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Howdy:

The Short of It
Looking for recommendations for both a push (self propelled or not) and later a small riding mower to buy used. Older is fine by me. I would like a make/model that has good parts support.

The Long of It
My son has been born again mechanical. He is up for all the car & truck maintenance I can teach him. Thing is, my practical knowledge is running out and I am not sure I want him doing his first engine repairs on my truck. (Heck, I hope my truck won't need any repairs!) So, the idea is to buy a used lawn mower and have him rebuild the motor and any other bits that might need attention. He might end up using it to mow lawns around the neighborhood.

Thanks for any pointers.

Search "craigslist" for your area. I would suggest a Honda lawnmower or Snapper with B&S engine lawnmower for your son, parts are plentiful for both, depending on age of mower. Honda Parts Nation website has excellent prices & shipping, just an example. Using smartphone, tablet, or computer you can search model & serial numbers as well as all engine numbers from data plates on mower & engine for available parts before purchasing mower. I would also recommend purchasing a shop manual for mower if not available online.

Go to your local repair shop and you will find plenty of projects in your price range. Most shops have take in trades (I won't give you anything for it, but will take it off your hands) which they will probably give you a great price on. At the same time your son will develop a contact when he needs parts or help.

mechanic mark & rivets:

Those are both really good ideas. I snoop through craigslist often, but I think I need to pay a local repair shop a visit, too.

Go here
mymowerparts.com/about_us.php
Click on the free parts books and manuals.
A treasuer trove of information.
The "must have MTD manuals" are excellent .
Personnaly I am not fond of Honda manuals .
By far the best manuals are the John Deere ones but you will have to buy them.
They are written in a step by step basis with an explaniation of how everything works at the beginning of each section.
This is very good for the enquiring mind as he will get both the HOW and the WHY and once he understands this nothing is impossble so he is set for life.

The biggest problem most have with mowers is the electrics and the JD electrical trouble shooting guides are without comparison.

Go to
mylawnmowerforum.com
And join you son up.
They are a nice bunch and really supportive towards young people restoring old mowers.
From memory they hane a reasonable index of parts books and manuals.
It was very good when I was starting out a few years back.

Mikel1 said:

That's a bold move with that link. Enough to get banned on some forums

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There's no law against people being members of multiple forums. I'd hope that they get the help they need here but different topics might be more common on other forums. :thumbsup:

When I started out I joined up every forum I could find.
Mowers, tractors, chain saws, arbourists, garden care, etc etc etc.
Each and every one of the has it's own personality, strengths and weakness.
This forum seemed to have the largest number of competiant mechanics posting and a very adult attitude.
You rarely see a dozen "me too" posts.
It is exactly what I was looking for, a group of people who told other people how to fix their mowers and where to find the information they need to fix it.
It gave me the wide background i the trade that I did not have coming from outside the industry.

Something I learned when doing the wedding car hire was don't try & sell some one oranges when they wanted peanuts.
And if you know where to get peanuts you direct them there.
While you don't make a sale, you get a reputation for being honest and strait foreward which ultimately made me very successful.
People like to be helped, not manipulted.

So now Roo_ster should be feeling that we have his and his son's best interests at heart.
Thus when he comes across some one with an equipment problem he will not hesitate to direct them here, thus this forum ultimately benefits.

roo_ster said:

mechanic mark & rivets:

Those are both really good ideas. I snoop through craigslist often, but I think I need to pay a local repair shop a visit, too.

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I don't know what search terms you're using on Craigslist, but a lot of people make their search too specific and don't find what they're looking for. Search for "mower", set the search function to show the lowest prices first and start scrolling. There should be several mowers in your area for ~$10-$20 that need a little work.

premierbulb said:

I don't know what search terms you're using on Craigslist, but a lot of people make their search too specific and don't find what they're looking for. Search for "mower", set the search function to show the lowest prices first and start scrolling. There should be several mowers in your area for ~$10-$20 that need a little work.

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Another good suggestion.

bertsmobile1 said:

Something I learned when doing the wedding car hire was don't try & sell some one oranges when they wanted peanuts.
And if you know where to get peanuts you direct them there.
While you don't make a sale, you get a reputation for being honest and strait foreward which ultimately made me very successful.
People like to be helped, not manipulted.

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This. Best salesfolk I have known worked this way.

bertsmobile1 said:

So now Roo_ster should be feeling that we have his and his son's best interests at heart.
Thus when he comes across some one with an equipment problem he will not hesitate to direct them here, thus this forum ultimately benefits.

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You all surely have come through with some good ideas. I will keep an eye open through the end of the school year and pick up something between now & then. I figure a summer ought to me more than enough time to rebuild a mower.

