My mower repair thread

[Vervepipes]

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.


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Beer low light is on.

 

[shiftsuper175607]

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.

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!

 

[Vervepipes]

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.

 

[hanyoukimura]

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

 

[Vervepipes]

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.

 

[Vervepipes]

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.

 

[Vervepipes]

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.

 

[Vervepipes]

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.

 

[Vervepipes]

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.

 

[Vervepipes]

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.