Snapper Hi vac resurection

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I posted a little while back that I bout three mowers for 25 buck. The Hi vac, a John Deere made by lawnboy with a 2 stroke motor and one other Briggs powered one. On the Hi vac the carb was gone due to the fuel tank being half full of water. It had a carb with a choke and adjustable idle jet bit I replaced it with a primer style carb. Just put it together last night and it took off and run. I have about 60 bucks in parts on it so far. Looks like I need to replace the head gasket as it seams to be leaking all over like itnisnt tight. The muffler needs some attention and I need to replace all the wheels.


The carb sticks out to far to put it into high gear but I might be able to fix that by useig the thin gasket for the intake. That might also fix my throttle arm sticking also.



I need to play with the carb adjustment some more to see if it will lug a little better. I want to put a ninja mulch kit on it but it runs low on power now in thick crab grass.

I figure that the engine had been replaced at some point but I finally found a model decode that said it originally had a Wisconsin Robin engine on it.
 
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Would anyone happen to know the torque for the head bolts? I haven't looked yet to find it. It is a tvs120 engine.
 
Originally Posted By: jhellwig

I figure that the engine had been replaced at some point but I finally found a model decode that said it originally had a Wisconsin Robin engine on it.

No doubt possible model will indicate engine installed, but I thought those Robins had more than 4Hp?? Any rating on the engine?

I parted out a similar Hi Vac to yours with a Tecumseh engine, was white, which is color I believe all Snapper engines of the era were painted...

What's wrong with those wheels?? They have far more tread showing than mine with the Honda engine did four years ago(yeah I'm running slicks now)...
 
The front ones have no bearings left. The back ones spin trying to go up my hills.

The motor that is on it now is a replacement one. It is an industrial syle engine.

On manual that snapper sent me lists all the motors and none of them are bigger than 4 horse. The are about 15 different motors they were putting on them. This Tecumseh that is on it now is also listed at 4 horse.
 
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Snapper wheels don't use bearings, just a sleeve that's slightly longer than wheel thickness... The wheel nut tightens down on sleeve, so wheels spins on sleeve vs axle... The non self propelled models use same for rear wheels...

I'm on level ground so a little wheel slip isn't a issue...

I've thought of cutting new tread using thickness of three or four hack saw blades tied(clamped) together...
 
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Whoever had it before added fender washers to keep the front from falling off. The are all word different to it won't set level.

It's got steel wheels not plastic.
 
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Yeah you are no doubt correct, I believe the Commercial versions used ball bearing wheels, those wore out probably just as quickly as the plastic/sleeved versions... I have replacement ball bearing wheels on one of my B&S powered mowers... Rarely gets used as the 5.5Hp Honda has been able to take everything I've been able to throw it's way...
 
Originally Posted By: TFB1
Snapper wheels don't use bearings, just a sleeve that's slightly longer than wheel thickness...


Yep. My ~2011 model year 21" Snapper has steel wheels with bearings.

It's the Ninja mulcher commercial series.
 
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I found a bag and chute on Craig's list for 20 bucks. As I was driving to get it the guy called and said that he forgot to mention that the bag had some holes but he had another bag and chute he doesn't use. I asked if he wanted to sell both of them and he said yes fr 5 dollars more so I took them both. He said they were both off 21 inch decks but it looks like the one chute is off a 19 inch and the newer bag was off a black handle bar mower so it doesn't fit my Handel bars. Good thing I got both.


I adjusted the carb and put the right gasket on so now the linkage works. I replaced the head gasket and for that a couple of the bolts wernt tight letting it leak. Now I need to figure out why the primer doesn't seam to work on this new carb.
 
I've found that head bolt torque on small engines simply follows/mirrors the torque of the fastener. So a 5/16" head bolt will most likely be 18-22lbs.
 
200 inch pounds is what Tecumseh specs so that is close.

I got new front wheels for it today and replaced the friction disk. It operated like a new machine till the plastic bushings in the drive engagement got loose enough to cause the belt to throw.
 
Well the saga continues on this mower. Head gasket is leaking again on the bottom side. Checked compression after running it for an hour and it is only 70psi. Very wet and dripping gas on the bottom side of the gasket. I used it for about two hours yesterday till it was dark then changed the oil and put my new hivac blade on with the wings. Today it was bogging down bad in the taller grass. Much worse than yesterday. It wasn’t doing this bad after the last time I changed the head gasket. It only has maybe around ten hours since I changed the gasket.

Didn’t use the mower last year as it would run till warm then die. It would restart but die quickly. It started doing this late in 2016 but I never had time to mess with it. I messed with it this year and got it running after I pulled out the plug and reinstalled it and it took off and ran.
 
You fought the good fight with that one jhellwig!

Not sure if you want to, but I wonder if a Harbor Freight mower (or similar) engine would retrofit well enough?
 
Originally Posted By: JTK
You fought the good fight with that one jhellwig!

Not sure if you want to, but I wonder if a Harbor Freight mower (or similar) engine would retrofit well enough?


It’s not over till a rod is out the side or it is so low on compression it won’t start. Head gasket is 7 bucks. I don’t want a harbor freight motor. Nothing against the Chonda motors but I can get a new 190cc Briggs for $120.

I have no need to run the vac blade with the wings. I got a worn down factory blade without wings that is getting worn on the lip but still has meat on the edge. I may get a gator blade for it.
 
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