. And the mulch plug is cool

It could be a little while until I can get a quote though. I'm out of town today and then I'm back to work on Monday after being off for a while.

The black Poulan sold today for $60. I have a line on a 4 year old Haussmann for $30 and a self propelled Mastercraft for the same. The Mastercraft needs a new engine brake and self propell cable, the Haussmann I'm still waiting on an email to see it it's one of their early gassers or an electric. If it's electric I'm not interested but the gasser was a $500 mower new. It has no picture and not much info other than it won't start.

Took the self propelled Craftsman out for a spin. It did about half of my 1/4 acre lot when it started to sound like a rod knock and the engine was bogging. Put it away and may look into it later, I have a Quantum that can go on this for a quick fix.

Just inspect and adjust valves . I'm sure that's all

Next day that isn't raining I'll check the valve clearance.

I got eh red Murray running again. The first problem was the carb, I cleaned it out and fine tuned the governor, then it only ran for about 10 minutes. No spark. The magneto was pretty rusty so I pulled the one off my parts mower, which is now down to a deck and engine short block, that has a bad bearing. The Murray runs very well now and I'll do a 1/4 acre run with it and list it for sale.

The green Yard Works electric just sold for $20

grumpygrizzly said:

It's a hobby for me but, being unemployed, it gives me some decent 'Walkin 'round money..'

Click to expand...

I like your style grumpy. :smile:

The Craftsman Weed Eater sold for $80 and a red Murray like the one pictured before but with a Tecumseh sold for $60, lower price that I would have for that one because it was to a co-worker. I said 50 and he said 60, just like earlier this week I repaired another co-worker's recoil assembly, I asked for 10 and he said no, take 20. Guess people like my service. Anyways, no pics of the Tecumseh Murray because I had just bought it as a "fixer upper" and all it needed was gas, absolutely nothing else and I looked it over hard to see what it needed to be called a fixer upper. I don't normally buy mowers to fix since there's an abundance of freebies, but this one proved to have been worth it. No pics of it either because it was such a quick turnaround, I was going to sell the other red Murray to the guy but this one was much nicer.

What I'm finding is that I'm quickly running out of good decks and have more engines than decks. Any suggestions? I saw on Alibaba.com that chinese manufacturers can sell new decks at about 10-20$ each, but the minimum order is 100 decks!

Post on craigslist your looking to buy decks or dead lawn mowers for $5-$10 each. If the engines are shot replace the engine and use the blown engine for parts. That's how I got my inventory lol

The red Murray with Briggs 3.5 HP sold for $60. That's the last of my working mowers. I'm back to work so I don't have a lot of time to devote to my new hobby. I counted my mowers that I have left and I have 17 if I remember right. Seems like a lot but a lot of them are basket cases that may have one or two good parts to give before going to the scrap heap. Once I build more shelving in my workshop/shed, I'mm rip them apart and categorize the parts that are still good. I think I have 5 good decks out of the bunch, not counting the electrics and Lawn Boy.

I got 2 Quantums running today that I thought were done, they smoked for 5 minutes each before they cleared up. I'll test fire them again before putting them on the matching pair of craftsman decks which have Tecumseh's that I'm not immediately interested in fixing. A co-worker wants me to build him a 6HP mulching mower, I guess I'm building mowers to suit now lol. He'll pay me $60 plus a trade of a 3.5 Hp mower that's good but he finds under powered. That sounds like a decent deal to me.

Well, I've officially run out of storage space, don't know how many I have right now but today I picked up a large Bolens, a self propelled Yard machines and I think the 3rd was an MTD, on top of a nice electric Toro trimmer. Yesteday I picked up a craftsman Tecumseh along with another Tecumseh powered machine, and I'm picking up my boss's 1990 ish 3.5 Hp Quantum. so that's got to me over 20 mowers to work on if it ever stops raining. Plan this weekend is to build a large shelf in my 13x16 workshop and break down the broken deck mowers.

The good news is that I hink I have a good deck/engine combo for my co-worker's needs to I can pound that out tomorrow maybe.

Got some work done yesterday and today. This green Bolens had a badly bent handle, would not shut off when running, one of the rear wheels was cocked funny, no air filter and the self propelled feature is not working. I replaced the handle with a spare, repaired the blade brake assemble with a parts Quantum, re-aligned the rear wheel's adjuster and tightened it properly and as for the self propelled feature, it's missing parts and would cost more than it's worth to get it working. The deck is decent so that's a plus.







This one I'v ebeen sitting on for a long time. It's one of the "troublesome Tecumseh's" that I had a grudge against. I had a spare Tecumseh with a ruined block and shroud (last owner drilled out some holed, used large metal screws in place of bolts, shroud holes torn out, just a mess to consider fixing, best for parts!) The spare happened to have a primer that still worked, so I transferred the entire assembly from manifold to air cleaner. Primed it, pulled it and it came to life. This one has a solid deck with only paint peel, no real rust and the whels are all in great shape. Cleaned up nice well too, it was very dusty and dirty.





This is one that was built to order. A co-worker wanted a basic side discharge with 6HP of more. Most tall deck mowers have long ago lost the discharge adapter, and the side discharge deck's I've picked up have mostly been short decks. Well, in the span of a few days I picked up 2 green Craftsman mowers, one 6HP that ran but with a rotten deck, and a 4.5 HP with an non functional primer but a nice deck. Swapped the running motor on and presto, a mower for the special order. I tried with the pressure washer to get rid of that spilled paint but in the end it's just cosmetic, doesn't harm anything.





It was a nice day, so for easy access and to re-organize a bit I dragged half of the shed's contents out.





Lots to work on yet, many not in the pictures, I think there were 6 left in the shed and a few on the deck under tarps.

Looks like all 3 I have ready will be sold. I got a lot of calls and emails, one guy said he'd call back to see if I had anything later, so after work today I took a good 6HP Quantum, replaced the primer gasket and set the engine on a green Craftsman deck. Did a test mow and called the guy back, quickest $80 I ever made I think.

This guy was given to me by my boss. He bought it in 1990 or so and has used it until last year when the gas tank started leaking from the seam. I had a spare tank, but the engine faces backwards on this deck, so the shroud doesn't fit due to the pull cord. Not the prettiest but even listed at $50 I got hits minutes after listing with a viewer in the morning. It doesn't have a primer so it doesn't start on the first pull, but once it's going it's very smooth running. The handle shape is very nice to mow with and the throttle control is a feature that I like.




The guy who wants the Bolens was supposed to come today, then tomorrow, now he isn't sure if he's coming tomorrow. I think I may go to the next guy on the email list for that one, and the made to order Craftsman is going to it's new home tomorrow. I just did my standard 1/4 acre mow with it today to make sure it's good to go. I don't have many usable engines or decks left, or ones that would work with each other for that matter like incompatible output shaft/self propel pulley situations. I can work on my own collection I guess, but there isn't anything I can really do that doesn't require ordering from the web.

The Bolens just went this morning which leaves only the old green one left for sale. I figure it will go this weekend for sure, it's nice out. The guy who bought the bolens just threw out a 2 year old self propelled mower because it stopped working. I felt a little sick inside to be honest that it's such a throw away society, 2 years old!!

I just picked up a nice 2 year old Ariens with Kohler XT7 engine for $40. I'm usually not wanting to buy mowers, especially at this price when they arent running but this one seemed worth the investment risk. As soon as I got it home I saw a twig in the throttle linkage, so I removed it not thinking twice about it, then pulled the starter and it started on the first pull. I deceded to push down where the twig was and the engine died. Wow, what a simple fix for such a nice mower. It is however missing the drive belt and the lower belt cover, but that isn't the end of the world. I'll call to see if he still has them somewhere but a belt isn't too expensive, and if needed it CAN run without the cover, it just means the driveline area will get full of grass. I'll grab pics after lunch. I'm not sure what to list this one at as there is only one more on Kijiji with a broken drive wheel and also not running for $100. Maybe $200 is a good starting point once I get a belt on? If I remember right, these were around $400 new around here

Is it disc drive?

I only had a quick look but it definitely looks like a belt drive

I just looked at an exploded parts diagram of the mower and it doesn't show the lower cover, only a top cover which seems odd to me. In any case, it's a model A173K22 and here she is. Going to try to acquire a belt today for it.








I'm torn, it's a nice mower, but I can't have TOO large of a personal collection. I already have the Sunbeam Lawn Champ twin blade, Honda HR194 in almost perfect shape, a 2 stroke and 4 stroke Lawn Boy, although the 4 stroke may get sold when I weld the deck cracks. I can't let myself get too attached to these things! Better sell it quick before I change my mind. This one in particular sure could buy me a lot of summer beer...

Front drive belt drive only one belt cover. Briggs 5.5? Probably could get $150 here

It's actually a Kohler XT7 (7 Ft Lb), I think it's a Honda clone.

Well the closest Ariens dealer in on the other side of the city, about a 30 minute drive so I did a bit of research, I need a 3/8X32.5" belt. I should be able to find that at a hardware store. Maybe I'll check tonight, maybe tomorrow. In any case, that's been set aside and I built a good mower out of a hodgepodge of parts. Good MTD deck, put on a 4.5HP Craftsman Tecumseh that needed a magneto from another parts motor and replaced the primer bulb. Now I have a very ugly mower that works, but I'll swap over another MTD shroud. The one that came with the deck was torn right off. I need to match some wheels for it too, maybe I'll put adjusters on it since I have so many spares laying around. Like I said, definitely a hodgepodge.

Here she is, looks kind of goofy but after all I think I'm not sure if I'm going to swap the shroud, it kind of gives it character. Besides, I don't think the people who buy the mowers at the price I sell them for care very much about things like that.



This mower started out with one I picked up for $25 with no spark. It had a nice deck so I didn't mind spending a bit for it. After a thorough examination, most of the motor was unusable in my opinion, the shroud was torn apart, the head had a screw and a stud in place of the shroud mounting bolts, one of the rear shroud mounts had an oversize self tapping screw stuck in it. Not worth the effort for me with so many good spare parts around. The engine was a non runner that I swapped another engine onto. I found a store that carries the Tecumseh primer bulbs here so I bought a bunch, tossed one on and it started right up.

Fun thread! I love seeing old unwanted mowers get a new lease on life and the before/after process. I do it as a hobby too. Keep it up!

It is a fun hobby for me, I'm an aircraft mechanic by trade but have been promoted into a desk job. I have a '77 Toyota Celica that I'll be restoring but don't have a garage yet nor the funds. This keeps my hands nice and dirty as I like them with the added bonus of having extra cash to set up the inside of my workshop for the eventual big project. I haven't had one come back broken yet, but a young guy starting a lawn care business said he'd call if he ever needs parts or repairs, or when he needs to replace his mower. I'm actually on my 3rd order to be built before I even have them ready, I literally cannot keep up with demand. I think I need a more aggressive strategy in acquiring "dead" mowers. I had tried to deal with a scrapper that drove by but he wanted nothing to do with bartering.

Oooooo I am a celica fanatic! The old ones not the new potatoes cars.. my first car was a 83 celica with a 22r/re hybrid. I sold it and it was the dumbest thing I ever did I love the old celicas (the second gen is kinda ehh) first and third are my favorite

This one is in very rough shape. It was rolled in the '80s and then parked in a garage. It has good bones though and is worth restoring, especially since I bought it for $200. I plan on doing the hybrid setup as well but I have some Mikuni BS34 motorcycle carbs going in to feed it. Rear suspension will be T3 aluminum fully adjustable 4 link, most of the body will be fiberglass. I had a good roof skin that I got for free but the freight company totaled it, and because it was a used car part, forget that it's a hard to get part from a 40 year old part, they wouldn't cover it.



Photos are the day I bought it, nothing has really changed but I have boxes and boxes of new parts, including rocker panels and every single body gasket and seal. I have a good sheet metal guy in Montreal who gives me a deal because anything I send him to reproduce, he lists online on his store so it's good for both of us. I can even get complete rear quarters made. I think I'll send him my wrecked "new" roof since the frame is still good and see what he can do for me. I'll pick it up though, not repeating that mistake again, Montreal is a lot closer than Tennessee, so I don't mind a weekend trip.

So the green unknown brand mower sold for $40 plus a trade on these two, a basic short deck Craftsman 4HP Tec and a Craftsman 6.75 Briggs Quantum self propelled. He said he hit a stump with both and they stopped running. Worse case I swap the engines for good runners and work on them later. I'll head to the hardware store this afternoon for a 3/8x32.5" belt for the Ariens, then I can list that one.

I would kill for that car... Drop a 2jzgte in it. Leave the ride height open the exhause and put a 7.25 LSD rear in it

The car is probably years away from roadworthy, so a lot can happen to the power plant options. Ideally, I'd like to end up with 2 of them, one for a daily summer driver with the hybrid setup, and the other reserved mostly for race days with a 2JZ or 1UZ

That's the beauty of.the 2jz ... It is a daily engine gets about 20 mpg in the city the uz is ok but not good for daily stuff

Got the red MTD looking a little less goofy. Swapped another MTD shroud onto it and although the wheels don't match, at least now they're the same size. This one may already have a home as I think I explained that story earlier.

before:


After:



This one was a trade in from earlier today. The mower had hit a stump and jammed the shear key. I emptied the crank case to make things easier and found the sump full of water. I decided it was best suited for parts, so I pulled a 3.75 HP from a deck that had rusted so badly one of the wheels fell off. The pressure washer's pull cord broke off as I went to wash the mowers, so unfortunately they are dirty...

Before

After

The black mower is getting sold tonight, I'm delivering it after supper. I went to do my usual 15 minute run prior to selling and it wouldn't start! Pulled the carb off and the diaphragm was torn. I checked all my spares and they are all torn too, except for the Craftsman self propelled that I've put aside with possible valve issues. That one was still pumping fuel when priming so I took the entire tank assembly and transferred it over to the little mower. I need to find a local source for these diaphragms, I can see I'll be needing them. Mower runs fine now, gonna eat and head out to deliver, then shop for that belt for the Ariens.

I also got this one ready to sell. I cleaned the carb and it runs perfectly. It is an older model MTD with manual throttle and a thick deck. It even has a cast plastic logo instead of a sticker. The model and serial number are no longer legible so I don't know the age for sure. It had an adapter for an odd side bag collector, but the bag was badly torn. I happened to have a spare chute on a totaled deck that I transferred over. Looks very nice for it's age. Still haven't fixed the pressure washer yet, so it's not very clean... The white specks on the front is actually silver paint overspray, probably from when they sprayed the filter housing

Most small engine shops carry p/n 795083 which contains the diaphragm and gasket. Depending on how friendly you are with them they can order you larger quantities.

You can also get them from Amazon:

Amazon.com : Briggs & Stratton 795083 Carburetor Diaphragm : Lawn And Garden Tool Replacement Parts : Patio, Lawn & Garden

Amazon also sells p/n 5083K which is a kit that comes with the diaphragm, gasket, spring, and screen (currently its cheaper than 795083)

Amazon.com : Briggs & Stratton 5083K Carburetor Diaphragm : Lawn And Garden Tool Replacement Parts : Patio, Lawn & Garden

What I've learned doing this hobby is that its important to become familiar with who sells what and their prices. I use a combination of Amazon, the local small engine shop, jacks Small Engines, Parts Tree, and the local auto parts store. Finding the best prices helps maximize profitability, and knowing who has what maximized turnaround time.

Hope that helps!

At least mowers seem to be easy to come by...around here not so much.

Yes, I for sure have been getting familiar with who has what and for how much. I know that Home Depot has the cheapest Tecumseh primer bulbs, Princess Auto if it needs a pull handle or control cable, Wal-Mart for spark plugs and Tecumseh filters, Canadian Tire for blades. Unfortunately it's tough to shop online here because most sellers are in he States and shipping is usually way overcharged, like 10 bucks for a 3 dollar gasket that actually costs a dollar to mail, or the newest E-Bay money grabbing scam where the seller charges an international shipping fee on top of the shipping price that is supposed to cover things like customs brokerage, even though anything under $100 is not subject to duties. I am always on the look out for the best bargain in parts buying

I wish there was a Home Depot or Lowes near me. Closest ones are 40 minutes away, and all I have are a small Ace and Aubuchon which carry very little for small engines and what they do carry is overpriced.

Both of the red MTD's sold today, and I got a Murray for free with one of the sales. That one has a decent deck and is destined to have a 5 HP Quantum that needs a new throne. That makes 16 re-homed mowers with zero returns or complaints. I never would have imagined that a hobby would take off like this, I've actually made more income with this than my wife has working at Wal-Mart for the same period of time. Maybe I should hire her as my inventory/salesperson, then I'd have loads of time to pump more out. Hmmm.....

The Ariens is now propelled again and for sale. Hopefully it goes quickly, I'd hate to practically give that one away. I've been working on another mower today as well, a self propelled one I picked up last week I think. I got it to the point where it ran using Craftsman parts, again with a goofy looking mower, then I noticed a rusted crack in the deck near the engine mounting holes. Bummer. So I'm fine tuning it and the governor and the governor clip breaks. GRRR!!!! OK, I'm not going to get out-witted by a mower, so I grabbed a throttle cable from a Briggs, drilled and screwed a clamp onto the shroud which to my surprise makes it look like it was supposed to be there all along. I'm mounting the engine on a mower I got yesterday on trade, a Murray or MTD, I don't remember. I check my spares supply and I happen to have a rear bag for the deck, bonus! All is not lost. What sucks is that the Bolens I let go cheap earlier could have been sold with an operational drive system had I known of this deck crack. I wonder if I can cut a hole in a similar deck and re-use the belt shroud and drive system. Hmm, maybe a project for later. I'll just have to remember how everything goes when I strip that chassis for scrap. So a good start to a fixin' day, followed my lots of cursing, with a little light at the end of the tunnel. My beer low light is on.....

This is the worst deck I've ever seen, I have no idea how it could have been close to functional.



As it turns out the front shroud goes onto many common MTD decks, so I found a home for it.

This mower I picked up, shroud in pieces, no gas cap in the rain, covered in mud. I tinkered with it and when I figured it was safe to do so I tried to start it. It was priming but not starting. I wound up pouring gas into the air intake and after a few tries at this it sputtered to life and a few minutes of white smoke and what seemed like dust came out of the exhaust. Once that settled down I let it cool down, primed it for a cold start and it stared first pull and ran perfectly smooth so I mowed the lawn with it. I also tried to put on the tall wheels but the rear bag plate/mount/handle mount is clearly not the same size, so the wheels rub on 1/2 of the adjustments. The piece will fit, but the bag is not the same mounting style so I'd lose some value on the sale if it didn't have a bag. I'll put the original wheels back on, clean her up and send it on it's way to a new home. The front shroud makes it look nicer though for sure. Maybe I have a bag that works somewhere but I doubt it. I may have a spare upper air filter shroud to replace the missing one there. This one will clean up nicely.

That's quite a rotten deck!

Reminds me of an MTD deck I got that was also severely rotted (had a good engine though)

What do these people do. Park them in a salt puddle and say ehh good enough

exotion said:

What do these people do. Park them in a salt puddle and say ehh good enough

Click to expand...

Not too far off. This one I picked up a stone's throw from the sea, so anything left outside around there quickly rusts away if left outside. There's something about this common MTD deck style though that makes me think it must be made of inerior metal, because almost every rotten mower I pick up has this exact style of deck. Maybe a combination of inferior metal and poor quality paint mixed in with owner neglect.

The 6HP Craftsman mower that I special order built FINALLY went to it's new home. Since he is a co-worker I only asked $60, but since I drove it to his house he gave me 80, plus an old Noma Gran Prix mower. The deck is in great shape but the 3.5Hp Briggs is a little sluggish and bogs easily. I really wonder what's with older mowers and mounting the engines backwards. No pics yet, it's raining and I'm out of shed space, so I don't want to leave this survivor outside. This weekend I'm planning on building an engine and misc parts shelf in my work shop, that will clear up a lot of room from mowers with rotten decks.

Another one close to ready for sale is a cordless electric. The owner didn't know if the battery quit or the charger quit.I picked up another similar one last week but the battery wouldn't take any charge. The charger is identical and now the one I got yesterday is charging. Once I get it mowing I'll note the run time and list it for sale. This one is quite nice, metal deck, wide comfortable handle and not goofy looking.

Lost a sale today :frown: I pulled out the Ariens and tried to test fire it before the customer came and it wouldn't start! then when it did it was sputtering badly. I texted them back to hold off coming for a few minutes, found that the spark plug wire wasn't on (because I was putting the drive belt on not long ago) and when I texted back they had accepted another mower. Boo. Oh well, maybe another day.

You advertise on craigslist? That's my experience with craigslist instant gratification they will just move down the list.

I use Kijiji, Craigslist isn't very popular in Canada. It really was instant it seems because I don't think there were 3 minutes between texting to say it wasn't running right to texting again to say I was just dumb and forgot something. It's a decent mower, I don't mind hanging onto it but then again that mower sure can buy a lot of beer, and my beer low light is on, especially now.

The Yardworks cordless held a charge for 40 minutes of mowing long, damp grass so it's good to go for sale now. Nice machine with a steel deck, but not enough battery to mow 1/4 acre. I'm going to list and photograph it after mt cool-down watermelon.

