Which push mower has the most powerful engine?

[Cujet]

I have both Honda 160 and Honda 190 powered mowers. The 190 has enough power to be nearly unstoppable. The 160 bogs down all the time.

The 160 is on a Craftsman front drive push mower. It's conventional in design.

The 190 is on an industrial Snapper mower with Ninja mulching blade.

 

[FastLane]

Try a Briggs 725EXI. Way more power than a Honda. Mine was SD over a foot a grass last year. No issues. The grass was taller than the top of the engine.

 

[bubbatime]

Honda sells a 190cc and 200 cc engine. Briggs sells a 190cc and 223cc engine. Any of these are pretty powerful, enough for most mulching. The 200cc Honda and 223cc Briggs are hard to find.

 

[Cujet]

Just another note, displacement is key with regard to mower engine power.

 

[Best F100]

Ah, I have been waiting for one of you 2 cycle users to chime in.

If you are looking for the most powerful standard sized push mower, what you should be looking for is a used, Lawn Boy mower with the 6 1/2 HP Duraforce engine. The two I owned, could both cut through taller grass, than the 190cc powered Honda engine powered mower that I owned. We are talking like wheel height grass without stalling. An 80 pound, aluminum deck mower with 6 1/2 HP is a tough combination to beat. Toro should have never bought out Lawn Boy and killed their 2 cycle engines.

 

[gman2304]

The John Deere 14sb and JX75 are arguably the best push mowers ever built. With the Kawasaki fc150v 6 hp ohv engine and Tuff Torq 5 speed transmission along with a Blade brake clutch and pressure lube oiling system with an oil filter, they're practically bullet proof. I have one of each bought used off CL. $70 for the JX75 and $30 for the 14sb. Though they have aluminum decks, they still weigh in at 100 lbs. I mow a 100 foot ditch that's normally wet and the engine rpm never changes. Mine are 1998 models and normally start on the first pull. I occasionally check CL for them and if I find another one I'll buy it just because. Plus, the oil filter just looks so cool on a push mower.

 

[Cujet]

Originally Posted by Best F100
Ah, I have been waiting for one of you 2 cycle users to chime in.

If you are looking for the most powerful standard sized push mower, what you should be looking for is a used, Lawn Boy mower with the 6 1/2 HP Duraforce engine. The two I owned, could both cut through taller grass, than the 190cc powered Honda engine powered mower that I owned. We are talking like wheel height grass without stalling. An 80 pound, aluminum deck mower with 6 1/2 HP is a tough combination to beat. Toro should have never bought out Lawn Boy and killed their 2 cycle engines.


I also have the Silver Series 6 1/2 HP Lawnboy. That thing is a beast. No question. It's rare that I bog it down. The Honda 190 (twice the weight) is pretty close in raw power though.

 

[Snagglefoot]

7.5 ft lbs at 2600 rpm as per SAE J1940

 

[CharlieJ]

I think mowers today are limited to a too slow RPM and is part of your problem. I have a cheap front drive Lawn Machines mower with a 140cc B&S engine. It would bog down and eventually stall (mulching only) in the thick St. Augustine grass in the summer. I raised the governor to 3700 RPM (verified with a tachometer) and now the mower blasts through any grass I throw at it and mulches grass into nothing. It works great now! I've been using it like this for more than 2 years now with no issue.

 

[gman2304]

Originally Posted by CharlieJ
I think mowers today are limited to a too slow RPM and is part of your problem. I have a cheap front drive Lawn Machines mower with a 140cc B&S engine. It would bog down and eventually stall (mulching only) in the thick St. Augustine grass in the summer. I raised the governor to 3700 RPM (verified with a tachometer) and now the mower blasts through any grass I throw at it and mulches grass into nothing. It works great now! I've been using it like this for more than 2 years now with no issue.
. ^ Exactly! The B&S pictured above is governed at 2,600 rpm's and has 7.25 ft lbs of torque. My Kawasaki 150v has 7.9 ft lbs of torque at 2,400 rpm's. I imagine if the governors were bumped up to 3,200 rpm's they would be even more impressive especially in wet grass plus the engines would most likely last longer. The epa regs have choked down small engines dramatically over the past couple of decades.

 

[Convert]

I have a Honda with the 160 engine.
I felt that the engine was not performing very well.
Easy fix.
Look at the carb linkage on the left side rear and locate the governor spring.
You will see the spring is in the hole that is about 9 o'clock position.ill call that position the California position.

Move the spring to the other hole at the 6 o'clock position ,I'LL.call this hole the non California position.

This will raise the RPM to a higher level and make mulching,bagging much better.
You'll appreciate the improvement.

This can be seen on U tube .
I am not responsible for any damage as i know the maintenance of my equipment, yours not so much

TOMB

 

[bubbatime]

Originally Posted by Cujet
Just another note, displacement is key with regard to mower engine power.


Sometimes.

The 195cc Tecumseh flat head engine is a dog and has half the power of the 190cc overhead valve Honda.

 

[JTK]

The biggest displacement engine I've seen on a 21" mower is 190cc. I have one on my Snapper ninja commercial 21". It's a Briggs "professional series" with a tiny spin-on oil filter. I can still get it to run out of power depending on what I try to mulch.

 

[BigShug681]

I recently turned up my Troy Bilt TB110 and it made a world of difference, the higher rpm helped a ton with bogging down in tall, thick, wet grass and that mower only has a 140cc engine so it's not a power house by any means

 

[andyd]

Thursday, I gassed up the mowers and got the first mow of the season done. Grass was damp , thick, about 8" I used the Toro 20611 and bagged around the house. I fired up the Inty and side discharged the front lawn . Both set high. I mowed the lawn in a tightening oval. I ended up blowing the cuttings into a 10x30 area that I bagged with the Toro. For about 200$ and a little searching you can find good running 2 stroke Lawnboys.

 

[jhellwig]

Originally Posted by bubbatime
Honda sells a 190cc and 200 cc engine. Briggs sells a 190cc and 223cc engine. Any of these are pretty powerful, enough for most mulching. The 200cc Honda and 223cc Briggs are hard to find.

The 200cc Honda is only on Honda's mowers.

The 223cc Briggs are all electric start with heavy flywheels. They are in the small push mower size range but meant for those cheap rear engine riders poulan and Murray were selling at Walmart a few years ago.

 

[xtell]

Bob-Cat 21-inch walk behind mower. This mower is a beast. Forget the rest - get this one.

 

[jakewells]

i will pass i got all the power i need.

 

[4WD]

Looks like the same Briggs my new Sears Craftsman has … Cuts with authority

 

[AnthemBassMan]

I second Jake's choice, although mine is in rougher shape than his.

L8R,
Matt