Most mowers don't need to be rebuilt, they just need some minor repairs and a tune up. Read these two threads:

lawnmowerforum.com/small-engine-mower-repair/5601-my-lawn-mower-repair-thread-56k-warning.html

lawnmowerforum.com/small-engine-mower-repair/24676-my-mower-repair-thread.html

When I taught small engine repair, every student had to completely teardown, measure, and reassemble an engine in one semester. Along with classroom work there was no better way to learn how an engine works. Many of the engines did not run at the end of the semester, because the parents didn't want to stick any money into it. No problem, as the students understood how it was supposed to work. Also, helping other students troubleshoot their engines was a great team learning experience. I would start with a Briggs or Tecumseh, as their repair manuals are available in PDF form on the Internet for free. Once they understand how each part works together and alone, you will be a better troubleshooter down the road. This is one lesson that persons on this forum need to learn before attempting to work on their equipment and posting questions.

When I was young and on the farm I always had what we called lot cars that I ran around on the farm with. I was always pulling the engine's out of them and experimenting with them. Back then you could buy a old farm car for 20 dollars just to beat up, take apart and put back together. Take a 6 cylinder engine out and install a V8. Didn't know what I was doing but sure learned a lot. The repair business just stuck with me, even now into my retirement. I say if he wants to learn the repair trade just do the same thing only with mowers, he doesn't need to spend big money to get his hand dirty. With all the new technology I would recommend that he goes to a trade school before making a living at it.

Mikel1 said:

Being a member to multiple forums has nothing to do with it at all. It's your forum so whatever floats your boat. I am not used to mediocre moderating.

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I bet that would get you banned in the other forums you speak about. One of the reasons we like it here is because the moderator is not a total notzie about his site. I have never thought of this a mediocre moderating I have always though of it as a HELP site that allows you to help not worry about little stuff.

BlazNT said:

I bet that would get you banned in the other forums you speak about. One of the reasons we like it here is because the moderator is not a total notzie about his site. I have never thought of this a mediocre moderating I have always though of it as a HELP site that allows you to help not worry about little stuff.

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I completely agree!

Rivets said:

When I taught small engine repair, every student had to completely teardown, measure, and reassemble an engine in one semester. Along with classroom work there was no better way to learn how an engine works. Many of the engines did not run at the end of the semester, because the parents didn't want to stick any money into it. No problem, as the students understood how it was supposed to work. Also, helping other students troubleshoot their engines was a great team learning experience. I would start with a Briggs or Tecumseh, as their repair manuals are available in PDF form on the Internet for free. Once they understand how each part works together and alone, you will be a better troubleshooter down the road. This is one lesson that persons on this forum need to learn before attempting to work on their equipment and posting questions.

Click to expand...

Good point. When I first began working on small engines, I just assumed that every broken engine needed a complete overhaul before it would run again. I messed up several engines before I got my first one running, but I knew how they worked when I was done!

My first repair attempt was on an old McCulloch MAC 3200 chainsaw engine. (Just the engine, not the whole saw.) First I completely took it apart. After looking over the parts, I put it back together with no gaskets (and I think it was also missing the piston ring), hooked the carburetor up backwards and tried to start it with an electric drill because it was missing its starter. Of course it would not start. :laughing:

We have all been there.
Rip it apart rather than do a proper diagnosis.
Don't do it any more.
a 1/2 hour spent working out exactly what is wrong is 10 hours of unbilable hours saved.

OK, I have read up through page 9 of the monster thread "My Lawn Mower Repair Thread (56k warning)" and already learned a whole lot.

QUESTION:
How do you determine if a motor has compression?

You use a compression tester and a leak down tester.
Because nearly all small engines use some sort of decompression you never get an accurate maximum compression reading.
However you need 70 psi minimum for an engine to start.

My standard test is to pop an inline spark tester on the engine and a shot of starter fluid.
If it goes band there is sufficient compression to start the engine.
If it don't go bang and there is a spark, I pull the rocker cover and then check the flywheel key.
Easy things first. When ou do a lot of engines you can hear low compression situations, mower spins over faster than it should.

The big problem is there are a lot of cheap crap compression testers that give inaccurate readings.
The you get to the actual adapter.
It has to occupy the same volume as the spark plug does as on really small engines the actual compressed volume can be as little as 4 turns of the spark plug so if the tester goes in 1 turn too many it will give high readings and if it scews in 1 turn too few it can be 20% too low.

FWIW I usually test every engine and record it in the job book .
I do this every time I service that mower and use the numbers to monitor the wear in the engine.