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As a profitable sideline, I've been mowing lawns about 6 years now. I do mostly small city lots with even smaller lawns. Big professional equipment(both sit down or standup) is too big for the small, contained lawns I mow. I have been using consumer mowers. But the one constant aggravation: despite only having about 10 small lawns(some of them not even weekly), I have constant mower breakdown problems. To sum it up: new mowers have crappy, plastic carbs that can't deal with Ethanol and older ones are just, well, old and parts wear out.

Can anyone recommend a good higher horse power push mower that would be more reliable for me? So far, I have moved the mowers in my car's trunk(don't own or want a truck), but might consider buying a very small trailer for the back of my car. I'm considering just dropping the business all together, so please be honest regarding whether there's anything that might meet my needs. Again, tractor mowers and big professional mowers are not an option.

Thanks.

I see the very mowers you describe all over town all summer long running with no breakdowns. Most of them have only minimal care and last at least a few years. Better cared for ones last several. Those cheapy Weedeater mowers run great, as well as the cheapy Huskee, Yardman, Yardmachine, Craftsman, Toro, Lawnboy etc. Everybody has some fuel troubles, but most of it is self inflicted.

I take very good care of my mowers. The guy who has repaired mowers for me AND the guy at the Hardware store where I bought one of the new ones both admit the carbs are lousy - made out of plastic, can't handle dirt and as previously mentioned, are ruined by ethanol. The repair guy told me to put stay-bil in the tanks and that should help. But I still have trouble. I constantly(and carefully) clean out the carbs, which get loaded with dirt in a very short time. Hardware store and repair guy both say carbs are constant source of problems with all their customers. This is not my fault - please don't insinuate that it is. You may see people all over town using them, but that doesn't mean they aren't having problems. If you saw me around my town, you'd assume I had no problems. Briggs and Stratton is no longer the symbol of quality. Just more cheaply built crap built by slave wage workers in foreign countries. Sad commentary on America.

I was not and will not insinuate anything. Most gas problems are self inflicted, I have inflicted a good many upon myself. The mowers I see running in town are all people I know, its a small town and i know the place that does most of the repairs and sells most of the parts. As far as ethanol goes I think its best to avoid it if possible, there is ethanol free gasoline around but a person does have to drive a bit to find it sometimes. I would not be a bit afraid to buy a new lawn mower with a Briggs engine on it, in fact I intend to buy a new one this spring. There are other engines available other than Briggs if a person really thinks they are not fit for lawn use. Had i known this was just another America has gone down the tubes and Briggs is made in China by slave labor post I would never have replied. Maybe someone else can help you with a consumer mower that does not have some parts from China, is made in the U.S. and has a carb that does not mind dirt and ethanol, and never needs cleaning. I myself do not know of any new consumer lawnmowers made that fit this description. Good luck in your search.

On the above I have to agree with possum...

As to your search, if you are going to try and operate a mowing business using small inexpensive, home owner grade,walk behind mowers... You will be very challenged to find any that will have a multi-year reliability...
You might do much better by taking the $ you plan on spending on several homeowner push mowers and buy one good commercial push trim mower... :smile:KennyV

maxcalvada said:

As a profitable sideline, I've been mowing lawns about 6 years now. I do mostly small city lots with even smaller lawns. Big professional equipment(both sit down or standup) is too big for the small, contained lawns I mow. I have been using consumer mowers. But the one constant aggravation: despite only having about 10 small lawns(some of them not even weekly), I have constant mower breakdown problems. To sum it up: new mowers have crappy, plastic carbs that can't deal with Ethanol and older ones are just, well, old and parts wear out.

Can anyone recommend a good higher horse power push mower that would be more reliable for me? So far, I have moved the mowers in my car's trunk(don't own or want a truck), but might consider buying a very small trailer for the back of my car. I'm considering just dropping the business all together, so please be honest regarding whether there's anything that might meet my needs. Again, tractor mowers and big professional mowers are not an option.

Thanks.

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if you are serious about keeping your ten accounts then I would consider a commercial grade mower at a dealer (or) a high end homeowner model. I'm not real keen on the idea of trunk loading a mower,to much risk of back injury. a small utility trailer(classifieds or c.l.) will more than carry your minimum equipment.try to get as much business close as possible,less travel more dollars.did you rule out electric / battery mowers? you say your considering getting rid of the business but with having constant problems i can understand the frustration,but, get good equipment take care of it and maintain it and be a happy grass cutter:biggrin::biggrin:

Get a couple older model Lawn Boys with the 2 cycle engine and aluminum decks. You can find them reasonable on craigslist. They're built simple and built to last. Can't go wrong.

I find mtd yardmans are cheap and work very well i have a 7 year old it has done a lot off work and still running sweet.

Hiya,

You have 2 directions you can go, either 21" commercial or small commercial walk behind or stander.

If car trunk is the transportation method, your looking at the 21" commercial. Get a self propelled for the speed of cut, I love the Snapper 21 Commercial mowers, built like tanks, great drive system, bag or mulch. You won't ever regret owning one.

If you can get a small trailer, you should look to the 36" class walk behind mowers. These offer much faster mow times. If you want a walk behind, get the simple belt/peerless transmission model, hydrostatic adds a lot of cost and it's not needed on the small decks. Lesco, Scag, Snapper and Bobcat are the makes I have owned and had good luck with.

If you want what I think is the best setup for small yards, a Wright Stander 36" no walking, faster, super cut and built like a tank. The Standers arent cheap but there is a reason you see them on almost all landscaper trailers.

Tom

You might also consider transporting your small mower on one of the trailer hitch platforms. At least you wouldn't have to lift it as high.

Might wan't to look into a small mower with a Honda engine, I have had decent luck with their engines.

I would suggest a Minimower. There is such a thing. Assuming that you are going to focus on small lawns.....check it out. No gas no oils and may attract some "green" customers as well.

Its pretty powerful for its size and sturdy....mainly ideal for small lawns...folds and stores well....and will fit in the trunk of your car. Will zip through most lawns with a clean cut. Just make sure you have an extension cord and somewhere to plug it in.

I am thinking one of the commercial or high end consumer push mowers. Seeing as how ethanol is the least expensive oxygenate, just about every urban area will only have fuel with ethanol per the EPA. Over 95% of the gas sold goes into cars, so it's not worth shipping and stocking "off-road" gas. An exception might be a large marina, but most of them just buy road fuel. As mentioned, small rural areas may not have ethanol, but going there may be inconvenient. Second, all gas is poor quality, there are a lot of volatiles, etc. in the mix to stretch a barrel of oil, etc.; the gas rapidly looses these volatiles and the quality and octane goes down. I say if you can't empty your gas can every week, use StaBil, etc. Also, in a 2 stroke, I use 89 or 91 octane, because the oil lowers octane (check a Stihl manual, that is what they recommend). I'd also use a gas can with a screen or filter in the spout and maybe get a mower with a gas turn-off and close it while tilting the mower in and out of the car trunk. I didn't buy a cheap mower this time and it has been carefree (I have a 1/2 acre). Starts on one pull 90% of the time and mows like a dream. I use StaBil and air-cooled 4 stroke cycle lawn mower oil.