My minivan is really getting dirty and beat up in the back from the constant usage. I use it as a work truck and it shows. I'm actually starting to keep an eye out for a diesel van, either standard or extended length. I used to have a short wheel base Ram Van years back and it really wasn't much bigger than my Grand Caravan, I think bumper to bumper it was actually shorter. An old 15 Pax van would be awesome, too bad Dodge didn't make them with oil burners (only oil drippers lol) because I plan to make biodiesel to keep costs down, but I like the pre- sprinter Dodge vans the best. My best bet is a Ford or GM, but I have a hate on for GM since my last one, both due to poor quality and poor customer relations. I prefer a van because it is covered and can still seat the family. A truck is a bit of a compromise for me, either it is comfortable for the family or it has a large enough box to hold stuff, not usually both. Crew cab long box trucks are harder to find in decent shape since they are usually used as work trucks.

The Yardworks cordless has gone to a new home today. I think it's now time to buy some new springs for my utility trailer project. I picked up a 5x10' trailer for free but needing work, first t hing I did was get a VIN for it, removed the broken tongue jack and started prepping it for paint. I have all new lights for it and wiring harness, the tires look new so they can stay, but the springs are an issue, they won't even hold my weight (170 Lbs) without bottoming out, and I don't think they are trailer springs to begin with, so I have to relocate the front shackle to accommodate a standard trailer spring. No big problem but a big pain. I haven't had any time to work on the trailer because of all the mower action but I feel that I should try to make some sort of visual progress.

Got this guy finished today, took off the ill fitting big wheels and put the little ones back on. In the end, the entire rear flap/handle mount assembly would have had to swap over to make the wheels work. I'll save them for a rainy day, I have something in mind for them. The spark seems weak on it though, it has an old plug. I'll buy a new plug for it and it'll be good to go.



.

I repaired the pressure washer's starter today as well, I didn't go nuts on the Yard Machines because some paint was starting to lift. Still looks better than caked on mud though.

On a side note, my first service call on a mower I sold. This one went out to somebody who I had doubts about their ability to start a gas mower and now I got an email saying that he can't start it. I'll take a look maybe tomorrow to see what's going on but I don't sell any mower that I'm not confident in it's reliability, so I'm curious what's going on. Worse case, I'll bring the Yard Machines mower out and do an exchange, then repair the Murray if I cannot start it right there. I think I'll bring a spare carb/tank assembly in case the diaphragm is the culprit.

Just got an email from the guy who couldn't start his mower, he just forgot to hold the engine brake lever, it runs quite well. That saves me a trip to the other side of the city and frees up some time today to break down some scrap mowers to fill my shelf and make my yard look a little less redneck. I built a shelf about 5' wide, 20" deep and 4 levels including the floor to hold all my parts from wheels to engine parts to complete engines. When I get a bit more cash flow I'm enclosing under my deck to give me a sheltered 8x12 storage area for complete mowers and snow blowers and I might build another 12' long shelf in the back of my shop for more parts. This sure takes a lot of space, but I'll be well set up for next year. This year almost all my mower money is being spent on shop improvements with the odd family dinner out. I figure next year I should see some decent profit since my startup costs will be taken care of and I can finally save for my garage.

The Ariens is gone to a new home, I let it go for $150 which I think is a wicked deal for that mower, but only 10 bucks short of what I thought I would sell it for. To boot, I stopped at Canadian Tire for a spark plug for the Yard Machines (I borrowed another mower's plug to get it running) and a throttle cable for the Noma and saw they had a few "open package" clearances, so I scooped up a 20" and 22" blade, and a pull cord for $20, they were all half off. I've had a few hits on the Yard Machines mower today, I just listed it about 2 hours ago so hopefully that one sells and I can have a bit of space in the shop to break down my spares. Running out of decks again though, I think I have 2 that can go once they have a running engine, plus one that needs a lot of surface rust removed but is very solid. I think it's the same style deck as a very old Craftsman self propelled I have, which also has big rear wheels but a rotten deck. I'm going to cut into the deck as a provision for the self propel and swap the read wheel assembly onto it. This one needs the self propel, it's HEAVY

This is the one that will serve as the driveline/wheel donor if the decks are in fact the same. The good deck is an MTD "Super Cuts". I don't have a picture of it, but it looks like it was left in the back forty for several years and forgotten there. This has a backwards engine but the better deck has a standard mounting. I'll have to investigate the similarities.

I don't have any before pics of this one, but the deck only had one wheel and the engine was seized solid on it. Everything seemed rusted in place in the engine, and the tank was full of watery rusty sludge. I had a good 3.5 Hp Briggs to go onto it, but the old engine didn't go without a fight. All three bolts sheared off, one of them causing me minor injury in the form of a large lump of blood pooling under the skin. But in the end, I got a working mower in less than an hour's work. The bag was improperly put together as well, with the fabric pulled over the handle. Fixed that, cleaned it up and it's a surprisingly nice mower considering the condition it came to me in. I'm glad I've repaired the pressure washer, it makes things so much prettier. It'll find a home quickly.






I also got 2 self propelled mowers yesterday, this one has a bad rod knock and a cracked engine base. I got my Quantum filter gaskets in the mail today so I have one destined for this mower.

This one was neglected and sat outside for some time. Either the pull starter or cylinder is seized solid and the gas tank is full of water. I think I may have another Quantum for this, or I may put on a running Tecumseh. The Tecumseh has a pulley/blade adapter seized onto the shaft, so it's a natural fit

I just noticed they are both Murray pro series in the same colour and same engine family. Both from different people. What a co-incidence.

Man you have great luck getting mowers! I wish it were so easy around here.



I've got a couple mowers with that Husqvarna deck. Although one f them has rot holes in it and a bad Tecumseh engine (its a parts mower), the other is a very solid (and heavy!) machine. I got that one for free with a partially seized engine that freed up after filling it with oil. It's actually quit e a nice mower. I should really sell it, but haven't had the heart to yet. It's been in the basement in storage for at least a year.

On a good week I can usually get my hands on 5-8ish mowers, although maybe half of those have usable decks. A few have great engines needing nothing, and a bunch have maybe a cable or recoil, or carb that work. Halifax is a decent sized city so there is a lot of competition but I still make out OK. I have sold 19 I think in about a month. I've been so busy with it that I actually need to step back and re-organize myself, prioritize work needed around the house and then continue. I'm going to try to resist temptation to pick more mowers up until after the weekend and spend time breaking down my basket cases. In the process of doing that I think I can get 3 more mowers out the door. Somewhere in there I need to complete my utility trailer as well. Man, i wish there was more time in the day.

After the mess is cleaned up and the shed is organized, and the trailer is finished, I'll see if an add on Kijiji is still there for something like a half dozen tractors, dozen edgers and a dozen or so push mowers for 300 bucks. I bet the neighbors will LOVE me then!

hanyoukimura said:

Man you have great luck getting mowers! I wish it were so easy around here.

I've got a couple mowers with that Husqvarna deck. Although one f them has rot holes in it and a bad Tecumseh engine (its a parts mower), the other is a very solid (and heavy!) machine. I got that one for free with a partially seized engine that freed up after filling it with oil. It's actually quit e a nice mower. I should really sell it, but haven't had the heart to yet. It's been in the basement in storage for at least a year.

Click to expand...

Is that a Husqvarna deck? Mine is re-branded as a Craftsman, but I haven't seen a manufacturer's label on it. The red one I mentioned is actually an MTD manufactured Super-Cuts, but it looks a lot like Rover Supercuts. I'll take pics of it later because it really is a well built mower, especially for an MTD. The silver Craftsman branded one above in fact is not the same deck, I just thought it was the same. Maybe I'll weld the hole in it and get her going again and sell it to a young kid trying to get in shape.

Vervepipes said:

Is that a Husqvarna deck? Mine is re-branded as a Craftsman, but I haven't seen a manufacturer's label on it. The red one I mentioned is actually an MTD manufactured Super-Cuts, but it looks a lot like Rover Supercuts. I'll take pics of it later because it really is a well built mower, especially for an MTD. The silver Craftsman branded one above in fact is not the same deck, I just thought it was the same. Maybe I'll weld the hole in it and get her going again and sell it to a young kid trying to get in shape.

Click to expand...

From what I understand Craftsman mowers are primarily rebanded Husqvarna mowers.

The carb for the Honda HR194 arrived in the mail so I put it on and it runs as beautifully as it looks. This is my favorite mower that I have right now, despite the small size and low HP. In reality, a 19" mower doesn't take much longer than a 22" mower, on a 1/4 acre it probably only translates to 1 or 2 extra passes. The engine has a very pleasing sound. Now to polish the chrome. I tinkered on the Noma, and despite having a functional throttle system it doesn't seem to rev very high and often dies down some. It also vibrates badly and has some very loud rattling. Compression feels good while turning the engine manually and the crank shaft looks straight. Maybe I'll try another blade in case it has a wow in it, but that still leaves the low RPM issue. Besides having a manual throttle that honestly seems to act more like a just a choke, it also has the air vane that controls the throttle somewhat, and it moves freely. I want to get to the bottom of this so I can sell it.

I also got a beater 6HP Quantum running now that I have spare gaskets. I just need to change the pull cord and it'll be good to go, after a pressure washing of course. This one is not pretty. It is missing part of the shroud above the air cleaner that I robbed for a better mower, it's been spray painted another colour that isn't sticking well, and it has a little bit of rust. Still, a running 6 horse should get $50 regardless of those details.

Both Yard Machines mowers sold today. I'm still getting the beater Murray ready to sell. It has a regular blade on it, but it's a mulcher with a missing rear discharge bag, so I'll see if I have any spare mulching blades that will fit it to make it mow nicer. After that I may have a couple of mowers left that I can build but I want to focus on cleaning up the mowers that are destined for parts, then I will either take a few days off or look for more. Most likely the latter, I don't know how to relax. Wel I do, and it comes as a moment of triumph after working on getting something others considered scrap to live a second life.

Vervepipes said:

Well I do, and it comes as a moment of triumph after working on getting something others considered scrap to live a second life.

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I'll drink to that! :drink:

Some good and some less good today. This Murray is not ready to sell. Not a pretty mower, but 6 HP is good for neglected yards. This one is missing part of the shroud that I robbed for a better mower but it's going to go cheap and fast. It came to me with the engine is pieces from a power engineering studen who figured she'd try to rebuild a motor, but never got around to reassembly. It has a lot of paint over spray from a gad paint job but again, it's a cheap beater mower.


Cleaned up and replaced the wheels with less wobbly ones



I solved the Noma problem, it has a bad vibration and the rpm's were very low and not consistent. I replaced the spark plug with the proper one, and readjusted the throttle cable, it now runs fine but still shakes and rattles. I tipped it over and it looks like either the blade or crank is bent, but the blade retaining bolt is completely rounded so I have to think about my plan of attack on this one. Maybe I'll grind the sides of the bolt head flat until a wrench will fit snugly on it, or buy some vise grips. I'll have to think about it over the weekend as it's going to rain the whole time.

One of the self propelled Murrays is now running, I borrowed a cable from another and replaced the rotten muffler and it runs beautifully. Now all it needs is the proper cables and a belt and it can be listed.


This little self propelled Murray has a tank full of water and I looked into it more today, it also has a broken self propel cable and the engine is seized solid. I have an engine ready to replace it, more on that in a minute.


As it turns out, my Lawn-Boy Silver series with the Tecumseh motor is not really worth saving. I was going to weld the deck cracks but the underside is damaged with chinks missing and a bad rivet job. The good news is that the engine is not original and has a belt drive pulley, so on to the little Murray it will go.

I took the blade brake and recoil/shroud assembly from the 6.75HP Craftsman below and transferred it onto one of my spare 5HP Quantums. It runs if I pour gas into the carb if I keep the manual throttle all the way full throttle but dies as soon as it's relaxed. I'll transfer over the carb and the rest of the governor gear over another day to make it work well. This guy needs both cables and a belt. I may have another engine I may throw on in the mean time to get it out the door that went on another deck, only to realize it has a deck crack.


I also broke down 3 decks into spare parts for my parts shelves so it was a VERY productive day considering it was a full day at work before starting any of this. I didn't get much out the door, but I think I'm further ahead that I was yesterday for sure with diagnostics and action plans. My beer low light is on.

On a side note, I'm almost at my May sales level already and word of mouth is getting around the base and I'm getting people coming to my office asking what I have available. I really need to organize myself quickly to get this operation running smoothly and try to keep up with demand, especially if mowers are selling before they are even listed.

So with the Lawn boy Silver Series out of the picture, my personal collection is down to the Honda HR194, '73 Lawn-Boy and Sunbeam Lawn Champ. I've yet to actually use the Lawn Champ, but it's too neat to sell. I think this is how hoarders begin.

I can't seem to find any blade brake cables at any store locally except the style that is the same at the engine and handle end, the sleeve I mean, not the actual cable, if you understand what I mean. The problem is that almost every mower I have uses the kind of cable that has the sleeve retainer press into the handle, so the kind available to me is useless. I've been looking for some sort or adapter but can't seem to fine one. I had one MTD that had a simple metal bracket with a '90 degree angle, but it was curved to fit the shape of the round handle, with a hole to bolt it in and another for the sleeve to clip into. I wish I could find those somewhere? I would buy 20 of them...

I can't seem to get much further until I solve my cable dilemma, so I installed a blade onto a Yardworks electric corded mower that had one missing and it cuts just fine now. It's raining on and off so I don't want to try it out on my standard 1/4 acre test mow, so it'll have to wait a few days, I'll take pics later too. It's a decent looking metal bodied mulch/bag mower, it should make somebody very happy at $50, and I can use that money when I break down and buy the proper cables for the remainder of the mowers that I need to repair.

Zip tie my friend. If you get one that has the same ends and is long enough. All you have to do is zip tie it in place in a few spots and it'll last a long time.

Didn't think of zip ties, I guess I figured it wouldn't be sturdy enough. A little digging and this is what I've come up with that would do the job
Hayter Clutch Cable Bracket 306108
I need to see if there's anywhere closer that sells them.

The old Noma is ready for sale. In the end it needed the proper plug, a new throttle control cable, and new blade and I replaced 2 of the wheels with better identical ones I had. I also got this Yardworks ready to go out the door. It needed a blade and a spacer for the fan/blade mount. Like so many other things, I just happened to have a spare. Hopefully they sell quick as my parts supply and mower supply has pretty much dried up and I need a bit of cash to get myself going at a steady pace again.







I think maybe I should invest in a good camera too. My good old Kodak's processor failed and I've been using an lower end camera. I miss taking decent photos...

The Yardworks was up for 20 minutes before it sold, man that was quick.

I've had a chance to play around with one of my Weed Eater trimmers. I've cleaned the carb, replaced the fuel lines and filter, cleaned the spark plug which looks brand new. It now starts on full choke, and will run on half choke if I keep my finger on the trigger. As soon as I let go of the throttle or move to no choke it dies. I was hoping it would be running today as I need to trim my yard badly. I have a bunch of electrics that work but have no string, I guess I should at least buy some string and use one of those, and start to sell them off to make room. So much to do, so little time!

Lucky day today, picked up a very nice newer 6.75 HP Craftsman mower and Homelite trimmer. The trimmer has a broken off spark plug and the trimmer head doesn't turn when I crank the engine. I'm not too interested in it, I went for the mower and this was a bonus. I hate trimmers, they are so finicky. The mower though is in pieces, although the guy assured me all parts are there. It hit a stump or rock and the shear key is toast, but I was able to remove the flywheel easily so I'll reassemble it this week and sell it to one of my bosses who prefers a gas mower. It will be a huge deal because I'm sure I'd list it at 150, but I'll give a "friends and family" discount for 100 bucks. I have a few basket case Quantums that I can rob any missing parts, there's bound to be something, and I have a new blade I bought on clearance "open box" for 8 bucks. I also picked up an MTD with a Tecumseh, the deck is rusty but not rotten so I'll throw on a working motor and sell it for a quick turnaround as a beater to last a year or two.

Now the not so good. I listed the Noma, but now it won't start so I had to remove my add. It sputters on mid throttle for a few seconds and dies, will not run on choke or low, dies if I move the throttle. I'll have to take the carb off and clean/inspect it. This Noma is starting to become a thorn in my side, I can't wait for it to run reliably so I can see it off.

Perhaps it needs a new diaphragm?

Could be, I'll find out probably another day as it's supposed to start raining soon

I have one of the Weed Eater trimmers running, both adjustments on the carb were way off. I did a test usage and it works great. I also re-strung a Toro electric trimmer and it works great as well. I may be trading one or the other for a 2500W generator that needs a pull string and has an oil leak. It is Powerfist brand, so the engine must be a chinese knockoff of a brand name. Hopefully just an oil sump gasket but worth a look anyways. Then I can sell my small 950W genny that I got in trade for a truck grille when I was parting out my old work truck last year.

You sure have lots to do when you come back from work and during the weekends! You are gonna have to quit you're job if this keeps up!

I actually accomplish what I do with maybe 2 hours of repair time per day. Some time is spent driving out to pick up or deliver, but I try to tie this in to other tasks. If I had more time I'm sure I could do a lot more, but definitely not enough to match or beat the income from my other job!

The black Murray with the missing shroud piece just sold, that brings me past my total May sales. I have 5 mowers left to finish but I'm slowing my pace a bit for now, I have wines and beer to brew and veggies to tend to, plus the unfinished trailer project that needs to be done before winter.

I picked up a few parts mowers yesterday, one is kind of interesting but I need to take a picture of it yet. It is a Wedgefield mower by Canadian Outdoor Products Inc, it has some angle iron across the top the entire legnth of the deck and the handles are mounted to those bars, very odd looking and I'm not sure if it's like that from factory or what, because of the handle location. I also picked up a deck with half a quantum that I'll use to repair both the 6.75 HP one I got earlier this week and probably a 4HP short deck that needs an oil sump base. Then there's a Tecumseh MTD with a broken recoil. I think I'm getting up early this weekend to get some out the door.

So the guy with the 2500W genny is interested in my trade, after all he is now more interested in the Toro electric trimmer than the gas Weed Eater which is fine with me, the Toro trimmer was given to me and it didn't need anything at all, just the line was broken off in the spool and needed to be threadded back into the hole. I'm also giving him a set of garden sheers, a dandilion picker and a hand held fertilizer spreader and we're doing the swap on Sunday. I can't wait to tear into that one!

Last night I also took apart the gas tank and carb on the Noma, there seemed to be an obstruction in the fuel pick up tube that I couldn't remove so I replaced it with another tube, cleaned the carb and tank, inspected the diaphragm and spring and stuck it all back together. It started up and ran perfectly so I mowed a bit with it. I then had to put it aside while I did something else and went back to it, wouldn't start! The spark plug wire connector seemed a bit loose to I tightened it a bit and it ran, but after I shut it off after a few seconds it wouldn't start. This one is bugging me. I may have to place the engine on a shelf for now to get it out the door.

So is it time for a new phone when your car gets broken into and they leave your phone? Nothing was missing but everything was strewn about, probably looking for keys. Just a rant, nothing new today.

I found out from the neighbor across the street that they had the same thing happen to their car this morning as well, except their hood wasn't opened.

Anyways, this is the Craftsman that I picked up with the Homelite trimmer a few days ago. No initial pictures, but here it is almost done. I basically bot this as a block on a deck with the rest of the engine in a bag. The explanation was that it stopped running and the kids wanted to see what it looked like inside. Unfortunately, the kids also took a hammer to it, so the carb bracket was mangled. As with so many others, I happened to have a spare. It had a sheared flywheel key, so I grabbed one from a scrap engine. It also needed a filter housing gasket to be able to prime. After I got it all together, it sputtered but would just not start. It had a brand new spark plug so I took a look and the gap was HUGE! Fixed that and it runs perfectly. It still needs replacements for the front wheels and a cleaning but even dirty it looks nice and darn near new.


Once this one sells I'll buy all the engine brake cables I need, I think I'm up to 4 waiting on cables now...

Wow what a busy day. The 6.75 Hp Craftsman is done and listed for $150, and I've gotten 3 emails already within 30 minutes of posting the add. Here she is all prettied up.



I couldn't get a diaphragm kit locally for the Nome, so I bought a kit for a newer style carb and swapped one, then another onto a good tank and neither would prime or push fuel in to run. They both make a gurgling inside the tank. I'll have to figure that out later. I pulled a complete assemble off of a basket case, for some reason the tank was full of black oil. In any case, it pumped fluid, so I cleaned it out and filled it with gas, it starts and runs well. Finally done with this headache of a mower. Nah, I like it, it has character. Washed (again) and ready to sell (again...).



This Lawnflite I've had for a while but haven't gotten around to fixing it. The carb gasket was leaking badly but it ran. I couldn't get a gasket for this one locally either, so I swapped another basket case's tank assembly on. I got it running, but forgot it doesn't have a blade. The blade adapter actually free spins on the shaft, the key way is not even engaged because it is not pushed far enough up the shaft, but it is thoroughly stuck on there. I need to get a new wheel for my griner and I will carefilly split it in half, and then install a spare in it's place. The wheels are a bit wobbly, but I'll market this one as a beater so I'm not sure I'll replace them. It didn't clean up to well with the pressure washer, but the engine sure looks cleaner.
Before:



After:



This is the Yard Machines mower that I got running a few days ago. It needed the carb cleaned, a new filter (it was so dirty that I would not come close to running after I cleaned the carb, I just HAD to try it out) but still needs a cable. Runs great though.



After:




I also picked up the generator today that I swapped for an electric Toro trimmer along with a few other things. The oil leak was really only the oil drain hole that was less than finger tight, and I replaced the pull cord. It started on the first pull so I tested it out with some power tools. Nice unit, quiet and easy to use. I'll keep this one.

