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I had this sitting in my garage when I bought the house. The gas tank was bone dry without the normal lacquer in the bottom like most old tanks. Dumped some fuel in and mowed the yard :thumbsup:. There was a learning curve to operating this self-propelled reel but it's cool that after so many years it still worked! I was wondering if you guys can tell me what it is, and maybe even what year it is.

Great find! It's a Craftsman 18" power reel mower, model #535 81980 :tongue:

Sorry I don't know the year but it was made by Murray for Sears. Believe it or not you can still get most parts for that Tecumseh engine from the Sears parts site. But I had a real hard time identifying the actual Tecumseh engine model. The Sears model number from the shroud appears to be 143-581052, but that does not cross-check to any Tecumseh model number. Here is a link to the Tecumseh 4-cycle technician handbook - see for yourself (the chart is at the end of the PDF). The Tecumseh model number may be on or near the flywheel?

http://www.smallenginesurplus.com/service-information/Tecumseh/tecumseh-L-head-w-sears-cross-reference.pdf

How does it cut? I had a very old manual reel mower that cut the grass like a dream as long as it wasn't too long.

My grandparents had a craftsman reel mower almost identical to that, except it was orange, and it was a briggs-powered 'eager 1'. That was the only mower they had. Became mine after grandpa passed away. The grass catcher is awesome! I've never seen one with a grass catcher!

Judging by the script on the ID tag.....and the crass catcher....I'd say it's the same vintage as my craftsman tractor, maybe a little older......but, I have no Idea how old my tractor is....:laughing:

Probably from the late 60's - early 70's.

Mystreba, that's how mine was, too.....those reels hated long grass. Eventually, the self-propelled unit messed up, so I took off the engine, and tossed the rest.

BTW, GREAT pics!!!!

I just realized you addressed the"mower gods"....i misposted. HEY CAJUN!!!KENNY!!! Question for you here! :biggrin:

Sent from my WX445 using LMF

twall said:

I just realized you addressed the"mower gods"....i misposted. HEY CAJUN!!!KENNY!!! Question for you here! :biggrin:

Sent from my WX445 using LMF

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Ha ha hahhhhaaaa...
Actually you generally catch almost all the cool older mower questions... thats great being as you seem to have owned a lot of great mowers... in some way or another....
I never had one of those, Ive seen them... & dreamed of having an engine on a reel when I was a kid pushing around a reel back in the 50's.... :smile:KennyV

Seeing that mower reminds me of one that my Grandfather had and passed down to Dad. It was a self propelled Reel, but the start mechanism was a crank handle that wound a coil spring and a lever released the spring to start the engine (instead of a pull rope). I may have posted about this quite a while ago, but I couldn't find it.
Does anybody else remember the crank start ?:thumbsup:

BKBrown said:

Does anybody else remember the crank start ?:thumbsup:

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Sure do... More like a wind-up start ... I did NOT like them, I always could pull an engine over faster than that spring ... and it seemed like a gimmicky way to start an engine...(sorta' worked) but took a lot of time if it didn't start on the 2nd or 3rd try... you could have been started & long gone with a simple recoil starter... :smile:KennyV

BKBrown said:

The advantage was that Gram (my Grandmother) was all of 90 Lbs. and she could crank it (wind it up), but couldn't pull one. :biggrin:

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Had not given that a consideration... I can see that would have been a good motivation to make a better starter method:thumbsup:..
I don't know if it was the weak wind up spring or the need to repeat the wind up several times to finally succeed in a start... but that design didn't stay around very long... :smile:KennyV

They always had some ether (starter fluid) handy ! :thumbsup:

twall said:

I just realized you addressed the"mower gods"....i misposted. HEY CAJUN!!!KENNY!!! Question for you here! :biggrin:

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No kidding! Talk about an ego booster!

By the way... cool find and thanks for all the pics. I'm a fan of the vintage equipment.

I have seen the engine & the wind-up recoil starters, never seen together as a unit with a reel mower. But, that is a real barn fresh find! Looks almost like it wants to fly:laughing:

Cool old Sears:thumbsup:

Thanks for all the replies and compliments! I was also wondering what something like this is worth if it was sold.

CjSchan said:

Thanks for all the replies and compliments! I was also wondering what something like this is worth if it was sold.

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...As much as someone will pay for it...:wink:

Don't think there's a "70's reel mower blue book".

mystreba said:

Great find! It's a Craftsman 18" power reel mower, model #535 81980 :tongue:

Sorry I don't know the year but it was made by Murray for Sears. Believe it or not you can still get most parts for that Tecumseh engine from the Sears parts site. But I had a real hard time identifying the actual Tecumseh engine model. The Sears model number from the shroud appears to be 143-581052, but that does not cross-check to any Tecumseh model number. Here is a link to the Tecumseh 4-cycle technician handbook - see for yourself (the chart is at the end of the PDF). The Tecumseh model number may be on or near the flywheel?

http://www.smallenginesurplus.com/service-information/Tecumseh/tecumseh-L-head-w-sears-cross-reference.pdf

How does it cut? I had a very old manual reel mower that cut the grass like a dream as long as it wasn't too long.

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Thank you for the intel! It cuts well, better than my new mower actually! The only issue is it fills my shoes with grass clippings :laughing:.

CjSchan said:

Thank you for the intel! It cuts well, better than my new mower actually! The only issue is it fills my shoes with grass clippings :laughing:.

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Flip-flops, baby I split 2 cord of wood this weekend in my flip-flops!

I find flip flops too restrictive.


Hey, first post, and I'm zinging 'em. I hope that flies well here. I was drawn to this forum by this thread. I have been given almost the exact mower as the original poster. Not in as good of shape as his. Mine has been in a flood. Not high enough to get to the motor, but it has trashed the reel. I hope sand blasting brings it back. And mine has a Briggs Motor, with the aforementioned wind up starter. While I agree that it would be easier to start it with a rope starter, you see so few of these wind ups that actually work(like mine), I think they're kinda cool. The exact model is 536.81140.

But all of this will be no good if I can't find wheels and tires. This unit has seen hard use, and there is a huge amount of play at the axle bolt. Without a measurement or a new part to compare to, I can't tell which is worn, the bolt or the wheel. And, of course, the tires are hard and bald.

Stan

Mini Motors said:

Hey, first post, and I'm zinging 'em. I hope that flies well here.

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You've come to the right place.

Awesome find!
I love classic equipment!