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HI Gang:

I recently rebuilt the fuel, spark and governor systems on my 1970 Lawnboy. I have found that parts are very difficult to find and they have become very expensive.

I recently paid $50.00 for a governor rebuild kit for my mower! I was told that I was very lucky to get it as parts for these old mowers are becoming very difficult to obtain. Yes, there is E Bay but to find the CORRECT part can be very chancy at best!

I like to use a 1970 model 5239 as it is great for trimming. I do have a couple of newer 21" cut LB mower but they are just a bit too unweildy for the ltttle lady.

Where is a source for LB parts that do not cost a fortune. The repair shops in my area have all been picked clean of LB parts!

What are your thought about the LB mowers that are for sale on E Bay? They seem very high and replacement parts for them would also be a problem to find.

Perhaps with all of the new parts i my mower, I can expect many years of trouble free mowing! Lol


Stay well,

Franchi

Then there is the cost of a cookie-cutter lawn mowers in the showrooms today that last ___?

Most people ride their mowers hard and put them away wet. These new mowers look good out the showroom floor but you can't treat them like the old-school mowers - they are not built that way anymore.

Your 1970 LB (let me get my calculator out) ok that's 43 years. How much does that mower owe you? You tho $100 at it every 40 years and it's costing too much hehehe.. Just kidding, sounds like a new big-wheeler is about to be financed.

Did you do the work or hire a shop to?

Hi:

Yes, I do all of my own work!

In the last two years I have replaced tho following:
flywheel
points
condenser
coil
spark plug
spark plug wire and fittings
governor parts,all
wheels
fuel tank tap
float
needle and seat
carb gaskets
fuel line
starter rope
starter spring
starter pinion and spring
There must be some other things that I forgot to add to this list. Lol

Why do I go through all of this trouble you may ask? I really enjoy the ease of use that this 19" mower provides. It is for the little lady as I can not push a mower any longer. I really take care of my woman! LOl I think that tis mower weighs about 10 kilos which is not much to push around the yard.

I just missed a 1972 19" LB that had the Electronic Ignition and all of the accessories. It was like new!!! It sold for $125.00 which I thought was a screaming deal! ^$&)()*&$#$&^)^!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh yes, I do have 3 of the 21" Lawnboys but I think that the old 19" is the Bee's Knees to use. Once I use the 1970 19" LB no other mower would ever touch my hands! Lol

Stay well,

Franchi

I don't spend all that much maintaining my mowers but I can't remember ever buying a major part. I buy old mowers and get the major parts from them. I buy routine stuff -- filters, fuel line, etc online.

It is expensive to buy major parts for some of the older mowers (like the D-series) if you have no choice but to go on eBay and bid.

I might add that it's been getting harder to find old mowers at a good price to use as parts machines.

I guess I'm getting into this sport at the wrong time.
I do see many threads with guys coming home with a truck-load of old LB's and I gotta say, "dam! lucky find"..

Hey franchi, get the old doll a nice light self propelled LB. Win win..
You get her a big heavy 4 stroke and you wont be able to enjoy watching Hen cuttin the grass. Instead she'll be watching the 16-20 year old 'Lawn Boy' you have to hire to cut your grass every week.. :licking:

franchi said:

HI Gang:I do have a couple of newer 21" cut LB mower but they are just a bit too unweildy for the ltttle lady. Franchi

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Hey frenchi, I gotta ask, by "little lady", your not referring to yourself right?:laughing:

Hi:

All she uses the 19" for is trimming where I can not mow with the riding mower. It has been her favourite mower for many years!!!



Franchi

WhyZed said:

I guess I'm getting into this sport at the wrong time.
...

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In the four years that I've been a LB hobbyist I've seen them become more scarce so you're right about your timing.

However, your place (in Ontario near the factories where they were made) is very good. I think you'll find many great deals on LBs in your area if you keep looking.

Two-Stroke said:

In the four years that I've been a LB hobbyist I've seen them become more scarce so you're right about your timing.