The Cratsman 6.75 sold, and I used 15 bucks of the money to buy an old KGrow (MTD made for KMart). The deck is near perfect and has a few details unusual for a lower end mower, like the huge bolt on muffler for example, and the ergonomic handle shape. The problem again is that it needs a cable, so now I have 5 mowers needing cables. I'm going to break down and buy them soon, I really need to clear room of this almost finished inventory. The rest of the money I'm debating on. There is an add for 2 Toro comercial decks with Suzuki 2 strokes for $75. There is only a picture of 1, and the deck looks beat, but I could likely swap everything onto my non runner. It is said to be running and also needs a gearbox for the self propel. The second mower is "only for parts" and not pictured. Out of the 3 mowers I'm sure to get one nice runner and lots of spares, or maybe even 2 runners, but for one thing I don't like to spend that much on a broken mower, second I need funds for cables!... I also don't have much room left for "collection" mowers. Decisions...

Another rant, I cannot beleive the price of shipping to Canada from the US, it's gauging simply put. I've shipped numerous auto parts south of the border and it never came close to what is being quoted as shipping costs. That is, for the 5% of retailers that will even ship to Canada. Boo...

The orange Noma found a new home, to be used as a cottage mower. I have lots of parts mowers but none left ready to sell. I've been taking it easy the last week or so and have started on the trailer rebuild project. Today I removed the old springs and now have to wait 2 days to get the correct length of bolt to use in the trailer frame. Stores closed early today and tomorrow is a holiday. The new springs are much smaller than the ones that came on the old trailer, but the change in size brings the axle back around where it belongs instead of smack in the middle so it should tow nicely. I have brand new tires on 5 bolt rims, both have cut valve stems and the trailer came with a 4 bolt axle, but the tires are done on it, so I think I'll upgrade to a 5 bolt hub while I'm at it so I can use the nice new rims. As for the stems, I'll break the bead and try to replace it without removing the tire. I don't know if it can be done but I'll try. Something tells me though that this is going to be a case of " the longest way to do something is a shortcut".

Oops, today is Sunday, not Monday, stores are open tomorrow, hurray! Tuesday is the holiday.

I haven't accomplished much, I've been on vacation for a week and have been cleaning up the yard in anticipation of the hurricane and leaving for work for a week. I did pick up a lovely Briggs 80201, serial number starts with 66 so that may be the year? With the copper paint the time frame seems right. It runs, has a pulley on it and I'm wondering what to do with it. Maybe a neat power generator?

I've been away from home for work for a week, and haven't done much on mowers this month, I feel like such a slacker.

Today I picked up 2 mowers, one is nothing special but this Husqvarna built Weed Eater looked promising. The engine was seized and the recoil bound up. Both of the mowers were badly neglected, being left in the rain for I assume was a few years. I lightly tapped the blade to free up the engine, checked the oil, added fuel and gave it a few pulls after tending to the recoil. I drained the carb and it was an orange goo that came out, so I decided to take the carb apart and clean it. It started and ran for a while, then spent some time surging. I adjusted the governor and it helped a bit but still surging. The fuel hose is badly cracked so I figure it's to blame. I cleaned the carb knowing I'd have to do it again after changing the hose for good measure but wanted to have a good measure of how it ran. I like this engine, it is labelled as a Husqvarna as well but I have a feeling it may be a Honda clone, even the carb looks just like the clone part I put on my Honda HR194 last month, same manufacturing logo and everything. I looked around and I happened to have a bag that fits, it says Craftsman on it but it is a perfect fit, I doubt a future owner will mind.


I need to clean the car, so when I do I'll pressure wash this machine to see how well it cleans up. I still need to replace or clean up the rusted wheel bolts and replace that fuel line, but it should be good to go this week. These pics are as I got it, minus the bag that I test fit prior to photo time.

What I find interesting is that the Husqvarna web page shows the mowers being equipped with Honda or Briggs engines, but not with their own brand of engines, while this Weed Eater engine is labelled as a Husky.

Here she is cleaned up, pics taken with my lame camera's phone. I really need to buy a new camera since the processor broke on my old one. Cleaned up nicely I'd say. The high pressure jet even got rid of the white oxidation buildup to make the block look nice as it should. I tried to start it tonight and only got a few seconds at a time, so something's plugged up again, not a big worry since I didn't expect it to run in the first place given that the engine was seized when I got it. If after the fuel line is replaced and the carb is cleaned it still won't run, I'll take apart and clean the Honda carb I removed and I'll swap it over. If that carb will work with a good cleaning it will go back onto the Honda, and the ebay replacement will go on this Weed Eater. I may try that anyways just to get the OEM carb back onto it. I like this one, but have a hard time justifying another mower as a "keeper", although the HR194 is awfully heavy for an aluminum decked mower, and plugs up very quickly. Nah, can't keep this one, has to be sold...



I haven't even taken the other mower out of the van yet, I was focused on this one. All I know is that the other mower has a Briggs flat head and is also seized, but if it's seized in the same manner as this one it shouldn't be an issue. I have a couple of self propelled from earlier that I'd like to get out the door this week too to make sure I don't have too much stock over the winter. Anything with a junk deck will be torn apart by that point and categorized on the shelf.

Good job on the cleaning. It looks new!

That car in the background tho.. Has a flat and it looks like that lower scurt is all bent.

That's actually just a fabric cover and the wheels are really only on there so I can push the car around if I need to. When I get my garage built it's going straight onto a lift or a rotisserie. The car is a '77 Toyota Celica.

The Weed eater is still not running reliably. It'll run for 10 minutes and then stall, one primer pump and it will start again for a few minutes. I'll clean the barb again in case it's something that was in the tank that made it's way into the carb. The motor is pretty darn close to my old Honda, the only difference in the carb is that this one doesn't have a manual choke, and when running it's much less refined.

The othe rmower I picked up at the same time is a newer Murray made since Briggs bought them out and put their logo on everything. I unseized the engine gently and it runs, however the governor is in the crank case, not air and spring style like the older ones and it was seized, and not is sticky so it won't move on it's own. I'll either convert it to manual throttle or to the old style governor, but the body is almost flawless. I'll keep an eye out on the driveway where I got them because if they buy a new mower every year because of the neglect, then I can make a few bucks off of them. I have a good Quantum on another deck, so I may just throw that on the Weed Eater and deal with the Honda clone another time.

This is the red Murray that I picked up with the green Weed Eater. A quick rundown, this one was seized and took only a light tapping to free it up with a bit of oil in the cylinder to help. The governor was also seized, but I worked it loose by tapping and prying with some pliers, then I let it soak in motor oil, worked it in, dripped more oil on it and repeated a few times. New fuel was added to replace what looked like cloudy apple cider in the tank, then an adjustment to the governor spring bracket to increase throttle and it's good to go. I didn't have to spend one dime on this one. The before shot is actually cleaner than when I got it because when I first started it, half the crud on the deck shook off.





After






I'm not too pleased with the Chonda motor on the Weed Eater, it now isn't getting fuel again other that when primed. I haven't cleaned out the tank and carb again like I planned to, but I tried to start it with little success today. Not screwing around with it anymore for now, I think it'll go on a shelf and I'll put an always reliable Quantum on there. I have my eye on a 2000 Jetta TDI that I'm pretty sure just needs a $20 relay (the famous relay 109), so I want to try to make $500 in sales in the next few days. Think I can pull it off? I commuter car that's cheaper to run than the gas hog 2011 Grand Caravan.

Slow due to the rain non stop here. If I don't get the Jetta or don't reach the sales volumes I want, I found a Stiga Park re-branded as a Noma Canadiana rather cheap. They are neat, and from reviews, very well built articulating mowers.

Only one hit on the Murray today, buddy offered less than half the asking price and wanted delivery for that price. Umm... No.

Wow, nothing but lowballers lately trying to get a good mower almost free. This is not the trend from earlier this year.

I finally had enough and a Briggs Quantum is now in place of the Chonda. All 3 bolts broke off in the mounting flange on the cheap boat anchor, so I guess I'll hang onto it in case I get any other of these things. The filter box will probably go onto the Toro though if I feel motivated enough to work on that basket case. Anyways, it runs great and I just did a test mow on my grass. It's up for sale and I'm now deciding what mower to work on next, I need some quick in and outs.

i know it sounds daft if i got any mower trimmers hedge cutter they seam to sell in the spring early summer but now we are over half way through the summer people don't bite as easily

I responded to an add for a free broken mower on the curb and it was gone by the time I got there. What I did find while I was out there was another mower from the curb, and an old Snapper ride on, fit perfectly in the minivan. I started a thread on that one in the Snapper forum. Still no more bites on the mowers I have ready to sell, I may have to prep them for storage and stack them in my shed over the winter. Gotta start on the snow blowers soon, I have 2 that need fixing to sell, one to fix as a utility blower and my '67 Gilson just needs a little attention, gotta make some new axle adapters for new wheels, plastic banana skins don't work well in the snow.

The Toro will live! I found a 20526C for free that runs, no pictures but described as "not pretty but everything functional". My Toro doesn't run, is missing a few parts but is solid, the deck just needs paint. I'll take the best of the 2, keep the rest as spares on my shelves and if the other deck isn't too bad I'll sell the bare deck to somebody with a cracked deck to save room in the shop. Gotta love opportunities like this. Not sure if I'll keep it though, pushing my basket case around makes me realize how heavy the mower is, but the self propel on the other hand will help with that. It could replace my Honda though. As much as I like it for the condition it's in and the fact that it starts first pull despite being 30 years old, the deck clogs very quickly, the bag is tiny and for it's tiny size it is pretty heavy...

What a busy day, I removed wheels and handles from 8 mower decks I had laying around to keep as spares, then discarded the rusted through decks, took an electric motor out of an old washing machine of mine and put the washer/mowers to the curb. I placed an add for free scrap and it was gone in 10 minutes. I now have a bit more room in my shop to store good mowers and parts, and I can start moving mowers from under my deck which have been under a tarp. I still need to remove basket case engines and wheels from about a half dozen mowers though. The ones that look like they have been in a swamp or in bushes for 10 years have just been left outside without cover, as I don't think the little amount of time I own them will make that big of a difference. They are pretty much good for spare bolts and misc pieces, maybe a carb here and there if it's a Briggs flat head.

I did get one mower running today though... sort of. I took the air filter cover, starter and carb from the Toro I picked up recently and put it on my basket case I got last year. A few parts and it sputtered to life, not a great life, but life. I decided on the first deck I had because it has less corrosion on the deck and it is rear wheel drive, as opposed to push only like the "new" one. The newer one also has a blade brake and that's just one more cable to break in the future. Here is the problem for now. Both carb gaskets leak, I need a new one for sure. One bowl has a hole, the other one in rusty inside, so that one will get a white vinegar bath to remove the rust. Both carbs themselves are pretty rust stained inside and need a good cleaning. The "old" carb doesn't allow the mower to run at all, the "new" carb runs but poorly. The gasket for the bowl bolt needs replacing as well. Once those details are ironed out, only the self propel needs to be figured out. Either the engagement cable or the pulley mechanism is seized, hopefully not both. Then when all is said and done, prep for paint and it can be put to use. It may not all happen until next year at the pace I'm going, but it's earned it right to stay in the shed as opposed to being parted out.

Now if this unexpected rain goes away (wasn't supposed to start until tomorrow) maybe I'll check the points on the '73 Lawn Boy.

Got cocky since I got the Toro to fire today. The rain let up so I tinkered with the Lawn Boy. I re-gapped the ignition module, then swapped it out for a spare that came with it, re-gapped, changed the spark plug with one that is known to be working, by-passed the ignition switch to rule that one out. It fired for about 3 seconds at one point but then nothing. I'm in the process of baking the module to see if that trick will work. The gas is new, the carb is getting gas, it just isn't getting any spark. I'm fairly certain that both modules are duds considering the other steps I've taken, so either I wait to find another parts unit or I buy one. It'll wait a bit until I end the season's work.

Well, even though any mower that wasn't in my shed has been under a tarp under my deck, or on my deck, one of the neighbors complained to the bylaw enforcement officer who has given me 2 weeks to clear my property of all the mowers. From the front or sides of the house you can't even see any mowers. The only thing that I can think of is that a few days in the last week I've had stacks of rusted mower decks by the curb, with an add for free scrap metal and it's always been gone the same day. The officer went into my yard, uncovered what was under tarps under the deck, went onto the deck and saw bags of empty bottles (we have lots of ants in Nova Scotia, I don't want bottles kept inside the house) and even the bottles need to be gone because it isn't allowed. This puts a pretty big stop on my efforts, at least until I can build more storage space. If whoever it was would have just come to speak to me, they would have seen that I'm a very reasonable and approachable person and they would have found out that everything was going to be gone or in my shed very soon and I would have kept my trust and respect for my neighbors. Instead of speaking to me like an adult they told on my like a child. My next house will be out of town with no neighbors.

Vervepipes said:

Well, even though any mower that wasn't in my shed has been under a tarp under my deck, or on my deck, one of the neighbors complained to the bylaw enforcement officer who has given me 2 weeks to clear my property of all the mowers. From the front or sides of the house you can't even see any mowers. The only thing that I can think of is that a few days in the last week I've had stacks of rusted mower decks by the curb, with an add for free scrap metal and it's always been gone the same day. The officer went into my yard, uncovered what was under tarps under the deck, went onto the deck and saw bags of empty bottles (we have lots of ants in Nova Scotia, I don't want bottles kept inside the house) and even the bottles need to be gone because it isn't allowed. This puts a pretty big stop on my efforts, at least until I can build more storage space. If whoever it was would have just come to speak to me, they would have seen that I'm a very reasonable and approachable person and they would have found out that everything was going to be gone or in my shed very soon and I would have kept my trust and respect for my neighbors. Instead of speaking to me like an adult they told on my like a child. My next house will be out of town with no neighbors.

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That sucks! Is this the kind of OCD neighbor that uses a shop vac to clean his entrance?

I don't even know which one it is, they had all been friendly to me to my face so now I have know clue who not to trust. My main issue is that I'm an approachable person, if somebody has a problem, all they need to do is talk to me and any problem will be resolved. Now all that's happened is that I don't trust any of my neighbors.

That's no fun. I guess someone didn't feel like arguing with you. Could of been the back neighbour you don't know that was tired of seeing mowers from his window.

What an @$$clown that neighbor must be. That sort of thing isn't really an issue where I live although my golden rule is to not have more than what will fit in the garage at the end of the day since I don't like stuff outside in my yard.

Slow sales in your area too huh? Things typically slow down in July but this year has been especially slow. I didn't sell either of the two mowers I had listed at the beginning of July. Got a couple biters last week but neither showed. Seriously, if only contact me if you actually plan to look at/buy it. Don't waste my time.

I sold 3 mowers that I had ready to go as I was building my under deck shed. That was the Weed Eater with the Chonda that I re-powered to a Quantum 6 Hp, and the red Murray with a Briggs flat head that I picked up as a pair a while back, along with a 5.5 Hp black Murray that I didn't get a chance to take a photo of. I also sold 3 mowers with rotten decks with running motors to a guy a few streets over who does the same thing I do but on a smaller scale and 2 snow blowers that I was going to get ready for the winter. The rest easily fit in my shed stacked and I will go through them one by one to tear down and stock my shelves for next season. I will try to have a couple of mowers ready to sell first thing in May to start off my sales drive but for now I think the sales are done.

Slowed down but not out for the count, I will carry on! The important thing is that I was able to maintain almost all of my stock so that my year of setting up shop is not lost. I will tear down the motors on my shelves, keep good parts, scrap the rest and I'll try to keep a handful of running motors available for 5 minute swap jobs. On a side note, I sold over 30 mowers this year and not a single return or service call.

You did well! I bet it is fun to do when you come back home from work to change ideas. What is your job if I may ask?

I'm an aircraft mechanic by trade, although I'm at a desk job now

Somebody at work heard that I sell mowers and asked me if I had any cheap runners available. I threw together a beater mower from an MTD deck and Briggs 3.5 HP flat head. The cable is frayed, I'll have to check to see if the stores still have any in stock. It runs though, I mowed my yard with it today, but I don't trust the cable to last a while.


This is the one I put together, I swapped the motor out though, not because the tecumseh didn't run, but rather because I didn't have a proper cable. Seems kind of dumb considering that I still need to buy a cable, but the handle I chose out of the mix had a cable mount that accepts a cable that is identicle at the engine end and handle end, which is cheap and readily available in stores here.

On a side note, my Honda HR194 has been giving me grief lately. The throttle cable seems to be stretched and needs adjustment, and the the starter rope stayed in my hand when I pulled it. It needs a little love yet, but when it runs, it runs great. I'm not happy with the bag size though, the front yard alone needs the bag emptied twice, the back yard is twice the size as the front. I can't wait until I have my '73 Lawn-boy running.

Awesome thread pipes! I know this is a little late to reply to this thread but i thought it was pretty cool. Nice to see a fellow Canadian on the forum. I'm from Winnipeg. I've been tinkering with mowers on and off for the last year. I've learned a lot. Its so much fun. When i see this thread it makes me wanna get back at it. You seem to really know your stuff. I hope to have such knowledge one day!

I can totally relate to your shipping rate issues. We get the shaft in Canada that's for sure.

Thanks, I like to tinker and since I'm doomed to a desk job for the rest of my career it keeps my hands dirty and happy. I tried to replace the rope on my Honda but the recoil spring is wrecked. I'll order the parts over the winter. I finnished the season on my lawn with the '73 Lawn Boy which is running very well now and has some replacement parts from a donor. Now that I know it runs it's getting completely torn down for my personal collection. Next to be torn down will the the Sunbeam and Toro. The honda is near perfect so it just needs some mechanical attention. I need to build a shed just for my personal mowers! At some point I'll work on the Snapper ride on, but not until I source a deck, engoine and pressure plate. I may even take my pressure washer that I got for free earlier this year so I can repaint it, the paint is peeling and the frame will rust through in a few years I'm afraid if I just leave it.

I'm still trying to figure out what to do with a 1960's 2.5 HP Briggs side shaft engine I picked up for free. It looks very classic with it's copper paint and is both physically and mechanically in great shape. I don't need a water pump, already have 2 gas gennies, engine displacement is too high to be legally mounted on a bicycle, but it's just so cool that I need to use it on something.

I haven't begun to take my parts stockpile apart yet, it gets dark shortly after I get home so I don't have much time to sort through it. What I'll do I think is get the common size tools together into a kit and have them ready to dismantle a few here and there so that I can at least get rid of the junk decks and sort through the engines later. Engines take a lot less room than full mowers. So much stuff to do and so little time. About a sixth of my 14x16 shed/shop is full of baby stuff like high chairs, bassinet, stroller etc that I need to clean up and sell. We were supposed to have a yard sale this year but that never happened, I think I can sell most of it on kijiji anyways but it's finding the time with work, 2 kids and my wife who works opposite shifts from me. My stash has dwindled some though, I have no trimmers left, I hate working on those so I sold them all as a lot. I have never been able to get one tuned correctly and won't spend any more money on parts, considering how cheap people sell used trimmers, there is just no money in them.

In the end after this busy season, I think I can make much better progress in the new year knowing what I've learned in my first year doing this as a hobby. My goal next year is to have enough money to rent a crane so I can move my shop to the other side of the house so my garage can get built.

sounds like you have a very good summers I sell used mower when I can get to them when the shop is not busy
this summer I have not had time to fix many used mower I sold about 10 used mowers and sold a ton of used mowers
needing repairs to a who had more time then I did and I am in this for the money and some fun but it all come down to the
profit for me I go through a mower and see how much work it need if it need more then say $20 or more for a lower quality mower
I just sell it to someone with more time and looking for something to fix up but I will put $50 at the most into a good quality mower.

The majority of my mowers sold for between $40 and $80, so if it will cost more than a certain amount to fix I just replace the entire engine with one that is known to be working rather than throwing parts at it. I don't generally do piston rings or bearings because I have so many good engine blocks that it isn't worth the time and effort to do that. The biggest hurdle for me is engine brake cables, they are so expensive that sometimes it takes me months to get a used one that fits the application, unless it's for a $200+ mower that is, then there's a larger profit margin, but not worth it to break even or to just make $5. I try to make $20 minimum on my sales, so that decides what work goes into it. unless it's obvious that it's been done recently, they all get fresh oil, plugs and filters too since I know where they are cheapest.

Vervepipes said:

The majority of my mowers sold for between $40 and $80, so if it will cost more than a certain amount to fix I just replace the entire engine with one that is known to be working rather than throwing parts at it. I don't generally do piston rings or bearings because I have so many good engine blocks that it isn't worth the time and effort to do that. The biggest hurdle for me is engine brake cables, they are so expensive that sometimes it takes me months to get a used one that fits the application, unless it's for a $200+ mower that is, then there's a larger profit margin, but not worth it to break even or to just make $5. I try to make $20 minimum on my sales, so that decides what work goes into it. unless it's obvious that it's been done recently, they all get fresh oil, plugs and filters too since I know where they are cheapest.

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oh ok well I am a small engine dealer so i can get parts for very cheap so when i fix a mower it will cost me a lot less then it cost you the mower i made the most on was a craftsman with a Honda on
i put $5 dollars into it and sold it for $80 bucks so i made out very well on that deal. the mowers i sell are $50.00 and up to say 100-120 is the most a have sold a used mower for.

