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I spotted a listing on Craigs list for a Jacobsen antique 2 stroke push mower the other day. After a couple of days of hemming and hawing about it, I decided to call the guy and go take a look at it. It turned out to be an 18" Turbo Cut with a cast deck.

It has a fair amount of rust, and hardly any paint left on the deck, but he engine was free, and there weren't any cracks or breaks on the deck anywhere I could see. Heck, the tires still have tread on them and the original coke bottle grips are in tact with no splits, and the serial number plate was still on it. So, for 10 bucks, I brought it home yesterday afternoon.

I checked the serial number, 34C1-144038 on the Hit and Miss site and found out it's a 1961.


I sent an email off to Jacobsen/Textron this morning and asked if they had a manual or parts list in their archives for it. Much to my surprise, they sent me a pdf of the parts list within a couple of hours! They included the caveat that they don't support this product any longer.:laughing:

Congratulations -- you have found a treasure. :thumbsup:

I'm always on the lookout for something like that.

When I first started at my job years ago we used 2cyl Jacobsen push mowers. Bright orange and ugly as sin but they were tanks. I currently use two Jacobsen turf cat front mount mowers that I love. One of the best manufacturers in my opinion.

It's too bad they got out of the consumer end of the business, but it's the same sort of thing Toro did, except they still have a consumer line.

bwdbrn1 said:

It's too bad they got out of the consumer end of the business, but it's the same sort of thing Toro did, except they still have a consumer line.

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I agree with you and I'd say it's also too bad that you can no longer buy a simple, light-weight push mower. Everything on the market now is heavy and complex. But then people like me wouldn't be fascinated by 1970s Lawn-Boys, etc -- if you could buy something like that now.

Good luck with your lucky find -- and please post some more photos, particularly of the engine.

As an update, I've begun disassembly and clean up to the extent of being able to try to start it up. The tank is going to have to be flushed out at the very least. The carb had heavy gook in the bottom of the bowl, but leaving it sit in parts cleaner for a day took care of that.

Compression is good. The exhaust ports are surprisingly clean.

I had a devil of a time trying to get the flywheel off, until I realized I was making it harder than it needed to be. Picked up a manual for 1959-1960 Jacobsen engines. The only difference I can see between the 1960 version of my 1961 engine is the carb. '60s had a Tollitson, '61 a Walbro. Anyway, instructions in hand, the flywheel popped off with little fan fare.

The points were corroded, but all was pretty darn clean under the flywheel. Sadly, no spark after cleaning the points and checking the gap. I have a Nova II electronic ignition on the way to install. I used one of those once before on a 1949 Lawn King, and it was amazingly simple to install and took care of the spark on that mower.

If, and when I get it running, then I'll commit to a complete tear down for restoration.

Got the Nova II ignition in the mail today. :thumbsup: Hard to believe that's all there is to it. Now to fire up the heater in the garage and get it put in.

bwdbrn1 said:

Got the Nova II ignition in the mail today. :thumbsup: Hard to believe that's all there is to it. Now to fire up the heater in the garage and get it put in.

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Please post your comments about this conversion kit after you've finished installing it.

That a great old mower. :thumbsup:

I can't wait to hear if it ran! :smile:

I learned about the Nova II from another vintage mower collector. He had installed it a Jacobsen Lawn Queen. If I remember right, it was a 1947, or so. I put one in this 1949 Jacobsen Lawn King after I found it didn't have spark. The installation is really easy, and because the unit is so small, it installs under the flywheel with no trouble, so you never know it's there. What I'll try to do is take pictures of the installation, and let you know how it goes.

The little Turbo-Cut calls for a Champion J-11J spark plug, which has been superseded by the J-11C, although I've read of others using the J-19LM spark plug without any problems. I've just got to look around for a store that has the J-11C in stock around here.

bwdbrn1 said:

I learned about the Nova II from another vintage mower collector. He had installed it a Jacobsen Lawn Queen. If I remember right, it was a 1947, or so. I put one in this 1949 Jacobsen Lawn King after I found it didn't have spark. The installation is really easy, and because the unit is so small, it installs under the flywheel with no trouble, so you never know it's there. What I'll try to do is take pictures of the installation, and let you know how it goes.

