While deep cleaning the carb on my 21 year old craftsman mower I discovered the intake pipe was cracked. While waiting for the part to arrive my dad told me to check out and start researching the toro mowers “just in case”. “
I checked out the super recycler lineup and I have to say I was impressed.
My mower has served me well, although it’s never mulched well. I always bagged because of it.
Part of me has a hard time replacing something that still works, and dad is telling my to get off my wallet and treat myself to a new toro.
Better mulching, way nicer wheels, etc, and the cleanout hose port are nice.
My only concerns are it’s propeled, and this “auto choke”. I’m old school and felt that the old manual choke was the best. My mower has a bulb. Now that I know how to clean a carb, I like simple systems.
So when do you guys replace stuff, and do you replace working stuff?
As to the recyclers, I like the blade stop but it excludes the mulch accelerators. Is this an acceptable trade off?
The Honda powered super recycled is out. My neighbor has a Honda and always has a hard time cold starting.
I like the basic, and electric start models, and would consider the bladestop if the accelerator is no big deal.
If and when the electric start fails I revert to a pull start. No big deal.
As for the personal pace, can the mower function as a normal push mower?
Disclaimer I am a Toro guy and have been working for Toro dealerships since the late 80’s. The Super Recylers come in four styles, 21381 standard, 20382 Honda, 20383 blade brake and 20384 electric start. In my opinion all do an excellent job of mulching, so I don’t feel you will notice a difference with the 20383 model. I feel the new Loncin engines have all the bugs worked out and the Auto Choke systems work very well. To be honest, when they first came out I would not have given you a plug nickel for them, but Toro and Loncin have worked together to get it right. As for the Personal Pace System, it takes about 20 minutes to figure out how it works and then you will love it. You can disable it by loosening the control cable, but I doubt you will want to do this after trying it. Finally, if you do decide to purchase one of these units, make sure you have the dealer show you how to drain the float bowl at the end of the season. This will give you a totally dry fuel system for storage and eliminate future problems when the unit is stored with fuel left in it.
Your helping me out in the tecumseh repair forum. Thanks to you I purchased a carb kit, took it all apart, cleaned and rebuilt the carb. Just waiting on the intake pipe to arrive. Thanks for the help!
The new toros screamed quality compared to my old mower. I didn’t take a close look at the carb on the toros. Do they have a drain plug? Having now learned how to rebuild a carb, I’m pretty sure I can drain it!
But, the plan is to use trufuel exclusively in my snowblower, and since I now use trufuel, at the very least, (using regular ethonal free treated fuel for the cutting season) I will fill the mower with trufuel for the last cut, and store it that way. Should eliminate any issues.
How complex/repairable is this autochoke?
Rivets what toro would you choose, and why?
Would you replace a working 21 yr old mower with a new one, or wait until she’s bought the farm?
First, are you a lucky betting man. 21 years is a long time for that unit. Only you can decide if you should replace it. If you do replace it I recommend the 21381 basic unit. The only time I recommend the others is if you want an electric start or doa lot of bagging. Right now we have the basic model on sale for $499. AutoChoke is quite simple and while Loncin has reworked the engine since it originally came out I’ve seen no problems with them. Normally starts on two pulls. We recommend to all our customers to use non ethanol fuel, but still completely drain the system at the end of the season. If you do decide to replace now, I recommend you fix the old unit and find a young couple in your area to give it to. You probably wouldn’t get to much if you sell it and give vine it to someone who needs it will make you feel better and if it fails no one is out anything. Just an opinion of an old fart who has been in both situations. Hope this helps.
If you think my mower is old, my snowblower is 38yrs old. I admit Some winters it doesn’t even get used so it can’t be compared to a mower.
The only reason I’d get electric start is for my dad. He looks after the lawn when im away on holidays. He has electric start. I can take it or leave it.
For me it’d be between the blade stop or basic model. I bag most of the time, BUT it’s because my mower isn’t a good mulcher.