If I can find a way to register a company and keep it profitable I may do it, but I can't have a home based business where I live. I've had a few that had a big profit, like the $40 Ariens that had a stick caught in the throttle linkage, I think I had $20 in parts or so for the belt and sold it for $180 if I recall, a few that only needed a $2 gasket that were sold in the range of $80. My next home will definitly be somewhere will less zoning restrictions, and less neighbors.

I stumbled over here by a different website and thought I might check things out. Is there anyone here who can recommend the best lawn mower? Many thanks!

KenethRomeo said:

I stumbled over here by a different website and thought I might check things out. Is there anyone here who can recommend the best lawn mower? Many thanks!

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Ferris ProCut S by far, only you may need over 10,000 dollars to buy one.

Vervepipes said:

If I can find a way to register a company and keep it profitable I may do it, but I can't have a home based business where I live. I've had a few that had a big profit, like the $40 Ariens that had a stick caught in the throttle linkage, I think I had $20 in parts or so for the belt and sold it for $180 if I recall, a few that only needed a $2 gasket that were sold in the range of $80. My next home will definitly be somewhere will less zoning restrictions, and less neighbors.

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Would be a nice weekend job! If you move, get a house in the woods. You will have peace and quiet their.

I hope to stay in Halifax for another 5 years at least so no selling this house yet, we've only been here a year. As for best mower, that is likely an endless discussion as people are very biased towards what they like, to the point of borderline hoarding! Of all the mower's I've worked with this summer, my favorites are my old Honda HR194 and my 1973 19" Lawn-Boy, both have quirks, the Honda is very heavy for an aluminum mower, far heavier than any stamped steel mower but is very quiet and clogs easily. The Lawn-Boy is super light and has never clogged on me but can be finicky to start and where I have a bumpy, uneven lawn I tend to scalp a few areas regularly.

Vervepipes said:

I hope to stay in Halifax for another 5 years at least so no selling this house yet, we've only been here a year. As for best mower, that is likely an endless discussion as people are very biased towards what they like, to the point of borderline hoarding! Of all the mower's I've worked with this summer, my favorites are my old Honda HR194 and my 1973 19" Lawn-Boy, both have quirks, the Honda is very heavy for an aluminum mower, far heavier than any stamped steel mower but is very quiet and clogs easily. The Lawn-Boy is super light and has never clogged on me but can be finicky to start and where I have a bumpy, uneven lawn I tend to scalp a few areas regularly.

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The old lawn-boys are incredible. Serious mowing machins that just outperform. I got a few quicking around. One blew out a spark plug and the other starts and then dies.

I had a quick question about storage. I dont have the time, before winter, to fix the spark plug hole. Could I just plug the hole with a cloth to not let moisture in? The mower will be in a tempo

As in a Ford Tempo, or a temporary shelter? I don't think a cloth will do much to keep moisture out considering the porous nature of the material. What about making a "plug" of sorts out of silicone sealant or something of the sort if you're worried about moisture? Or take the engine off and store only the engine indoors? They are great machines, and with a complete engine minus the shroud, I wonder how many more decades it will be mowing.

Vervepipes said:

As in a Ford Tempo, or a temporary shelter? I don't think a cloth will do much to keep moisture out considering the porous nature of the material. What about making a "plug" of sorts out of silicone sealant or something of the sort if you're worried about moisture? Or take the engine off and store only the engine indoors? They are great machines, and with a complete engine minus the shroud, I wonder how many more decades it will be mowing.

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A tempo as a temporary shelter (white tents where people park there car in). That tempo is out in a field so everything stays very dry.

I could try screwing back in the plug. I did shot out like a bullet in a hedge, but maybe the whole has a bit of thread left.

The season is about to start, I placed my first add looking for broken mowers and got a reply right away, tomorrow I'm picking up a 6.5HP Craftsman and a 5.5 HP engine that comes with it, no pics, no more info than that. I still have about a dozen basket cases that need to be stripped and sent to the scrap yard for beer money to make room for this season's re-build haul. This year I have an '08 Yaris that I use to commute to save on gas, it has a hitch and in Canada it's rated to tow 700 Lbs, so I'll get a small trailer and use it as my work truck! I have a few mowers that I can build from last year that I need to get done right away to make some cash for the till...

I'm finding this thread more entertaining than I probably should, LOL!

Very interesting to follow your progress. Keep up the good work!

The mower is a green bodied Craftsman with Tecumseh like I've seen so many of last year, and still have a few left to be processed. The Tecumseh is said to run but seems to be in a few pieces, the engine that came with it as well is a Briggs Quantum, said not to be running, but comes with the cable which I'm always in short supply of. I'll check the Quantum out before saying for sure it doesn't run, I can usually get those going fairly quickly. If I run out of bodies, I may sell just running engines to keep cash flowing. That means I need to build a test stand, maybe a bad mower body with the wheels replaced by feet welded on. Projects for the future...

Good idea on the motor tester

A stick got in my spokes yesterday. As it turns out, a deck will not hold against a house if it's only nailed to it with 3" nails. Luckily it didn't completely collapse, but I have extensive repairs that need to be done to it, under the deck also doubles as my storage space. The upper tier of the deck is holding and hasn't seaprated but the lower tier is toast, hopefully it hasn't caused too much damage to the house. I may try to see with the city if there is a contractor listed as having done the work on a permit, but it may not be worth my time and money to go after them. I have no idea how the home inspector missed that before I bought the house... What gets me is that the deck is well built with proper flashing, but the ledger is only nailed on. What a disaster that could have been, I have a 6 seat patio table up there.

This is going to eat at some of my production time, I had intended on building an 8x8 shed to house my ready to sell equipment and a 4x8 shed for my tiller/garden tools as soon as weather permitted. Had to rant, I'm sure others have had shoddily built decks too.

I feel like I've lost so much time already this year but this is the first weekend of nice weather we've had. I don't have anything ready to go yet which sucks because there are loads of other guys with tons of listings already. What I have done however is knock down 6 scrap mowers into usable parts to restock my shelves. I think that I can have one, maybe two mowers ready to go this week, we'll see. I also have to start working on my stalled lawn boy project which I stopped about half way through. My old reliable Honda also needs a new recoil. I actually don't even have one mower to be able to do my own yard right now, good thing the grass is only starting to grow.

Looks like you have a lot to do! Might want to take some time off work to take care of the mowers

I have a 4 day weekend coming up, that'll help me catch up!

I decided the best way to move product would be another shed. I pt up an 8x8 rip stop shed to house some stuff, relieving the overburdened storage problem I had. Today I picked up a plastic bodied Honda Harmony, with the engine and pretty much everything in a box. I'll take a quick look at it, but I think this one will be parted out. The work is already done for me and there are a lot of parts to this jigsaw puzzle to figure out, don't know it's history, I just saw it on the side of the road and couldn't resist. If it's the same engine as my HR194 than I'll see if the starter is any good since my recoil exploded at the end of last season. If the carb is good, it will either eng up on my CHonda I have on a shelf or it'll end up replacing the Mikuni on my project Toro (with a bit of work). Tomorrow I'll try to get even one mower ready for sale to start getting cash flow, then I can buy cheap fixer uppers instead of waiting for freebies to show up.

So I started the day finding a suitable engine to throw an a K-Grow deck I have that is in good shape. I decided on a 6HP Tecumseh, it came to life with a new spark plug and a stream of carb cleaner but dies right after the stream is cut off. Typical Tecumseh. While it was running for a few seconds I heard how loud it was and noticed a bolt missing from the muffler. Decided I may os well replace the carb assembly right from the manifold with one that I know works, in doing so the second muffler bolt broke off in the engine. OK, so I'm not going to lose my cool and do something I regret or half *** a repair, so I shuffled it aside to be dealt with later somehow.

So that brings me to this basket case, picked it up looking just like this picture, the tape says "oil and fuel drained", it was on the side of the road and I couldn't pass it up. Yes, the fuel tank is duct taped to the shroud which itself has a large ding in it. I don't even know how they did that to the wheel adjusters.



I used parts from two identical mowers (these green Craftsman mowers are everywhere here), and a bag I happened to have(I probably have two dozen bags, so chances are I "happen" to have a lot of matches for anything I pick up). Cleaned up, carb swapped, and here is what I have, a nice running rear bagger that doesn't even need to be primed to start.



Pics are with my phone, not my DSLR, so they arent as great as before. The cable looks a bit gnarly but is functional and the price will reflect it's cosmetic appearance.

Nice job on the mower! it didn't look good at all when you first got it.

It sure didn't look great. Tomorrow after work I'm going to try to break down a half dozen basket cases and get one or two more ready for sale. Ambitious but it was a late start to the season. My wife is feeling well enough after an eye surgery to watch the kids for a few hours so I'll take full advantage of that, there's some lost income of hers to make up for at this point. I also have a line on a freebie from my classified add that if still available I'll go get, didn't look much at my emails today being mother's day so hopefully it didn't already get given away. I also picked up two a basket case and a mower with potential from a neighbor, the one with potential has a honda clone that seems to be missing the parts that are good on the shelved clone I already have. It may be a runner with minimum effort. The basket case may be good enough parts wise to finally get that K-Grow or whatever it was out the door. Tomorrow should be a fruitful day.

You're lucky, at least you've got a bunch of mowers to work with. I have yet to acquire a new one this year. In years past there was a guy an hour away who collected them to resell for dirt cheap, but he hasn't posted anything on Craigslist this year, and I've yet to find any going for cheap close by. I have two completed leftovers from last year for sale, so there's that. However, its gotten to the point where the I'm actually digging into old inventory to make something. Guys its just as well, the one I've started work on has been in the back of my garage for 3 years!

Great job on the mower, looks legit. I try hard to make mowers not look like cob jobs as well.

I'm going to try a bit more aggressively to get stuff to work on this year so I'll have mowers to work on in the fall and winter. I plan to corner a few scrap metal collectors who tour around the city on garbage day and offer a bounty on mowers. Most of them take them straight to the recycling depot ond probably only get a dollar or two in scrap value, I think if I offer $5 per mower it would be worth their while to stop by my place once per week for a deposit. I didn't have any luck with that route last year though, I tried with two guys, one would not part with his "junk", as he said "it's all just junk to me". The other already had a guy he was selling his mowers to. My biggest problem is getting decks that are not rotten. I've been thinking about buying decks from Alibaba and building mowers from the parts I have, but the minimum order is 100, and storage for that many decks would be difficult.

Total count for new mowers yesterday was 4. 2 from a neighbor, 2 from the side of the road. One more I'm picking up after work from a reply to my add. Looks like it's going to be a good year, but the start of the year was great last year too, thats when everybody buys brand new mowers and discard the old ones. By the way, a Yaris sedan fits a mower perfectly in the back with the handle removed, no Tetris moves or awkward angles, trunk opens up large, and gets 40MPG while picking up/delivering. Much better than the big blue pig Grand Caravan I was using last year, that's been relegated as the grocery getter now and is parked 5 days per week.

Mixed results today. An electric mower I had picked up works just fine, just needs the blade sharpened, that will be easy to flip to buy some needed ebay parts. The K-Grow is getting to be a thorn in my side. The cable worked fine on a Tecumseh but binds when on a Briggs. I had broken down a running but rotten mower for this attempt, but the cable that came with it was too short for the large K-Grow. I'll have to build a running Tecumseh, until then it's shoved into the corner of a shed. A half decent deck with a no name Chinese Honda clone was next. It was missing some parts, some parts were cobbled together. I used a genuine Honda recoil and governor spring, it runs when pulled but starves quickly. I took the carb apart and it looks flawless, carb cleaner flows through all the holes. Junk copycat parts. I got a carb from a Honda Harmony on and realized after the fuel line was the only thing left to connect that the fuel hose sizes were not the same. Nuts. I'll take a better look at the carb later. Shoved in the corner.

I got a hit on my add, picked up a very old Tecumseh Craftsman with the throttle control right on the carb. Very rough but maybe I can use something on it. On the way home I saw a newish looking mower on the curb, so I hurried home, unloaded the whale of a Craftsman, jetted back to said curb and picked up a 2010 Yard Pro self propelled rear bagger, minus the bag. It looks like a Husqvarna, so I'm sure I happen to have a bag for that. Kohler motor, those can be hit and miss, but this one started right up. The self propel doesn't work, probably the belt because the cable has tension on it. Deck looks near flawless, I can't imagine why anybody would throw this out... Looks like this was an expensive mower when it was new. Debating on selling it right away or using it until I can repair my Honda. I can't keep them all...

First mower sale of the year, and it hadn't even been listed yet. Somebody responded to my add and brought me a self propelled Craftsman in rough shape and asked if I had anything for sale, especially an electric mower, so I showed him this one. All this one needed was a cleaning and blade sharpening and it was good to go.


This 6HP Craftsman is rusty but has no holes or cracks. I cleaned it up as best as I could, found a bag to fit, changed the oil, sharpened the blade and did a test mow. Works great but ugly, so it'll be sold cheap, probably near fifty bucks.



The other Craftsman, the basket case that was cleaned up from prior is ready to go too, so I have two listed for sale, and may have another one or two by the weekend.

One of my 1940's Craftsman table saws is powered by an electric mower rocker switch from 1973. Never throw a good heavy switch away, sell it.

I wish to pour some fuel on the cheap China "powermore" mower, place the full jerry can on top of it, throw a match at it and then pee on it to extinguish it. I got creative and filled the fuel line with carb cleaner prior to filling the gas tank and it seems to have cleaned out the carb enough for it to run, then I saw the governor linkage was bent, so I adjusted it and it ran better, but surging. The issue seems to now be with the spring that follows the governor rod. With the spring completely off, it doesn't run, with it on it surges, if I hold a bit of tension the surging goes away. The spring is one that I took from a wrecked Honda. I'll see now if my other Chonda on the shelf has the same spring, maybe it will be a better fit. I'm so close but so far away because after all I did, I finally could not restart it at the last light of day. I think I'll have to bring all the adjustments back to zero and start again with the spare (if I have one) spring.

Some mowers are a real headache. I've had a couple troublemakers. One was a HRM215 that I fixed twice, ran great, only to stop running after a while. Turned out that debris was caught in the tank screen that I couldn't see. The other was an older Craftsman with a Tecumseh that kept flooding gas out of the bowl. Finally learned that the floats on those carburetors are adjustable!

I have only acquired one Chinese Honda clone. It had blown the spark plug out and ripped the coil off with it, sheering the coil hold down bolts in the process. Think its still sitting on a shelf somewhere.

Emails and texts, looks like both mowers I have left will be sold tomorrow. Now to get to work on a few self propelled mowers I've been saving since last year.

This guy had a Briggs Classic 5.5 HP engine on it. I don't have a great way of keeping track of what's wrong with what as today proved. This guy was missing the carb/tank asssemly, so I robbed a good one. It started right up....and bad rod knock. OK, I vaguely remember this now. I couldn't get the badly rusted bolt for the YardPro's transmission off, so I compromised and put the Kohler engine on the Craftsman deck. End product is a very nice mower, and the deck is much better than the YardWorks deck was.




I also got to work on the KGrow. I got a cable that works on it, and it seems the crank may be bent on it as it vibrates when it runs. Maybe a bent blade, I'll swap it out tomorrow. I really need to tag the condition of things, I lose way too much time to my own foolishness.

I have another 3 self propelled mowers to try fixing in the shed, I hope they all can be salvaged in full functioning capability, they tend to bring home more bacon.

One of the Craftsman mowers is gone to a new home, the 5HP (for some reason I wrote 6 earlier). Runs like a champ, hope the new owner gets years of good work out of it. What next to work on now... I'm thinking another Craftsman self propelled. The quantum on the one I have in mind is apart, no carb, no engine brake. I have enough Quantums on shelves that I'm certain I can get it going this week.

Both the YardPro and 4.5HP Craftsman mowers are gone now. With the money from those I bought a used little trailer for the Yaris, it can hold 2 mowers, 3 if they overlap a bit, or one snow blower. The The big ticket here is the snow blower capability now so I can have some extra cash in the winter too. The trailer is very small, something like 3x5 box.

This guy I found on the side of the road. I replaced the engine brake cable and found a bag that fit. It was also missing it's spark plug. I just mowed the yard with it tonight, it is one of the most fuel efficient mowers I've used on my own yard. I don't know why, it's just a 4.5 HP Tecumseh, but it didn't use much gas at all. Hopefully this guy will sell soon, I need to buy some parts.



There are a couple of commercial Lawn Boys not running, plus a Honda powered Craftsman for sale about an hour from here. If they don't sell soon and I make a few more sales I'm going to try to snag them up as a package.

The Yard Machines mower just sold, now the KGrow has been listed.


Another Craftsman that I thought was good to go had a crack in the oil sump, so it needs some attention before I can list it. It sucks that I filled it with oil and the next day it was all under the mower. I'm tempted to call about this one, about 40 minutes away but with the Yaris the trip won't cost much. lawn boy mower for parts or repair. | lawnmowers, leaf blowers | Dartmouth | Kijiji

The KGrow is gone. I think I'm going to focus on breaking down my parts machines to make room for the next few days, as well as some home repairs that have been put off.

Gotta do those home repairs to keep the wife happy.

I cannot believe the views of this thread! 9100 of them!

What a day, I planned on breaking down parts rigs that are stacked in my under deck shed, but instead I got sidetracked and decided to try to tackle the Chonda again. I used the governor spring from the spare engine I had on a shelf, poked a metal wire vigorously in the main jet, adjusted the idle and fuel screws on the carb and finally, fine tuned the governor bracket and it runs, very well even. I couldn't let that stop me, so I investigated why the Yard Pro from earlier wouldn't go into self propel, as it turns out, the axle gears were removed. I installed a spare set from a deck in worse shape and not it propels. So where does this bring me? I figured the Chonda is would look good on that deck, so I installed a spare pulley/blade mount and set it on the deck. Unfortunately though, I had to destroy the upper belt cover due to a badly rusted screw, and the spares I have don't fit exactly the same. The closest one will need a dremel treatment tomorrow. I also don't have the lower cover which will affect the sale value, and this is the first mower that I don't have a bag for. I think my solution will be to keep it as my own until I get a bag for it.

So now I have a basic deck freed up that originally had the Chonda, so I took a Tecumseh that runs great from a rotten deck, literally held together with about 10 feet of duct tape. Score, another mower almost ready to go. I swapped everything that was good on the cracked Tecumseh from earlier and put together a running motor, although it surges and hunts. It didn't do this with that carb on the cracked engine so I sprayed carb cleaner around all the gaskets with no success. I'll have to investigate that one tomorrow.

Lastly, today I saw a little MTD built mower on the curb, can't remember what it's branded, that looked like it had never spent a night outdoors. Brought it home, it starts. Looked at the build tag and it's only 4 years old. In any case, looks like I may have at least 3 ready to list tomorrow. I didn't do any before-musical-deck pictures, but I'll post a few of the results when I get them cleaned up.

Also, while I was shopping for parts, one of the hardware stores had loads of things on clearance, so I bought the store's worth of Tecumseh filters of various sizes for $2 each and two types of spark plugs for $2 each as well. I'll go back tomorrow on my lunch break at both locations to see if more are on the shelf.

So here are pics of what I've accomplished in the last couple of days. The red MTD has new spark, filter and oil, it runs well and should be an easy sell. If it doesn't sell in a few days I'll put on wheel adjusters.



This is the deck that the Chonda came on, now with a Tecumseh. I had to clean the carb and do a few adjustments, but with a new spark plug and filter and an oil change it now runs well. Stutters a bit until warm but I've cleaned every hole in the carb, and checked all the manifold seals. I'll list it as a beater mower of sorts, not high end by any means.



The YardPro deck, now with gears on the axles and a (finally)running Chonda. It runs well, propels well, just missing the bag and lower belt cover. Maybe I'll hang onto it until I come across some. I was also thinking of trying on a real Honda muffler to see it the exhaust tome will get nicer... I do have a side discharge chute that fits, so without the bag it isn't the end of the world.



So that's my last few days, minus the ones that I couldn't get running properly. Hopefully I can get a few sales by the weekend and maybe take the family out to dinner.

The red MTD is getting delivered on my lunch break tomorrow, and the hodgepodge that now has a 4.5HP Tecumseh may be getting sold tomorrow too by word of mouth from one of last year's customers. I love it when mowers sell before they are listed. Today I picked up a Craftsman self propelled mower that wins the "how did you use that and still have both your feet" award, it literally folded in half when I picked it up. I've never seen the engine on it before, a Tecumseh Vector, 6.75 HP. Hopefully it runs, I won't try it on the current deck in fear of losing toes, or worse. If I can get it running, I'll stick it on one of the self propelled decks that I have laying around that needs a motor. New carbs for it are around 25 bucks shipped on Ebay, so it may be worth getting it running, sounds like a beast of an engine although they don't seem to have stellar repair histories. I'll grab a pic tomorrow, it's impressive how this thing is held loosely together.

Here is the toe biter with the Tecumseh Vector. The bolts are rounded off and I'm not too sure how to go about trying to remove them to save this powerhouse. Maybe cut them off and try to grasp the remnants with vise grips?...


The little Yard Machines that was cleaned up yesterday is sold. Here is today's project, an MTD rear bagger. I replaced the wheels, replaced the cracked handlebar, cleaned the rust off the muffler, found a good air box cover, re-seated the grass catcher onto it's wire frame, oil change, carb swap from a troublesome Craftsman that has been giving me issues, did a test mow and it's good to go. First pic as I got it.




