I just joined the forum and plan on sharing what I've learned in maintaining my Lawn Boy 10323 I bought new back in 2003. Two weeks ago the engine became completely trashed when the connecting rod cap came loose, my son was cutting when it happened and told me about a 'weird' noise. Before the incident it was surging, refusing to idle down, and over speeding noticeably the weekend before. I was having trouble with the vane spring, carb adjustment, cable adjustment, mower was a complete oil/grass mess, etc. My wife was trying to convince me 'it's time' to get a new mower. I wasn't convinced, the 10323 is light, powerful, easy to maintain, easy to maneuver, and easy to start (most of the time). After borrowing a neighbor's fairly new $549 6.75 hp 4 cycle mower my son and I dearly missed the 2 cycle Lawn Boy and decided to fix and keep it. It needed a new short block, new blade, new vane spring, and while at it I went through everything thoroughly. I did the carb mod and drilled the pilot jet out with a #77 and the main with a #68 and it runs fine with a great idle and no surge. It hums nice when it hits thick grass but not as smooth running under no load. One thing I noticed is it consumes more fuel than before.
I went through the drive system and put a new belt on, (Dayco belt from Advanced Auto), re-greased the gearbox and so forth and noticed the main bearing on top the gearbox is worn pretty bad. The pulley is rubbing against the guard above it when engaged. Curious if anybody has ever changed this bearing, I have a 6 inch vice where I can press it out and change it. I've seen the bearing for about $8.
I love my little green Lawn Boy, my neighbor that loaned me a mower the prior weekend made the comment from a distance after cutting the yard and said "I see you got a new mower" I replied "no, same one, better than ever." I put my wife on the spot standing next to me and said "she can even start it now." Eating my own words I turned to my wife said "go head, try it". She gave it one light pull on the first try and it started right up.....sweet.
