new guy, old 21" walk behind pics
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zman111666
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Well, I looked all over for anything I could find, but so little out there. Apparently they were made by a company called Sensation in the 70's, and were popular among landscapers for the indestructible deck. The article below was with that pic I posted earlier.
In the 70's when I was a kid, I mowed a few lawns for spending money, rather than ruin the family riding mower, my Dad would take me to the local Lawnmower Shop where we could rent one of these Bob Cat push mowers. These mowers were practically indestructible, with a cast aluminum deck, steel wheels with bearings and B&S commercial motors. Everything was bomb proof on these units, even the grass catcher was simple and had a rugged steel frame. Hide
If you look closely you can see that the wheels had no height adjustment lever and had to be set with with a wrench. That last bit always struck me as unnecessarily and conspicuously milspec rugged, but whatever, it was simple. These mowers were very popular with the pro landscaping set for a long time and then they disappeared. Near as I can tell, this type/model of mower was originally put out by the Sensation company, and enjoyed considerable popularity and loyalty for many years. I am not sure if it came to Bob Cat by merger or license, but I guess Sensation changed hands a few times and was ultimately swallowed up by Lawn Boy (Started by Evinrude Outboards), which then got eaten by Toro (which had previously gobbled up Wheel Horse Tractors - a Division of AMC, yes, that AMC). So somewhere in this cluster#%$ of mergers, somebody killed this model. I wish they hadn't the world could use a simple durable mower.
Can't find any mention anywhere about model numbers, if they even had them...
In the 70's when I was a kid, I mowed a few lawns for spending money, rather than ruin the family riding mower, my Dad would take me to the local Lawnmower Shop where we could rent one of these Bob Cat push mowers. These mowers were practically indestructible, with a cast aluminum deck, steel wheels with bearings and B&S commercial motors. Everything was bomb proof on these units, even the grass catcher was simple and had a rugged steel frame. Hide
If you look closely you can see that the wheels had no height adjustment lever and had to be set with with a wrench. That last bit always struck me as unnecessarily and conspicuously milspec rugged, but whatever, it was simple. These mowers were very popular with the pro landscaping set for a long time and then they disappeared. Near as I can tell, this type/model of mower was originally put out by the Sensation company, and enjoyed considerable popularity and loyalty for many years. I am not sure if it came to Bob Cat by merger or license, but I guess Sensation changed hands a few times and was ultimately swallowed up by Lawn Boy (Started by Evinrude Outboards), which then got eaten by Toro (which had previously gobbled up Wheel Horse Tractors - a Division of AMC, yes, that AMC). So somewhere in this cluster#%$ of mergers, somebody killed this model. I wish they hadn't the world could use a simple durable mower.
Can't find any mention anywhere about model numbers, if they even had them...
I have a link from Jacks Small Engines that has excellent exploded views of 21" BobCats, but 75% of the parts are discontinued. Lucky me, I have a buddy who can get about everything, some of the time. This winter I want to get with him and try to get all the parts to get this up and running.
Yes , these mowers are almost indestructible, the aluminum deck will last forever. My original machine was bought from "my buddy" maybe 25 years ago. He grew up across the street from me. I really want to restore the self propelled, and a 2nd resto on the push mower. I also have a 1990's?? 30" Snapper riding mower, and just got a Yardman 3100/3140-4 front reel rider, and a Huffy Gremlin from the 1960's. Resto projects for when I retire.
Yes , these mowers are almost indestructible, the aluminum deck will last forever. My original machine was bought from "my buddy" maybe 25 years ago. He grew up across the street from me. I really want to restore the self propelled, and a 2nd resto on the push mower. I also have a 1990's?? 30" Snapper riding mower, and just got a Yardman 3100/3140-4 front reel rider, and a Huffy Gremlin from the 1960's. Resto projects for when I retire.
zman111666
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Nice. I'd like to see those, especially that reel rider. I got one of them old Snappers too, not sure what I'm going to do with it. Other than that, a couple of other interesting old mowers i got in the yard are an old walk behind Snapper, and two Toro 2-stroke commercial mowers. Not sure right now when they were made, but they got those thick aluminum decks.
