The Lawnmower Thread

[Supe]

My lawnmower starts but the cord recoils very slowly.  I'm assuming either the spring is bad or it needs grease.  Anyone have this happen?

May just need to be cleaned and regreased.  There's usually a fairly health dose of grease in there to begin with, and it can cake up with crap over time.

 

[youngmotivatedengineer]

My lawnmower starts but the cord recoils very slowly.  I'm assuming either the spring is bad or it needs grease.  Anyone have this happen?

Be careful if it snaps. I had a cord snap and when trying to replace it 2 bolts of the housing got destroyed. 1 snapped in half and the other had the threads damaged so that no matter how much you turned it, it would never tighten. Ended up just replacing it with an electric mower.

 

[MA_PE]

My lawnmower starts but the cord recoils very slowly.  I'm assuming either the spring is bad or it needs grease.  Anyone have this happen?

both reasonable assumptions.  Did you try the quick and dirty approach of spraying it with WD-40?

 

[jeb6294]

^I'll be interested to see how easy my Honda mower is to start this spring, after sitting at -40 all winter.

I'm interested in trying one of the newer rechargeable string trimmers.  I hate hauling around those noisy gas-powered ones, plus mine is sitting disassembled on my bench right now in need of new fuel line, primer bulb, etc..  It seems like battery power and life have increased to the point now with those things that i could do my whole lawn in one charge.  No noise, no cords.  Sounds good to me.  

I've got a 18V Ryobi trimmer I really like.  I already had the Ryobi batteries cause of my cordless tools so adding the trimmer was only like $40 (to get one without batteries).  Obviously not as powerful as a gas trimmer, but it is infinitely more convenient...just plug a battery and go...and it works well for basic trimming and edging.

 

[Ble_PE]

Since I'm probably going to be a homeowner again soon, I'm going to have to read up on this stuff again. 

 

[Dleg]

I've got a 18V Ryobi trimmer I really like.  I already had the Ryobi batteries cause of my cordless tools so adding the trimmer was only like $40 (to get one without batteries).  Obviously not as powerful as a gas trimmer, but it is infinitely more convenient...just plug a battery and go...and it works well for basic trimming and edging.

I've been wanting to buy a Makita for the same reasons - I am already invested in their cordless tools, but I need the larger capacity batteries for the string trimmer and nowadays no one will ship anything with lithium batteries to AK.... I just need to go to the local Makita dealers and ask them to order that particular kit (costs way too much to buy the trimmer and batteries separate).  My trimming duties take all of 20 minutes, so going cordless would knock down the time I spend on it by at least a third - more than enough to enjoy an extra beer when I'm finished.

 

[MA_PE]

didn't Makita get bought by someone and their quailty has dropped substantially (like most of the good tool brands)?

 

[Dleg]

I don't know.  I hope not?  

 

[Road Guy]

don't you have a teenager?

 

[jeb6294]

When I got my Ryobi trimmer I almost got the standard version that came with the battery and charger because the difference in cost wasn't that 'yuge so I figured, if anything, I'd have one more battery to use with all my Ryobi stuff.  I think I ended up finding my trimmer w/o the battery on eBay ridiculously cheap, which is why I got it sans battery.

I have to admit, I find myself keeping up with the trimming and edging a lot more than I used to with the cordless trimmer because it's so easy.

 

[Dleg]

don't you have a teenager?

The Army hasn't turned her into a man yet.

 

[Supe]

Test drove the new Echo trimmer yesterday.  Amazing how substantial the thing feels compared to the Husqvarna it replaced.  Only bumped the head twice for the whole yard, whereas I used to bump every few feet.  The trimmer is well balanced so it feels lighter than it is, and has a buttload of power.  Sounds like a Vance and Hines HD engine compared to the old one.  Well worth the bucks, when you consider its only about $40 more than the turd it replaced.

 

[tj_PE]

fun story. just moved in a couple weeks ago. have a push mower ((wo)man powered) and just recently got a weed wacker which honestly i could probably just mow my lawn with that it's so small.

anyway i was setting up my new tool and the neighbor came over and mowed my lawn for me ♥ took him about 60 seconds, including coming to my lawn from his, but stilllll hit the jackpot on neighbors. 

 

[Supe]

F*cking Honda started misfiring yesterday.  Suspect the carb is buggered with sticking float or needle, since there was some fuel in the air cleaner housing.  Starts fine, idles fine, cuts fine, but then every minute or so would just "shut off" for a split second and then catch itself and keep going.  Did it more when it was allowed to cool down, less when brought back up to temp.  Gas is fresh and ethanol free, plug looked perfect, blew out air cleaner to no avail.  

 

[Master slacker]

Halfway through May and I still haven't cut the grass... or edged... or picked up sticks... or weeded... 

 

[MA_PE]

Halfway through May and I still haven't cut the grass... or edged... or picked up sticks... or weeded... 

I;m in that camp too.  Most weekends have been rainy and then out of a complete lack of desire to rake/spring clean-up I called the landscaper to come and do it.  Still waiting for his visit.

 

[kevo_55]

1st time cutting the grass this season. I even sprayed for weeds.

Ever notice that the expensive weed killer does such a better job than those cheap ones? 

 

[Dleg]

My grass is still brown - it's only  been about a week since the last bit of snow melted in the shady parts.

 

[Supe]

Mine's been growing uncontrollably since February.  If you miss one week, you're usually talking about cutting +-5" off at the next go around.  

 

[Wolverine]

Many moons ago I boasted of the indestructible awesomeness of my Tecumseh powered Murray that I bought at Service Merchandise in 1994.  The mower outlived the store.  This mower survived four houses, a couple of teenagers, one marriage, and never quit.  This mower went bravely into conditions that would make you say "Dear God Man, have some MERCY on that mower!" and it never quit, never died, never gave up being awesome.

Oh no, no, no, it didn't finally die.  But now too many pieces have fallen off of it and I got tired of having to wrap a rubber bungee around the engine to hold the throttle open every time I mowed.

So a friend gave me her "broken" mower.  $12.51 worth of parts later, and bazinga!, new mower.

Old mower has been retired out back under the deck to rust away in peace.  Good mower.