Small Engine Tech and Classifieds

[offr0adlim0]

Speaking of family mowers, my great uncle farmed 1000's of acres outside of Elizabeth City, NC using nothing but Ford tractors. So many that in 1981 they gave him a LT-81 yard tractor which I still use to cut my yard.

 

[pmccraney]

Andrew, I may need to work on a mower deal with you. I can bring you my 1 year-old (gently used) non-working mower as a "core charge"

I know what the problem is; I'm just tired of chasing parts on a cheap mower (I ordered the fuel bulb assembly off of ebay by part # and they sent me the wrong one). Grass is getting high.

 

[MScruiser]

Its a briggs? You could just buy an entirely new carb and call it a day.

 

[Bodean]

That old mower is bad a$$!

 

[MScruiser]

Christmas came early this year.

Grabbed this 3spd Self Propelled Honda on my lunch break. Looked clean, and there was a tag on the handle where it had obviously had work done in the past. My guess was that it was unfixable and the owner threw it out.

Brought it home and studied it (more complex carb than a Briggs) and tried to start to no avail.

Rebuilt carb and added fresh gas.

Started on 3rd pull.




This will be my personal mower for now on.

I'll pressure wash it later today, change the oil, and sharpen the blades.

Everything on it works perfectly. I'm ecstatic.

 

[MScruiser]

I just want to show off this Honda a bit more. It really cleaned up nicely yesterday. I went ahead and tightened the recoil starter, sprayed everything down with Simple Green and pressure washed it, changed the oil, degreased the intake, and found a part on the underside that was rattling. The previous owner had banged it pretty bad on a root or rock, and the metal blade shroud had cracked in half. So I flipped it over and welded it back together. Welds still don't look great, but then again, I just started welding last month. It looks much much better than the last thing I welded, so any improvement is always a good thing.

 

[Bodean]

Damn thing has a 3 speed t-fer case in it! Awesome!

 

[MScruiser]

 

[pmccraney]

I tried again to get mine to fire last night and failed. We need to talk mowers tonight. May need to peruse your inventory.

 

[wct49]

somebody has a fetish.

 

[pmccraney]

Paid a visit to Andrew's small engine repair shop and left with a working lawn mower. The man has a gift. Thanks Andrew! Enjoyed drinking beer and watching you work. My wife appreciates that the yard fro is now low and tight:

 

[Jordan7118]

Andrew, make sure your metal is clean before you weld. That will help a lot with making a better weld.

Very cool hobby! If I had more time, I think I woukd enjoy that. I've been working on Stihl chainsaws pretty regularly for the past couple of years and repaired several push mowers. Still using my parents push mower from 20 years ago.

 

[MScruiser]

Enjoyed it, @pmccraney

"Teach a man to fish" and all that jazz. That thing had a wicked carburetor! Thanks for letting me take the 60 out for a spin too. Made me miss the spartan of my 40.

Thanks for the advice @Jordan7118 I need to not be so lazy. I also need to go from using flex core to actually using shielding gas (still need to buy a cylinder). I know it will look a whole lot better if i do.

 

[Jordan7118]

Yeah, solid wire will make your welding more enjoyable and no more chipping off the slag covering the weld.

 

[MScruiser]

Well, I have started publicly advertising that I do repairs (not just fixing thrown out mowers anymore).

I may make it more than just a hobby; we will see.

As to project updates:

Repaired a Troy Built Weedeater yesterday, and made a few bucks for my time. Gave it a complete carb rebuild, but even that was not enough to get things going. I ordered a new carb on amazon. The dang thing was only $17 shipped too! Gotta love those Chinese!

 

[FJ60Cam]

My leafblower runs like sh!t and gets worse every season. I was just going to toss it instead of getting it repaired. I had no idea you can buy a new carb and that they were that cheap. I'll probably just do that.

 

[wngrog]

See, now it won't be fun anymore

 

[MScruiser]

Pretty much this.

I did make $160 today, and got 3 more projects lined up for the week.

1 Carb rebuild on a Craftsman mower with 5.5hp briggs
1 unknown issue on a mower
1 unknown issue on a blower

I fixed a populan blower this afternoon. New fuel lines, recoil starter rebuild, and rebuilt carb. That yellow plastic bitch kicked my rear.

 

[77TLCFJ40]

Patrick,

Stop putting dirty stinky mowers in my future 60!

 

[pmccraney]

^^ I should have known better. I did put a tarp down though.

Don't worry, still pretty and clean.