Odds on

1 extra press of the prime pump will have you looking like an idiot, when it floods, on a Honda.

They are the ones to go for though.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

I don't think the primer on my Qualcast (Tecumseh) does anything, it always starts first pull no matter how many times I press it. Although ten presses does gives a an impressive smoke cloud when it fires up....as does storing it with the cylinder head pointing down

TopBanana

You might find this useful in future... Candian redneck fixes 3 Tecumseh mowers. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2aqlVajHKc (also part 2 and part 3)

StickyMicky

petrol is more testosterone fuelled imo

when i took over the wash i found an old petrol mower stored away, it was broke, one day when i was raining badly and we had nothing to do, we stripped it down for rebuild, it had a rudimentary carb fitted, and we started messing with the settings, new spark plug in and it fired up after about 20 pulls, only now it was screaming at max RPM possible and we had removed the exhaust removed anything to catch the grass, so it dumped them back on the ground (large grass areas, takes to long to empty the grass bag all the time)

we left it as it was, as it was now called "the beast"

made a right racket, but never got bogged down, even in wet grass

eventually the blades snapped off the bottom, so we bought a new one, its mod free at the moment

Shark Man

Can't belive people chuck out pefectly good mowers. The only time I would chuck something like that is if the deck had rusted apart and can't be welded+patched or the engine had seized (actually, I've rebuilt seized lawnmower engines....strip of sandpaper on the crank journals and new bearing shells and its good to go....

Here's one I rebuilt earlier (B & S): http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k3...b/DSC00045.jpg

Nothing complex to them at all (note plastic oil pump plunger body - still good on this one), hardest part was getting the alloy blade mount off the steel crank shaft (aluminium+steel = galvanic corrosion).


Still got an Atco 17" cylinder mower, B&S engine: 40 odd years old, grass box long since disintergrated, but its still works, carb is fooked so it either runs very rich, or very lean. Whenever checking the oil level, the oil has a metallic pigment to it, only changed it once. It has no exhaust, the exhaust valve is burnt out (due to the bad mixture), so it backfires quite impressively. The clutch slips, the engine speed governor doesn't work, it won't idle, it vibrates your teeth out. But....

It always starts first time, and it still cuts. ...Ain't broke, don't fix


and on teh subject of fixing mower:

Got an electric mow? lack power? Cuts out? Smells of burning? Catches fire sometimes? ( )

This could be the problem (I pulled this out my uncle's skip): http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k3...r/DSC00210.jpg

Clean+strip motor, polish commutator, square off the brushes, oil bearings and put it back together.

Blades keep going blunt?

They need surface hardening....Sharpen, get a blow torch (preferably MAP gas), heat up (get it as hot as you can), then quench in a bucket of cold water. Then repeat two or three times. Won't go blunt as quick then

Shark Man

Just been looking at this guy's other vids....He's nuts!: YouTube - bad air day huge car jump

Spoon

r32

Honda, mine is 25 years old, looks superb, runs like new and is used twice a week in the summer.
I'd never buy any thing else.

Hoppy

After 40 years of mowing, I've tried everything. I now have a:

Honda.

Petrol.

Rotary with rollers.

Not the cheapest, but certainly the best.

Richard.

dan/scooby

iTrader: (2)

self propeled hayters are horrible to work on

Dr.No

No other option... Toro... as used by most top golf courses, Wimbledon, Premiership football clubs, etc.

Toro Recycler - petrol rotary mulcher - fantastic piece of kit.

The important parts, as far as I'm concerned, are:

- Cast aluminium deck... no rusting, very durable (can be hosed down for ever - inside and out - without fear of turning into a lump of rust!)
- Petrol - Briggs & Stratton
- Rotary, with recycler/mulcher - so no need to empty grass bags
- Self powered
- Quick and easy height adjustment - with one control to raise lower entire deck... none of this fiddling with each wheel business.

The Toro that I have goes a bit further and also has:

- Variable speed based on it moving as fast as you walk - clever stuff...
- Electric key operated starter... no need for a pull-start, but it's got one just in case. Battery is often flat at the start of the season!

They're expensive - but the best...

Toro

pacenote

Another vote for Toro.

I picked one up from here

eBay

excellent bit of kit

dynamix

iTrader: (3)

Petrol .... and run it on Methanol and get the lawn mowed quicker

Dr.No

The dog's:

GardenLines - Lawnmowers - Recycler - Toro Wh20796 53cm Key Start

dpb

Dont really get the recylcing thing - i mean if your onto the job a few weeks late the stuff has to go somwhere, presumably just overing the rest of the growing lawn

Deep Singh

Thanks for all the input. I'm a bit confused by this recycler/mulcher, what actually happens to all the mulched stuff?

Btw how much do those Toros cost?

Cheers

al4x1

mulchers just chop the grass up really fine and leave it in the grass so in theory it rots easily and puts all the nutrients back into the grass. Fine in theory but if you don't mow for a week and it gets too long they leave grass everywhere. Personally a Hayter or Honda self propelled with roller is what you want but neither are cheap

Deep Singh

Thanks. I'll go for a Honda jobbie, they have some at Costco, I'll see if they are self propelled

Dr.No

That's the thing - there are mulchers and there are mulchers...

The Toro's are generally accepted as being the best mulching mower you can get - at reasonable cost - and mine simply makes the cuttings disappear, as if by magic.

I certainly don't cut every week, and quite often leave it for quite a while until quite long... and on the odd occasion, yes, you do get a little visible cutting - but nothing significant. After all, it's not easy to lose 3" of cuttings in 1" of grass...

During the season, if you cut every week or two and literally just take the normal amount off - even cutting very short - the cuttings just seem to disappear... you get the 'collected' look without having to dispose of the cuttings.

More than happy to take some before and after photos if anyone's really interested....