The Craftsman that I pulled the carb from has had a few engines on it, it's the same deck that had a cracked oil sump. The replacement engine sputtered badly and I thought it was a carb issue, swapping it onto the engine above ruled that out, I now suspect a semi-sheared timing key, I'll try it another time when I have more time on my hands. I got 4 more mowers tonight that I need to sort through tomorrow.

So a bunch of no-shows today for the two that are ready to sell. I also got this guy ready. It was missing the discharge cover, engine brake cable and engine brake spring. It cleaned up very nice.




I found an add for a one year old powermore powered self propelled Yardworks that the owner has trouble starting, they want to trade for a good push mower so I'm going to try to trade for it, then sell my other powermore self propelled mower. If the trade doesn't happen, it's listed for sale as well.

The red MTD just sold, I sold it for less than I wanted to so I could make room for better mowers, but in the end it was 100% profit since no new parts went into it, so I can't complain.

2 more no shows today. I'm starting to think competitors are emailing me to hold off on selling mowers and sniping customers. In any case, I started working on a basic rear bagging MTD like so many others I've gotten. The deck looked to be in great shape but the engine was a no-start with fuel into the carb. I went through three ignitions from parts engines before finding one that worked. Next on the list, the handle was cracked, replaced it. The engine brake wouldn't disengage completely, I had to force it the rest of the way by hand to get spark, the lever was bent where the cable goes in, so I replaced that with a good one. Alright, on a roll now. Bad shimmy while running, blade was bent. Replaced, check. Raspy exhaust, very rusty muffler. Changed the muffler. Runs well but a high frequency vibration was still there. The very nice looking deck had a bunch of cracks around the engine mounting circle! All that effort and now I have to pick a different deck for it. At least it has no troubleshooting needed for it anymore. I have a decent self propelled deck that it may go onto. It's an odd Murray deck where the belt goes above the deck and the angine is mounted on a large spacer. If I can separate the pulley from the wrecked engine that came on that deck, I'll go ahead and put it on there.

On a side note, it's odd how last year I dealt with almost only B&S engines and this year it's almost all Tecumsehs. If you've read all my pages, I'm sure I mentioned more than once I hate Tecumsehs, but at least I've gotten familiar with them, although there is still a strong dislike for them.

Was that dragged up from the ocean or what? How does a mower even get like that?

It was a couple of blocks from the ocean actually. Things get very rusty that close to the water. I'm just surprised nobody got seriously hurt using this, at least, I didn't SEE any blood or pieces of human tissue on it. I really want to salvage that engine though. Maybe if I cut the heads off I can use vice grips and "pull" them up. I could try to drill them out, but I'd be afraid of causing too much damage to the aluminum. Hmm...

Looks like a Tecumseh Vector engine. I've dealt with two of them before. One had a blown connecting rod and looked just like that. The other was on an Ariens. The carburetor was even more annoying than the standard Tecumseh ones, but one I got it running it was strong and smooth and started easy. Turns out that the plastic primer/filter bracket can warp slightly where it mates to the carburetor. That prevents it from making a good seal, and then it won't prime. I ended up doubling up gaskets and that fixed it.

Sounds a lot like a typical Briggs Quantum priming issue I run across.

The black craftsman sold, taking the family out to dinner tonight! 2 no shows for the hodgepodge Yardworks/MTD

Today I got this little guy running using a few spare parts. It runs well, but is rusty so I won't sell it for much and I won't make it out to be a supremem mower in it's add. A good camp mower is what it is, or to get by for a few seasons until the deck gets a hole. Runs very well though after some fine tuning.



This one also got a basic treatment of getting it to run, full tune up and all it needs now is a new primer bulb. I swapped the carb on this one, full tune up and better wheels. Rusty deck on this one too but no holes. I don't like doing paint touch ups on mowers I sell, I'd rather sell for a bit less and have the customer see that I'm not holding back any surprises. There are a lot of weary people here from the large amounts of lousy mower repair guys.

Vervepipes said:

Sounds a lot like a typical Briggs Quantum priming issue I run across.

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I've had that issue a few times with Quantums as well.

Vervepipes said:

This one also got a basic treatment of getting it to run, full tune up and all it needs now is a new primer bulb. I swapped the carb on this one, full tune up and better wheels. Rusty deck on this one too but no holes. I don't like doing paint touch ups on mowers I sell, I'd rather sell for a bit less and have the customer see that I'm not holding back any surprises. There are a lot of weary people here from the large amounts of lousy mower repair guys.

Click to expand...

I'm the opposite. I try to make the mowers I sell look as nice as possible. The reasoning is threefold: they stand out from the crowd of dirty mowers, and I can charge a bit more. Aesthetics count, and I've had at least one person tell me that he selected my mower because it was the nicest looking of the mowers listed. Some mowers I put mower effort into their appearance than others, but I try to make them all look nice. Lastly, I really enjoy the before and after. :biggrin: Some mowers really clean up well.

Naturally, I make sure they are running well too. I try not to sell mowers with any problems, which is why I still have the Ariens.

I've only ever had a couple mowers come back with a problem, and if they recently got it, I'll fix it for them for free.

That said, your reasoning makes sense too. There's several of your mowers that have cleaned up really well though! :thumbsup:

Oh and about the Vector, have you tried soaking the bolts in penetrating oil and then using a bolt extractor? Irwin makes them.



Amazon.com: Irwin Industrial Tools 394001 Bolt-Grip Bolt Extractor Base Set, 5-Piece: Home Improvement

That mower is still sending me loads of no-shows, I don't think I've ever had so many tire kickers in my life! On a side note, I picked up a John Deere JS20 for $50, said to not be running. The deck is solid with only minimal surface rust underneath. It was missing some fasteners for the handle, and the bag is missing. When I got it home, I found that the engine brake cable is seized, and I don't have one to match. I zip tied the brake and it started on the first pull, good ol' Briggs Quantum, they seldom have major issues. The self propel works, but not on the lowest speed settings. It could be as easy as an adjustment, the belt looks new and everything else seems pretty clean.





I had been planning on keeping the Chonda self propelled mower with the Craftsman deck for my own use, but I think I'll sell it and keep the Deere, this is a well built mower.

Is that a Snapper deck?

Yes, these ones were rebadged Snappers, aparently they had less than stellar reviews, like wheels breaking apart and the self propel driveline failures, but with it being several years old already I bet this wasn't a friday or monday build.

hanyoukimura said:

I've had that issue a few times with Quantums as well.





I'm the opposite. I try to make the mowers I sell look as nice as possible. The reasoning is threefold: they stand out from the crowd of dirty mowers, and I can charge a bit more. Aesthetics count, and I've had at least one person tell me that he selected my mower because it was the nicest looking of the mowers listed. Some mowers I put mower effort into their appearance than others, but I try to make them all look nice. Lastly, I really enjoy the before and after. :biggrin: Some mowers really clean up well.

Naturally, I make sure they are running well too. I try not to sell mowers with any problems, which is why I still have the Ariens.

I've only ever had a couple mowers come back with a problem, and if they recently got it, I'll fix it for them for free.

That said, your reasoning makes sense too. There's several of your mowers that have cleaned up really well though! :thumbsup:

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If it weren't for Nova Scotia rust and if it was only surface rust from paint peel I'm sure I'd touch up the paint, but the nature of the rust would require a lot of prep to remove so that it wouldn't show through the paint in a few months. I do clean even the rusty ones though and here there is a large market for beater mowers that run well, in fact I think they make up over half of my sales. They sell much faster here too, a very clean, rust free mower priced slightly less than the market value (I search before I post an add for most of my mowers) may take a week listed to sell, a rusty deck with no holes but running very well and priced accordingly usually sells hours after it's listed, with 5 more people asking if I have any more. The rust free ones I give much more attention to detail and the price reflects it. I also make a point to not sell anything that hasn't mowed my 1/4 acre of lawn, so sometimes my lawn gets a trim 5 days per week!

It didn't take me long to figure the market out in this city, a lot of my customers who buy a beater have just moved back here from out west or from another part of the province and have had a lot of expenses, just wanting something to last a few years.

I haven't had to repair any mower's I've sold, I even tell people with every sale to call me if they have any problems at all. However, I had a string of emails from somebody who thought I sold him a mower that only lasted two mows, I finally convinced him that I wasn't the guy he was looking for but it gives me confidence in my work over the other guys around here.

The hodgepodge that attracted so many no-shows is finally gone, with that money I'll buy the engine brake cable that I need for the John Deere. For sure I've decided to keep it and sell the Chonda, no question there. It's overall just a superior mower. Sure I could get more from selling it, but in the end if I decide to stop doing this, I'll have a few top notch mowers in my personal collection.

Vervepipes said:

If it weren't for Nova Scotia rust and if it was only surface rust from paint peel I'm sure I'd touch up the paint, but the nature of the rust would require a lot of prep to remove so that it wouldn't show through the paint in a few months. I do clean even the rusty ones though and here there is a large market for beater mowers that run well, in fact I think they make up over half of my sales. They sell much faster here too, a very clean, rust free mower priced slightly less than the market value (I search before I post an add for most of my mowers) may take a week listed to sell, a rusty deck with no holes but running very well and priced accordingly usually sells hours after it's listed, with 5 more people asking if I have any more. The rust free ones I give much more attention to detail and the price reflects it. I also make a point to not sell anything that hasn't mowed my 1/4 acre of lawn, so sometimes my lawn gets a trim 5 days per week!

It didn't take me long to figure the market out in this city, a lot of my customers who buy a beater have just moved back here from out west or from another part of the province and have had a lot of expenses, just wanting something to last a few years.

I haven't had to repair any mower's I've sold, I even tell people with every sale to call me if they have any problems at all. However, I had a string of emails from somebody who thought I sold him a mower that only lasted two mows, I finally convinced him that I wasn't the guy he was looking for but it gives me confidence in my work over the other guys around here.

The hodgepodge that attracted so many no-shows is finally gone, with that money I'll buy the engine brake cable that I need for the John Deere. For sure I've decided to keep it and sell the Chonda, no question there. It's overall just a superior mower. Sure I could get more from selling it, but in the end if I decide to stop doing this, I'll have a few top notch mowers in my personal collection.

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Definitely makes sense for the market!

From doing this little hobby I've also gone from having no lawn mower to several very nice ones!

Yeah, I pretty much started with a craftsman and now my no-sell list include a twin blade Sunbeam, a Toro 4 stroke Suzuki, Lawn Boy with F100, Honda HR194 and now the John Deere. Maybe a bit much, but I like machines lol.

Vervepipes said:

Yeah, I pretty much started with a craftsman and now my no-sell list include a twin blade Sunbeam, a Toro 4 stroke Suzuki, Lawn Boy with F100, Honda HR194 and now the John Deere. Maybe a bit much, but I like machines lol.

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Nah!

I started with a Brute 7800583 that had no engine and now I have it, plus a a Lawn Boy (that I still need to fix), a 2 cycle Suzuki powered Toro, 2-cycle Briggs and Stratton powered Toro, a Simplicity with a funky drive system and a deck similar to Lawn Boys, a Honda HRB215, an Ariens, a Jacobsen, a a Poulan Pro similar to the Rally I just got, an older Craftsman, and finally an 18" Toro deck in need of an engine. I might have too many, but they're s neat!

Oh, and the Grand Prix if I can't part with that. :laughing:

A little accomplished today. The green rear bagging beater mower with the 4HP Tecumseh is running perfectly now that it has a new primer bulb, so it's listed for sale, the Chonda on the YardPro deck is listed as well, cheaper than I wanted to list it, but who knows when I'll come across a bag for it but I have no desire to keep a mower that serves the same purpose as the John Deere, but is inferior in almost every way. I also tore down a few of the basket cases that I had piled up from last year. It'll give me something to do in the slow season, tearing those motors apart for my own stock, to sell the surplus stuff on Ebay and to make an aluminum pile to scrap.

I bought a new engine cable at the John Deere store in town, it was cheaper than buying online since it costs your first born to ship anything to Canada ($40 shipping on something that probably really only cost the seller $5 to ship, really??)It runs very well, first pull start even with just a slow leisurely pull. A few areas of concern I have with it being a keeper are needing to find a bag at some point, replacing the cracked discharge chute, replacing the rear plastic flap and the self propel only seems to work in top speed. The belt from what I could see looked new, but who's to say the previous owner installed the correct belt? The system looks very easy to access, there is a large cover on the back and it gives good access to the various bits. These snapper based mowers have a less than stellar reputation, plagued with self propel issues supposedly, but then again, for every whiner on the internet there are thousands of people happy enough not to cry about it. I'll investigate the self propel when it gets nice out.

Have you tried eBay? I get mostly all of my parts from eBay. Very good prices, and most of them have free shipping. Some of the carb kits, which come all the way from China, sell for about $6, shipping included. I am in the USA, but I don't think shipping from China to Nova Scotia would cost much more than China to USA.

Yes, I've checked ebay, although they are less that online stores, it's still cheaper to buy cables right at a local store. Some things like gaskets are much cheaper on Ebay. I used to have a full list of every usual consumable part and what store (or Ebay) was the cheapest place to buy, but I can't find the list anymore. I took pictures of the store shelves though and just need to re-make my list.

Rain rain, go away, can't get much done in this until I clear out some more parts mowers. The green rear bagger that I recently replaced the primer bulb on is sold, now the only one still listed in the Chonda. I had a dozen replies saying they would come "right away" but the first person actually was serious this time. Yesterday I picked up an old Craftsman with a backwards facing Tecumseh on a familiar looking deck typical of '90s Craftsman mowers, but it seems somehow smaller. Maybe an optical illusion since it has smaller wheels. I'm not fond of backwards facing engines, but I'll see it runs, and if I have anything to put it on. Man, no joy for me this year, yet another Tecumseh... I want some Briggs, this is getting ridiculous.

I think that I may have solved the Vector engine dilemma. To get it out of the rain, I literally broke the deck apart with a hammer so it would fit in a corner of the shed. That got me thinking that I can cut the deck around the engine to the point that I can grab the bolts with vise grips. I'll soak them in penetrating oil for a few days before I try that though.

Today I acquired a 3 year old Murray with a new style Briggs 5HP OHV engine. This is the first of this style I've ever seen and look forward to examining it. Also to come into my possession was a YardWorks, or something to that tune, with a 6.5HP Vector. The deck looks like it was badly repainted and has bare metal/rust. If I can get the engine running I'll transfer it to a nicer deck, and use this deck for another beater mower that sells so well here. I have a Craftsman self propelled deck that is in decent shape, but with a broken drivetrain that I salvaged the wheel gears and upper belt cover for the Chonda mower that I still have for sale. I have a couple of basket cases with the needed axle assembly but I think they all have the older style cover that isn't quite the same. We'll see what comes of it. Maybe I can put the Vector on the deck that has the Chonda, I'm not getting any bites on that mower at all, even as cheap as I have it listed.

Today's progress will have pics later, gotta run to the store before they close. Stripped 5 parts decks, Looked at the red Murray, all it needed was a new blade, it doesn't even need the primer to start on the first pull. Sweet! The backwards Tecumseh had major issues with oil leaks but ran, so I took the adjustable throttle carb and put it on another engine, a 5.5HP mounted proper on a green Craftsman deck. It needs a primer bulb but runs well after 10 pulls. The Vector I picked up yesterday has no spark, I'm going to try to swap out the ignition from the other Vector.

I also washed the John Deere since I was washing the others. While I had it out I noticed that it is the opposite from Zoolander, it can only turn left, binds turning right. I'll have to investigate that. Very nice mower but I hope I didn't get a money pit since I want to keep this one for myself. I started it though just for the satisfaction of the ability to start on a very slow leisurely pull.

That's today in a nutshell, as I said, pics will come later, the two I fixed today will be listed tomorrow after they get the new parts installed. I need to start dismantling engines soon too, I'm running out of engine storage space.

Here is the one that now just needs a primer bulb. I gave up on the engine that was on it originally, a 6HP Tecumseh. I had replaced the carb on it twice because of sputtering and coughing, the second time was with a carb that I knew worked, so that lead me to believe that it either had a partially sheared timing key or valve issues. That engine has become a parts supplier. The 5.5 block came from a completely rotten mower that didn't have a carb or muffler when I got it. The carb and shroud combo came from an old Craftsman with a rotten deck and oil leaking from everywhere, that was the rear facing Tecumseh. So here we have a functioning mower, although still needing a primer bub, made up from three separate parts sources. I mowed half of my lawn with it today.



This is the almost new Murray that I picked up. It starts on the first pull, even without using the primer. I must admit I'm a bit disappointed that it runs so well, I wanted to try troubleshooting this new engine. I just need to pick up a new blade to replace the bent one, it got an oil change today, and it's gonna be ready to go.



My John Deere cleaned up nicely too. This one I'll do touch ups to, I'd like to keep this one for a while.




Today I picked up two more mowers, one is a low deck Craftsman with green flames painted on it, the other is a monster, a huge Craftsman with large wire spoked rear wheels, self propelled and yet another Vector. What is with all these Tecumsehs this year?? The large one is very heavy, very very heavy. And big. Big and heavy. Looks pretty decent though, I hope I can get this one running.

The red Murray sold, it was listed for 2 hours. Somebody is coming to look at the Chonda YardPro after supper. I'm going to need more mowers to repair.

I took the carb apart on the Craftsman with the 6.5 Vector, put it back together, primed it and... it started, and stayed running! I then went out to get gas for the car, came back and it will only run with gas poured in the carb for a few seconds. Nuts. I'll try one more time, maybe try swapping out the primer bulb for good measure in case there is a pin hole I couldn't see, then I'll buy a new carb on Ebay. I figure for $25 shipped with all the gaskets included, if I sell the mower for $100 it's still $75 profit. It ran fine when it ran, no bearing or vibration issues. The self propel works well. It needs a new handle, but I have loads of those. Definitely worth the small investment for the profit.

I haven't run across either that OHV engine, which I think finally replaced the venerable "classic" flathead, or the newer "Professional" OHV engine by Briggs either. I really like the look of the professional engine and if I ever get one I'll likely keep it!

It's funny, last year I dealt mostly with Tecumsehs, this year its mainly Briggs. Funny how that works!

Nice thing about the John Deere is that the paint is readily available at most hardware stores.

The Chonda sold as well, so now I only have the Craftsman left to sell. I listed it after supper, went out until about an hour ago and when I came back I had seven emails for it. I'm sure it'll be gone tomorrow.

Here is the heavy Craftsman, now that I know it'll run with a good carb I'l going to clean it up and replace the broken handlebar. Seriously, this thing must be near 100 Lbs, that or I'm getting weak having a desk job.



Tonight I picked up a nice looking very basic MTD, no adjusters, fixed handlebar. The deck looks good and only looks to be a few years old, but when I picked it up and tilted it to put it into the trailer water came out of the muffler. Not a good sign so I'll pill off the muffler, carb bowl and spark plug to de-water it before I try to start it. I also picked up another newer Craftsman hi-wheeled self propelled mower. Both mowers are Tecumseh again. Man what I'd give to have a Briggs to work on. I'm all out of good spare Tecumseh carbs on my shelf. I plan on buying a 10L ultrasonic cleaner this year, so I'll try to clean and rebuild a bunch of them over the winter. I've never had any luck cleaning a Tecumseh carb yet, I try not to spray any where the float valve seat it because I know they are prone to swelling like an eye in a bar fight.

Looks familiar!

Vervepipes said:

The Chonda sold as well, so now I only have the Craftsman left to sell. I listed it after supper, went out until about an hour ago and when I came back I had seven emails for it. I'm sure it'll be gone tomorrow.

Here is the heavy Craftsman, now that I know it'll run with a good carb I'l going to clean it up and replace the broken handlebar. Seriously, this thing must be near 100 Lbs, that or I'm getting weak having a desk job.



Tonight I picked up a nice looking very basic MTD, no adjusters, fixed handlebar. The deck looks good and only looks to be a few years old, but when I picked it up and tilted it to put it into the trailer water came out of the muffler. Not a good sign so I'll pill off the muffler, carb bowl and spark plug to de-water it before I try to start it. I also picked up another newer Craftsman hi-wheeled self propelled mower. Both mowers are Tecumseh again. Man what I'd give to have a Briggs to work on. I'm all out of good spare Tecumseh carbs on my shelf. I plan on buying a 10L ultrasonic cleaner this year, so I'll try to clean and rebuild a bunch of them over the winter. I've never had any luck cleaning a Tecumseh carb yet, I try not to spray any where the float valve seat it because I know they are prone to swelling like an eye in a bar fight.

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I have an ultrasonic cleaner, but I almost never use it. Compressed air at 60 psi works fine for cleaning carbs. If you were to use an ultrasonic cleaner, you would still have to use compressed air to get all the water out of the passages.

I have never messed up a mower carb by cleaning it with compressed air - it's the two-cycle ones you have to be careful with.

I'll keep that in mind, I have an air compressor I rarely use that I'll bring outside one of these days. I need to troubleshoot the GFI plug outside though, it was broken when I bought the house, replaced it, and a year later now it's not working again. Maybe because I bought the cheapest outdoor GFI at WalMart, but if there's a bigger issue at hand that needs to be sorted out.

Today I bought a self propelled mower with a Powermore, it runs on the first pull and the self propel works, but the deck has a lot of rust. I think I may transfer it onto another deck if I can remove the blade adaptor so that I can slip on the lower belt shield. I have 2 potential decks that it can go onto, if not I think the most I could get for this mower all cleaned up and the starter rope replaced to the proper length is $100, but why settle for that when I could list it for $160 on a better deck. Also ordering a Vector carb, GXV160 recoil and bulk Quantum air cleaner gaskets when I get a chance today.

