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Lawn Mower Story...talk me down


Page Turner

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AS many of you may already know, I fix stuff. That's how I ended up with al the bikes. For many years I did all my own car repairs, and when I was exploring ways to make money other than working for Social Security, I took both a full credential set of courses in car mechanicals, and threw in a course in small engine and lawnmower repair.

I have been mowing my lawn (front and back) here in River Park for the past 20 years with an old Snapper Hi-Vac that someone left out for the annual curbside household junk pickup the year after we moved in here.  For the first few years, I just used the bag, and the blade it came with.  It burned a lot of oil, and smoked a little bit, but it started and ran on the first pull ever time.

 

I finally decided one winter in the off season to upgrade and customize it a little, so I tossed the bag, covered the spot in the deck where it sucked up the grass with a plastic decking cover, and installed a mulching blade. I think somewhere along the line, one or more of the wheels needed replacing, and when I put on the mulching blade, I bought and installed a more powerful Honda commercial engine, that I bought on sale over at the mower shop here. I think I might have also added a fuel shut off valve in the line ahead of the carburetor

 

So in the past couple of weeks I've noticed the deck is starting to rust out, over near one of the front wheel supports.  this is something I could probably repair too, but it would require some cutting, bracing,  and welding I am loathe to undertake.  and rust never sleeps, so it would probably fail somewhere else soon if, even if I did that.

 

The obvious answer is to finish out this season, junk this mower, and  just go buy another mower that will do the same thing on my lawn...probably a little better.  But I am traumatized by the thought of finally sending this one off to the landfill, especially with the engine still in pretty good shape. I don't really want to look around for another junked out mower and take it for the deck. The money to buy the new one is not a big deal.  I think it's more that this mower deserves some consideration after its long life n service to landscape. And there's this annoying part of me that thinks I ought to fix every god damn thing, instead of replacing it.

 

That's all. I just wanted a chance to rant at myself. :) Obviously, there is something wrong with me.  

 

 

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1 hour ago, Page Turner said:

And there's this annoying part of me that thinks I ought to fix every god damn thing, instead of replacing it.

You must be old.  

I kept our Maytag washer and drier running for 30+ years.  Way beyond what is probably 'normal'.   When we built our new home WoBG wanted to move the old washer and drier.  I insisted, they remain back at the old home.   

My JD lawn tractor is about 20 years old.  It still works just fine.

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4 minutes ago, maddmaxx said:

With a good deck, you could take some time to paint it like one of your frames,  see if you could cobble it into a self propelled machine, put a bit of framework on the back so you could stand behind it while it moves and maybe bore and stroke the engine to handle the extra load,

 

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32 minutes ago, jdc2000 said:

...thank you.  This is just as crazy as the pricing structure for old bike components.  I should have known that there were crazy olde farts with a collection of "classic" lawn mowers out in the garage. Those guys are always looking to restore another one. I will part mine out, put a little JB weld on the old Snapper deck and paint over it, sell everything on ebay, and use the money to buy a new Honda commercial mower.

 

This is why I come to this forum....for the wealth of information and solid practical advice. :) 

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21 hours ago, Page Turner said:

So in the past couple of weeks I've noticed the deck is starting to rust out, over near one of the front wheel supports.  this is something I could probably repair too, but it would require some cutting, bracing,  and welding I am loathe to undertake.  and rust never sleeps, so it would probably fail somewhere else soon if, even if I did that.

Can you grind the rust off and paint over it with a decent metal paint? 

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19 minutes ago, Mr. Silly said:

I think you deleted all your photos.

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...Square Wheels made me do it, so he could make this month's BMW payment.:angry:

I think I'm probably gonna go with just buying this one up at Bliss Power and Lawn Equipment.

 

 
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  • hrs216k5pka_discharge.jpg

HRS216PKA

HRS2165PKA,HRS216K5PKA

21" Side Discharge Mower, Push

 
 
  • Push type
  • Side discharge
  • Easy starting Honda GCV160 engine

MSRP

$389*
 
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...one of the reviews. I'd like to go for the upgraded commercial engine (which is a better engine), but they don't make a side discharge mulching mower with that engine.

★★★★★★★★★★5 out of 5 stars.
· 4 months ago  

Best mulching all-steel -deck push mower money can buy

I looked long and hard for a simple push mower, no bag, no drive system, with a sturdy deck. I even made the mistake of buying a Craftsman with a Honda engine; it was a piece of junk and fortunately Lowes took it back after it was used once. I could tell when I opened the box that this Honda HRS216 was just what I was looking for. I wish you could still buy a 2 stroke Lawn-Boy with a cast aluminum deck but those days are long gone. This is the best all around trimming mower I could find. This may sound like one of those fake reviews but it's not.

 

 

 

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Any chance of finding the deck for cheap on eBay?

My brother-in-law did small motor repair as a part-time sideline while working and is doing more as a recent retiree. With Army and TSA Pensions and Soc.Sec., he doesn't need the extra income, so it's more of a hobby, but he makes a nice profit because of eBay.

He gets lots of stuff that's returned to Home Depot, Lowes, Ace, etc., costs $450 new but is marked as low as $50 just to take the returns off their hands.  He determines what's wrong and the new replacement part(s) may cost $150 but he finds them for $50 on eBay.  So he invests $100 total and sells it for $250.

He spends a lot of time patiently waiting for the part to show up on eBay - he's got 5-10 no-hurry items to repair at any given time and fixes whatever part shows up first - and you'll have a good while to look occasionally there until spring if you know just what you need.

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13 minutes ago, MickinMD said:

Any chance of finding the deck for cheap on eBay?

 

...one of those links upstream is to lawnmower decks on e-bay.  

Maybe if this was some fancy-dancy, self propelled , advanced guidance system mower, it might be worth it to pay $75 and another $50 shipping for a deck, but in this case with a brand new Honda  side discharge equivalent mower available for under $400, and I can pick it up locally for free, it makes no sense.

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4 hours ago, Mr. Silly said:

My Craftsman mower has a Briggs.  After 20 years, it started on the second pull last spring.  

This was my first year with a new Craftsman.  Very nice mower, I sure hope it lasts that long.  The Briggs engine starts on first pull most times.  I am still amazed there are no throttle or choke controls at all to mess with.  Elegant simplicity is cool!  There is one adjustment for self-propelled speed.  It is currently set to drag my sorry ass along at a nice brisk pace. :D

 

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13 hours ago, Further said:

I think Briggs is making a better engine than Honda 

Why do you say that? I am a great fan of Briggs engines.  Never had a Honda mower but I can't imagine any problems with their engines.  My generator has a Subaru and the sneau bleauer is a Tecumseh.  Actually none has ever had a problem, but Briggs impressed me by being able to run even with the intake manifold falling off. :D

 

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2 hours ago, Philander Seabury said:

Why do you say that? I am a great fan of Briggs engines.  Never had a Honda mower but I can't imagine any problems with their engines.  My generator has a Subaru and the sneau bleauer is a Tecumseh.  Actually none has ever had a problem, but Briggs impressed me by being able to run even with the intake manifold falling off. :D

 

I bought a Troy bolt mower with a Honda  motor, it surges a lot and sputters a good bit, keeps running but doesn’t inspire confidence. Some googling found this is fairly common problem, with no clear solution 

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