I’m curious as to the “run dry” recommendation? Even with trufuel, or aspen fuel? I can see gas station fuel being run dry but I thought you can leave the canned fuel for storage?
I didn’t take a close look at the super recycler carb. Does it have a drain or would I have to dump the bowl?
I agree with giving the old one away. Not worth much and I’d rather someone in need be able to use it.
We recommend running the unit as dry as possible, thus draining the bowl. Even opening the fuel cap and let the tank fuel evaporate. It is only a recommendation, but our customers who follow this have almost no problems when following it. This goes for mowers and snowblowers. We recommend customers who have 2cycle equipment to use the canned fuel in them and not run them dry. It has been keeping our customers happy and that is the best part of our service. Each person must make their own decision as to which way to go, we can only make recommendations. This is only my opinion and others on this site will disagree with me. Yes, the Loncin carb has a separate bowl drain. Can’t get the electric start and blade brake on one unit, so I would recommend electric start to make your father job easier.
They did offer the electric start and the blade override system on the same unit at one time. (I have one, model 20058 purchased in 2007.)
Just wondering why the don't still offer both on the same unit anymore.
Ill go ahead and drain the blower even though it has canned fuel.
Funny thing is that I had mower and blower problems this year even though I rotated and treated my fuel, yet my 2 stroke chainsaw and trimmer both sat for just over a year with old fuel. Both started up easily. Maybe I just have the reverse Midas touch ?
So back to mowers.... what happened to the manual choke? I remember as a kid our mower lever had a “start” position, a rabbit position and a turtle position. And I guess the off position. It was simple and it worked. No bulb, no autochoke.
As for the toro since I’m looking at the super recycler I’d hopefully be mulching more than bagging. I don’t see the value of a blade stop feature.
Any idea why you lose the mulch accelerator with the blade stop ?
You can thank government regulations for the elimination of both the choke and throttle controls. Believe it or not there is an emissions standard. The design of the blade adapter and clutch system, does not accept the accelerator blade.
So the govt has even figured out how to complicate something like a lawn mower?
My lord I’ve been educating myself on these auto systems, springs, vanes, thermostats, and,wax thingies, etc.
Correct me if I’m wrong but wouldn’t the manufacturing of these auto choke systems, and the subsequent repair, and replacement of such systems create more of a carbon footprint / environmental impact than the system they are replacing did?
What about modifying these new systems back to the old ways?
Rivets, do the super recyclers have a fuel shutoff?
Yes running an old 2 stroke for 30 years will be light years ahead of several modern lean burn short life span low pollution 4 stroke mowers when you take embedded pollution in the manufacture distribution & disposal of them.
Most modern engines are only "clean" for 3 to 5 years . There is a sticker on the side that confirms this.
After that it is downhill all the way as the excessive wear in the bore pumps lots of oil into the atmosphere via the breather.
And all of this pales into insignificance when you look at large jet engines that pump out around 100 gallons of unburned Jet A-1 every time they take off and about 1/3 of that every time they land.
I'm in the exact same position. My Toro 20007 is on it's 17th season. I've had my eye on the Super Recycler for a few years now. Can't justify pulling the trigger because mine still works well. A tab on the bag frame broke off about 10 years ago so bagging isn't an option here (this and the fact that the super recycler series mulches so well may be justification). Wish it would quit but it keeps on going and barely bogs down in high/wet grass.
Maybe stopping in at the local Toro dealer would help my to make the change
I’m in the opposite dilemma. I bag because my mower isn’t good at mulching. I didn’t go to a toro dealer but I was at Home Depot and even “just” the recycler model was obviously a better quality mower than mine. The super recycler would be even better.
But I have a hard time replacing a working piece of equipment.
I’ll leave it up to the mower gods.... as per Rivets idea, I’ll ask around if someone is in need of a used mower. If so the gods have spoken and a new recycler is due.
