The Lawnmower Thread

[humner]

With our warmer/wetter winter than usual, our front yard was getting a little out of hand. We have a guy who mows our lawn...that's right *******, that's how I roll (actually it's just a landscaping friend of ours who does it for us cheap since I'm overseas). Since this was while I was home I broke out the push mower to give the front yard a quick trim. My Yardman/Honda mower wouldn't start. It hasn't been used that much and it isn't that old, but it's ended up sitting in the shed unused more than two years now so I guess I can't be too terribly upset. The motor is a Honda so I'd imagine it just needs tuned up and it will be fine but I wasn't going to bother since it was just going to be sitting again for at least another year so I just called Pat.

once you get it running again, run a mixture of "Sea Foam" and gas through it. Let the engine go through a tank and then add a cups worth of gas with proper amount of the "blue" gasoline stabilizer and let that run to empty. Next time you get ready to use it, drain and refill the oil, add gas and go.

 

[PE-ness]

With our warmer/wetter winter than usual, our front yard was getting a little out of hand. We have a guy who mows our lawn...that's right *******, that's how I roll (actually it's just a landscaping friend of ours who does it for us cheap since I'm overseas). Since this was while I was home I broke out the push mower to give the front yard a quick trim. My Yardman/Honda mower wouldn't start. It hasn't been used that much and it isn't that old, but it's ended up sitting in the shed unused more than two years now so I guess I can't be too terribly upset. The motor is a Honda so I'd imagine it just needs tuned up and it will be fine but I wasn't going to bother since it was just going to be sitting again for at least another year so I just called Pat.

Dude, with me it's the backyard that's getting out of hand. The guy who mows the front yard seems to do a pretty good job. But the backyard is like a jungle, and it's starting to stink...

 

[Road Guy]

well i figured out how to jerry-rig the lawn mower to by pass the safety lever.. only problem is the only way to kill the engine is to pull the spark plug..

I found a whole in the wall lawn mower shop and ordered the part for $19.00.. hopefully my kids can be back to mowing in record time!

 

[engineergurl]

I usually have someone cut the lawn for me... he's supposed to come every two weeks, because Rex is allergic to something in the back yard and if the weeds get too tall, he breaks out... two weeks were up, I got ticked off and broke out our mower... this is the second time I've had to do that... every time I go to use it, I'm surprised it starts. I've never done any maintenance to it, all I do is pour gas into it (I don't even know when the last time I added oil into it)... it's a briggs and stratton something or another... all I know is that our yard is too big to cut with it

Edit: I so didn't pay attention to who was posting, and then re-read...

 

[Capt Worley PE]

GD government and their GD mandated alcohol in the fuel! Fuel primer bulb that I replaced last year has already been eaten away by the alcohol and is leaking that swill that passes as 'gas' nowadays.

Thank you, government. And you wonder why so many distrust you.

 

[Master slacker]

My weedeater no longer works as the carb is all gunked up. Need to tear it down, but don't feel like it.

 

[mudpuppy]

^I was able to get a new carb for mine for $30. Not worth the hassle of tearing apart and cleaning for that price.

 

[wilheldp_PE]

Was it a Troy Bilt? If so, where'd you get the carb? I'm having trouble keeping mine cranked, and I've read that is the most common problem with them (need to clean, rebuild, or buy a new carb).

 

[Capt Worley PE]

I just going to have to find a place selling akkie-hol free gas. I think there's one in the area, according to the web, but who knows.

 

[Flyer_PE]

Try http://www.pure-gas.org. There are probably other sites out there also.

 

[mudpuppy]

Was it a Troy Bilt? If so, where'd you get the carb? I'm having trouble keeping mine cranked, and I've read that is the most common problem with them (need to clean, rebuild, or buy a new carb).

No, it's a Ryobi. I think I searched online and managed to find a parts list for it, then did an internet search for the part number.

 

[engineergurl]

I gave the weedeater to a friend, who gave it to his dad who fixed it for $3 but hasn't given it back to me because he's 'running the gunk' out of it..

 

[Capt Worley PE]

The primer bulb is so shot (did I thank the GD gov for that? If not, thank you, GD gov), that the MF wouldn't start yesterday.

At least the primer bulb looks easy to replace.

Oh, yeah, and I think I bent the blade again I replaced 5/18. They don't make blades worth a sh!t these days.

 

[OSUguy98]

Had my neighbor take an angle grinder to my mulching blade... surprising how dull it was... haven't mowed with it yet to see how it cuts now, but I had to be careful putting it back on....

 

[humner]

Had my neighbor take an angle grinder to my mulching blade... surprising how dull it was... haven't mowed with it yet to see how it cuts now, but I had to be careful putting it back on....

Did he balance it too? That is done by grinding off on the back side of the blade.

 

[Chucktown PE]

Had my neighbor take an angle grinder to my mulching blade... surprising how dull it was... haven't mowed with it yet to see how it cuts now, but I had to be careful putting it back on....

Did he balance it too? That is done by grinding off on the back side.

That sounds dirty.

 

[Chucktown PE]

When I worked in a hardware store I sharpened at least 20 lawnmower blades a week. I got really good at it. I had to cover the sharp edges in paper bags after a while because people would cut their hands on them.

 

[Dexman PE PMP]

I actually just sharpened mine last weekend. I went the cheap route and did it by hand with a file. It wasn't razor sharp, but at least I got the nicks out which should help.

 

[Capt Worley PE]

Humorous (but oh so true) article on the pros and cons of various types of mowers:

http://blog.al.com/living-press-register/2009/08/slow_and_easy_cuts_the_lawn.html

 

[Capt Worley PE]

Well, I have to offer thanks to the gods of B&S once again.

Was going to mow MIL's yard, but the mower (that was resurrected with a pull or two after a decade and a half slumber) would start, run 10 seconds, then die. I thought it wasn't picking up fuel, so I filled it all the way up, no joy.

So, while futzing with it, I figured I'd "start it racecar style' as we used to call it back in the day, so i removed the filter...hmmm..carb looks uber clean...prine, prime, prime, pull...boom, ran like a top. Shut it off, looked at the filter, and it was grodewy. Being to lazy to run to the hardware store, and figuring a little water would help knock out some carbon deposits, I hosed the filter off, screwed it back together, yanked the cord, and mowed away.

I'm wondering now how many mowers tossed out these days could just use a simple tune.