My mower repair thread

[Vervepipes]

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.

 

[hanyoukimura]

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.

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!

 

[Vervepipes]

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.

 

[Vervepipes]

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.

 

[Vervepipes]

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.

 

[exotion]

One of my fav machines

 

[Vervepipes]

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.

 

[hanyoukimura]

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.

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!

 

[Vervepipes]

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.

 

[exotion]

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