Best Pushmowers Ever (List)

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The other discussion on "quality pushmower that will last" brought up some interesting dsicussions, and evoked some memories for me of all my experiences growing up workin on and using lawnmowers (started mowing lawns and fixing mowers at about age 8....now I am a degreed Mechanical Engineer working in aerospace)


From my own experiences, here is my short list of great lawnmowers that I would own again in a heartbeat. There is no order of preference here, but I am partial to two strokes.


Honda HR214SX (alloy deck)
Lawn Boy Dura-Force Silver Series (the last of the Lawn Boy Two-stokes)
Lawn Boy D Series (also called the T-head).....mid to late 1960's into the early 1970's
Snapper Commerical from the 1980s and 1990s Hi_vac alloy deck with the Wisconsin-Robin Two Stroke (Suzuki made) engine
John Deere Commerical Walk behind with the Kawasaki Engine

That's it. Feel free to discuss
smile.gif
 
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In my opinion, those are some of the best. Honda made a number of commercial quality alloy deck mowers that are built like tanks. I have an HR215SXA and it runs like an absolute top. You may already know, but the HR214 number means: [H]onda [R]otary mower, [21] inch cut, [4] hp rated engine, elf propelled, [X] recoil starter. Other options were [P]ush or [H]ydrostatic drive, and [M]otor (electric) starter.

You can see that in Honda's naming scheme today, and they round up on the rated hp to get a single digit number. So a 21" mower with a 5.5 hp GCV-160 would be a 216 and a 217 indicates the larger 6.5 hp GCV- or GSV-190.

I do think that Lawn-Boy's F engine deserves a mention. The Duraforce E engine is a tough engine, but doesn't quite have the same burble has a classic D or F. The Ds are commonly called "bricktops" because of the large rectangular fan shroud. Any of these classic Lawn-Boys is worth owning. I have two Lawn-Boys, a 1987 model 8157 and a 1999 model 10330. The 8157 has an F engine and the 10330 originally came with a Tecumseh LEV120, but now has a Honda GCV-160. Both are neat mowers; the 10330 is my "daily driver" mower. The 8157 is more like a garage queen, if there is such a thing in the lawn mower world.
 
Many years ago a friend gave me a well used Lawn Boy 2 stroke with aluminum deck. Great mower , lite, power full and started with one pull. Accidently left it outside one winter and it was buried under 4 feet of snow for months. Come spring the dang thing started with one pull with the gas that was in it.
 
Lawnboy 2 strokes without a doubt. I have a d series bricktop in my collection that still runs strong and was made in 1975.

In theory, the LB engine should last much longer than comparable 4 strokes because part of each fuel charge that is drawn into the engine up through the bottom end is a slug of clean oil. Add to that the fact that the engines are incredibly easy to work on and you have a winning combination.

One more thing - LB's do not or should not smoke. If they do, you have an incorrect mix ratio (mine is 40:1 with not a trace of smoke) or a dirty air filter.
 
Lawn-Boy engines also use ball bearings on the crankshaft and needle rollers on at least one end of the crankshaft (maybe both). This is somewhat common in 2-stroke engines to reduce friction (due to no oil sump), but it does make for a very long-lasting engine.
 
Originally Posted By: Russell
I have a lawn boy silver series 4-stroke with a steel deck and self propelled. IMO it is just average


A 4-stroke Silver is really only half of the Lawn-Boy "experience". You get the lightweight staggered-wheel deck (and there are benefits to that), but the mag alloy decks with the 2-stroke engines really complete the package.

Plus, anything after the early 1990s has Toro influence in it and the product was cheapened over time. Things like control quality (bails and levers) and fastener quality declined in the 1990s. Toro had a big influence on the Duraforce engine, and many Lawn-Boy die-hards don't like those engines for that reason. They are somewhat more finnicky than the older Lawn-Boy 2-strokes, but still very good and strong engines.
 
I loved our lawnboy from the 70's (dont know which model) except it had exhaust under deck and it was really light - especially compared to the terrible Sears E-Z start mag deck cadillacs). I also cant help but "really like" our current murray rear bagger that I bought in 1991 and is still running with only 1 spark plug change and an OC every 2 years. The tall, effective vacuum deck is starting to rust through but thats it for problems.
I will want another push mower in a couple years.
 
I don't really have a nominee for "best," but I do for worst. When I was about 10 a neighbor gave me a Wizard (from Western Auto) 18" push mower with a two-stroke Clinton engine. He felt sorry for me mowing neighborhood lawns with a reel-type mower. He didn't really do me much of a favor. The thing was notoriously hard to start. No recoil-type starting on this one. It had a rope with a wooden handle on one end and a knot tied in the other. You placed the knot in a slot on a piece on top of the engine, wrapped the rope around it, prayed and pulled. It would generally fire after 20-25 pulls and most of those resulted in the knot on the end of the cord raising a welt somewhere on my body. The threads in the alloy head were about shot, so after running a while it liked to spit out the spark plug. This resulted in a repeat of the above starting ordeal. On more than one occasion, it decided to let loose of the blade, which thankfully was contained by the deck. May have been the biggest reason I didn't choose a career in lawn care.
 