The little Turbo-Cut calls for a Champion J-11J spark plug, which has been superseded by the J-11C, although I've read of others using the J-19LM spark plug without any problems. I've just got to look around for a store that has the J-11C in stock around here.

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So the Nova II is a replacement for the coil in a standard mower ?

How does it work exactly ? I'm always interested to learn new things!

jmurray01 said:

So the Nova II is a replacement for the coil in a standard mower ?

How does it work exactly ? I'm always interested to learn new things!

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This little thing replaces the points and condenser. Um, I think it works by magic, I don't really know.:confused2: If the installation goes as I hope it will, I'll take pictures of the process to post.

Well al-righty. The new Nova II kit is in, and we have spark.:thumbsup: I have to find myself a good spark tester. The clip on mine decided that no matter which way I twisted and bent things, it would not stay together long enough to make itself useful, so the spark I saw was from a regular spark plug that I was able to get to stay grounded well enough to know it had spark. It would have been easier with a helper, but the wife won't hold onto anything to do with electricity since I asked her to help with a wiring project in the house. I really don't know why.

Anyway, here's what you get with the Nova II kit. The little module, three different wires to choose from for your connections, a twist on connector and a screw. The instructions are easier to understand looking at the picture than reading the written form on the back of the page.

The second picture is of what the original points and condenser looked like, and the last picture is after the Nova II was installed.

The engine service manual I have says to leave a spark plug in the engine while doing a spark test, and another fellow who knows way more than I do about old Jakes said to put the cutting disc on when trying to start the engine. Since the gas tank needs more attention, I didn't try to start it, just wanted to test for spark, but I put the cutting disc on anyway.

This little mower is quite the test of two of Newton's laws. It takes quite a bit of a tug to get that disc to turn from stationary, but once it's in motion, it seems it acts as it's own starter spinning long after you let go of the rope.

bwdbrn1 said:

...
The little Turbo-Cut calls for a Champion J-11J spark plug, which has been superseded by the J-11C, although I've read of others using the J-19LM spark plug without any problems. I've just got to look around for a store that has the J-11C in stock around here.

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I wouldn't worry about using the J-19LM in place of the older plug. That change (and a similar one involving the J-17LM) has been around for years and if it caused problems, I'll bet they would be known.

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That is one awesome mowing machine. Thanks for posting the photo.

I need a carb kit for this mower my carb says walbro lmg 146 I scored this jacobsen and a 1969 5238 lawn boy as a package deal

I had a Jacobsen turbo cut (20 or 21 inch) mower. Started first pull every time. The four cutting surfaces did a MUCH better job cutting grass that just two cutting surfaces. IMO the Jacobsen 321 and 501 engines were as good or better than Lawnboy. Had a fuel tank cap that had a built in fuel gauge needle.

bwdbrn1 said:

I spotted a listing on Craigs list for a Jacobsen antique 2 stroke push mower the other day. After a couple of days of hemming and hawing about it, I decided to call the guy and go take a look at it. It turned out to be an 18" Turbo Cut with a cast deck.

It has a fair amount of rust, and hardly any paint left on the deck, but he engine was free, and there weren't any cracks or breaks on the deck anywhere I could see. Heck, the tires still have tread on them and the original coke bottle grips are in tact with no splits, and the serial number plate was still on it. So, for 10 bucks, I brought it home yesterday afternoon.

I checked the serial number, 34C1-144038 on the Hit and Miss site and found out it's a 1961.


I sent an email off to Jacobsen/Textron this morning and asked if they had a manual or parts list in their archives for it. Much to my surprise, they sent me a pdf of the parts list within a couple of hours! They included the caveat that they don't support this product any longer.?

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I just up a 21" that looks like yours. Looking for info on it. Mine has a Tillotson carb Not sure what the engine is.

I just picked up a 21" Rotary Jacobsen 2 cycle mower. It has a Tillotson carb on it. Trying to info on what the engine is & hopefully where to find some parts. Thanks