Yet Another Toro!

I think I have a problem. Supposed to be getting rid of mowers not acquiring more, but here we are! Picked this Toro Recycler up for $5.





At any rate, it's complete and looks like it was stored inside a lot, as the chrome handlebars are mostly rust free. Deck's even got all of it's paint, and the controls move more freely than they do on my 2-cycle Toro.

Sadly, there's a hole punched through the side of the deck. :/



Gas tank was empty, but the carburetor wasn't. It was gummed up. Really foul smelling. Surprisingly, it's not corroded though. Will I be able to clean it enough to make it usable? Well I hope so since it's apparently discontinued. Noticed it says Wablro on the casting, which isn't unusual. However, I also noticed a little Briggs and Stratton logo on it. I thought this was a Suzuki engine, but it's actually Briggs OHV engine?

Worst looking carb I've ever seen. Kind of an oddball looking mower too. $5 for a $300 mower that looks in decent shape is a deal for sure. Did you get it running?

tom3 said:

Worst looking carb I've ever seen. Kind of an oddball looking mower too. $5 for a $300 mower that looks in decent shape is a deal for sure. Did you get it running?

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Shame about the hole in the deck.

Yeah, that carburetor was nasty, but not the what I've seen. Probably the worst I've atti too salvage though lol.

Not running yet. Ran out of daylight and need to do some more cleaning, plus the bowl gasket broke apart, so need new one.

Dang, i thought ive seen some nasty carbs.
Looks good after you cleaned it, sucks to have the hole in the deck. You could fix it up and sell it, advertise it as "Dual Deck discharge":laughing:

I bet you could swap that carb out for one off a Quantum or Intek. It would take some work, but still doable as long as the bolt patterns are the same.

Nice. I've always wondered what that engine was (seems like a Briggs and Stratton copy of the Suzuki 4 cycle?).

The Suzuki 4 cycle had the muffler on the left side of the engine, when viewed from the front. The valve cover is also different too.

You got lucky as parts are stupid expensive for the Mikuni carb.

Regards

Jeff

primerbulb120 said:

I bet you could swap that carb out for one off a Quantum or Intek. It would take some work, but still doable as long as the bolt patterns are the same.

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You probably could. Turns out it's nearly identical to an older Quantum carburetor. Only differences I can tell are the vent tube, the mounting flange being recessed towards t eh center on the Quantum vs flat on this engine, and that deeper bowl with that washer and bowl nut adapter. You could probably use a regular bowl and bowl nut and it might work. Bowl gaskets are the same, which is good since I needed one (even though Toro lists it as it's own number), as is t he throttle valve shaft, which I used from the Quantum because there was play in the bracket the spring connects to.

jp1961 said:

Nice. I've always wondered what that engine was (seems like a Briggs and Stratton copy of the Suzuki 4 cycle?).

The Suzuki 4 cycle had the muffler on the left side of the engine, when viewed from the front. The valve cover is also different too.

You got lucky as parts are stupid expensive for the Mikuni carb.

Regards

Jeff

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I thought it was a Suzuki as well when I first looked at it. I think that's more to do with the shape of the shroud. It's a bigger engine, definitely not a clone. Apparently it's called Europa. I really wanted a Suzuki engine for parts for the Commercial Toro I also just got which has a Suzuki engine that runs great, but burns oil. That being said, I like this engine as well.

This is by far the worst carburetor I've ever tried to salvage. It reeked of old fuel, there was varnish everywhere, the valves were seized, and it was over just in bad way. However, I don't have another one, and as it turns out it, amazingly, didn't have much corrosion on it. So two cans of carb cleaner and a lot of wire brushing later, here we are:

























And what do you know, after a little shot of carb spray it fired right up! Runs really smooth and quietly. Reminds me of an OHV Honda engine. I like it! Everything seems to work properly. Didn't mow much grass, since it needs an air filter and I didn't want to suck in dirt, yeah, but I'm pleased. Will idle really slowly which is neat, and started back up after shutdown. Assuming it cold starts on it's own this has been a surprising success. Now it just needs a new deck, or a patch...

I've elected to fix this Toro with another Toro. I was trying to think of what to use for a patch, when I realized I still had a Toro deck I hadn't gotten rid of yet. This one is beat to hell, but there's enough good metal on it to make a patch with.

First step was to make a the hole square.





Then cut out a piece of the donor deck in roughly the same area.






The trim to fit, filing the edges at an angle so the patch sits firmly in place



JB Weld and clamp it down.







Not bad I think. As far as patches go, I've seen a lot worse. At some point will sand and repaint it, should look pretty good then!

Definitely a keeper. It runs superb and cuts really well. The BBC doesn't slip like it does on the 2-cycle Suzuki Toro and the drive system and controls work better. It's going to be my daily driver from here on out, especially since I've yet to have time to paint the Ariens and put it back together...like 2 months later!

I seriously doubt that patch will hold.
I get a lot of alloy decks in with patches done with all sorts of goo.
Sikaflex is the only one that will hold up to the vibrations and the abrasions & impacts
The deck really should have been welded.
Next problem was making the patch square, bad idea as the corners become stress intensifiers and that one will crack from the bottom 2 corners to the lower edge of the deck.
If you have to do it again a round patch is much stronger but welding would have been better still.

With a hole that size I simply fill with welding rod running round & round the edges till you sort of have a spiral of fill.
Used to put a plate behind it to support the fill & stop it slumping in but most times I can get away without it.

As for the carb.
There is a reason why Mikuni carbs are $ 300 and parts for them are expensive.
They are substantially better than anything fitted to a modern lawnmower.

If you are going to do this sort of thing regularly it would be worthwhile making a soda blaster from an air duster & plastic bottle.
You will find lots of examples on U_Tube .
Even using standard supermarket soda ( sodium bi-carbonate ) they work very well on carbs like that one and is a lot less toxic than 2 cans of solvents and can even be used on the plastic floats.

Thanks for the pictures and thanks even more for putting each one on a new line.

bertsmobile1 said:

I seriously doubt that patch will hold.
I get a lot of alloy decks in with patches done with all sorts of goo.
Sikaflex is the only one that will hold up to the vibrations and the abrasions & impacts
The deck really should have been welded.
Next problem was making the patch square, bad idea as the corners become stress intensifiers and that one will crack from the bottom 2 corners to the lower edge of the deck.
If you have to do it again a round patch is much stronger but welding would have been better still.

With a hole that size I simply fill with welding rod running round & round the edges till you sort of have a spiral of fill.
Used to put a plate behind it to support the fill & stop it slumping in but most times I can get away without it.

As for the carb.
There is a reason why Mikuni carbs are $ 300 and parts for them are expensive.
They are substantially better than anything fitted to a modern lawnmower.

If you are going to do this sort of thing regularly it would be worthwhile making a soda blaster from an air duster & plastic bottle.
You will find lots of examples on U_Tube .
Even using standard supermarket soda ( sodium bi-carbonate ) they work very well on carbs like that one and is a lot less toxic than 2 cans of solvents and can even be used on the plastic floats.

Thanks for the pictures and thanks even more for putting each one on a new line.

Click to expand...

I don't have access to a weld or know anyone with one, otherwise I would have gone that route. I'll likely just keep an eye out for a solid Toro deck and transfer the parts over if needed.

I've been repairing mowers as a hobby for some time, although I'm trying to just clear our what's left to make room in my garage again. You can see my exploits here:

https://www.lawnmowerforum.com/showthread.php/5601-My-Lawn-Mower-Repair-Thread-(56k-warning)