I don't know how bad the carburetors are in your neck of the woods, but I've only ever had to replace a few really bad ones.

I'd highly recommend getting this handy tool. It's made specifically for removing and installing needle seats. With it, removing them for cleaning or replacing them is a snap, and that hook on the end is so useful for many other jobs.

SE Tools TEC670377 Tecumseh Carburator Float Gauge - Hand Tool Sets - Amazon.com

I got my first ever return yesterday, the Chonda powered Yard Pro. It's hnting severely and stalling, just like when I got it. It had worked fine when I had it, buddy used it for 30 minutes and it won't tun right. He'd rather have the mower than his money back, so I'll see what I can do. The other Chonda I picked up yesterday also doesn't run any more. It coughs, sputters and files flames out of the exhaust, ran fine hours before. As a rule, I no longer want anything to do with those, I'm very discouraged right now because of those.

Vervepipes said:

I got my first ever return yesterday, the Chonda powered Yard Pro. It's hnting severely and stalling, just like when I got it. It had worked fine when I had it, buddy used it for 30 minutes and it won't tun right. He'd rather have the mower than his money back, so I'll see what I can do. The other Chonda I picked up yesterday also doesn't run any more. It coughs, sputters and files flames out of the exhaust, ran fine hours before. As a rule, I no longer want anything to do with those, I'm very discouraged right now because of those.

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That's a bummer. I had a Tecumseh powered Craftsman that ran well right up until the woman came to look at it. It would not start for here. In fact I couldn't get it running ever again. No idea what happened. I tried and tried to figure it out. Replaced the coil, carburetor, checked the flywheel key. It had spark, it had compression, it wouldn't so much as cough. Eventually I ripped it off the deck and stripped it for parts.

One of the worst things about yesterday was that I had a self propelled deck that was in good shape, but when I put the new Chonda on it, the deck was very crooked somehow, the blade went almost an inch below the deck only on one side of the mower, so it wasn't the crank or blade. There was nothing obstructing the engine install, so it wasn't that the motor was crooked. When I put the Chonda back on it's old deck in hopes that maybe the customer would take that one in exchange for the non running Chonda, it wouldn't run. Now I have two cheap garbage China motors taking up space. I'm going to try to clean the carb again and put an inline filter on the first one though, maybe something in the tank found it's way to the carb.

So this morning the Chonda that I purchased for $40 ran, it must have not liked being washed. I swapped out the motor after two hours of fiddling and false starts on that POS. I found a better belt, put that on, tested it out on my lawn and delivered it. My profit on that mower is now only about $20. The deck that the newer Chonda came from has a lot of paint peel but is solid and the drive system works, has all the covers etc, so I'l going to strip it and repaint it, then find a suitable engine for it. I'd prefer a troublesome Tecumseh to a POS Chonda any day. Maybe I'll try to build a running Quantum from all the parts units I have and put a pulley on it.

So I've noticed that due to scrapping so many mowers I now have a large amount of bags. While it's nice to happen to have a bag for almost anything that I come across, my storage space is limited and I don't have room for 30-40 bags. I've decided that tomorrow I'm sorting through my bags, keeping one or two of each mounting style, and listing the rest on Kijiji. I figure at $10 per soft bag I'll make a bit of beer money and clear up some needed room. I'm keeping the hard and partially hard bags though, they look nicer on a well kept mower and I think they increase resale value by a reasonable amount. Next step in reclaiming lost space is tearing down parted out engines for scrap aluminum. I'll leave the steel bits in a box by the curb, not worth much per pound.

Vervepipes said:

So I've noticed that due to scrapping so many mowers I now have a large amount of bags. While it's nice to happen to have a bag for almost anything that I come across, my storage space is limited and I don't have room for 30-40 bags. I've decided that tomorrow I'm sorting through my bags, keeping one or two of each mounting style, and listing the rest on Kijiji. I figure at $10 per soft bag I'll make a bit of beer money and clear up some needed room. I'm keeping the hard and partially hard bags though, they look nicer on a well kept mower and I think they increase resale value by a reasonable amount. Next step in reclaiming lost space is tearing down parted out engines for scrap aluminum. I'll leave the steel bits in a box by the curb, not worth much per pound.

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Wish I had that problem! I run into bag deficiency problems a lot. Right now, I've got two rear baggers withe the same style bag mount and only one bag...

Almost all the bags are MTD bags though. One Lawn Boy rear discharge style bag, a few electric mower bags. The problem I've found with AYP/Husqvarna bags is that they have a lot of different mounting styles, so I have a bunch of those too, but they seem to have changed fairly often. I do go through a lot of mowers, I probably tear down at least 5 per week for scrap because they are too deteriorated to ever be used safely again, and a lot of those have bags. If it would make financial sense I would help you out but shipping would be killer!

Being a nice day I decided to take the John Deere out for a trial run. The drive system seized half way through the lawn. It works on full speed propel, not any other speed, and is locked from just pushing. I know the drive system was weak in these from the reviews but man, it didn't last long for me. The retaining clips for the wheel sprockets are now one with the sprocket, they would need to be cut off somehow to remove the sprocket. The cost of a new rear axle, or even a used one, does not seem like a good investment given this model's known unreliability. I think the engine will go on another self propelled mower and the rest will be parted out on Ebay. First I'll look inside the gearbox to see if it's a fatal wound it has, but I don't want a money pit, that's for sure.

I picked up 6 mowers today all at once on my lunch break, glad I took my van to work. This one seemed like the quickest to get together. The engine was missing it's oil plug and the crank case was filled with brown water. I replaced the engine with an old Canadian Tire mower that looked neat and vintage early 80's, but the deck had a lot of shoddy welds. I had to tighten the spark plug, not sure why it was loose. A fresh oil change, sponge filter cleaned, deck cleaned, replaced the rusted muffler and I now have a nice beater mower for sale. I mowed the front lawn with it and it cuts very well. I expect a few emails and calls for it in the next few hours, that's been the trend with these beaters, average list time seems to be about two hours before they sell.





I promised the kids some time at the playground today, so I may have to work in the dark to break down more mowers. I really hope my list of ordered ebay parts get here quickly so I can regain some shed space.

This guy suffered from the same fate as the red MTD, left out partially disassembled with a crankcase full of brown water, I wasn't thinking and thought I'd use the carb to get another mower running only to find a vaseline like jelly in the manifold, so I left it aside to clean out later. This mower was also part of the six I had just picked up. I took the engine off of another of the six who's deck was broken almost in half in a leap of faith that it ran despite the deck's condition. Success! It sputtered to life with no smoke at all on start up. I don't know the oil's condition other than there was some in it, so I only ran it for a few seconds. Tomorrow I'll need to sharpen the blade, clean the deck, change the oil and spark plug, and test mow. The rear flap spring seems weak, I may have another similar deck I can take springs from, or maybe they just need to be re-seated. The deck is rusty underneath but no holes or cracks, so this one will also be marketed as a beater but as I said before there is a huge market for those.


Photos were taken around 10PM, so they aren't very nice but gives an idea.

The red MTD from before may be sold, somebody called tonight wanting to get it after work tomorrow. They say looks don't matter as long as it runs they'll take it. I think that I have only one mower left that I got today that I haven't looked at, a 6.75HP Tecumseh Craftsman, not self propelled with a rotten deck and jury rigged throttle/governor wire...cable...thing. The primer has a hole so I'll try some barb cleaner to see it it has spark first of all.

On a side not, I've discovered a hazard of working after dark by flashlight. June bugs are VERY attracted to any light, especially a bright LED on my phone. I'll pack it in when the sun goes down from now on.

The red MTD is sold. Somebody called right as I was selling it, so I told them that I have a green rear bagger for the same price and they want it. Here she is all spiffied up and ready to sell.




I also got one of the self propelled mowers running, the one with the wired up carb. I cleaned the orange/yellow gunk out of the carb and poked a wire through every hole, put on a better carb bowl seal and a new primer bulb and it runs great! The shroud was also missing the two front screws. 6.75 HP, self propelled, large back wheels. This one should sell easily.


Cleaned up nicely.



Out of mowers to fix again until I either get parts in the mail, or find some more to fix.

Some good and some bad tonight. First with the bad. The self propelled mower, right after I listed it I tried to start it and it was surging badly. The carb may need to be cleaned more thoroughly but it did my yard without problems prior to this. Maybe it didn't like getting washed, I'm careful about where I direct water but one of my previous mowers did the same after it got wet, then ran fine when it dried out. I removed the add and put the mower away, I'll check it out tomorrow.

The good is I found a bit of an oddball mower tonight by the curb, an old Craftsman that I've never seen before. It has an aluminum deck, a side mounted Tecumseh 4HP with adjustable throttle on the carb itself, and a grass catcher chute mounted on the top right side of the deck. It's night time so I can't get good pics. The part number doesn't show up in any google searches either. I's tag says
Simpson-Sears, Limited
Toronto, Ontario
Model C950 56441
Serial No 000986

Like I said, I can't find a picture online yet or any info on it. Definitely a keeper to the collection.

I give up. I'll need to take pictures of the mower tomorrow and have the community identify what I have. Being Craftsman, it surely wasn't a custom build only for sears. I love a good mystery but I have work in the morning...

I found this handy link for Craftsman source codes!
Sears Source Code Chart

The mower was built by Noma, the Canadian subsidiary of Murray. Now I have something to start with.

Finally have something to work with, here's a Kijiji add with the same deck but different engine. Mine is a Tecumseh with no engine brake. Can't upload pics at work, maybe somebody can beat me to it before the add goes away and see if there is an American version. Noma has used foreign machines built in Canada a few times like the GT snow racer and a version of the Stiga Park.

* I thought I put the link in, guess I didn't. The add is gone now

Here we are. The deck has a couple of cracks that need to be brazed and the bag has a small hole that I can fiberglass. Can anybody identify this? It has weak spark and the carb float is probably full of gas and overfills. But it's a nice looking, tiny mower. It is smaller than it looks, it must be no more than a 20" deck. It has a plastic fan disc on top of the blade and an air intake for it under the engine. Can somebody help me figure out what this mower is??

The self propelled Craftsman ran very well today, I guess it didn't like getting a bath yesterday. I listed it and it sold in about a half hour. Sold it cheap for $100 because of the small gash on the side of the deck and the cracked belt cover. I bought a GPS for the Yaris with the last two mowers I sold to make it easier to use it for picking up mowers, instead of using the van in unfamiliar areas.

This deck I got as pictured, has some dents in the deck from who knows what. I had some large back wheels for it, and a 3.5HP Briggs that took parts from 3 different engines to get running. Found a handle and cable that worked and here it is, a frankenmower. This one will go cheap due to the dents, mismatched parts etc but will probably still get me $60 or so since it had little rust. It still needs an oil change, new spark plug, blade sharpened, a longer pull cord and a good wash but here it is all together. It should be ready to go either tomorrow or the weekend.

Oil changed, engine speed adjusted, new spark plug, new pull rope, blade sharpened, cleaned up and now ready to sell.




I still can't find anything on that Noma built Craftsman. Even the add for one that I forgot to link wasn't the same, looking back. It's probably even smaller than 20" like I originally thought, it's roughly the size of an electric mower, maybe 18 or 19". Somebody must have seen one of those before?

Ah, the add is still there. Not an exact match but it looks like a variation of the deck design, maybe a year to year evolutionary change. It calls it a Canadiana Outdoor Products NT510 hp, I think COP is the actual company name, marketed as NOMA, but owned by Murray?

I got a chance to get a very good look at the Noma built Craftsman, and it has a lot more cracks than I thought. Unfortunately I think it will be best suited for the parts bin which is a shame but with at least a dozen cracks I don't know if it's worth trying to save. It sure has a neat factor to it, so I'm kind of torn.

The silver Craftsman has sold. Glad to have a bit more room. Today I got two very similar mowers done, basic black Yard Machines, one with a Tecumseh and one with a Briggs. The Tecumseh is in slightly better shape physically, but they are still very close and run well.

First the Tecumseh. I didn't take any before shots because it was clean when I got it. I cleaned the carb which was very dirty. The gas smelled very bad so I drained it and put a splash of new gas in. It still didn't start. The primer bulb looked a bit weathered so I put a new one on. Still no go, but had spark as tested by carb cleaner in the intake. While taking off the fuel tank to inspect the screen, I noticed an odd lack of fuel leaking out of the hose, which I had disconnected from the carb end. The hose was plugged from one end to the other with black goo with the consistency of melted rubber. Well, that explains it, new fuel line and it started right up! Great news until I came home after work (I had done most of that work on my lunch break). I couldn't pull the cord at all... I took the spark plug out to see if the cylinder had filled with something, I thought I had moved the spark plug wire far enough out of the way, but when I pulled the cord fuel sprayed out and became a flame thrower! I sure learned my lesson with this one, and now have a blackened spot on my lawn. In the end the float was not set correctly since I had to replace the original, it took some tweaking to get it right so it didn't surge, but when I got it right it ran great.




This guy cleaned up nicely, although there is silver paint overspray all over it. The engine was on top of the deck but not bolted together and had no blade adapter, the handle was missing two bolts so it was floppy. I installed the engine, put on a blade adapter and blade, good cable installed. No start. With a shot of cleaner it puffed with a lot of smoke. Smelled the gas. Yuk! Bad, bad, bad. New gas and it started on the second pull. Oil changed, cleaned up and now ready to sell as well. 2 mowers ready to sell in one day, that's a good day.


.

Beer low light is on.

Vervepipes said:

The silver Craftsman has sold. Glad to have a bit more room. Today I got two very similar mowers done, basic black Yard Machines, one with a Tecumseh and one with a Briggs. The Tecumseh is in slightly better shape physically, but they are still very close and run well.

First the Tecumseh. I didn't take any before shots because it was clean when I got it. I cleaned the carb which was very dirty. The gas smelled very bad so I drained it and put a splash of new gas in. It still didn't start. The primer bulb looked a bit weathered so I put a new one on. Still no go, but had spark as tested by carb cleaner in the intake. While taking off the fuel tank to inspect the screen, I noticed an odd lack of fuel leaking out of the hose, which I had disconnected from the carb end. The hose was plugged from one end to the other with black goo with the consistency of melted rubber. Well, that explains it, new fuel line and it started right up! Great news until I came home after work (I had done most of that work on my lunch break). I couldn't pull the cord at all... I took the spark plug out to see if the cylinder had filled with something, I thought I had moved the spark plug wire far enough out of the way, but when I pulled the cord fuel sprayed out and became a flame thrower! I sure learned my lesson with this one, and now have a blackened spot on my lawn. In the end the float was not set correctly since I had to replace the original, it took some tweaking to get it right so it didn't surge, but when I got it right it ran great.




This guy cleaned up nicely, although there is silver paint overspray all over it. The engine was on top of the deck but not bolted together and had no blade adapter, the handle was missing two bolts so it was floppy. I installed the engine, put on a blade adapter and blade, good cable installed. No start. With a shot of cleaner it puffed with a lot of smoke. Smelled the gas. Yuk! Bad, bad, bad. New gas and it started on the second pull. Oil changed, cleaned up and now ready to sell as well. 2 mowers ready to sell in one day, that's a good day.


.

Beer low light is on.

Click to expand...

Come on!!! No picture of the burnt grass?
That was the best part of the story. We see lots of lawn mowers...not many burnt lawns!

I was losing light quickly, I'll take a picture for you tomorrow. The grass was on fire, the mower deck was on fire, it was spectacular but went out with a bit of stomping. I'm surprised the paint didn't peel. Maybe it even made it shinier! In any case, lesson learned.

Vervepipes said:

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That looks like a beast of a mower! Far cry from what Craftsman sells now.

Rain day, can't do much. I went out in the rain and worked semi inside my tarp shed, with the flap as a sort of roof over me. A guy at work needs a beater mower for his rental unit and I have just the deck for the purpose but needing a motor. The motor on it was a Tecumseh Vector but had no spark. I pulled it off and stuck it on a shelf to investigate later and tried out a newer Briggs classic that had hit something hard. The deck looked new but was shattered. I hoped that the deck took the force of the hit as the blade looked straight (very odd), slapped it together, pulled the starter and... broken connecting rod. The good news is that I have an almost new looking plastic shroud, metal shroud/starter and fuel tank/carb that can swap onto another engine if I have any left that don't have a broken bolt in the mounting flange. The guy isn't interested in either of the two MTD's I have for $75 and $60, he wants something cheaper so I'll try to make something work using this ugly but relatively rust free MTD rear bagger deck.

My neighbor across the street also brought me a pressure washer that no longer has pressure. I told him it's likely the pump or a valve inside the pump, and if it is I can't repair the pump, and they aren't cheap. Other problem could be like mine with a failing wand, but mine works if you tap it until the pressure builds up, but he insisted I hang onto it for a few days at least until I can investigate into it. I'll put my wand on it and see if his wand is defective, if that doesn't do it I'll take a look at the unloader valve.

The Tecumseh powered Yard Machines is sold, didn't dicker on the price to have it delivered. I don't mind delivering in town since I usually use my Yaris.

Yesterday I picked up a few more parts mowers but I'm running out of decks again. I have a Yard Man with the big yellow shroud and yellow plastic front bumper/deck shroud. The deck on it is toast but the engine looks to be in good shape. It was drained of oil and gas so I couldn't start it up, but I received my 10 pack of Quantum air filter housing gaskets in the mail, so I'm sure I can get it running once I get a good deck. I want to hang onto it until I find an MTD rear bagger so the front plastic can swap over as well, it helps make it look nicer than the standard MTDs. I may have one that needs to be stripped completely and repainted but is in decent shape, it'll just be time consuming is all. Maybe if I swap everything over and do the heavy work to it in the fall when the demand is done, and have it ready to sell for a decent price next spring. I love Quantum engines and don't want it going onto a beater. Other than that, two more Tecumseh parts mowers.

Good news to help get more storage room. I found a drill press on the classifieds for the low low price of $25, I spoke to the guy and said I'd like to come this evening to pick it up. As long as he doesn't sell it from under me like has happened so many times before with other things, I'll now have a drill press to bore out wheels. I probably have around 20 full sets of wheels under my deck that have just been waiting to be sleeved. I figure that I can probably get $20 per set of sleeved wheels considering the price of new cheap plastic wheels, plus a good supply of good wheels for the mowers that I sell. Wife also wanted a drill press to make her sea glass and shell fragment jewelry, so I'll pitch it to her that way too lol.

The second black MTD sold now, all I had to do to sell it was remove the add and re-list it and it sold in an hour. I have nothing left for sale now, better get off my butt and do something about that... after the weekend. I need to enjoy the nice weather and not burn myself out. I have another beater in mind for a quick $50 in beer money that I can put together in an evening.

I put this beater mower together from a half decent deck and a good running Tecumseh. The original motor was in pieces and everything waterlogged and badly corroded. The donor engine came from a running Mastercraft with a rotten deck. It needed a new air filter, badly needed an oil change and spark plug, and the dipstick seal was broken, so I replaced it with a good spare and I installed a spare discharge chute. I also replaced the handlebar with a nicer one. I can always rely on these for a quick $40, not bad for about an hour's work.




The original YardMan deck was toast but the engine ran great. I picked up another green MTD mower with a classic Briggs that had no spark or fuel. Rather than replace all that was needed on that engine, I swapped over the YardMan Quantum, deck shroud, ball bearing wheels, green handles bag and engine brake lever cover to make the handle more comfortable to hold. The end product looks presentable, wrong green but most people don't care for those fine details. I did a test mow between the rain showers and all is good. Oil change, new spark plug, I couldn't make it to the store in time to get an air filter but I'll find one tomorrow. It isn't the standard Quantum square filter, it is an oval one mounted on top of the carb. No before shots, there wasn't much to look at.

I picked up a trio of mowers yesterday about 20 minutes away (glad I got the trailer for the Yaris). One of them at first seemed like the primer was stiff and it was missing the air filter, so on my lunch break I bought a new primer button and filter. While I was there I picked up three blades on sale for $5 each, how could I go wrong? I got home and after pressing the old primer a few times it seems I got hastey in buying that primer, but I need almost one per week so it won't go to waste. The fun part was that when I put gas in the tank, it quickly came out through the carb. Looking inside, it was a crusty mess of rust and varnish. The float needle clip had rusted completely away, the main jet was crusted over and there was no bowl gasket. I cleaned up the main body of the carb, replaced the bowl and float assembly with good ones, put it together and it primes well now. Now the next part is the no spark to deal with but I didn't have enough time at lunch. Pics will come, the deck on this Tecumseh powered Craftsman is in very nice shape, it'll find a home for sure while providing me with a month's worth of beer. The two others I picked up have trashed decks, I haven't tried to start them yet.

I'm quickly running out of starage again. I desperately need that Tecumseh Vector carb to come in the mail so I can sell that huge Craftsman. I made some room by looking through my hoarde of handles that I had been saving to sort through, put any bent or really rusty ones by the curb with a few rusty decks, and re-stacked my bags into a manageable system. As it stands, I have 8 mowers with trashed decks waiting to be checked for running condition, then dismantled into spare parts, running assemblies or total scrap. That doesn't count my two Toros, one to rebuild and one for parts, plus I think I have three decks that need an engine installed.