I had a 2-stroke, staggered wheel steel deck Lawn Boy I used in my youth. It was the only residential push mower up till then that held up in the mowing duty I was doing at the time. I remember feeling like a bad butt mixing the 2-stoke oil in the gas.

It did have this vertical mounted starter rope drive that could tend to be cantankerous and would be prone to breaking, and I can't say it was the easiest mower to start for whatever reason. But that motor ran and ran for years through some heavy duty mowing on slopes.
 
I bought an MTD 21-inch non-convertible mulcher in 1991 with a 6-horse Briggs on it. I 22 years, I have sharpened the blade once, changed the spark plug twice, and the oil maybe 5 times, and it just keeps running. I only use it every other week for edging since I have a 2-acre lot. (I have a 42-inch riding tractor for the main work.) It starts on the first or second pull every time. After 4-5 months storage through the winter, it takes maybe 3-4 pulls to get it started in the spring.

When I was growing up, dad would just bring home any junk engine and mower deck, and have us boys build a mower. He would never buy a new one. I had to repair some stamped-steel decks with strapping to keep them together, and the engine oil was never changed. I would just pour in used oil from our cars every time before mowing. I feel bad for the engineers at Briggs & Stratton; their engines don't get any love.
 
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I had an 'eighties Lawn Boy and I really liked it.
It was light and easy to handle, it started pretty easily and it sounded great. Best of all, it would go through the heaviest grass without faltering. Lasted a long time as well.
They were good machines.
 
Anything with an aluminum deck IMO.

Don't forget about the 2-stroke, Suzuki powered commercial Toro with aluminum deck. I've seen crews ruin them, but it's usually due to a clueless b00b filling it with straight gasoline.

Snapper or Ariens disk drive 21"s are probably the best rear-wheel self-propelled you can find.

I've got a 2yr/old Snapper commercial 21" disk drive. The only negatives are it's a steel deck, making it HEAVY and the ninja mulching blade/system makes it LOUD.
 
If only a person could put a Snapper disk drive and a US Briggs engine on a Toro aluminum deck...

That's a good point about the blade and deck design affecting how loud a mower is. Not just the engine is responsible. I wonder if a different blade would make a difference or not, and if the Snapper is a side-valve engine that could be a factor.
 
Originally Posted By: Team_FAST
The other discussion on "quality pushmower that will last" brought up some interesting dsicussions, and evoked some memories for me of all my experiences growing up workin on and using lawnmowers (started mowing lawns and fixing mowers at about age 8....now I am a degreed Mechanical Engineer working in aerospace)


From my own experiences, here is my short list of great lawnmowers that I would own again in a heartbeat. There is no order of preference here, but I am partial to two strokes.


Honda HR214SX (alloy deck)
Lawn Boy Dura-Force Silver Series (the last of the Lawn Boy Two-stokes)
Lawn Boy D Series (also called the T-head).....mid to late 1960's into the early 1970's
Snapper Commerical from the 1980s and 1990s Hi_vac alloy deck with the Wisconsin-Robin Two Stroke (Suzuki made) engine
John Deere Commerical Walk behind with the Kawasaki Engine

That's it. Feel free to discuss
smile.gif



If i'm not mistaken, the Wisconsin Robin 2 strokes on the snappers were actually made by Subaru. I think they had a deal with Wisconsin engines to market them under the Wisconsin Robin name. that's why you now see Subaru Robin engines now. Wisconsin did make a 4 stroke engine for them however. Now Suzuki did make 2 strokes for Toro, as well as the Lawn boy m series. And that brings me to the one I would like to add to the list besides all the other lawn boys, the m series. They don't get a lot of love, but those that have them have said they are one of the best bagging mowers ever made. And I love the sound of that Suzuki oil injected 2 stroke, sounds like a tiny snowmobile:)
 
Originally Posted By: JTK
Don't forget about the 2-stroke, Suzuki powered commercial Toro with aluminum deck.

thumbsup2.gif
Oh yes, virtually unstoppable!
 
Originally Posted By: mechanicx
If only a person could put a Snapper disk drive and a US Briggs engine on a Toro aluminum deck...

That's a good point about the blade and deck design affecting how loud a mower is. Not just the engine is responsible. I wonder if a different blade would make a difference or not, and if the Snapper is a side-valve engine that could be a factor.


I actually purchased and tried a standard mulching blade for this snapper. It was slightly less noisy, but still painful enough where I just went back to the much better mulching (for me) ninja blade.

I dunno if the engine is allowed to rev faster because it's a "commercial" version? I don't have a portable tach to measure unfortunately. You're right though. The engine is quiet, it's just the whoosh from the deck/blade that's deafening. I use earplugs or muffs with it.
 
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