lawn boy repair

[Schultz]

Model # 8226
Ser # 5064139

Thanks
Tim

 

[Molerj]

Tim, Your model was made in 1967-68.

 

[Schultz]

Wow.....that’s a lot older than I thought it was, it’s got me by a year or two.
I can’t believe it runs as well as it does. It still has more power than other 4stroke mowers we've had. I put one new spark plug in it when we got it and I take it out and clean it when my wife complains about it starting hard. That’s all I ever do to it.
Now I have to keep it original and just fix the leaks. A restored 67-68' lawn boy, I suppose it would make an all right mother's day favor.

Thanks /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Tim

 

[BigDave]

Tim,

Definitely fix the old one. My father had a circa 1970 LawnBoy that he used about 20 years without doing a lick of maintenance, not even draining to gas tank in the winter. Based upon his experience, I bought one in 95, used it for light duty. There was no comparison, the ones you find in Lowes are no better than any other push mower. The carburator on mine was made of plastic and it didn't last long with similar neglect.

I guess I also need to qualify my above statments, my father paid around $250 in 1970, and I paid about $200 in 1995. So today, my father's mower would probably cost close to $1000.

 

[Molerj]

I tend to agree that the new ones aren't as good as the old ones. As for the gas, the gas is a little different now than it used to be. There are alot more additives that does not allow the gas to last as long as it used to. 250.00 in 1970 sure sounds expensive. I have several old ones that still run well. One is a 1958 & the other is a 1964. I use the '64 on a regular basis. Nice little, light 18 incher.

 

[BigDave]

$250 certainly was expensive....my mother reminded him for years that he spent an entire paycheck on a lawnmower. According to LawnBoy's history, 1970 was the first year for their all new 2-stroke engines, so maybe they were charging a premium. I know it had an aluminum deck, & bearings in the wheels, so today it would be a commercial piece of equipment. Of course that was 33 years ago, so maybe I've had a couple of synapses cross paths and I could be totally wrong. I'll ask my mother, I'm pretty sure she could tell me how much it was down to the penny...did I tell you she was mad. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[Bird]

Yep, Dave, $250 was a lot of money for a lawnmower in 1970, and that was the price of a new one. So that's the reason I bought my "used" one in 1971 for $125. Every time I mowed the yard, when I finished, I hosed off the mower, top and bottom with the garden hose, turned off the gas at the petcock under the tank, restarted it and let it run until it ran out of gas. That dried it out pretty well and also left no gas/oil mix in the carburetor. The other great thing about it was the fact that it took so little effort to pull the starter rope as compared to most other mowers.

 

[ernemats]

I have a lawn boy mower that my father purchased new in 1981, my wife still uses it on a regular basis, we have never had any problems with it. Several years after my father bought it , he was in his 80's he put gas in it without any oil mix and it locked the engine up. We took it to a repair shop and they put some new parts in the engine and it has worked fine since then.

 

[Schultz]

I should have the mower restored this weekend. In a way I feel like I'm fixing a bic lighter, but I just can't throw it out since it runs as good as it does. Besides my wife likes it.
When I went to get parts for it, the owner of the shop said he ocasonally sees Lawn Boy mowers of this age. He mentioned if its that old and it works, it will be a Lawn Boy, he hasn't seen any other mower go that long.
I bought a quart of paint that was computer matched at the local hardware and sprayed the deck with it -- looks good. Cleaned everything, it was all pretty dirt & oil soaked or baked on. Can't get the handle bar chrome again, so I'll spray paint that too. I ended up buying new axle bolts and two muffler seals. I'll have less than $20 into it, not too bad for a 35 year old mower.

 

[Schultz]

Now that it's all back together, I put gas in it to use it and came back a couple hours later to find the gas dripping from the carb. What would I need to fix or replace to keep it from leaking the gas out the carb. All the gaskets are new. Is a float stuck?