However, your place (in Ontario near the factories where they were made) is very good. I think you'll find many great deals on LBs in your area if you keep looking.

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I think I'll find and fix what I can till I come across the right mower to make my personal keeper. I don't quite know which one that is yet.

franchi said:

Hi:

Yes, I do all of my own work!

In the last two years I have replaced tho following:
flywheel
points
condenser
coil
spark plug
spark plug wire and fittings
governor parts,all
wheels
fuel tank tap
float
needle and seat
carb gaskets
fuel line
starter rope
starter spring
starter pinion and spring
There must be some other things that I forgot to add to this list. Lol
Stay well, Franchi

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Were all those parts needed to keep your mower mowin?

I have a 1993 gold series and the only maintenance it has required besides tune ups are one new blade, coil, and I just last week replaced the drive belt. Still runs great, no surging, or smoking. The old LB's are great mowers and worth fixing.

Sp1nn3rman said:

I have a 1993 gold series and the only maintenance it has required besides tune ups are one new blade, coil, and I just last week replaced the drive belt. Still runs great, no surging, or smoking. The old LB's are great mowers and worth fixing.

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I agree,
I think franchi replaced alot of parts looking for the solution to a problem he was having with a LB.
I can't see all those parts listed as 'required' to keep his mower running..

franchi please trust me, I'm not calling you out in any way, I'm just a realist. :ashamed:
I know there are odd problems with the Rolls Royces, BMW & LB's

My insignificant point is, if you want real unsolvable problems - by a $ Stroke from a big box store..

Hello:

I guess that I should give a heads up on why I replaced so many parts on my 5239 mower. Perhaps one may understand what I was doing for the last several years .

The first year it was fuel problems. This included fuel leaking fron the shutoff at the tank. This was replaced.

The engine always leaked fuel from between the carb halves, To solve this, I replaced the needle and seat, float and gaskets. This did not stop the leak. At the same time, raw fuel was being ejected from the carb while the engine was running. I checked the reeds and reed plate and replaced the gasket between the reed plate and the engine. After a couple of years of being confused by this problem, I stumbled into the cure for the too much fuel problem. Despite the fact that I had replaced the float, the float was hanging up in the fully open position. Why did this happen? I do not know but it did . It stopped hanging up by itself! PFM! Yes, all of the parts that I replaced were the correct ones!

The engine's electrical problem lasted for about three years. The engine would lose spark for no reason thus a quest for thie soloution to the intermittant spark problem.

I began with the spark plug, then the points,condensor, and lastly the coil. It was a bad coil! I replaced the coil with a used coil that worked well, One day, the used coil gave up with no spark. I bought a new coil and while I was replacing the coil, I noticed tha the wire from the points to the coil had broken under the coil. I researched the problem and found the LB did have aproblem with faulty coils.

The next problem was that the flywheel had hit the legs on the coil. The flywheel also hit the governor and destroyed the governor. Inspection showed that the flywheel had a crack in the centre that permitted the flyweel to sit lower on the crankshaft thus hitting the other parts. Thus the need for a new flywheel!

The wheels were replaced due to splitting of the tires due to age.

As one can see, I now have an engine that is almost new! Lol

I did find a LB that I asked about several weeks ago had not been sold to the original buyer. I got it for $125.00. It is supposed to be like new, It is a 19" with the solid state ignittion system. The only problem is that it is 3.5 hours away! Lol

Can you say that I really like the 19" LB mowers that have the cast decks! Since my wife does all of the trimming, I like to provide her with a mower that is easy to handle. Now to sell my fleet of 21" mowers!

I hope that this explains why I spent so much money, time and aggravation of keeping the 5239 running.

Franchi

I recently purchased an inventory of mostly obsolete lawnboy parts from a small town repair shop near my home. I have around 240 to 250 different part numbers.

oldboys said:

I recently purchased an inventory of mostly obsolete lawnboy parts from a small town repair shop near my home. I have around 240 to 250 different part numbers.

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You could sell some of that stuff on eBay after you decide which parts you are likely to use.

I wouldn't call new-old-stock parts for two-cycle Lawn-Boys "obsolete". :laughing:

I actually had a 22 inch lawnboy at one time,wish now I had kept it seeing as how it's impossible to find them anymore, and were pretty rare when you could find them!!!!!:ashamed::confused2::frown:

oldboys said:

I recently purchased an inventory of mostly obsolete lawnboy parts from a small town repair shop near my home. I have around 240 to 250 different part numbers.

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I have a LB -gold series model # 10655-ser # 240016614-That I need a housing assm for part # 106-8343-.can you check if have this part we might be able to make a deal

there are a lot of lawnboys in pennsylvania you should have no problem finding parts mowers on craigslist but yes the older ones are getting harder to find except here in wisconsin you need to hook up with someone on this forum who has a lot of parts or whole mowers.but with all the new parts on your mower it wont need anything for awhile anyway remember nothing lasts forever but lawnboys come pretty damn close

WhyZed said:

Were all those parts needed to keep your mower mowin?

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I offer most of those parts to whyzed for 35 dollars but he didn't like the deal.

The fact is, you can't buy a mower that can do what the Lawnboy can do well. No more 2-strokes. No more very light mowers. No more stagger-wheel front discharge mowers. It is darn well worth it to keep the Lawnboy 2-strokes running. Now, not all Lawnboys are super light (Can you say "M" series). But, at least to me, they all cut and distribute the grass clippings more evenly than any other mower.

I dunno,,,on my 1999 Duraforce LawnBoy, I've had to replace the engine stop cable (rusted and broke), primer bulb (cracked), carb needle and seat, and replaced the recoil starter cord. I think about 80.00 in parts total,,,not bad for a 15 year old mower, that now, still runs like new.

Jeff

I hear you on the high cost of repairing the old lawnboys. I mow lawns as a part time business. I only use lawnboys for all trim mowing and on a few small yards I can't get my riding mowers on. I pay a lot of $$ every year keeping my lawnboys running. I have 2 newer dura force motors and 4 lawnboys at least 30 years old. I love the cut they give and I love the looks and remarks I get when people see them on my trailer. I just try to keep plenty of parts on hand for any breakdowns.

I think what it is, is that people who love machinery appreciate Lawnboys for their unique differences. Sure, you could have a shiney, new Weedeater mower from Walmart every couple of years; but would that be FUN? That being said, there ARE some Lawnboys out there, even two-strokes, which are garbage. Ever try mowing with a 20" self-propelled rear bagger "school bus" model? They turn poorly and are difficult to pull backwards. Horrible. But then there are the 80s, staggered wheel F-Engine models that are simple, handle well and are almost indestructable. And the 19" Ds, that are like pushing a feather. THOSE are worth dumping money into because they are just plain COOL and will pay you back for your effort.

Well as a newbie here...but i have for a long time thought of this too...but these are my thoughts...i would rather have a older quality machine that can be repaired and maintained for my lifetime instead of new junk that is disposable and needs to be bought over and over...too many are unwilling or unable to do the maintenance themselves ..they would rather just buy over and over...for me i am happy to buy one and keep it maintained no matter the cost...if you figure it out...it will cost you less to maintain one in the long run...anything worth having is worth taking case of..just my 2 cents...

I have many different parts for the old lawn boys. If you know the part you need, reply with the part or part number and I can see if I have it. Then I can respond with my email and phone. I also have decks, motors, shrouds, gas tanks, and wheels. I am in Missouri, Lincoln county area.

i feel its up to you . i enjoy my mowers . irarely use them but its a hobby to me . its a lot cheaper than maintaining an old car . if i have to spend 100 even 200 a year it is worth it to me. :smile:

i agree it is worth it repairing the well made stuff like these...new stuff is so poorly made....and i love the older stuff...these machines will last a lifetime if properly maintained....