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i finally scored a free snapper with 2cycle wr engine!!....to go with my 4cycle and 2 other briggs snappers. picked it up today, only about 30 miles away. well worth the drive. it runs perfect too. the guy got it as pertial payment from some work he did and just didn't want it. too loud and smokey for him. the pics are of it as of today, it just needs a little cleaning but eventually i would like to completely disassemble it, sandblast the deck and handlebars and spray with some good automotive enamel (incuding painting the SNAPPER letters in front by hand) and repace all the drive hardware with new. for now, i'm happy just the way it is. FINALLY!!!!!!!:tongue:

Great find, for free. :thumbsup: Wow! 2 cycle snapper, I would love to find one. :laughing: Thanks for the pics. What year is it, Hp etc. Tell us more.:drink:

Well I'm not sure the year because the motor is not on the original deck (the deck model number is not commercial). But it's got to be early to mid '80s. It's the WI-125 an it's rated at 4hp but we all know that's under-rated. Yep I can't wait to clean it up a bit. I know what I'll be mowing the grass with this weekend !

I also need to swap out the plastic front wheels with a pair of steel that I have on the shelf. It came with a good bag but it's black and since I'm a nut about "IT HAS TO MATCH ORIGINAL RED AND WHITE" it's on Craigslist. I have 2 z-closure and 1 door flap bags - all white.

2 cycles so rare here in CA that I'm sure some people will wonder just what the heck it is.

Nice addition to your stable. I know you will be :biggrin:ing while you mow with it this weekend.

I have yet to find any vintage snapper ads with a WR motor. But I'll keep looking!!!

Nice my in laws have one and the deck is cast aluminum

OK so that deck the 2cycle came on was pretty beat up so i swapped it for the deck with the Briggs 4hp IC. while engine was off i cleaned it up and swapped engines. took fuel tank off and got all the grass and dirt that was stuck between it and the engine out of there, sprayed it all with simple green and hosed it off. cleaned up real nice. now just waiting on the correct throttle to come in the mail in a few days and need to replace spark plug but is my #1 machine now. El Presidente!!:smile:

Shoot, I had a snapper mower just like the one u got for free, I got it working but I ended up scrapping it cause I found out that I could only get like $10 for it

O man that hurts!! Sorry to hear that. Keep looking you'll find one again.

hey guys, finally got the new correct throttle for the 2cycle. to my surprise it is red not black like the other new one i got for the 4cycle a couple months ago. i do like the red, more accurate to original red throttles these came with. very solid feel though, action is tight. here's a few pics.

Just found a 2 cycle WR...wish I was closer to them. They are cheap enough!
TWO WISCONSIN ENGINES

Hey I called this guy and looked into shipping them out to me. He was real nice, retired guy who just works on mowers now and he said he wouldn't mind shipping them out to me but he wasn't sure how to set it up so i looked into it trhough my work (i work at fedex) and it was going to be several hundred dollars to ship all the way from him in i think Indiana to me in CA. I should have known it would be too much but TWO w/r engines for $50 (he said he'd take $50 and i would have mailed him cash). O well.:frown:

That stinks! He is about 3 hours from me. I'd go get them if I had some snapper push mowers, but all I have is rear engine riders. Wish you could have saved them! Hope they don't wind up in the scrap pile.

Want to really drool?...there is a PERFECT-condition old Snapper with the W/R WI-185 5hp on ebay right now for $249. The full commercial model. If i had to guess, 21R00PC. If i knew how to add a link i would but am dumb. U gotta look it up though it looks like it was in the garage since day one. Totally worth the money. O ya the bad news, it's in North Dakota. No shipping. I can't even look at it anymore i'm so jealous. I would buy it in a heartbeat if i wasn't 1500 miles away.

That's a nice looking mower for sure. Has the same engine as mine, which has done an awesome job so far. I have ordered a mulch cover, ninja blade, and for an extra kick, a lawn striper to mount to it.

Here are a couple pictures of my first Snapper. I put the striper on it today. Still waiting on the Ninja mulch blade.

Looks good! Man I need some of these push mowers! Found another odd one today. Ever seen one of these? I kinda doubt it would have been produced with this engine. Must be a mower somebody's done some swaping on.

Propelled Lawn mower Snapper Echo Two Stroke

I like it. But not that price. I don't know much about snappers (lawn boy preferred), but I like the 2-cycle motor it has. I'd offer $50 at best.

i like that lawn striper! where did u find that???

Snapperfreak said:

i like that lawn striper! where did u find that???

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http://www.m-and-d.com/MD-ROLL1.html

It works good. Tight places are a little tricky though. The tube is filled with sand. It's 4" I believe. Toro makes a nice walk-behind striping unit, but costs a little more.

Snapperfreak said:

Want to really drool?...there is a PERFECT-condition old Snapper with the W/R WI-185 5hp on ebay right now for $249. The full commercial model. If i had to guess, 21R00PC. If i knew how to add a link i would but am dumb. U gotta look it up though it looks like it was in the garage since day one. Totally worth the money. O ya the bad news, it's in North Dakota. No shipping. I can't even look at it anymore i'm so jealous. I would buy it in a heartbeat if i wasn't 1500 miles away.

Click to expand...

Hi Snapperfreak... I was going to tell you that I have an original Snapper 4hp Wisconsin-Robin 2 cycle self propelled mower. I bought it new in either 1988 or 1989. I never used it very much but it's always been a great little mower. Your White collection bag with the black lettering is identical to the one that came with mine. I still have it but have rarely used it. The deck on mine is steel not aluminum. It's too danged heavy to be aluminum. I bought the mower from an ACE Hdwr / Snapper dealer in Corbin, KY and used it in KY maybe a couple of times a year (used a weed trimmer instead) until we moved to Tennessee last year. Many of the years living in KY, the Snapper was only started once a year and run for a few minutes and then put away in the garage. I've used it more this past year than in all the years combined back to the original purchase date.
Also, the throttle on mine is black, not red if you are looking for originality. The only issue I've had with mine was a leak in the fuel tank several years ago. The tank is plastic and split for some odd reason. I replaced the tank from Snapper parts (cost of tank $105). At the time, I probably wouldn't have paid that for the tank because of the limited use but my wife picked it up.
I have a couple of those Snapper (?) Ninja blades that are great for mulching leaves here in Middle TN. I still have the original blade that came on the mower as well.

Wow sammyslab that's great that you still have your snapper that you bought new! I'd love to see pics of that if you get the chance sometime! I always enjoy finding mowers from their original owners or their family members and the stories that often go with them. A lot has changed with my collection since I first posted this thread over 5 years ago. That particular 2-cycle mower I don't have anymore but I do have one in much better shape...plus 16 others...and a couple Hondas. But as I found ones in better condition I'd part others out or make one good one out of two, stuff like that. 6 of my current 19 mowers came from their original owners. I could go on and on with those stories....

Yes yours is definetly a steel deck if you purchased it in '88 or '89, aluminum decks ended in '79 or '80. And I think the red throttles that the Robin snappers came with switched to black in '88 or '89, my 145 snapper is an '89 (from the original owner's grandson) and it had a black throttle. I did switch it to red though. That hardware store you bought it from, we have those here too and I remember vividly seeing them for sale in the local one we used to shop at. I was about 10 at the time. I was such a freak back then. Glad you dug up this old thread, love your personal snapper story!