So for the Craftsman I changed the spark plug, still no spark. Changed the ignition, no spark. Then I saw the engine brake rubber puck on the deck and thought, what are the chances that is broken more than just the rubber puck? I swapped it out. No spark. OK, it needed to be replaced anyways. I then took off the starter cup on the flywheel and behold! the key was sheared and almost 180 degrees out of time! I replaced the key, put it all together and it ran!... Then puttered, then knocked then stopped. I feel like I wasted a day because it's now raining and I can't swap all the good parts onto another engine today. I have a 6.75 HP Tecumseh with a Craftsman shroud that I can swap things over to, as long as the mounting bolts don't shear off the rotten deck it will come from. In the end at least I know I cleaned the carb well enough, and that everything works, minus the important part. Knowing it couldn't get any worse though as far as engine damage (I will scrap the knocking engine regardless) I tried to start it again and it feels like it won't start at all, acts out of time again. Oh well, it'll get done tomorrow. The neighbor's has been bugging me for a beater $40 mower for a while when he comes to visit, maybe I'll throw one together for him first. I have an ugly but solid deck needing an engine, and a 4HP Briggs needing a deck, sounds like a match made in heaven to me.

That Craftsman is really giving me a kick in the butt. The 6.75 Tecumseh that I planned on putting on it had a very rusty/dirty carb, so I cleaned it up and it surged badly. I figured with the amount of corrosion, there must be something where I can't see, so I ditched the carb and put on one that looked spotless. No fuel when priming, OK, new primer bulb. Still no fuel so I tried another bowl gasket. OK, not there's fuel, but surging badly! I sprayed around the carb and manifold with carb cleaner to search for a leak, and the only spot that is affected is at the butterfly lever, and boy does the spray affect the throttle there. Now I need to find another good carb to swap onto it, somebody wants to buy that mower and I'd like to sell it to him! This guy responded to my Yard Man that a contractor working on the house next door wants to buy today, but I told him I have another one coming up. I should have kept my mouth shut for the moment to keep pressure off myself to get it done.

The carb for the large Craftsman with the Vector engine came in the mail today, that will be my priority for the day because that thing takes up so much room.

Tecumseh carburetors can be such a pain. The one off of the Yard Man cleaned up great and I had no problems with it. However, while the Craftsman's cleaned up well, I couldn't get it to flooding, despite changing bowls, needles, and seats. I ended up going through 2 more carburetors from my box-o-carbs until I got one that worked, and even it took 3 cleanings.

The best carburetors IMO are the Briggs Pulsa-Prime carburetors. They don't corrode, and I have never had a problem getting one of those working.

Well, it just goes to show you to investigate everything before buying parts. I got the Vector carb in the mail today and wasted no time after work to install it. It wouldn't start and it seemed like what was coming out of the filter box when I was priming lots of times was water. Now, I had played around with the last carb and drained the fuel that was in there, but not everything that was in the tank. There would have had to be loads of water in that tank for it to still have it coming out at this stage. In any case, after tome fine tuning, it now runs well with the new $20 carb. That being said, I'm surprised that being a more modern engine than the old style Tecumseh that it isn't more refined like the new Briggs or anything that resembles a Honda. It doesn't have a pleasant exhaust note at all, and the muffler is in good shape. Oh well, it isn't a keeper anyways. Here it is cleaned up, not pretty but it's still a good mower.



I'm out of oil, so I'll have to wait to list it for sale until I buy some more.

That deck looks might familiar!

That engine cover is hideous. The newer style they used looks much better. I've dealt with two of these engines so far. First one had a blown connecting rod, second had carburetor and priming issues. I did eventually get it running. It worked well, but yeah the engine didn't seem any better than the more common style Tecumsehs.

I was expecting something like a Quantum, but alas it is not. Today I also got a newer Murray mower going, a 3 in 1 combo mower with a 5.5HP Briggs classic. The carb was filled with oil, I think they tipped it for something and thought they destroyed it. I pulled the spark plug, being careful of it's placement this time and gave it a few pulls to clear the cylinder. Good to go with an oil and spark plug change, it sold so fast I didn't even get a picture of it! It wasn't very old either, buddy got himself a good solid mower.

I'm glad I didn't sell the self propelled Craftsman yesterday, I started it on my lunch break and it's bogging down like it has fuel issues. I'll try to drain the carb again in case some risidual water is left over in there but I'm hoping it can be resolved soon. It has no adjustments on the carb and all gaskets are new, but it does seem like fuel starvation. Maybe I can re-use the old jet with the new o-ring and it'll solve the issue.

The problem was more water in the tank and carb. There was no end to it, but I got it all out and re-filled it, test mowed and it ran flawlessly, no bogging in tall grass either.

The monster Craftsman and the Yard Man both sold, and I just smashed last year's sales record for June. Gonna have a beer.

No mower repairs today, there was a more pressing matter. My utility trailer that I use with the Yaris broke last week. One of the hub bearings broke apart within the hum, causing my wheel to lock and destroyed a tire. I inspected it today and it wasn't from lack of grease, but rather the bearing race had corroded to the pint that it broke apart catastrophically. Parts of it were seized in the hub, part was seized on the spindle, there would be no easy way to salvage this axle. Just before I was on my way to Princess Auto to buy a new axle, I checked Kijiji and found somebody selling a brand new 3500Lb axle, wheels, tires, springs and u-bolts for $120! How could I say no to that? I picked it up and began to install the new stuff. Well, shoot, the springs are too long. I measured and as it turns out I could use the forward most and aft most hangar holes and just drill 4 new holes. Cool, the springs now fit perfectly! The axle on the other hand was something that I knew I'd have issues with. Nobody seems to sell axles for 48" trailers, so anything I bought would be too wide. What I'll have to do is remove the wood decking and replace it with a sheet of 4x8 plywood and build some simple rails, no problem. I need to extend the fenders in the meantime though until I can get around to doing the decking.

I took a few days off of repairing stuff but got back in the game today. This Yard Machines has a new style of deck that I don't have a bag for. The deck has a flat round spot where I assume the higher end models have a hose quick connect fitting. The wheel adjusters are neat, one lever for the front, one for the rear. When I got it, the engine wouldn't turn over and the deck was coated in oil. Upon closer inspection, the oil was topped off right to the top! I drained enough oil to bring it into the normal reading since it looked like new oil, pulled out the spark plug for a few pulls and re-installed it. It would run for a second then die. I checked the gas tank, milky brown and stinky. Drained that and mopped the bottom of the tank with a rag to get all the water out, fresh gas put in and it starts first pull. Here she is all prettied up and ready to sell.





I generally try to avoid electric mowers, but this one seemed like an easy fix. It's a Job Mate, the motor would run as long as the cord was plugged in. I took the lever assembly apart and found the switch to be stuck. I freed the switch and it runs quite well now, and very light.


Tonight I also picked up a nice Homelite aluminum mower with a Briggs Quantum. It looks to be built by Jacobsen and is a very sturdy mower. It is very similar to hanyoukimura's Jacobsen but a few years newer as it has an engine brake and a Quantum engine. That one will be a keeper as well, as much as I "hate" having more keepers when I'm trying to make a few bucks. I have a 6.75HP quantum on the Deere that could go on this deck as an upgrade as well if I really wanted to.

I've also sold everything I had for sale up to this point, so the two mowers above are all I have ready to sell now. I also got off my butt and bought a $1 toothbrush to detail the wheels with.

Vervepipes said:

I took a few days off of repairing stuff but got back in the game today. This Yard Machines has a new style of deck that I don't have a bag for. The deck has a flat round spot where I assume the higher end models have a hose quick connect fitting. The wheel adjusters are neat, one lever for the front, one for the rear. When I got it, the engine wouldn't turn over and the deck was coated in oil. Upon closer inspection, the oil was topped off right to the top! I drained enough oil to bring it into the normal reading since it looked like new oil, pulled out the spark plug for a few pulls and re-installed it. It would run for a second then die. I checked the gas tank, milky brown and stinky. Drained that and mopped the bottom of the tank with a rag to get all the water out, fresh gas put in and it starts first pull. Here she is all prettied up and ready to sell.





I generally try to avoid electric mowers, but this one seemed like an easy fix. It's a Job Mate, the motor would run as long as the cord was plugged in. I took the lever assembly apart and found the switch to be stuck. I freed the switch and it runs quite well now, and very light.


Tonight I also picked up a nice Homelite aluminum mower with a Briggs Quantum. It looks to be built by Jacobsen and is a very sturdy mower. It is very similar to hanyoukimura's Jacobsen but a few years newer as it has an engine brake and a Quantum engine. That one will be a keeper as well, as much as I "hate" having more keepers when I'm trying to make a few bucks. I have a 6.75HP quantum on the Deere that could go on this deck as an upgrade as well if I really wanted to.

I've also sold everything I had for sale up to this point, so the two mowers above are all I have ready to sell now. I also got off my butt and bought a $1 toothbrush to detail the wheels with.

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I have the same problem with keeper mowers! Does yours have the 2 blades arranged to form an X shape? The Quantum's extra power will no doubt do that deck good vs the little 3.5 hp engine on mine. Photos!

Yes, the blades are in an X on this one. The engine is a 5HP, so it should be enough to do the job well. It has a mulch plate on it that is hinged on one side and screwed in on the other, similar to the Deere (or Snapper I suppose since it's a re-brand). I'm out of gas now, so I have nothing to test it out with. The motor does turn well as I expect from this engine. The handle is missing one take-down knob and it taped on the one side instead. If that is the only reason they got rid of this gem, I pitty them for thinking that a new box store mower will give them as long a life as this did. The serial number on the deck shows a build year of 1981.

I got to work on the Homelite/Jacobsen mulching mower today. I tried cleaning the carb with no success so I replaced it with one that was known to be working, but from one that had a stick bolt in the engine's mounting flange. I cleaned it for good measure and it wouldn't run. I didn't think that it would, because the bowl gasket was very compacted. Having no good ones on me I improvised and used one from another carb (I don't remember if it was from a Honda, Chonda or Toro though off of memory...). The gasket was thicker and a little smaller, but it stretched onto the carb's gasket seat just fine, and the main jet still screwed in. I replaced the primer gasket, and now it starts first pull every time. I was impressed enough to do a quick test mow of a small patch on my side yard about 20x60 feet. With the x-blades it has a very nice sound. For an aluminum mower, it isn't any lighter than most steel mowers (in fact it's heavier than the next mower I'll show today). I cleaned it up a little, it'll get stripped, repainted and added to my collection when time permits for the major work. I didn't clean the wheels because they are pretty scratched, 2 are missing centre caps and 2 need to be drilled and sleeved. I'll replace them with a set of ball bearing wheels instead.






I picked up this Lawn Boy an hour and a half out of town for $40, it needed a pull cord, the engine brake lever that's mounted to the engine and an engine brake cable. To make it worth the travel, I had to be able to fix this one cheap. I have loads of spare recoils, so I just swapped one in that was ready to go. The engine brake cable was jimmied up with a larger steel cable where it was broken off, and a redneck engineered system of u-bolts and a pulley used to try to make the brake assembly work. I wish I had taken a picture, it was really...something. I wish I could say it worked, but what it did was bend the lever 90 degrees over. Because of the pressure from the cable, the plastic hand lever clip had bent and fatigued, it would no longer withstand any pressure. The hand lever on this model doesn't have the cable hole in it, instead it's a small plastic clip mounted on the metal lever, and the cable assembly mount is convex, mating into the concave throttle control. The special cable that no other mower seems to use was VERY expensive, so that just wouldn't do, remember I had to do this cheap. I had to dig through all of my spare handles to find one that would work both with the right hand mounted throttle AND a left mounted engine cable. I had just one that would do it, so on it went, along with a cable adaptor and a replacement cable. Finally, I got it running! I ran it for a second because I knew the oil was low. I dumped out the black sludge and refilled with new oil, mowed my front lawn and cleaned it off. That's then I saw that the blade was mounted 90 degrees off of where it's supposed to be on the square blade adapter. Man, these people just didn't have a clue! The oil is still quite black, I think I'll have to change it again to make sure the oil is good to go, it's hard to convince a customer that the oil is new if it's black. So here we are, the end of the day, and I think I can list this one for about $120 judging by recent Kijiji adds.




So $40 for the mower, about $25 for gas, the Yaris is so good for this kind of work, a splash of oil, lets say $2 worth since I bought it on sale, everything else I already had, so I still can make a bit of cash on this one. I'm not sure I'll go the distance again though unless I can pick up 2-4 at once. Trailer is still broken though, I have to weld spring pads onto the new axle, then make a new deck for it. Due for inspection at the end of the month soon so I may as well do a thorough job with it.

Lawn Boy sold, the buyer didn't dicker on the price at all so I made about $60 profit on it despite driving 1.5 hours away. I also sold an electric mower that I had which needed a few parts for the switch. A month ago I ordered a new recoil assemble for my Honda HR194, and wouldn't you know it I ordered the wrong part. The starter is too tall so it doesn't contact the flywheel cup at all. I took it apart hoping to use the recoil spring for my old one, not the same. Now I have a spare if I ever need one of that style, and a mower that still can't be started. Maybe I'll just order the spring this time. I also got my ole unknown model Toro SP53 going. I had only 2 carbs to work with, one was badly rusted inside and leaked from the drain screw, which was seized in place. The other carb was re-sealed by a previous owner with something that resembles POR15. It was so thick that the float would not move and the float hinge pin bracket contacted the side so the bowl wouldn't properly seat on the carb. As a temporary fix I ground down the bracket and a thin casting ridge on the float, put it back together and it started on the first pull. Looking it over, I found a few things needing attention on it. The self propel works, but the speed selector cable is seized. Also on the subject of self propel, the left drive gear is missing, so only the right wheel drives. The belt is also on borrowed time. One bolt for the belt cover is broken off into the deck, but it's about 1CM from the deck so I may be able to lube it for a few months, then heat the aluminum and grab the bolt with locking pliers. All 4 wheels are rather bald and one wheel is broken. Most of the wheel adjusters are loose. The handle is missing some hardware, other parts of the handle are seized.

I wound up needing to play with the idle to get it running smoothly, but it runs with a pleasant tone. I can rob the front adjusters from a wrecked push Toro, not sure about the rear if they will work with self propel. The handle hardware I can snag from the parts mower, I'd grab the entire assembly, but the handle is badly rusted. The parts mower has a bagging adaptor where mine has a mulching plate, so I'll keep that just in case I find a bag and bracket.

Here are some old pics of the Toro, the air filter cover and recoil have been replaced using my parts mower.





I really like the graphics on the handle, they are very detailed as to how a mower could possibly hurt you.

One of my fav machines

I'm quite fond of it too. It's going to be in the queue for a re-paint behind my old Lawn Boy, Homelite and Sunbeam. Strange, every one of them are aluminum, guess they are the only ones I end up keeping. Even my HR194 is aluminum but is such a nice survivor that it doesn't need paint.

Vervepipes said:

I'm quite fond of it too. It's going to be in the queue for a re-paint behind my old Lawn Boy, Homelite and Sunbeam. Strange, every one of them are aluminum, guess they are the only ones I end up keeping. Even my HR194 is aluminum but is such a nice survivor that it doesn't need paint.

Click to expand...

I haven't gotten a 4-cycle Suzuki, but those Toro decks are excellent. I've finally got my 2-cycle Suzuki powered Toro on active duty and it mulches far better than anything I've ever used!

As if touched by the mower gods, on my way to work today I found a self propelled Briggs powered Toro by the curbside. I haven't had any chance to look it over, but hopefully I'll be able to salvage some of the self propel bits and the wheels to make mine fully operational. The handle on this one is very rusty as well, I think my best bet would be to wire wheel and paint the best handle parts of the three Toros I have. The Briggs Quantum powered one that I just picked up is a bit newer, as the control knobs are not round, more of a diamond shape. Who knows, if the deck is really good I may be able to sell that as well for a few bucks to somebody with a cracked/corroded deck. The exact same thing happened last year with the Lawn Boy, I had started to work on it, made a list of parts, then found one curbside.

Keep the Suzuki engine don't put the Briggs on it

Oh for sure, the briggs is missing parts to it, and I just got the Suzuki running well anyways yesterday. The "new" one will just donate bits and peices of the self propel and anything else I may need to make the Suzuki powered one operational. The second suzuki was robbed to get the good one going though, so it'll get torn down and put into boxes for spare parts.

I went to take a look at the Toro that I picked up this morning on my lunch break for a quick evaluation. It's a model 20214, the traction cable is pooched, the deck is full of holes, front wheels are very beat up, rears are better but I think it uses a different drive mechanism. Basically there is not much on this one that I can use. I can use the front wheels from the Suzuki powered parts mower that I have, and if I can swap over the drive wheel from this Briggs powered one then I'll have a matching set of wheels, since my current ones have grey centres. The white rears on the Briggs mower are pretty bald though, so even that would have to be a temporary fix. So in the end, with the one I picked up today I'm not much further ahead than I was before.

So the drive axle is different after all, I took both self propelled mowers apart and the size of the keyway is much smaller on the older model. I'll have to try to take the entire drive axle assembly from the parts mower to get both wheels to turn. Project for another day. I did however transfer over the bagging chute to replace the borken mulch plate that I had. Next will be the pull cord retainer, slowly it will come together, one good Suzuki Toro out of three bad ones.

I picked up this guy on trade from a co-worker for a self propel wheel, it had the wrong style carb on it with an intake for PCV, where the crankcase breather on the engine was the thin plastic tube style that points straight down. I put the proper carb on and had to use a bit of gasket maker to have the intake manifold seal perfectly. It's rusty so it'll be a beater mower.



This one I just got tonight. It is from 2011 and had a broken intake manifold, I bought it for $40. I searched through my parts engines for a while looking for one to match, but none were the same as the manifold that came off it. The intake port was round on the end and square on the other. If I would have only looked at the actual engine's intake port I would have seen that a circular port intake manifold would work. Lesson learned, and about a dozen parts engines now partially broken down for boxing. After getting it all back together (I had to rob a few screws that were missing), it wouldn't start. I swapped in a good spark plug and it started no problem. This one will be an easy flip once I get it cleaned up as it barely has any rust.


Tomorrow I'm picking up a rear wheel drive Craftsman (Husqvarna really)for $30. The photo in the add shows that the wire lead from the engine brake is disconnected, but not broken. In the add it says "maybe this is why it isn't running, but I have no idea". In any case, if it needs more than that I have a few parts Quantums laying around to fix it up.

The 5.5HP Craftsman is going to a co-worker for cheap, I don't try to make much profit from friends and family. The rear wheel drive Craftsman that I was going to buy for $30 had a cracked deck that the seller didn't see, so I walked away from it, as I was leaving he offered it for free, so I took it. It has electric start, but is missing a few components of it, namely the battery, battery tray and key/ignition. The engine is a 6.5HP Quantum and the wire that was shown to be maybe broken is in fact broken, but I have spares. I'm wondering how universal rear drive axles are, as in if there are only a few manufacturers of them. I'll take a good look and maybe the rear axle can be swapped over to my John Deere (Snapper).

I just looked at a parts diagram and the transaxles look nothing alike. So much for that idea, I was hoping to keep the Deere alive somehow. I'm sure I can part out the Craftsman though, looks like the electric starter could get me a few bucks on Ebay.

I picked up a pair of mowers for free today from a classified add. One is just a basic old Canadian Tire branded MTD with a broken handle but nice deck given it's age, the second is much more interesting. This beast is a Husqvarna H51MDC, which I can't find any pictures of online so here's a picture from the add and one of the data plate that I took.



It's neat factor is high, I think I'll keep it. And surprise, aluminum deck, just like every other keeper of mine. It has a very bad spray bomb paint job, so I'll have to find a close match to the original paint when it's this one's turn to get repainted.

I looked at the Husqvarna tonight, the deck is missing a large section of deck under the discharge cover. It'll live on through other mowers. The handle is the same shape as Husqvarna based Craftsman mowers, but has a curved top like higher end mowers, so I'll find a nice Craftsman to put that on. I'm pretty sure all the Quantum needs to work is an engine brake cable. The ball bearing wheels may end up on my Homelite, and the adjusters are nice so I'll see if they can be swapped over to a basic non adjustable deck without much trouble. Too bad though, it is a very light weight mower, and with a Quantum it would have been a very nice machine.

I'm having the same problem now as last year, everybody who needed a mower at the start of the season now has one, and I'm left with three mowers for sale, and one soon to be ready with no replies at all. I think I'll wind down the season's work and stop actively looking for more to fix, and break down everything I have left for spares. That way, I can focus on repainting and repairing all of my keepers, and work on the damaged deck on the house that I haven't touched yet.

The red Yard Machines sold for a bit less than I wanted for it, but I didn't want it just sitting around either. $80 is still a good profit for something that only needed the oil drained.

Well, today one of my "competitors" came by my place with a shopping list of parts he needed. When I was in need to get rid of a lot of parts in a hurry last year he bought about 6 parts mowers from me. He brought up that a friend of his that is in his 80's is getting out of the mower business and has a huge inventory, and that we should head down to his place and try to buy what we can between the two of us. That sounds like a good deal to me, I'm not too interested in a lot of things but if there are Toros, LawnBoys or oddball mowers I'd be all over it. I think I may take the guy up on the offer, we each have a minivan and can fit a lot of stuff with the seats taken out. I just need to work hard to box all of my parts before that happens though. I've torn apart and boxed about 6 engines this week so I'm on track to have all of my parts taken care of in a week or so. I was planning on that to be the end of the season for me, but I'll see what I can get from the guy to have ready for May 2016.

