The guy with the plexiglass head on you tube

[andyd]

Gave me an idea. Go get some chips and a soda, this may take awhile. The guy uses a drill to start his "mules" Back in'11, I retired my first Craigslist freebie mower because the rope parted. I took it apart, of course, I let the spring escape.. I had the Toro 20622 as a backup so Ive been using that whilst the mower sat out behind my shop, sorta out of the weather The shroud was off but a very oily air filter was intact. It is a steel deck 1988 Lawn boy with an F series 2 stroke engine The fuel line was off the tank. The shutoff and the fuel line were plugged along with the inlet to the needle valve . The inside of float bowl was a pleasant surprise, no corrosion and only a little varnish. A plastic float. I cleaned up the outside with a little gas on a rag and blew out out all the holes I could see with some Berryman's B12 carb spray. That's as far as I've gotten, I'll put it together and see what happens. It runs on carb spray enough to prove ignition is good. I'm using a 1/4 hex to 3/8 socket drive with an 11/16 socket chucked into a 3/8 drill to start it.

 

[JTK]

She'll be a runner from the sounds of it!

 

[Rat407]

We need a video!

 

[boraticus]

A few years back I managed to obtain four old Lawn Boy mowers. One was so old it was beige in color. Must have been from the 50's or 60s. I had two green ones from the '70s and one from the late 80s. I managed to get the 60s & 70s mowers running great but the '80s machine had problems with the CDI ignition module. I ordered a couple from guys online but they didn't pan out so I gave up on that machine. I've still got the two 70s machines out at camp. One has CDI ignition and is self propelled! The other is man powered with points & condenser. For a while I was h*ll bent on electronic ignition. However, after the failures with the CDIs on the one Lawn Boy machine, I've since regained new appreciation for good old mechanical points.


About 20 years ago, I had a neighbour who owned a real nice mid 70s Lawn Boy in great condition. When i noticed that he had bought a new Craftsman mower with a Tecumseh engine, I asked him what he did with the Lawn Boy. He said "It's in the shed. You can have it if you want it. But it doesn't cut very well and uses a lot of fuel." Oh, yeah, I want it alright. Took it home & checked it out. It was almost mint. I turned it over and noticed that it had a brand new blade but it was on backward. Might have been why it didn't cut well & sucked fuel. Turned the blade over, cleaned the carb & spark plug and that baby ran like a boss! I ended up giving it to my camp buddy/neighbour who's lawnmower had died. He liked it so much, he brought it to town to use at home and brought his town mower out to camp. Too bad. He's since died and I've lost track of where that Lawn Boy went.

I seldom use these machines but I do fire them up every so often.

Lawn Boys in my view, are the best mowers ever made. They are a testament to simplicity and great quality that can be built in America when a company has pride in their product. Considering the throwaway society we live in today, sadly, the "build quality" philosophy is a thing of the past it seems.

 

[andyd]

I had it running great When I went upstairs to look at the carb diagram, I realized that I hadn't replaced the heat shield ( 46 $ from Partstree, BTW. ) It's an awkward fit because the heat shield is bent to conform to the engine and the shroud. Also,dealing with 40 yr old hoses, I may have created a vacuum leak It will only run on 3/4 choke. Aint skeered. I have a sheet of gasket paper and a 2 oz hammer I'm pretty sure mine is an '88 and it has a CDI ignition. It runs good when it gets fuel.

 

[andyd]

I now have a 30yr old Lawn boy that burbles happily. With the help of a guy on The Tractor forum's walk behind page. Electric start too

 

[boraticus]

Originally Posted By: andyd
I now have a 30yr old Lawn boy that burbles happily. With the help of a guy on The Tractor forum's walk behind page. Electric start too

Good to hear you have it running. Still haven't fixed the pull start?

 

[andyd]

Pull start is lost. However I found parts 7073 on Craigslist . 20$. Partstree list an NOS recoil for over 200$. Meantime, I have an electric starter. I did some mowing with it. No clue as to blade condition. Mows great, sounds great,way lighter than the Toro self propelled.

 

[eljefino]

I brought a rototiller home from the dump and got it started with a drill, like you. Kick-backs are murder on the drill gearbox, though.

Previous owner had pulled on the rope start until it snapped, then they gave up. With the drill I was able to spin it for ~20 seconds continuously, so it was able to slurp some old loogie through the carb and get going again. Later fixed the rope.