Slow, SLOW self propelled mower

[JDgreen227]

Last year I purchased a Brute (Briggs and Stratton manufactured) 22 inch self propelled walk behind push mower. It has the 190cc, 6.75 torque rating Briggs engine. It starts in one or two pulls, cuts well, is fuel efficient, and I like it except for one factor:

In self propelled mode, it is SLOW...agonizingly slow. I marked off a 528 foot distance, then ran it in self propelled mode that far and timed it. It took almost THREE MINUTES (2 min and 53 seconds exactly) to travel that far, meaning it is moving at just over 2 mph. I can easily walk at 3.5 to 4 mph following a push mower so I am practically tripping over my own feet using this mower. I have a YardPro (Husqvarna) with the Chinese Kohler Courage XT-7 that would only do 2.5 mph, I bent the tab on the spring that controls the governor linkage and ZIP, the engine runs fast enough now to get 3.5 mph.

I am wondering if anybody else thinks their self propelled mowers are really slow, I remember the Craftsman self propelled mower I had back in 2004 as being so fast I could barely keep up with it...:laughing:

 

[oldnslo]

Have you checked to see if the drive mechanism can be adjusted or is slipping?

Will it spin the drive wheels under load? If not I would suspect somthing is slipping or out of adjustment.

 

[JDgreen227]

Have you checked to see if the drive mechanism can be adjusted or is slipping?

Will it spin the drive wheels under load? If not I would suspect somthing is slipping or out of adjustment.

Good point, yes it will easily spin the drive wheels and it is so new (20 operating hours) nothing is slipping or out of adjustment. I just think they build the engines to run at a much lower rpm than they used to.

 

[oldnslo]

Engine should be running around 3400 - 3600 RPM. Most of the new mowers have a tang you can bend to change the RPM. Do you have a tach to see where it is running at today? I agree that a lot of newer mowers are running slow. Not sure if this is an attempt at meeting EPA or noise.

Good luck

 

[2LateIWon]

I have a Toro personal pace lawn mower and love it it will go as fast as I want to. Some times on the bottom (I don't know how yours is) theres a belt that goes to the crank shaft(under the mower) that rides on a pulley. I had one that had 2 different pullies. One made it go a bit fast than the other.

 

[CompactTractorFan]

We have a Honda 21" that has 5 or so speeds (it goes 4 mph max...BTW, in the first two or so speeds it does not move at all )...Anyway, when I'm mowing I'm actually pushing the mower...Way to slow for me...

 

[JDgreen227]

We have a Honda 21" that has 5 or so speeds (it goes 4 mph max...BTW, in the first two or so speeds it does not move at all )...Anyway, when I'm mowing I'm actually pushing the mower...Way to slow for me...

What is funny is, my 83 year old mom in law wanted to buy a new push mower and she asked me for advice, she wanted one that was really slow in self propelled mode, I had her try mine and she thought the 2.1 mph speed was ideal so we went to get her one. I shoulda just given her mine.

 

[CompactTractorFan]

What is funny is, my 83 year old mom in law wanted to buy a new push mower and she asked me for advice, she wanted one that was really slow in self propelled mode, I had her try mine and she thought the 2.1 mph speed was ideal so we went to get her one. I shoulda just given her mine.

:thumbsup: