(first posted 4/7/2016. The B&S on that Sears magnesium deck finally wore out last year. I found a fairly recent cheap little mower with a B&S engine at the curb, and I couldn’t resist. It needed a new head gasket and then ran like a champ. I didn’t like the cheap steel deck, as it had a bar on the bottom of the side discharge that tended to plug up. Our grass here gets very heavy in the spring, and I don’t mow often. I need an unobstructed side discharge to plow through it quickly. So I mounted that engine on this ancient lightweight deck; works like a charm, even in the thickest grass and weeds.
But: I have a new tenant with a teenage son, and his dad bought him a mower and string trimmer, and I’ve hired him to mow the large common yard at my cluster of rentals. Yea! Now I’m down to just the group home down the alley where my daughter lives.)
I love vintage lawnmowers, and not just because I pick them up for free from the curb (or $5, for the Lawn Boy). It’s because they’re super light (the Sears in front has a magnesium deck, the Lawn Boy an aluminum one), and they have a side discharge, because I don’t bag and haul off the very stuff grass likes to feed on.
Well, mowing season started here with a vengeance about ten days ago; since I have several properties to deal with, so it was time to wheel out my preferred rig, the 60’s Sears deck that I swapped on a very healthy Briggs and Stratton engine from the early 80s or so. An engine that always starts on the first, or possibly second pull, even after a very long dormancy. Not this year; not the slightest sign of life. Good thing I had the Lawn Boy as a backup.
I picked up this LB model 7268 a few years back for $5 at our local recycling center. it was marked “Parts”. But it called to me, and I took it home, knowing it was a risk, having long wanted to have a LB. They have such a devoted following for being rugged and long-lived. And when I was about 12 to 14 or so, I mowed several neighbors’ lawns, two of which had Lawn Boys.
One was very ancient, like this one, with an exposed flywheel-fan, and no recoil starter. One just wound the pull rope around the pulley on top, gave a good yank, and….it purred to life, with that distinctive LB two-stroke puff of blue smoke and oily smell. Exposure to it at an early age leaves one with a permanent taste for both of them.
My LB started up quite readily, but it didn’t purr quite as nicely as they should; there was a metallic overtone to it. When I took off the muffler to check if the exhaust ports were clean, I noticed that there was a bit of play when I wiggled the crankshaft back and forth. No wonder someone donated it to the recycling center; a damaged crankshaft or rod. But it runs just fine, and the noise isn’t really all that bad bad.
When I last wrote up my fleet of featherweight lawnmowers back in 2011, this 1964 or so Montgomery Wards was my primary machine. I had picked it up from a curb, where it had been discarded. I was mainly attracted to its light aluminum deck. The poor engine was totally devoid of oil, and barely turned. Someone had just run it until it ran dry and it finally stopped. On a lark, I put in some oil, and kept pulling, lo and behold, it got easier and easier, and soon enough it fired up with a belch of smoke and ran, quite well too. And I used it for several years. But its compression was never good (made for very easy starting, though), and eventually, it just sort of faded out. I got four years more use after its first death. And the deck is still good; the problem is finding an engine with just the right length shaft; they vary.
So this became my front-line defense against grass. The deck is a 60s vintage Sears, of magnesium, for ultimate lightness. Obviously, it’s been repaired along the way by a previous owner, due to structural deficiency.
There are also holes in the deck; I’m not sure from what exactly. But they get plugged up by tufts of grass. The Sears engine, which were made by Tecumseh, is long gone, but I found this early 80s vintage B&S with a vertical-pull starter somewhere, and its still in the prime of its (long) life. This puppy will rip through calf-high grass.
Well, if it would start. I checked the ignition with a little tester: dead. These Magnetron engines were the first generation of B&S with a Capacitve Discharge coil, so blame it on the electronics. But for some thirty bucks, a new one was found on Ebay, and installed. The plug was cleaned, the oil changed, and the air filter washed and re-oiled. One good pull and…ROAR! I do love me the sound of a B&S.
Well, I love both four and two strokes, so I’m an equal opportunity small engine aficionado. And have been, ever since my first exposure to them, including my less-than-stellar attempt at taking one apart when I was a kid. I wrote that story up here. But it did run again, just not with a governor.
Given that I have two to chose from, which will it be this year? The one thing I’m not so wild about the Lawn Boy is its staggered front wheels, which is less than ideal on rough ground. I have one steep bank that does not agree with it. So maybe I’ll keep them at separate properties, and that way I won’t have to haul one there, in the cart behind my riding mower. Now that’s a story for another day.
*Have to Ask*
Does anybody here have or remember the
type of push-mower you flipped open a
crank handle on top of the engine, cranked
it clockwise a half-dozen times, slapped it
shut, and flipped a lever on the handle bar
to start it? I sooooo remember my old man
cursing one of those things out 40 years
ago when I was little, lol!
Yes. And I thank God EVERY TIME I pull on my push mower’s rope and it starts…that it’s not one of those crank models!
I remember those, but without the extra lever. My childhood best friend cut the family’s grass with one. Flip out the crank, crank 2 or 3 times, then when the crank folded back and the handle popped into its hole, that released the spring. Have not seen one of those in decades.
On ours, the release was via lever up on the handle – no starting controls near the deck cranker.
Toros with crank-start Tecumsehs used an ingenious lever that would release the starter when the throttle cable was pushed all the way to the ‘choke’ position.
Briggs & Stratton-equipped mowers used a remote cable to release the starter.
I used both on a regular basis when I mowed lawns as a kid back in the 1970s. Like Paul, I trash-picked most of my mowers and got them running again.
Yes, my grandmother had one of those crank start engines on a push mower. It was always pretty reliable for her.
As a kid, we had a Sears lawn mower with that sort of crank, and it was endlessly troublesome.
So did we and I could almost never get the damn thing going!
Yes, absolutely. When my grandparents took up apartment living, my folks inherited their early ’60s Craftsman mower that started in exactly this manner. It was the mower I learned to mow with. It was difficult sometimes to get it started. My dad was inveterate bagger, and its side bagging mount with an extension pole that held the back of the bag was a total pain in our busily landscaped yard. We had that mower into the mid-late ’70s.
The replacement mower was a loaded up Toro with Key Start and a battery you had to keep charged. We started using the pull rope when that system gave up after a few years. It had a front wheel power drive system that broke every few seasons, usually belt problems, sometimes more. The power drive made it hard to control in tight spots in our hilly yard, and it really wasn’t possible to mow with the drive turned off. All the gee-gaws made it a heavy unit. At least it was a rear bagger.
I’m with Paul in that simple mowers are lighter and better. I’ve purchased a few basic MTD mowers with B&S engines and no features beyond a rear bag – and a side shoot option as mulching can be too much for such a mower and I rarely bag – only for excessive leaves or to collect garden mulch.
These simple mowers have given me mostly trouble free service. The current one is in its 9th season. I did have to replace the original plastic wheels last year as they were breaking up at the axle. $30.00 at Lowe’s and it now sports new steel wheels that will outlast the mower.
I’ve thought about upgrading to a Honda mower, but I’m not sure why I would. I doubt I’ve invested more than $15.00 a year in mowing equipment, and it seems to work fine for me.
I have yet to buy a new mower. After my Lawn Boy, I took over the Toro that my mother retired from using. After a few seasons, that one gave up – who knew that an engine without an oil pump didn’t like the steep hills in my back yard? I went back to the equipment dealer where I had bought my Lawn Boy in the 80s and bought a 3 year old Toro Super Recycler – this was about 2000 or so, and I still have it. It had been a trade in from an old guy who bought a new high end mower every 3 years or so. Other than regularly breaking front wheel bolts every few years, it has been good. Starting last year, I began using the ultimate in grass cutting – a checkbook.
I know this goes against popular opinion, but don’t get a Honda mower. The only good thing about them is, due to their persistent carburetor problems (thanks to EPA regulations making all carbs non-adjustable), you can buy an entire new carburetor for $25-30. So stock up on an extra carb or two, and when it inevitably starts surging (as all Hondas eventually do), just throw the new carb on.
The late-model Honda mowers, especially the plastic ones, have suffered serious bloat, just like their cars have (longer, wider, heavier, bigger wheels). Compare a new Nexite-decked Honda to one they made 20 years ago and you’ll see what I mean.
And the other problem with Hondas and most other modern mowers – they try to do everything with one deck design, which doesn’t work well for either bagging or mulching. My daily-driver mower right now is an early 1990s Homelite Super-Bagger which is specifically designed for BAGGING and has actual SUCTION to pick up leaves, twigs, and other debris. My late-model Hondas just laugh and roll right over that stuff without touching it.
Personally I love the type of mowers Paul has shown above, as they are LIGHT! Probably less than 75 pounds. Most modern mowers are 110-125 pounds.
I’ll have to do a post on my mowers sometime, but this time of year I’m out until dark using them!
Deck designs really make a difference. At the time I bought my mower, Toro owned Lawn-Boy. They each had models will similar features and were 3-in-1s but the Lawn-Boy’s deck was built for bagging while the Toro was built for mulching. I mulch (because it’s easier) so I went with the Toro and it hasn’t disappointed. My trees aren’t very mature so I don’t bag very often, but it’s adequate when I need to.
I don’t know who makes Lawn-Boys now but they look cheap and are priced accordingly. Snapper still makes their “Hi-Vac” series which are supposed to be good baggers and had a great reputation.
Plastic ones? One of the particular reasons I bought a Honda last year is the all metal deck. It’s a heavy bastard, but so many other mowers now seem to use plastic or some sort of composite ahead of the blade around the front wheels, and that just seemed to be asking for trouble…
I hadn’t heard about the carb issues. Pretty much everyone I knew had good things to say about them, it seemed, so I’m going to be a little more than pissed if I dropped $400+ on a subpar mower.
(I’ve gone the cheap mower route too and got fed up…the ostensibly “rehabbed” 80’s craftsman that I bought for $50 and got a total of one season out of before it refused to start, and then rather than tearing into that one Dad gave me his old Murray, which lasted two seasons before the pull starter started to disintegrate. I dealt with that until I bent the crankshaft when I hit a hidden rock.)
I totally agree about Honda mowers. I had one and the motor was great, but the transmission never worked well, and eventually leaked oil. A new transmission would have cost more than the mower was worth.
I got a Toro Recycler, which is a lot more basic than the Honda, but runs like a charm year after year. And if the self propelled transmission ever goes out it’s only $60 for a new one.
I still love Honda stuff (cars, motorcycles, generators) but I’ll steer clear of the mowers.
Well if it’s transmission issues (shades of the Odyssey?) then I have nothing to worry about. I wanted the model without self-propulsion, and only got the next step up self-propelled because the local dealers didn’t carry the manual push as part of their regular stock. I never use the propulsion as my yard is 0.17 acres and flat as a board; why bother?
Side bagger–ugh. When my family moved into a house back in ’91 after a few years of apartment life, Dad bought the cheapest decent mower he could find, a 20″ Murray with a side bag off the chute. I *HATED* that damn thing because it seemed like no matter what I did, I’d encounter obstacles on the bag side. Never again, never again (though I mulch now…)
Had one of those around ’65-’66. That was the one I would push around the neighborhood when I was a kid mowing lawn for around 5 bucks a yard. Wind it up, fold the handle back in and let her rip. It worked OK. I think it was a Clinton engine.
Around 1969 an old 2 stroke similar to Paul’s pictured example came with the house my parents bought. It still would start, and you could start it turning in either direction. But I didn’t know you had to mix oil with the gas, so after a tank or two it seized up on me.
My oldest lawnmover is a 1998 MTD with 3.5 HP B&S engine. I like it because it’s so lighweight, nice and easy to push. The primer bulb turned rock hard after a few years, so I would pull the air filter and pour a little gas down the carb to start it. Bad idea, all that raw gas scuffed up the cylinder and eventually it started smoking and lost compression, with oil filling up the muffler. I found a cheap lawn mower for around $100.00 at Kmart with the identical engine. But the deck was so thin and flimsy, it would twist and flex so much the blade would rub the inside. So I took the motor off and put it on the old MTD housing and it still works great today. A year ago the muffler fell apart so I took the one off the seized engine, perfect fit. When I started it it was still full of oil and smoked for about 5 minutes. At least the oil kept it from rusting. I keep that a one of my rentals, the tenant is in charge of keeping the lawn mowed and yard up, I provided the mower and lawn tools.
I have an old 4.5 HP B&S MTD that I got for free last year, It made it through last season but this year starts and runs for about 10 seconds, the carb is done, the primer bulb leaking and the air filter is plugged. I found a kit on Ebay for $19.99 with free shipping that has a new carb, primer bulb and air filter. It should arrive any day.
Of course, after I ordered it my next door neighbor who is moving gave me her 6.5HP B&S Toro mower, it runs great and starts on the first pull. It’s really heavy though, but does a good job. So now I have a spare mower, assuming the carb kit fixes it. I really like the lightweight ’98 MTD the best, it’s the easiest to push and maneuver since it’s so light, but my tenant is an older woman so the light and easy starting mower is best for her. Beats having to go over and mow the lawn myself.
Yes. Absolutely hated them. When we first moved to Towson in 1965, the house we bought included an elderly push mower with a 25′” (!!!) deck. Never seen a pushmower that big. And it’s B&S had that crank. It had a thing on the side of the housing, that one turned to lock the flywheel while cranking it up, and then turned the other way to release it to start. The shaft was worn down, so it wouldn’t hold all the way to the end of cranking, meaning it would pop free and start turning over before being fully cranked.
It was my job to mow, and I hated that thing. It was so heavy. And we had two very steep banks in the back yard, and more than once, that mower flipped over while mowing that bank sideways. Now that’s no fun, especially when you’re 12 or 13. I literally had to jump out of the way of a running mower falling back on me. I finally tied a rope to it and would lower it and pull it back up.
When the crank mechanism finally wouldn’t hold anymore, I insisted that my dad get a new mower. I went with him, and we bought the smallest, lightest 18″ mower. It was a dream compared to that 25″ monster.
Over the years, my dad had two of those. First one was worn down, like you mentioned. He was given a second one with a bent shaft, and were were able to make the two broken into one working. That mower was a real frankenstein – it had a Sears deck too. For all I know, it may still be in the back of their garage.
Yup – a Craftsman. Our first power mower.
When mom & dad had enough money, that’s what they bought. A 22″ Craftsman wind-up start. Red & white colors. Set the choke, wind it up, snap the lever back in place, and, hopefully it would start. Sometimes it took awhile.
It sure was better than dad & me lifting my aunt’s Toro in and out of the trunk of the car every time the lawn needed mowing! Of course, we had to mow hers, too!
My next door neighbor had one that I used when I mowed his lawn a few times, don’t remember the make though
A lot of responses! My parents’ neighbor had a Toro with the wind up spring starter. As some others have pointed out, moving the throttle lever all the way up would engage the starter. Their mower was pretty reliable and usually only needed a few tries to get it started cold.
The crank was not any easier to use than a recoil pull starter, and possibly harder. I also used a similar Toro with a recoil and even in my young teenage days I could pull the engine over faster than the spring-loaded crank.
Sure do. My uncle had a Toro like that. We made do with a Scotts Silent push mower, but our lawn was small.
My grandfather had a Gravely that we inherited when he died and we moved to the suburbs. It was a 60s model from the Studebaker era, and had a full complement of accessories: a 30 inch rotary mower, a sickle bar, a plow and a 2 stage snowblower. We only used the plow and blower, and picked up a long-lived Lawn Boy to trim the lawn.
With museums for practically everything in this country, it’s amazing to me that we don’t have a single lawn mower museum – or is there one out there I’m missing?
I ran across some on Google image’s. I can guess if they don’t start on the first wind it’s more trouble than just a good a good hard yank or two ! Eh ?
DEFINITELY!
My 1997 Poulan 17.5 horse tractor (B&S engine/hydrostatic drive) will be getting new Gator Mulcher blades and belt this year.
Beside it in our garage is a 1995 Yard-Pro 20 horse Kohler with a 50″ cut, it gets a new PTO and ignition switch, both bought last fall and still sitting on the steps to our master suite…
Both may need a tire or two this year, dry-rot never sleeps…but for now the suspect tires stay up long enough to finish the job and I have a good air compressor and portable tank.
The ongoing-but-98%-finished-whole-house-reno still takes up the time I’d have used to get the tractors in shape. Obviously I’ll have to devote some time to the lawn equipment very soon…today two newel posts are calling my name. On the stairway to the master suite.
I once had a Lawn-Boy exactly like yours, but honestly became frustrated with its inability to start. I didn’t grow up with Lawn-Boys so I didn’t have quite the attraction you do, Paul. I’m now in a Craftsman 6-horse self-propelled that IIRC needs a throttle cable from the local Tractor Supply.
Oh, I have less that $800 in all three pieces of lawn equipment. Including all repairs made since bringing them home less than two years ago.
The Poulan and Yard-Pro are both brothers under the skin; built by Husqvarna/American Yard Products who also supplied Sears in those days.
I still enjoy climbing behind the wheel and mowing the lawn…or as we say here in Pittsburgh, cutting the grass. I have nearly two acres of it to mow, so it’s good I still enjoy it…when everything’s working as it should.
Happy mowing!
“…today two newel posts are calling my name. On the stairway to the master suite. ”
Newel posts always make me think of “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “Christmas Vacation.”
“Cutting the grass” indeed. I know of no one around me, (North Central Ohio) who calls it “mowing the lawn”. Like you, I cut 2 plus acres, and seem to collect riding mowers, A Bolens 1666, which is an absolute beast, a Simplicity Landlord with a 50″ deck and an older Simplicity 7112, with a 12 horse cast iron B&S one lunger which still runs fine.
My Dad had a Lawn Boy (a tan one) back in the ’60’s. I was the “lawn boy” so I mowed a lot of grass with that – ours and the neighbor’s. One of the interesting features of that mower (and I assume yours, since I don’t see an external muffler) is that the exhaust discharged under the deck.
We were a Toro family when I was growing up, but my first mower was a Lawn Boy. I bought it used but reconditioned after 1 year with an old fashioned manual reel mower.
Mine was a tan one with a magnesium deck from the early 60s that burned a 16:1 fuel/oil ratio. You are right about the unique smell of mowing in the blue cloud. At its advanced age, I kept having to clean rust out of the in-tank filter screen, but otherwise the thing always started and ran. Then I moved to a 1/2 acre yard and the little 19 inch Lawn Boy just wasn’t enough. It was pretty rough looking and I put it out at the curb with a “free” sign on it. Maybe it is still cutting grass somewhere.
16:1! That must have kept the mosquitoes at bay! 🙂
I run 50:1 in the LB, but with Stihl synthetic oil. I’ve heard of guys running as little as 100:1 with Amsoil synthetic. With the 50:1, it’s hard to actually see any visible smoke at all.
I run Golden Spectro synthetic 2 cycle motorcycle oil in my 2 stroke lawn equipment. How good is it? I bought a $99 Ryobi string trimmer in 1998. Still has original spark plug in it, and never had to clean the muffler. Still runs great as we speak.
I seem to remember the old LB’s were 20:1. Modern 2 stroke dirt bikes like KTM run 60:1 with the synthetic oils like Golden Spectro and Bel Ray and others. Castor bean oil has the best smell however, but if you wish there are scented candles available!
the only thing that will kill and old LB is letting some kid use it who puts straight gas in it.
The first lawnmower I ever used was Dad’s Snappin’ Turtle lawnmower, complete with sulky riding attachment and a die-cast turtle head on the front shell. That front pulley with its finger-mangling potential would not be acceptable today.
That looks like a contraption from the “Red Green Show.”
I remember rigs like that. At the Mennonite farm I used to spend time at as a kid, they had a rig similar to that in the machine shed, but no sulky. I got it running, hooked a kiddie wagon to it, and rode it around. Looks like this one has been re-powered.
I’ve never heard of or seen one of those before. I see now that was the start of Snapper which were the rear-engine riders of choice in the early 80’s. Very cool.
My brother had one of those, bought from an old fashioned lawnmower repair shop, not a ‘garden center’. A ‘fix-it’ type of shop where they never threw anything away, but kept everything in the area behind the shop, in case they needed parts. We picked up some cool old mowers from there. A little work, and good as new. They always had the parts you needed too. The turtle on the deck was to tie a rope to, which you then tied to a tall pole in the center of the area you wanted to cut. The mower would wind the rope around the pole as it went, mowing the lawn all by itself. Of course, you had to keep an eye on it when it got close to the pole. We had several of those ‘crank start’ mowers, fine if you kept them in top tune, otherwise an exercise in frustration!
Is that a Ninja turtle mask?!? LOL!!
Growing up there was an 8 hp Montgomery Ward riding mower that gave way to a Roper, a well-used Gilson, and a two-cylinder Snapper.
After I got disgusted with a B&S on a push mower of mine, I bought a Troy-Bilt with a Honda engine. That is a wonderful engine although, as JPC said, a push mower like that is no match for a larger lot. I found that out the hard way.
Now being on 2 acres, I will continue using the Cub Cadet rider I bought almost two years ago. It’s got an 18 hp two-cylinder Kawasaki engine and it’s as fantastic as the Honda engine. With my needing the clear the invasive honeysuckle from over half my property, along with thinning out a bunch of trees, I’ll be using this CC for more than just mowing.
I remember those old light reliable mowers. It’s why when I bought my first house in 2001 I went out and bought a cheap Yard-Man.
Man, what a POS that was. It only lasted 6 years before I got fed up with it.
I now have a Toro Super Recycler SR4 (not to be confused with the cheaper big-box-store Recycler). Even with a cast aluminum deck it isn’t light but with the Personal Pace drive it feels light, is a pleasure to use, and has required zero repairs. It was one of the last US-built mowers and has been worth every penny it cost above the cheap crap most stores sell today.
Back when I was a kid, I used to mow my grandma and grandpa’s lake place with a old Black and Decker electric. Looked like it was from the 50’s maybe but I don’t really know. So quiet and smooth, well built with a magnesium deck. But oh what a pain that cord was in a fairly large tree-filled yard. Because of that experience I’d love to have one of the new battery powered mowers, but I’m not convinced they have quite enough juice or that the batteries and plastic decks will last more than 5 years. They have disposable written all over them.
I gave very serious consideration to a battery-powered unit, since my yard is small. What turned me off to it was the extremely lousy experience I had with a battery-powered Black & Decker string trimmer in the house we rented 2009-12. That damn thing came with two batteries and I still couldn’t edge/trim the whole yard without running both down, and the lot wasn’t even all that big. I’m assuming that the technology has advanced, but I didn’t want to lay out $300+ to find out that I was wrong. Plus for that kind of coin, I’d expect 10+ years of service (this is why I bought a Honda mower and Stihl trimmer…buy well and buy once.)
I love my Black and Decker cordless trimmer…but there’s a catch. The batteries only lasted a couple years and I thought they were shot. I’d charge a battery and it would be half dead by the time I used it the next week. But the real issue was the cheap charger and Ni-Cad batteries.
I bought a smart charger that I could leave one battery on all the time and it’s been fine since even with the old batteries. I don’t have a lot of trimming though, one battery has been enough although at 10 years old it’s getting time to replace it. The newer Lithium Ion batteries are much better, the new battery packs I bought for my Ryobi tools have 4 times the capacity of the old Ni-Cads and they hold their charge for months. You have to pay attention to the capacity (AmpHours) though, as you would expect there’s quite a difference in price depending on the quality of the battery.
Still, batteries are batteries and they all degrade, so I’m not convinced on the mowers yet. But the quietness and easier maintenance are very tempting.
We also had one of these Big Mows growing up. An early Zero-Turn, lol. I spent a lot of seat time in it. To go in reverse, you simply spun the front wheel all the way around. It was terrible on hills though, no traction and a bit tippy.
We then moved on to toro rear-engine riders and eventually tractors.
Yes! That’s what it was! A Big Mow! The front “hood” would get stuck in the fence if you didn’t time your turn properly; after a while you would just take it off and run it with all the gears and pulleys exposed. We had a flat lawn, and so long as you kept the front wheel out of potholes (and scalp a good bit of lawn) it did a good job, and was much easier than walking.
Now that’s an odd-looking beast. Almost looks like a homebrew. Was the single front wheel the powered one?
Yep, front wheel drive. Pretty efficient design, biggest issue was traction, although I would imagine the stability wouldn’t be acceptable today.
Great story Paul! I scored a couple of B&S engines from the edge of the Niagara Escarpment, where people had thrown their junk lawnmowers over the edge.
One just wouldn’t start, and I found it didn’t have any spark. Suspecting the coil, I called my mother out to the garage….
Me: “OK Mom, hold this wire and put your hand on here” (Pulls start cord)
Mom: OUCH!, that hurt!
Me: “Great, I know that works, thank you”
Boy oh boy did she get mad. Thirty years later I can’t believe I did that to my own mother.
Haha! Good one. I know that feeling well (both the jolt of a good spark and about Mom). I was thinking of having Stephanie help diagnose this one, but I finally broke down and bought a little tester.
Tester? The Tester is just an old spark plug with a ground jumper wire attached to it. I still have the one I made as a kid. I did put a little metal shield around the end to keep the sunlight out so I could see the spark better.
Dad had a Wheel Horse rider. The rear end looked like it would fit under a small pickup truck. The steering was worn out so you had to be prepared to counter steer when encountering bumps in the yard.
Re: lawn/grass mowing. When we downsized we went from a large lawn requiring fertilizer and other attendant headaches to “green stuff “. It’s got dandelions, clover, and a potpourri of growing things. Bees love it, I mow it and move on. It looks good when it’s cut and it’s environmentally friendly.
Wow, that brings back memories. My folks had that exact model of Lawn Boy when I was growing up; for years I mowed their lawn and neighbors’ lawns, and I never appreciated how good that Lawn Boy was until I many years later when I began using newer (and worse mowers).
I don’t remember my father EVER performing maintenance on that mower. Every few years, he’d send it to a mower shop over the winter for some sort of maintenance (I assume changing oil, sharpening blades, etc.), but this was far from regular service. My folks probably bought that mower around 1980, and still had it when they sold their house in 2010.
I bought a new house a few months ago, and the previous owner left a Neuton battery-powered mower — a far different experience. It’s relatively fuss-free (assuming the battery has a charge), but far less powerful than a gas-powered mower. It’s fine for regular mowing, but goodness, if you let the grass grow long, good luck ever getting it cut — the mower simply isn’t that powerful.
If some shop charged your dad to change oil on a lawn boy, there was some thieving going on. 🙂 That was the beauty of those 2 cycle Lawn Boys – the tradeoff for the minor hassle of mixing oil into the gas was that you never had to change oil.
Ha! I need another cup of coffee this morning! The “maintenance” was probably more due to my tendency to mow over rocks and roots. When my kids start mowing my own lawn, I wonder if our current mower will last another 2 decades? Probably not.
Paul Niedermeyer, The NEUTON is a great mower until the battery doesn’t hold charge then look out, the batteries cost $100… ouch! my grandparents have the same mower and when the battery stopped holding a charge we ditched that POS and we now have a Toro S/P Recycler with the Kohler Engine… love it
And let me tell you DR Power Equipment does not stand behind their products but for the first few years we owned and I used the NEUTON I loved it but I grew to hate it when the battery didn’t hold a charge but for the first few years we had it I loved it! and even used it to mow our lawn!! what I liked the most about it was that there was no gas there was just a battery you put in the NEUTON and away you went and also
Eric703, DR makes a 42” mower for their ATM (Field And Brush Mower) it’s pretty sweet you can mow your yard. In no time and reduce weed eating too
There is a big Lawn Boy cult, as these were/are very durable and long-lasting machines. 20-25+ years with minimal maintenance is common.The components are generally well made, and the two-stroke engine is tough. And since it doesn’t need oil in the crankcase, that probably is one reason they last so long: folks can’t run them dry.
Funny thing about Briggs engines. I have seen them run dry for long periods under full load at top governed engine speed. I have never seen one throw a rod or seize. I have tried, believe me!
The diesel of lawn mowers. My childhood neighbor had one. He’d stop and weed the garden along the side of his home and between our houses and leave the mower running like a trucker at a truck stop. Always at the dinner hour, and my folks were the type to keep the windows open if it wasn’t too hot out. Drove my folks crazy the entire 20 years they lived there – I think he had that same Lawn Boy from beginning to end.
When I was growing up my family lived in a townhouse with a small back yard and a small front yard. We had a push mower that jammed all the time. When my father’s dad died, we took possession of his Black&Decker electric mower(which they still have). Which has been surprisingly drama free for the 30 odd years it has been around.
Glad to see someone else takes an interest in these vintage machines.I still use a 2 stroke Lawn Boy after almost 30 years. Reliable, no oil changes and an exhaust note like no other. I agree about the staggered wheel models being a pain on some surfaces—the 1987 4 square model I owned was more maneuverable across the board.
I still remember using a Gravely convertible unit with a sulky back in 1968 when we lived in Derwood MD. That was an interesting mower and helped build up my arms through continued usage.
Having owned rental property, I certainly see value in the older lightweight mowers. Getting a Toro self-propelled with a big Kohler engine in and out of the pickup all day influenced my selling out (especially after I got the ’08 F150, with the much discussed and cussed high lift-over height). My last Lawnboy, bought used for $75 around 1987 or so, lasted 9 years. The engine was still going strong. It had a steel deck, which seemingly tore itself apart over the years, in addition to having a couple of handles break. Kept the welding shop busy.
On another note, does anyone else have extreme difficulty keeping their mower running on 10% ethanol? Gumming of carburetors, etc. I now drive 20 miles a couple of times a season to get “real” 100% gasoline that causes no such headaches.
Good question on ethanol.
My two-year old Cub Cadet specifically states to not use ethanol in the owners manual. Luckily, 91 octane fuel here is ethanol free, so that is what it gets fed.
The 14 year old Honda has been fed whatever and gets irregular use. Having had ancient ethanol gas in it at times, it may take an extra pull to start but I’ve had no issues – yet.
No trouble here. I always use a stabilizer in the gas, usually Sea Foam.
I think most engines since the early 2000’s are fine with ethanol.
I have switched exclusively to using alcohol-free gas (available at the local Cenex farm store) in all of my outdoor power equipment.
I leave the gas in the tanks all winter, and everything starts right up (just got everything going again over the past two weeks) in the spring. I also use it to make my 2-cycle fuel mix.
I highly recommend doing this – the alcohol in the gas attracts moisture which corrodes the aluminum inside the carburetors and that corrosion then blocks the tiny jets.
On a lark 25 years ago, I poured a big bottle of rubbing alcohol into my Wal-Mart lawnmower’s tank just to have enough fuel to finish the yard. That puppy started right up and revved so high it sounded like a control-line airplane. Finished the yard pretty quickly, the high revs cut right through what remained to be cut. The grass was so thick I’d have to cut half-width swathes or it would bog out and/or choke to a stop on the clippings if I let it go more than a week..
doesn’t surprise me; I don’t know the stoichiometric ratio of isopropyl alcohol but alcohols generally run air:fuel ratios from 9:1 down to 7:1. So you were running way, way lean.
I’ve heard enough stories about the ill effects of ethanol on small engines, particularly on the tiny trimmer/chainsaw/blower engines, that I refuse to use it in my Stihl trimmer. Since there are no stations around here that are verified ethanol free, I buy the TruFuel premix for the Stihl. It’s hellaciously expensive (comes out to something like $20 per gallon) but it’s peace of mind, I don’t have to worry about mixing, and that thing doesn’t use much fuel anyway.
For the mower, that would get *very* expensive very quickly, so I just use standard gas and hope it doesn’t cause problems. If I end up needing to clean or rebuild the carb down the line, so be it.
I’ve had no problems with the usual regular gas with ethanol in my expensive and super-powerful Stihl trimmer. FWIW, most equipment built in the last 20 years is designed to work with up to 10% ethanol.
Good to know. Maybe it’s more folklore; I was inclined to err on the side of caution but the more “it’s not a problem” I hear from those with direct experience, the less concerned I get.
You are correct, Paul, but it’s what happens when the fuel sits for a long time where the ethanol-laden gas causes problems.
I have almost used up an entire 25′ roll of 1/4″ fuel line over the past three years on the lawn equipment that I maintain, due to ethanol-related issues. Regardless of what they claim, the alcohol turns the rubber rock-hard after a few years. Pure gasoline doesn’t do that.
And you don’t get the white-powdery corrosion inside the carburetors when using 100% gasoline either (unless you leave the machine out in the rain and water gets into the tank).
That picture of the old Lawn Boy two stroke brought back some memories. When I was growing up my father had a mower very similar to that, although I think it was a Sears. I can well remember wrapping the rope around the flywheel and yanking it to get it started. My father had an old gallon Coke syrup jug that he used to mix the oil and gas for the engine. One time I put too much oil into the mixture and created the blue fog for sure. I was never fond of putting my foot up on the mower deck and pushing the ground strap against the plug to stop the engine; I would use a ball bat or other suitable stick and just yank the lead off the plug. I was not disappointed when the crankshaft snapped in two on that mower and it was deemed cheaper to get something else.
I have wonderfully wretched memories of Lawn Boys. Turning twelve and entering Junior High, I was assigned the job of mowing the family lawn. Now dad had done it since I was baby using a series of Gravely (division of Studebaker-Packard Company) walk behinds with a 42″ rotary deck.
He gets this 18″ cut Lawn Boy for me to do it, every Friday. Now, my school system dismissed at 12:45pm on Fridays, so I’d get home by 1:00-1:15, grab a quick bite of lunch and start mowing. And finished almost exactly at 5:00 when mom was putting Friday supper on the table.
Of course, this is exactly what the parents wanted: To ensure that I was at home Friday afternoons, not out rambling around with my classmates getting into whatever. My folks spent the entirety of my Junior/Senior high school years making sure I wasn’t running around with the local crowd, dating girls, or doing anything that would enable me to fit in with the crowd. Which they succeeded at VERY well.
I learned to hate lawn mowing due to those mowers.
I’m now kind of the opposite situation, when my 30 year old mower finally gave up (couldn’t find replacement parts for it) I went looking for a small trimming lawnmower (my yard is long and narrow and has lots of jags) and I had a hard time finding 19″ wide mowers, the ones I found were pretty expensive…I guess that’s the price you pay for going with standard parts, I thought about it, and decided to just go with the 21″ wide width, as I thought the same problem I had with my old mower (parts availability for blades) might be an issue. Standardization can be a pain to live with; I wish I could have my old 19″ mower back. I sharpened the blades quite a few times, but eventually even then you have to buy a new one, and parts availability becomes the issue (of course I’m the old codger who can never find what I’m looking to buy anymore)
yep, those two stroke Lawn Boys last forever. I think my folks still have the one they bought 30+ years ago, and AFAIK it still works.
My Dad has a Bunton Duzmore from the late 1950’s. It has a cast aluminum deck, 3 HP B&S motor, greasable ball-bearing wheels, and single, pivoting front wheel, also greasable. It’s the most easy to push and maneuverable mower I’ve ever used. It cost him $20 at a yard sale a couple of decades ago and still runs great. I told him to leave it to me in his will.
I saw somewhere on the Internet that it originally cost $295. Pretty expensive for the time.
Wow! That is one rare machine – you should send a picture into Paul of that one. I’ve never even heard of that company before.
I found a youtube video showing a Bunton Duzmore. Here’s the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hu1jDk3EAW8
My Dad’s is the same except for the B&S engine. It’s the same shade of yellow as all the trim, so it definitely seems original.
I’ve also included a picture I found on a web site.
During high school (late ’60s) I worked in the neighborhood LM shop (remember those?), so many of these machines are familiar to me. I still use a Sensation mower that my father bought around 1970. They were made in Nebraska and were common as dirt in Phoenix until around somewhere in the 80s or 90s. Heavy cast aluminum decks, ball bearing wheels. Some commercial lawn guys still use them here, the rest seem to be all Hondas.
There are at least 4 of us on my block who still cut our own grass, proudly and defiantly!
Did the Sensation have an orange deck and staggered wheels? That was a very solid mower. Dad drilled a hole in the deck so we could hose it out after a mowing, it lasted many years.
Mine has a green deck with non-staggered wheels. The orange ones were later models. I recall that Gilson bought the product line at some point, maybe theirs were the orange ones.
The ad slogan was “Only the rich can afford a cheap power mower.”
Edited to add: There were mowers very similar but not identical to Sensation that had orange decks sold under the name Bob-Cat here in Phx.
In the 1970s we had a reasonably sized paddock that my dad needed to keep mown, for which he used an Allen Scythe. It was a monstrous, hard to control beast and quite terrifying in action. I remember being quite relieved when he sold it. http://www.oldlawnmowerclub.co.uk/mowers/moms/mp014-allen-scythe
My Dad had one of those as well, I remember it taking off like a rocket when the clutch was let out. Don’t think Dad liked it much, it was replaced by a more conventional slasher type machine with a Tecumseh engine.
Had never heard of the Allen Scythe until your mention of it. Now, dad’s Gravely had an attachment that replaced the rotary mower called a sickle bar. Once bolted on, it turned the Gravely into the functional equivalent (and looked almost identical) of the Allen Scythe.
Here’s one for you: The Flymo. No wheels! I remember in 1973, JCPenney sold them. They were English, I believe, and apparently they didn’t sell too well
They actually still sell them, but have never seen one being used.
http://www.flymo.com.
Currently, I have a 14 hp. Craftsman tractor I bought off a friend some 15 years ago and still runs good, although the deck is showing a couple of rust holes.
I had the same Lawn Boy mower that died about 2 years ago. It came with my very dumpy first house purchased from an estate. It was covered with dust and partially disassembled when I came across it in the garage that was wall-to-wall junk (and treasure). I threw it together, put in some new gas and it ran great. Okay, it was pretty loud due to the worn-out muffler.
The off switch never worked so you had to ground the ignition wire to turn it off but it performed admirably for 3 years. It could mow waist high grass and shoot a rock clear across the road.
One day it started sounding weird so I stopped it and noticed a couple of engine bolts had worked loose. I tightened them down and started it up and it ran better than ever…for about 5 minutes. It seized, and that was the end of the weird staggered wheel Lawn Boy.
Oh and I also came across the Lawn Boy original receipt while cleaning out the house. It was something like $325 in 1978. Adjusted to inflation that come to Cdn $1167! Got their money’s worth I guess.
Wow, that explains why modern stuff isn’t built as well. Even the premium stuff costs half. Nobody would pay that for such a basic mower today.
I have the same mower engine Paul but on a rusty 80s Morrison 3in one frame it smokes and knocks and has done for years the recoil start died many years ago I simply have a 6 inch bolt filed to a square into a socket on a drill the mesh from the flywheel is gone and voila electric start, used it last week runs fine.
Nice piece: I’ve never seen mower here with asymmetric/staggered wheels, and I;m not clear that is necessary.
Having one wheel further back made them less prone to scalping.
Hey Paul,
As always, I like your articles and stories.
While you were refurbishing/rebuilding some of those old lawn mowers, did you have the urge to soup up the engine the same way you and your dad souped up your miniature racer? Did it cut the lawnmowing time in half? LOL
Ethanol.
I have a 20 y/o MTD 20 ton Log Splitter…Tecumseh in pristine condition. After about 15 years, the metal carb. bowl developed a few pin holes. I brought the bowl to a local yard equipment dealer to match it up. He had a replacement PLASTIC bowl exclusively because the bowls were developing holes from the Ethanol. It’s like he was waiting for me! It is a common replacement due to the Ethanol.
My first 2 or 3 mowers I bought used. One had a B&S engine with the carburetor in the tank. I have a profound dislike for those. They use a lot of gas and can be difficult to start. Fixing the carburetor is a pain. Then I had one with a Tecumseh engine. I loved that engine. I had to replace the wheels and bought some with ball bearings. That cut at least 10 minutes off the 1hour 10′ mowing time. Paul, you owe it to yourself upgrading at least the rear wheels to ball bearings.
Then I bought a new Sears 3 in 1 mower. It is 3 in 1 because you can run it as a mulching mower as I do, or as side discharge mower and you can add a bag. I bought it int he early 90’s for a bout $160. the sales clerk was pushing real hard for me to purchase a service plan for $50.00 a year. The pushy sales tactics at Sears kept me out of their stores for the most part. No wonder they went bankrupt. The mower has a Tecumseh engine with a “real” carburetor. It is super reliable and uses fairly little fuel. Of course it will die eventually, I hope many years from now. I will hate that day because Tecumseh is bankrupt too and gone forever. I found out when I had to replace the dipstick. Thanks to E-Bay I was able to get one.
My dad had a series of old tan Lawn Boy mowers, pieced together from various cast-offs found at the curb or provided free by friends and family. Dad figured out how to get a working mower, then handed it over to one of his sons to do the mowing.
One of my favorites was made up from an old aluminum Lawn Boy deck, combined with a “Snow Boy” engine scavenged from a snowblower found curbside on junk day. You don’t find Snow Boy lawnmowers every day!
After I graduated from engineering school and joined the workforce, I bought my dad a brand-new (green) Lawn Boy for his birthday. He kept and used it for over 25 years until he finally tired of tinkering with it, and switched over to a 4-stroke mower for the first time in his life.
Interesting hearing about so many brands I’ve never heard of.
My mower experiences started after I got married. Initially I used an old push-mower, until my father-in-law saw me, thought that was ridiculous, and resurrected an old early-fifties Victa. That lasted us for about a year until the little end of the conrod melted – his response was “How did you manage to do that?”
I bought a Masport Craftsman 435 with a B&S Quantum 35 engine. That’s still going strong 30 years later. Doesn’t always start first pull, but still does a great job. Mine looks a bit more bashed around than this one.
Now that’s a nice mower there – very similar deck design to the John Deere 14/JX-series as well as the Lawnboy M-series. Good cut and vacuum from that style of deck. Toro also made mowers for a time with that style of deck that they called the ‘vacu-power’.
Much like Japanese cars, we reached “peak mower” back in the 1990s, and it has been downhill ever since IMO due to emissions, safety requirements, and cost-cutting.
Well, the thought just came to me:
You know you’re getting old when the only mechanical objects you can still (kind of) work on is a lawn mower!
Guilty as charged…
After a lifetime of second hand mowers, I broke down and bought a brand new Husqvarna with the Honda engine. Couldn’t be happier. Very easy starting, and very easy pushing with some nice wheel bearings instead of just a wheel spinning on a bolt. My brother in law has the same mower and is as happy with his as I am with mine. I still have my rear engine Snapper Hi Vac. The Briggs motor is harder starting but reliable. I call the Snapper my zero turn mower, because it doesn’t turn. If you’ve driven them you know what I mean.
I use an ’80s Craftsman, all metal, bought new. Use it as a Brush Hog on the big property, it will chew through anything. The ethanol fuel seems to make it hard starting at times. I use Berryman’s B-12 in the spray can, I spray it in the carb like one would do with ether or starting fluid, and it works well when things have been sitting in the winter. The other thing that happens is that the old style fuel tank breather, a simple plastic piece with a bit of internal baffling, gets clogged from the dust generated by mowing, mixing with the fluid vapors and making a paste. Squirt a bit of Berryman’s in there and things get better in a hurry. I have taken the carb and most of the rest of it apart to clean things out and sort through it all many times over, but just being liberal with the spray can of Beryman’s has about as good of a track record as anything else, with less hassle.
Had one of those magnesium Craftsman mowers, bought new in 1969. The engine would get hot and quit and then it wouldn’t start again until it cooled off. Even when it ran, it didn’t have much oomph in long, thick grass.
Also had the spring on the recoil assembly come unattached. When I took the cover off to see what went wrong, the spring shot out and hit me in the head; not my favorite power tool.
I have one of these older (1980’s) Lawn Boy mowers in the shed, I can’t remember the last time it was used.
One of the few, very few good things about having really bad allergies was not having to cut the damn grass. My dad wasn’t about to do it, so we always had guys that we paid to do it for us. When I moved into my house in Las Vegas, I insanely thought, since my allergies had decided to go on a (Mostly) vacation, that I would cut my tiny little yard myself. I found a cheap Craftsman mower at a garage sale for $20. Big mistake. It would take me hours to recover. We soon had the yard replaced with gravel, problem solved. When we came back to Toledo, we bought a mower and had a neighbor’s kid cut the grass for $20 a shot. For winter, I bought a Sunbeam snow blower, which worked well, IF, and that was a big if, you could get it started. It was the most cold blooded engine I’ve ever dealt with. My friend’s huge self propelled snow blower was a dream to start compared to that thing, and it was an arm killer on a colder day. I don’t remember who made the 2-stroke engine it had in it, but when it was cold, it wouldn’t do anything. The first winter I blamed it on being tight, but if it was over 50 degrees, it started ok, but if it was under 30, it was torture. I would yank and yank the rope until both my arms were dead before it showed any signs of life. Once it “popped”, it would start up in the next couple of pulls. New plug, gas, etc, made no difference, it had to get some heat in it before it would wake up. I started putting it in the utility room for a couple of hours before using it to make it easier to start. It still took a lot of pulls. And it would stink up the whole house from the gas and oil fumes. Once it did start, it ran great. I was kind of happy when it decided to seize up in it’s 20th year when I was running it out of fuel in the spring to get it ready for it’s storage until next winter. Since then, we have the guys who cut our grass plow the driveway and sidewalk. They look like extras from “Deliverance”, but they always show up. And as long as I tell the exactly what I want done, they do a decent job.
I recently had a look at one of the latest Briggs and Stratton Quantum engines and found myself shocked that it didn’t even have an On/Off switch. Its like America ignored the last 50 years of Japanese small engine technology and just kept on doing the same old thing again and again but with new stickers.
They still have an on/off switch, on push mowers it’s connected to the bail lever. Another switch would be pointless. The B&S on my Toro doesn’t have a manual choke or primer or throttle either…nor has it ever needed them.
I recently bought a new mower , Masport President with B&S OHV. engine automatic choke (no primer) . Wanted to try an OHV engine, but wouldn’t you know, already had a warranty repair for a leaking rocker cover !
Nice mower though, sounds really nice . It has a mulching feature which is good for the grass , but tends to throw clippings over pathways etc, making it a bit messy. I like to catch the clippings and use it on the garden beds anyway.
It replaced a 17 year old Masport B&S engine which was smoking badly although not all the time strangely, it still had plenty of power and compression , I suspected worn valve guides. I love old lawn mowers almost as much as old cars but I thought the smoke was a bit of a health hazard.
Does anyone remember reel mowers? My dad had one when I was a boy. Brand name was Reo. Self-propelled as the two wheels turned with the blades. It must have weighed 150 pounds and was a bear to lift up the few steps from the basement. Only problem with it was you couldn’t let the grass get too high or it would just run over it without cutting. You also had to rake a lot as the grass blades were only cut once, instead of over and over like with a rotary. These were fairly common in the 1950’s, but I haven’t seen any in years.
The REO mowers were a 50’s offshoot of the REO Motors Co. As a rule, reel mowers are considered the better way to cut grass, doing less violence to the blades than a rotary mower – that’s wny golf courses use gang reel mowers to cut fairways.
But those power reel mowers weren’t the safest things – as many Tom and Jerry cartoons demonstrated!
” As a rule, reel mowers are considered the better way to cut grass, doing less violence to the blades than a rotary mower”
“Violence”? Now that’s a new one for me! From now on, I will consider grass-cutting as going to war on my yard! It will be total war, too, not giving a care if old, middle-aged or young grass gets theirs… Kill them all!
Speaking of reel-type mowers, I still have dad’s manual reel mower, and boy, is it heavy, but it still works fairly well.
No quarter given, nor any prisoners taken!
The reels actually cut, like a scissors, while the rotaries use brute force to chop the grass which results in more residual damage to the stalk.
I will admit to using one reel mower until it fell apart and then buying another. Maybe it comes from being a contrary millennial, maybe just how quiet it makes grass cutting, but I love those things.
Paul, Great story. I can’t seem to pass a mower at the curb either or a derelict offered for free (or close to it). Came across a neat 1960’s Hahn Eclipse push mower some years back with the crank/release system. Neat mower that I loved.
Growing up in the 70s, LB and Snapper were the ones to have in my neighborhood. I was stuck with a 1956 Homco. Big upgrade to a Lawn Queen with a pull start!
early 80’s my then girlfriend’s (still wife) father asked me if I’d be interested in cutting his and another teachers grass–these guys just wanted to hang out at the golf club. So he gets me a Lawn Boy commercial mower for nothing for free the golf club was tossing out and away I went. Next thing you know I’m cutting grass for the entire tech department making about $100 a week. That mower was heavy duty, it wasn’t painted like a regular LB, it was tan and orange but it had a fuel tank that lasted all day.
One benefit of having a 5k sq. ft. lot is that I get to use my (ca. 1920?) reel mower, an ancient monster made entirely of iron and wood, and in the family since new. I’ve used it for larger jobs, but if I had to mow a standard quarter-acre suburban lot all summer with it, I’d probably cave and get something that can spin its own blades.
I have had three Honda powered mowers over the last 30 years. Two Hondas and a Troy Built. Quality is on a downward trajectory. The automatic choke on my current unit tends to hang up in the open position. This makes cold starting a problem. It can be overcome by occasional disassembly, cleaning and lubing the linkage. I like Honda’s blade clutch which allows you to safely empty the bag or move obstructions without having to stop and restart the engine.
If you think the NASIOC or VWVortex forums are bad, the Hank Hill set can be just as brutal when the Honda and 2-stroke Lawn Boy folks go at it online. The Lawn Boy people are especially proud of their machines knowing they can only be replaced by another pre-EPA ban (2004) 2-stroke Lawn Boy,
Love 2 cycle LB mowers…got a free one once and ran it for several years. Super light weight, but the staggered wheel design left weird looking stripes too, because the right front wheel sticks out laterally more than the right rear wheel. It was also prone to leaving “smiley faces” in the grass if it got tilted wrong.
My wife and I got married 3 years ago…she had a 5 year old Honda HRX series with a transmission that had been problematic from day one, I had a raggedy old Snapper HiVac with a B&S engine. We gave up trying to keep that stupid Honda together and replaced it with a Toro Super Recycler Personal Pace with a Honda GCV160 engine. I still prefer the old self-propelled Snapper because it has amazing suction and does a great finish cut. She cuts the front lawn with the Toro, I cut the back with the Snapper and we’re done in no time.
Here in Australia, it was Victas, Victas and more Victas!
I’m surprised I had missed this thread, it’s better seeing it late than never!
I also like old lawn mowers, mostly 2 stroke models!
I just got this 1954 Lawn Boy with an “A” engine.
https://youtu.be/laGZseGKMLo
And a few more earlier this year
1971 International Harvester (a Lawn Boy clone with a “D” engine)
https://youtu.be/ZyAiIYDL2-4
An unknown brand mower with a Briggs 4 stroke from the early 1960s.
https://youtu.be/z3aWgQPMs3I
And a few more…
A 1957 Lawn Boy Automower that I got a few years ago
https://youtu.be/1a_kFUDX_w4
a 1958-60 Lawn Boy
https://youtu.be/LiTxwWSIze0
And a few more, the blue one on the far left is a MTD Lawn Flite with an OMC 2 stroke “D engine. The Marauder on the far right is an OMC brand, I think it’s specific to the Canadian market, this one and the two Lawn Boy in the center have “C” engines.
A friend of mine who’s also a regular reader of this site also gave me that 1976 Lawn Boy a few years ago. It works great.
who’s had experience with a 1994 Walker MDDGHS?
No lawn for the last ten years, so no lawn mower. But we have owned a few rural properties in the past, and I still have my 1983 Husqvarna 61 Rancher chainsaw. It has not got much use recently, and I am lazy about using fuel stabilizer, not mention avoiding ethanol-ized gasoline. Needed to use it last week, and man it was tough starting. But a new plug, cleaned air filter, and some fresh pre-mixed 50:1 ethanol free fuel and its running pretty strong now. With current pump prices, the pre-mixed 32 oz can from the hardware store doesn’t seem too bad. Apparently my saw is one of just one or two years of that model that used a Swedish Walbro carb, rather than Tillotson, but I found a genuine Walbro rebuild kit on Amazon for under $10 and will tackle that soon. By the way, according to internet lore, the fuel lines on these turn to jelly with ethanol gas, but mine look fine. So I’d tend to agree with Paul that the effects are exaggerated, even on this nearly 40 year old saw which I’ve owned for 25 years. The recoil rope is the only repair it’s needed.
I got 14 years use out of a 2nd hand B&S mounted on a 80s steel deck Morrison mower the vertical pull start disintegrated after 5 years so I welded a 3/8 drive socket to the nut on top of the flywheel and started it with a powerdrill ever since,refusal to start simply never happened after that it did look like a 2stroke towards the end of its life with a blue cloud around it from oil burning but used engine oil donated by my diesel Citroen kept it alive as it recycled it, I do love a Briggs and Stratton tough little engines.
My boyfriend bought me this beast when we first got together. The plan was to use it on the more unwieldy areas of the property, and to buy a vintage Snapper rider for the rest. After a few cuttings with the SCAG, I told him don’t bother with the rider, this works great on the whole lawn, and gets me more exercise to boot.
His brother had it before us, got it with a blown engine. He put an engine from a riding mower their dad bought back in the 1990s, so it has an untold number of hours on it. He converted it to a recoil starter, but we have talked about going with electric start eventually. I top the oil off before each cutting, it works great.
Boyfriend ordered me a perch for the back, it was some Chinese Amazon crap that was absolutely awful. It took me a while to work up the courage to ask him to return it (we used it once, then it sat in the way the remainder). Turns out he was scared to return it because he thought I’d be disappointed. Lol
So difficult to type a comment with video ads covering 90% of the comment box. The ones you can close just pop back up. Minor quibble, just thought I’d mention it
My picture didn’t make it, I guess. Trying again.
Most of those small engines are surprisingly tough. I had one on the farm with welded up
handles and no manufacturer decals. It was an oil user and if I was in a hurry I would pourwhatever was handy in the crankcase. Hydraulic fluid, cooking oil, gear oil, the junk drained from our combines. If you could get it started it would run. We called it the mosquito killer.
I bought an old Sears Craftsman push mower used off Craigslist when I bought my house after the divorce. It was probably from the 80s. It just worked for years and years and years. I was so angry with myself when I let it run out of oil and it seized. So stupid of me.
I replaced it with a brand new Sears Craftsman and that thing was garbage. I gave it away and bought another old used Sears Craftsman mower on Craigslist. That mower died an ugly death when I hit the water-meter cover with the blade.
My current mower is the cheapest thing Lowe’s had on offer. It’s fine. But man, do I miss that first old Sears Craftsman.
Naturally enough, I bought a new Sears push mower when I bought my house (now going on 37 years ago). Even with the other expenses of a new home (I had a condo before it) the mower was a nice one, mid-line, with a blade clutch and rear bagger (they were pretty new back then). The only thing I didn’t like about the blade clutch was during oil changes, I flipped the mower over, and always got oil in the combustion chamber (guess I could have pumped out the oil from the crankcase but I never learned that trick).
One of the good things about Sears back then was they included documentation of just about any part you’d need to replace, you could get it at their service center (for a price, and of course after a number of years if it wasn’t popular it became unobtanium). The mower had a different width, not sure if it was 19″ or 20″ but it was tough to find replacement blade after Sears withdrew parts for it. After a while (it must have been 25-27 years old) it refused to start, and I didn’t have patience to mess with it, so I spent $ to make the problem go away and bought a replacement Sears mower. Wow, they REALLY cheapened them in that time…no throttle at all, flimsy height adjustment lever that rubs on the tires and no “book of part numbers” which is what drew me to Sears in the first place.
It works well enough, though I’ve had to rebuild the carburator, and fuel lines degrade with the gasoline if you leave it in too long (guess I should run it dry at end of season).
We had Montgomery Wards mowers when I was growing up, one self-propelled I used, then we moved and my Dad bought a new Sears non-self-propelled (about 1976) that predated the carburator primer bulb they started putting in them (both the Sears mowers I bought myself years later had them..on Tecumseh and other B&S). Anyhow, my Dad got frustrated with how hard it was to start, and used ether to help start…and promptly caught the mower on fire. Dad was a chemist, but I guess he overdid it…that Sears didn’t last too long till we got something easier to start.
We also had an Ahrens snowblower, 2 stage (Vermont with long driveway)…I used to wake up at 4 AM to clear the driveway…the engine was fine on it, but unless I got every ounce of moisture dried out of the 2nd stage impeller, it would refreeze and we’d bust a belt. We had a stock of spare belts and went through them in a season…sometimes let them run out and had to walk a couple miles to the hardware store to get a replacement….didn’t have AWD nor 4WD in the 70’s so vehicles couldn’t go anywhere if driveway wasn’t at least partly cleared after heavy storm. My Uncle was mad at my Father when he gave it away to a neighbor after they moved to Texas….40 years ago this July.
I bought a lawn boy for my first house in 1983 – looked very much like yours. I don’t think they changed much over the years.
I loved it. I gave it to my parents when I upgraded to a self propelled; they had it for a couple of decades until my brother, God rest his soul, used the wrong non-mixed gas to run it when he tried to cut my mother’s grass after my dad passed. It seized. Still miss that mower, and him much much more.
Holes in magnesium? Why of course since magnesium does corrode in a sense. One should see the underside of our F-4S Phantom on the Hornet. Lots of magnesium in the aircraft which requires constant care which doesn’t happen when in the boneyard.
Ah, old lawnmowers. Used my parents back in the 60s, first on a wind up riding mower. Eh, ok, but not great. Then an older one with an old BS engine that was a bear to start. A minibike in there somewhere with a BS that was only hard to start. A couple as an adult that were hard to start. Along with a Murry and something else that were hard to start. When my Dad passed I acquired a red, high end, 6 speed self propelled mower that was unspeakably hard to start. Every BS engine I had, including on a generator, was hard to start.
Then, sometime early this century I bought a Craftsman, powered by Honda, self propelled mower. The drive system seems loose, but still works, excepting when the spark plug went bad and mimicked a bad carb, it starts usually on the first pull, occasionally the second. Even with my wife. Only mower I’ve used that the governor actually worked on. Go thru light grass and it runs fine. Hit the heavy stuff and speed doesn’t really drop, but the pitch drops, you can almost hear it downshift, except signal speed, it’s the throttle opening. It’s like a new car compared to a Model T.
While I foresee less mowing in my future, word is Calif smog will outlaw gasoline mower sales next year, so some of you might want to preemptively purchase a new one, while you can. And where California goes, so goes the nation, sooner or later.
“And where Califirnia goes, so goes the nation sooner or later.”
True with 1.6/gal. flush water closets & domestic water fixture flow restricters, but that’s as far as it goes.
11/8/22 & 11/24 : Lord help all SANE Americans.
Funny you mention the thick wet grass here. It can plug up the 48″ deck and stall my 20hp Briggs on my John Deere. Think about it. Stalling a engine, with a V-belt, through a electromagnetic clutch. That my friend is some seriously damp grass. Could not even get that lit back in high school