Brought home a free mower

[andyd]

After 2 horrible Craftsman Eager 1 walkbehinds, I started dumpster diving for my so called lawn OPE. In 25 yrs I have worked up to a '77 IH sitdown and a '93 Toro RWD 3 speed with a Suzuki 4 stroke. Since I have freed up the choke flap, it lives up to the GTS. I have only had to drain the fuel out of it when I left it out in the rain. OOps. They both have shut offs and I run the carbs dry after every use. For smell and for my own sense, I dose every tank of e 10 with a splash of MMO. Following this regimen, my carb troubles have mostly ended. I used to use a lot of Berryman's Chem-Tool on the Tecumseh snowblower engines. It is a solvent that works sometimes by adding it to the gas. I have used it on my weed wacker and it had no instantaneous affect. I put it away for a week. As I was carrying it to my bench to tear down the carb, I pulled the starter and it lit right off.

 

[ford46guy]

Originally Posted By: JTK
Originally Posted By: jeepman3071

Now whenever people ask me what mower to buy I say the best condition used mower you can find at a reasonable price.


^ Amen to this.

One blade whack against something solid and an $800 mower is destroyed just as quickly as a $120 Walmart special.

I'm assuming it's the same reason I've never seen an expensive 21" pusher/self propelled machine on a commercial landscape trailer.


I changed the blade, it was pretty beat up. There was a flower adapter pattern that supposedly shears off if it strikes something. Does that really work?

 

[ford46guy]

Originally Posted By: jeepman3071
Originally Posted By: ford46guy
Only issue are two plastic front axle clips. Cost $15 each and they have terrible reviews. I will rig something else up. I think wireties would be an improvement. What a joke for a $400 mower. A folding piece of cheap plastic that wraps around the axle.


Yup, I've seen many expensive mowers with cheap garbage holding them together. Mostly issues with the self-propel system or automatic chokes, plastic gas tanks, recoils, etc.

Lately I've had about 6 new mowers that hit rocks or stumps, bending the crank shaft. Hundreds of dollars spent only to hit something and have the engine be junk.

Now whenever people ask me what mower to buy I say the best condition used mower you can find at a reasonable price.


Yeah, I looked in lowes too, definitely planned obsolesence junk. Designed to last 3-4 seasons. The mower I got free was barely 3 years old. The sticker was 3/15, so they got just under 3 seasons. I was talking to the sales guy there and he said if you hit a rock or golfball it will shatter the plastic cover on the transmission and destroy the drive mechanism. People have bent crankshafts on the first mow. And he said if you aren't handy, and have carb issues which you will, could be 100s in repairs, people usually leave it on the curb. By that time the drive system is probably worn too(plastic bearing). He suggested the cheapest one you could buy.