My Lawn Mower Repair Thread (56k warning)

[hanyoukimura]

Tomorrow if the weather is decent, I'm going to work on this one:

I think its a Craftsman, I forget. Guy emailed me asking if I could look at it for him and give him a price on repairing it. He dropped it off then told me the next day that his neighbor gave him one, so I could have it if I wanted. Sweet.

It turns out he bought this last year from another guy who sells mowers on the other side of town. I guess it ran fine at first but then wouldn't run correctly. As it turns out, somehow that intake tune have broken in half. I have to pick a new one up tomorrow.

The mower itself has been repainted, it looks decent except the guy never bothered to patch the small rust hole, I will.

I'm going to steal its wheels for one of my mowers and replace them with different ones that are in good shape, just not what I want for the mower I want these wheels for.

 

[hanyoukimura]

Well my Poulan Pro push mower now has a new set of wheels. I quite like the white on black, and not only are the wheels nice, but I fixed the axles so there's no more play in them either. It works so much better now. Promptly put it to work mowing the shop next door's back yard and the island between us, where some of the crap back there was four feet high! No sweat for this thing though. I love this mower. It's a real tank. Never once did the engine bog down. I originally had plans to sell it when I first got it, but this has become my "beater mower" to tackle the big stuff I wouldn't want to subject my nicer ones too. Not that it does get well cared for of course. :biggrin:

Meanwhile, the donor mower didn't make out completely empty handed. I took the wheels off an old Murray with a bad deck, so it got ball bearing, metal wheels all the way around.

That's about all I've had time for.

Today I picked up a lovely new tool to make boring plastic wheels easier and more precise, a Ryobi DP100 drill press. Very happy with it. :smile:

I have the weekend off, but besides mowing the lawn I doubt I'll get to an lawn mowers. This weekend's big project is replacing the evaporator core in my car.

Fun, fun, fun!

 

[hanyoukimura]

Well its been fun (not really, this took about 15 hours spread over 4 days) but now its done. I now have air conditioning! :biggrin:

Back to mowers :tongue:

Today was a productive afternoon.

I finally, finally finished the 11A-54MB055. It's been sitting around since last fall! My long shaft blade adapters came in and work perfectly to make the blade be at the proper level. It's already to go to a new home.

After I got that finished I turned my attention to the gray Craftsman mower. Replaced the intake manifold, replaced the spark plug, replaced the handlebars and blade brake cable, cleaned the carburetor, replaced the diaphragm, and primer bulb. Started second pull. I have to adjusted the throttle and governor springs, touch up small hole in the deck, and do a tuneup and it'll be all set to go.

Finally, I got this thing. It's a Yard Machine that was given to me. The engine is good (needs some work but runs), but the deck is beyond salvaging. The rear axles are even messed up. Note the wing not on the right axle. Good for parts though. I already stole the cable for the Yard Man. I'm thinking the engine may find a home on that Toro I have with the dead Tecumseh...

 

[S.E.M.]

ok well i just got one like your ate up yardmachine. first thing noticed is the engine looks to big for the deck, not used to that one. the other 2 i have are running weak for some reason ill have to see what that could be.

 

[thadpk]

You do a great job there!!! Looks like you have a thriving side business.:thumbsup:

 

[hanyoukimura]

Yeah it's not bad. :smile:

A man came buy today to look at the Yard Man and Craftsman. He didn't care for either as they didn't seem heavy duty enough for what he wanted. He then saw the Poulan Pro and asked about that. Long story short I reluctantly sold it for good money. I'll miss it though. It was a real tank that powered through waist high weeds without breaking a sweat, especially after putting those new wheels on.

Farewell old friend. Oh well I still have a self-propelled version in the basement.

 

[hanyoukimura]

I've decided to start tackling a project now that most of the current mowers are finished.

The engine's junk, sounds like thrown connecting rod, and while the paint looks ok in the photo, most of it is bubbled and no longer bonded with the metal.

Closer inspection today revealed that there's actually corrosion on the aluminum deck and it has some small holes in it.

So the first step was removing the engine and getting it cleaned up a bit the the pressure washer. After that I patched the holes. I've elected to use Quick Steel which seems to work great.

Before calling it a day I got 3 of the 4 wheels removed and most of the paint off, and the underside of the deck cleaned up. I might be able to finish prep tomorrow and if so I'll prime and paint it over the weekend when its less humid.

The new heart will come courtesy of this thing.

I'd love to find a Toro engine cover for it.

 

[Two-Stroke]

Great job on the auto air conditioner. That has to be one of the most difficult mechanical jobs -- working under the dash of a modern car (the old ones aren't so bad, generally.)

Do you know if the Suzuki engine will bold onto the Toro deck that you're restoring? I've heard that the different engines are interchangeable. I'm interested because I'd like to get a side-discharge deck for my Suzuki-Toro.

Keep up the good work.

 

[hanyoukimura]

Yeah it was a pain but it was worth it, especially today. We hit 97 degrees and I was perfectly comfortable in my car. :biggrin:

Bolt pattern wise it probably is. The Toro I'm working on now has patterns for what appears to be both side and front facing mounts. I can't stand side or rear facing engines so this one will face front.

Thing is the Suzuki Toro has a blade clutch plus the self propelled system so I'm not sure I could swap them. It'd be nice. I'd rather have the push Toro with the Suzuki for myself and sell the self-propelled model.

 

[hanyoukimura]

Got a bit more done today before work. I've gotten all of the loose paint and corrosion off. There's a few small areas to patch and then I have to sand it to make it look nice for paint.