My mower repair thread

[Vervepipes]

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

 

[Fish]

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

 

[grumpygrizzly]

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

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..

 

[Vervepipes]

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?

 

[Vervepipes]

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

 

[exotion]

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 !

 

[Lawnboy18]

Yeah keep the Suzuki!!! An awsome motor!

 

[Vervepipes]

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

 

[exotion]

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

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

 

[Vervepipes]

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.