Old Lawn-Boy 2-stroke...

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I posted about possibly acquiring this mower a few weeks ago and got some useful feedback that was much appreciated.

I have since finished my refresh of it. I won't call it a restoration as there are guys out there who really restore these and I am stopping short of chrome plateing and powder coating. My goal was a nice usable machine.

It is a 1981 6300. I went through the engine and found it to be in good shape. No scoring or appreciable wear except the rings. Since everything specd out I just did a very light hone and installed new rings and bearings and buttoned it back up. With the new rings it's making a little north of 110psi cold. I'm happy with that. The rest was a few new parts and a lot of painting, polishing, and buffing. I fixed the damaged shroud with some JB Weld and some mending plates. Some sanding, blending, paint, and new decals and it fixed right up.

This was a really fun little project. I have fixed up a few older Honda mowers and I love them but I have always wanted to mess with a 2-stroke Lawn Boy. When this one found me through a buddy at work I couldn't resist.

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Nice job! And I thought my '96 Gold Series was an antique. Best mower I've ever owned. I wish I could find a new motor for it at a reasonable price but the sellers must think these are collector's items.
 
I have had several old Lawnboys one was 1960 era square top where you pull the rope straight up from the top of the shroud , inherited from the inlaws where my wife would mow 1.5 acres with a push mower in Iowa,,,great machine until she put straight gas into it and fried it , my current project is 2002 6.75 hp gold motor with mulching kit that I found thrown away in an alley near my old house, carb cleaning , fresh gas and a recoil assembly and it starts and runs on the second pull

you cant beat an old lawn boy especially before Toro got a hold of them any day of the week , and I own a toro with the Briggs 6.5 hp GTS

( guaranteed to start) yeah right ,,,,,,,,,,,,,

i will take this machine over the Toro I own any day of the week especially with all of the rain we have had the grass is growing like crazy
 
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It looks GREAT!

Only problem I have ever really fought with Lawn Boys was governor issues.
Oh, and the seal on the lower crank leaking air.
 
Outstanding!
My grandfather had one back in the day and it was the best mower ever.
It started and ran like a dream.
Great job on saving a wonderfull machine.
 
OP, great job. Looks like new, gives a nod to the brand.
I had a 90's era 5HP commercial that went against every good thing known about LB. Multiple ignition failures, the carb float stuck frequently and would drain the tank after shutdown, and it eventually had so little compression it would not start. (Yes, I know how to mix 2T fuel, and it always got Mobil MX2T....) Parts simply were not available from established dealers and online sources. It's like LB knew they had a stinker and gave up on supporting it.

I couldn't give the thing away, and finally took it to GoodWill where it sat for a couple months on the floor. So turned me off of LB, I bought a Honda as a replacement, and haven't looked back.
 
Find these guys MyTractorForum.com go to the walk behind forum. They are as fanatic about old Lawnboys as we are about oil
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PS That mower in running condition is worth between 200-300 bucks. But if I had that commercial, I'd never sell it. What you can buy new in that range is junk. Plenty of parts for these available on the interweb
 
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That looks like what we used to call a Johnson Ironhorse engine. Very simple and practically indestructible. Very early models had bronze bush bearings and needed more oil in the mix, later ones had needle rollers.
 
I own a '74 self propelled bagger, starts on the first pull...bought it back in '89 and maintaned it.
 
Nice clean commercial LB! Nice job! I was in the market for an older LawnBoy for a while because they cut great and I love 2-strokes. But ended up finding a John Deere 14SB with a 5hp commercial Kawasaki engine. Enjoy using that beast!

L8R,
Matt
 
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