I spent the day doing some shed cleanout to work on closing out the season. I got the Quantum on the Husqvarna running, it actually didn't need anything but fresh gas. After that I tore absolutely everything off of the deck to get it down to steel free aluminum for my fall scrap metal run. I'm going to re-use the ball bearing wheels on my Homelite, the handlebar will go onto a Craftsman when I get a nicer one to work on, the engine will sit on a shelf with a "serviceable" tag on it so that I know for sure next year that it's ready for swap.

This is the Canadian Tire MTD that I got at the same time as the Husq. I don't have any before shots, but it had no wheels, the oil filler plug was missing with the crank case full of water, carb was filthy, starter rope was broken and the handle was snapped at the deck. I started with getting a good handle in place, drained the oil, or water for that matter, re-filled it with dirty oil, cleaned the carb, put on a good starter and tilted it back to start it for a minute (no wheels, didn't want to scalp the yard. After that , I drained the brown milkshake out of the engine and started working on the wheel situation. I hate non adjustable wheels, so I put on a spare set of adjusters. The Husqvarna ones didn't line up with the deck holes so I had to use another set. For the wheels I used black wheels that had Mastercraft and Craftsman full wheel caps on them and then put small Craftsman centres in place. The rear wheels are bigger than the fronts but they all have the same tread pattern. I think it turned out well, I can probably get $20 more now that the wheels are adjustable. After I cleaned and took pictures, I mowed a section of my lawn, about 20 minutes worth , and the oil was milkshake again so I drained the oil again and re-filled with oil. I hope that's the last oil change it needs, water in the crank case is not a good thing to have.

Well that sold quick. I listed it, went to the store and had a call while at the store. The guy got to my house as I did and it went to a new home.

Sold the Tecumseh powered self propelled MTD mower. I have one mower left for sale and I don't think I'm going to expend much more effort this year, it was a good season! Time to focus on enjoying what's left of the summer.

Well I just can't leave well enough alone, there was an add on Kijiji for 3 free mowers, so I went and got them. One deck is trashed, one is pretty rusty and the third is OK. Deck one has a Briggs that turns over, I didn't try to fire it up yet but the deck is cracked. Pity because otherwise it's in decent shape. Deck # 2 is a basic MTD with the fixed wheels and bolted on handle bar. The holes for the handle bolts are very worn, the wheels are wobbly and the deck is flaky underneath, so I'll put on some spare wheel adjusters to take care of the wheels, I'll put on a bolt-on handle bracket to the top of the deck and I'll sell it as a beater. Deck #3 has a Briggs laid on top of it, not bolted down, with a seized cable and the top half of the handle bar doesn't fit. The deck is the same as deck #2 but in better shape. Bonus, there was a fourth engine, although I think it's stuck. Parts bin though. So it looks like I'll have two more mowers for sale this week.

It's that time of the year again, time to break open the shed, break down the dozens of basket cases that I have and sort them into boxes of usable parts in preparation for the new season. I had a catastrophic bearing failure on my little trailer that I used with my Yaris and have not been able to find an axle to fit since it is such a small trailer. Canadian Tire will have galvanized Stirling trailers on sale later this week, $850 I think it was for the 4x6 trailer, I think I'll pick one up and use the mowers to pay it off. I don't think I have any usable decks to start the season off though which kind of sucks. On a side note, my local competitor that I also supplied parts to last year has folded. He called me to see if I wanted to buy a dozen leftover mowers and parts for $100, but I have neither the space nor money right now to take care of that. I saw him loading the stuff on a trailer later that day and I don't think there was $100 worth of stuff there, so I'm glad I passed.

I also figured out what I'll be doing during winters. I don't want to get into snow blowers because of the amount of parts involved and space needed for them. In an effort to renew my Roomba I discovered just how cheap I can buy parts in bulk for it, and they hold value used. I can buy a used Roomba for $20-$50 needing work, thoroughly clean it, give it a new battery, filter and brushes for about $35 and sell it for $120-$150. All while sitting on the couch in front of the pellet stove on a cold day.

Back to the main subject though. I worked hard and fast last year to break the previous year's sales. This year I'm now working alternating shifts, days one week, nights the next. Working nights will give me many more hours of daylight to work with so I hope to increase profits again. Here's to a new season of work!

Glad you are back! Good luck in your new season!

You could check out the scrap yards for an axle.

I actually came into a good deal for a folding 4x8 trailer that is only a year old. It has a deck, is already assembled and is only $500, where a new one has no deck, comes in boxes and is $700+tax. This way I have a larger trailer to bring building materials to the camp and if I find and deals of a larger group of mowers I can fit several on it. 300Lb curb weight will be easy on the Yaris or Sienna, and being almost new I shouldn't have to worry about anything but grease for awhile. First I need to get over this persistent flu then I can start making shed room.

Alright, lets get this going again. It's still a few weeks from when I started selling last year if I recall, so it gets cold quickly as the sun goes to bed. I picked this Craftsman up curbside and it had a few issues from the start. It had no blade, the pull rope was missing, I think the handle was the wrong one, the engine brake cable was missing, the brake bracket was bent, no air filter, no spark plug and wheels that were not wide enough so they wobbled badly. I quickly got to work putting reasonable, although still a bit wobbly, wheels on the machine, replaced the recoil housing with one that was ready to go so I wouldn't have to screw with installing a rope and finding a handle, put on the correct handlebar and engine brake cable, filled it with oil, installed a spark plug, put on a blade and gave it a pull..... only to have the handle jerk right out of my hand. Out of time I guess, which explains the missing blade. I hope the crankshaft is decent but until I re-time the engine who knows. Total time spent today was about an hour on and off as I was making supper. I need to place everything where I need them to get my time managed better, it'll be part of the spring cleanup. Tomorrow I get to take it apart again and see if I can find a timing key in my mounds of engines to get this ready to sell. The deck is decent, even borderline nice, it'll clean up well and I shouldn't have trouble selling this one.


I think I have 2 mower's worth of good decks that I can work with as well, plus one more if I can get my hands on a short shaft engine. Most of what I pick up have long shafts, since 75% of mowers I get have bolts that break on the mounting flange I have a harder time finding engines for short deck mowers. I also have about 2 dozen scrap engines that need to be broken down into usable units and then off to the scrap metal pile for the blocks.

I think I may even try selling some parts on Ebay, last time I was heavily involved with selling there though I got burned by a few less than honest buyers and it's left a foul taste in my mouth but I may be able to raise a few bucks there.

Glad to see this thread going again!

Try soaking your engine mount bolts in penetrating oil and letting them sit overnight before you try to remove them. I've only ever had one mounting bolt shear off on me, and that was before I starting using penetrating oil.

I replaced the shear key and it runs great. I had to replace the filter housing gasket though since I took the carb bowl off to clean. Even at 5 degrees it runs well so I'll sharpen the blade, clean it up and move onto the next mower, or rather pair of mowers that will become one. I have a pair of newer Craftsmans, one is high wheel with a garden hose port but with a cracked plastic front wheel retainer, bent handle and a cracked Quantum engine, and the other has either what could be a Honda, Chonda or Kohler, I don't remember but they generally look the same. It'll donate the front plastic, handlebar and engine onto the good deck and it should go together quite well. More pics to come.

Picked up 2 MTD's for free after work today. One is a Tecumseh and the other is a Quantum. Neither have working starter ropes so I couldn't test them and they have adjustable throttles, both broken. The decks have no holes though so they will make good beater mowers. I think to save time I'll just replace the tecumseh with a known running one and bang that one out the door.

Always nice to snatch up free mowers.

It's that time again!

I've been having a hard time this year getting back into the routine. Simple mistakes while troubleshooting, tool and parts disorganization etc. I have learned something new though, On a Tecumseh engine, if you have the outboard screw that keeps the air filter housing on the carb, it will not prime because that screw seals a passage in carb. I have sold three that I haven't updated with pics yet, today I got 4 ready to list for tomorrow, and I may have one more as well ready tomorrow, just in time for the first solid week of mid teen temps and endless sunshine.

On a side note, I picked up a mower last week and they gave me a chain saw as well, an Echo CS305 with no bar or chain. I started the saw up as soon as I got home and it ran right away, and the oiling system dripped as it should so I bought a new 14 inch bar and chain. When I got home from the store the neighbor was cutting down all his wildly overgrown (20-25 foot high) shrubs, so I volunteered my new saw. The saw is a 30cc saw, so on the small side but on the plus side is very light. It struggled a bit more through the thicker stuff than my Stihl 024AV, but it did the job admirably. It's a pity I won't keep it though, I like it but the Stihl is more suited to the thicker trees down at the camp. I'm not sure what a good condition newer used small saw with a new bar and chain go for, but anything over $40 is profit and will go towards my year's end goal of an old camper to set up at the lake.

I'm noticing that my new computer is having trouble with the letter "L" when I type, if there are any missing I apologize! Time to bring it in under warranty soon I guess.


So here's the first sale of the year from a previous post. It went pretty quick after listing it, if I remember, it wasn't listed fr a day when I found a buyer.



No before shots on this guy because I was on a roll and wanted to get it done before the rain. This one needed a recoil starter, a new handle, and I replaced the carb. The carb didn't NEED to be changed, but the handle that best suited this mower didn't have provisions for a manual throttle, so I swapped an entire carb with it's auto throttle control and air cleaner to this engine. Bonus is one less cable to break in the future. This is one that I marketed as a beater because of the rust, so a buyer in that market typically doesn't care about things like that. It sold fast.



I picked this one up at the same time as the green one, they came as a package. The air filter was off and obviously left outside for some time. The carb was badly corroded inside and out so I couldn't be bothered with it. I had a rotten deck with a nice running engine, so I did the quick swap, typical tune up items, found a bag for it and cleaned it up. After over a week of no-shows somebody finally came by for it. Rusty as well, so another beater.



This one didn't need much, carb cleaning, oil, filter. I sold this to a guy who left a Craftsman self propelled mower out all winter, so I got cash and trade on this little guy.


This one had the wrong filter housing for the crankcase vent and flywheel shroud type, so I found the proper one in my parts bin. I also gave it wheel adjusters and the starter was sticky, so I replaced it, I can service the sticky one on a rainy day. It also needed a very good carb cleaning and a new bowl gasket. Here she is a finished up and listed for sale

This Yardworks Chonda (Powermore) has been nothing but trouble for me. I got two similar mowers last fall from the same house, one was a very nice Briggs powered one with a water rinsing port, but had hit a rock and the deck and motor were cracked. The second one has some rust flaking underneath, and I was able to get the engine running well, but the front wheel adjuster was broken. These are odd mowers that I haven't had to deal with before, there are only 2 wheel adjusters, one in front, one in back, and the entire straight axle assembly is kept in place with large plastic housings that seem easy to break. The front housing on this one was indeed broken, so the Briggs powered one donated it's front assembly. Everything is now fine on it except a carb problem. The needle doesn't stop the flow completely, so the crank case fills with fuel when sitting for a few days. The float is not adjustable, so I'm going to try a Honda float and needle to see if it seals better. I also don't have a bag for this type which sucks, I like selling mowers as complete as possible.

That last mower looks like it could use a bag from a newer Troy-Bilt mower. Looks just like the one I have except for the wheels, color and engine.

It very well could, but the underside isn't very pretty so this one will be a beater as well. Unfortunately Halifax has started refusing green bins with grass clippings, it has to be in paper bags, so most people just don't bother bagging anymore. What that means also is that people don't seem to care if it comes with a bag or not. I like to sell them with bags if I can to make them complete, but 95% of the time I can guarantee the bag gets thrown into the shed and forgotten.

The little red Yard Machines is gone. I've picked up a few more in the last few days that should keep me going a while longer including a nice looking self propelled Brute, a newer Lawn Boy with electric start, but missing the key, a newer self propelled MTD of some sort with a Powermore, two Poulan side discharge mowers, a high wheel Craftsman, and probably a few more. People talk, and by now it seems that everybody on the base knows that I fix mowers because the first thing that happened when I got to work today was "Hey Frank, there's a mower at the curb just down the road from the hanger". That would be the brute, luckily I brought the van to work today, otherwise I'm not sure how it would have gotten home.

OK, so this one I had been waiting for a good short shaft motor since probably July of last year, finally I got a hold of a rotten short shaft deck with a good engine. It needed a new throttle control cable and lever and a minimal carb cleaning and it was ready to go, it sold pretty quick and paid for the newer Lawn Boy I mentioned earlier.



I normally don't like electrics, but this one looked to be in good shape for it's age. The plug was cut off so I took the gamble that it was the only thing wrong with it, and that it was. These normally stay in my inventory for several weeks, but $20 for five minutes of work maths good to me.


This Poulan gave me some issues, the gas was very old and the fuel tank had lots of grass in it. The starter rope also pulled out after I had cleaned the tank. It cleaned up very nicely though, and I sold it the next day after listing with a trade in to boot, a basic MTD that needed one of everything but is physically in good shape. Good deal I think.



So now I've got lots on my plate, I have plenty of mowers for the start of the season which is where I had a problem last year. I've parted out a badly corroded Toro as well and kept the good parts in a box to keep my other Suzuki Toro going. I still have to part out a Briggs Toro and try to salvage the self propel system on that one to make my good one fully functional. In the end, it looks like it will have taken 3 mowers to make one good one, but it will be a keeper for me collection, to be parked next to my old Honda, Homelite/Jacobsen, John Deere, Lawn Boy and that crazy looking Craftsman with the crank mounted fan.

On a side note, I seem to have made connections with people who weld aluminum, so my old Lawnboy and the crazy Craftsman may soon be getting some much needed attention. Here is the Craftsman in case you don't want to look back.

The electric Craftsman sold. The little red MTD that I got part trade on the red Poulan has been trouble for me. I've tried three ignitions and it still refuses to start about a quarter of the time, even with carb cleaner straight into the mouth. The other times it starts first pull. I refuse to believe that three ignitions would act the same, so I'll have to investigate the ground that's part of the engine brake to see if there's anything going on there.

This was the second Poulan, dirty but in great shape. It's spark plug lead was taped to the cowl because of a breakage in the plug end, I replaced the ignition and it ran badly. I had to empty and clean the gas tank and then it ran great. This sold hours after being listed. Before and after:


This Craftsman took only an air filter housing gasket to run well. Nothing spectacular about getting this one going. It sold hours after listing.

This is the Lawn Boy that I bought earlier, I only just got into working on it today. It has suffered an unfortunate life outdoors in Nova Scotia weather and salt air, and needs some love. It ran at a very low idle, but started first pull. My first impression about it was not good, the filter housing screw was corroded badly and broke after half a twist. Upon investigating, the auto choke shaft in the carb was seized in full choke. I tried to work some liquid wrench into it but it was just toast. I found a spare engine with a broken off mounting flange, so I took it's entire carb and filter housing, slapped it together after a thorough cleaning and it runs great now. I don't have the key to the electric start, but it seems any small key will turn the tumbler. The battery however is toast and I don't have the charger. I think I'll have to sell it without the electric start feature working so I don't dive into a money pit, but it starts well anyways. The rear wheel drive is a pleasure to mow with too. I still need to give it an oil change and clean it up though.



This Brute is just that, big, heavy and seems quite tough. That being said, she needs some lovin'. It has 4 unmatched wheels, the engine cable is broken and probably needs a carb cleaning as I tied the engine brake mechanism to try it out. It starts with some fuel in the intake, but that's where it ends. I'm sure I can make a decent set of wheels with what I have on shelves, but this one will take a few days of working between mowers to get going right, I just don't want to waste an entire day or two with nothing much to show for it. Bit at a time will get it done.

This Yardworks with a Powermore is finally ready to sell. I've had trouble with the carb overfilling when it sits so I just wasn't comfortable listing it yet. After some thought, I shaved a little from under the carb float where the needle sits, the end result is that the spring brings the needle up slightly higher. This seems to have solved my problem, I'll have to keep that in mind next time I have that problem with a Powermore. I don't have a bag for it, but I'll sell it without a bag for a little less. Here she is again:


I also picked up two mowers from a Kijiji add tonight. One is a basic MTD that will need handle brackets bolted to the top, the other is a self propelled mower, I didn't take a good look to see what it was but it needs both cables. I'll get to those sometime this week.

Also in the background of the Brute you can see my new garage in a box so that I can start work on my '77 Celica. The tent is a temporary measure that will allow me to use this year's mower funds for a camper for my lake lot, so that next year I might be able to build my garage.

Vervepipes said:

This is the Lawn Boy that I bought earlier, I only just got into working on it today. It has suffered an unfortunate life outdoors in Nova Scotia weather and salt air, and needs some love. It ran at a very low idle, but started first pull. My first impression about it was not good, the filter housing screw was corroded badly and broke after half a twist. Upon investigating, the auto choke shaft in the carb was seized in full choke. I tried to work some liquid wrench into it but it was just toast. I found a spare engine with a broken off mounting flange, so I took it's entire carb and filter housing, slapped it together after a thorough cleaning and it runs great now. I don't have the key to the electric start, but it seems any small key will turn the tumbler. The battery however is toast and I don't have the charger. I think I'll have to sell it without the electric start feature working so I don't dive into a money pit, but it starts well anyways. The rear wheel drive is a pleasure to mow with too. I still need to give it an oil change and clean it up though.



This Brute is just that, big, heavy and seems quite tough. That being said, she needs some lovin'. It has 4 unmatched wheels, the engine cable is broken and probably needs a carb cleaning as I tied the engine brake mechanism to try it out. It starts with some fuel in the intake, but that's where it ends. I'm sure I can make a decent set of wheels with what I have on shelves, but this one will take a few days of working between mowers to get going right, I just don't want to waste an entire day or two with nothing much to show for it. Bit at a time will get it done.

Click to expand...

The first mower I fixed, which was for myself, that got me started on this hobby was Brute. It's currently sitting in the basement. I haven't used it in like two years because I always have a mower to test run or something better like my Ariens or two Toros. However, I still like the way it looks and its in awesome shape, so I'm not parting with it.

Those four spoke wheels are notorious for the spokes cracking. They look nice but were really under engineered. Mine were both in great shape, however I've gotten two other Brutes that had a cracked wheel each. Turns out this is a known issue and Briggs redesigned the wheel. I ended up getting a free set from them, which I put on my Brute and whose original wheels went on the two machines that needed them. It's a MUCH sturdier design.

I have a few wheels that could go on it, the trick will be to have the front somewhat match the rear. The Powermore Yardworks sold today, it was too cold, wet and windy to be bothered to work outside today. I think I should have the Lawn Boy ready to go tomorrow after supper, maybe even one of the MTDs that I picked up yesterday (the second mower was an MTD as well, but tall deck and rear bagging). I still have a few semi finished that need to be completed.

I have quite a few updates but that will take a while of sitting to get through, so I'm going to do that tonight. I did however pick up a dathatcher, and have a thread for it here.
http://www.lawnmowerforum.com/showthread.php/37080-Bannerman-Kleen-Green?p=233967#post233967

I've been going through so many mowers this year that keeping track has been impractical. I think I sold over 35 in May alone! Things have been going so we land I've been buying some equipment as we, I've registered a lawn maintenance/mower repair/sales company. For equipment so far, other than mowers and trimmers, I have the Bannerman dethatcher and a Billy Goat 27 inch vacuum. In my first week in operation I have 4 recurring properties to cut and trim and still getting people showing up at my house from word of mouth. The Yaris/trailer combo won't cut it any more, so I'm in the market for a used truck and I'd like to pick up a 12 or 14' enclosed trailer. Things are moving fast but I look forward to the challenge. I plan on keeping up on this thread somewhat, but mostly just with oddities and unusual problems.

Glad to see things are going well! Before you know it, you will be in this full time

That white car in the back... What is it? It looks like a Holden.

That's a '77 Toyota Celica GT, kind of a long term project. As in, I got it 4 years ago and haven't been able to anything to it yet. I have my parts store mostly set up now in a storage locker and have calls for parts inquiries a few days per week. Not really enough to pay for the locker, but it keeps the bylaw enforcement off of my back for the other stuff that I do. I also have a pretty strong word of mouth going for servicing and get hired by a construction landscaper that I work with to do labour jobs like installing sod. Things are going alright now and I could see next year really taking off, but as far as mowing goes, somebody here is advertising $15 cut and trims, where I won't leave the driveway for less than $25 so that'll take a bit to get many customers I think. I'll be buying an aerator (my friend who does the contruction landscaping keeps getting calls for one, but doesn't want to get into that) and maybe a large brush trimmer. I can see the 27" vac getting some good use in the fall too.

Things have slowed right down in the last few months. Ive repaired a few simple repairs and am probably near 40 mowers sold this year, my used parts store has been getting one or two sales per week. It isnt much but it keeps bylaw off of my back and I can write the expense of the storage off anyways. This time of the year sales almost come to a halt anyways. Even the lawn mowing side of the business is a flop this year but I'll try hard to gain contracts next year since I started late this year. I also have the billy goat 27 inch vacuum to get me some work in a few months, so hopefully that works out. Tomorrow I also go to pick up a used Toro proline 36 inch mower, decent looking for the price they want. The good thing is that this is a side venture, so I have something else bringing in income.

Thanks for the update!

So I did it, I bought the Toro Proline. It runs well, cuts well, drives well, just needs some paint touchup. I watched the price drop from $1000 down to $400, one week at a time, so it was time to jump on it.