Push Mower Surprise

[oldballs]

Same here guys........I have a 4.5 HP B & S push along mower hi wheel that sits outside all year around with a piece of galv sheet metal covering it. I bought it from Montgomery Wards sometime in the late 70's. If i use it, I dump the old gas out and refill.........hit the prime bulb a couple times and it fires right up. But I do change the oil now and then.

 

[not2old]

I used to keep on old mower with a Briggs motor under my open steps all winter with no problems starting until I opened my mouth at how well it endured the winter outside with no preparation for storage. Sure enough the exhaust valve stuck open one spring. Took off the flat head and tapped it with a plastic hammer while pulling the cord a few times. Put the head back on, using the original gasket and away it went. Needed to do the same thing the next year. Brought that mower home from the dump and used it for at least a dozen years on a 1/2 acre lot. Couldn't do that with any of the modern stuff.

 

[scdeerslayer]

Recently I rescued my grandfather's generator with a Wisconsin Robin engine. Don't know when it was made but I found the receipt with the manual in his stack of manuals and he bought it used in 1981. He passed away in 2004, and it had probably been years before that since it was ran. I changed the oil and spark plug, added gas, set the choke, and it started on the first pull. I've had to do some more work to it to make it usable but I was amazed how easily it started.

 

[teejk]

Great news.
My 20yr old Craftsman push mower has a 6hp BS on it. One push of the primer, one pull of the chord it fires right up. Only use pure gas in it.

I started using only the non-ethanol gas for any air-cooled equipment and add Stabil. Everything starts now.

 

[MossRoad]

We just had this discussion on the never change oil thread.... I had a 29 year old Craftsman mower with a 2.5hp Briggs that I never changed oil in EVER in 29 years, never drained the gas over winter (87 octane 10% ethanol), original air filter and I'm pretty sure original plug. Started 1st pull every spring. When the deck disintegrated, I kept the engine out of respect.

 

[TractorGuy]

I used to keep on old mower with a Briggs motor under my open steps all winter with no problems starting until I opened my mouth at how well it endured the winter outside with no preparation for storage. Sure enough the exhaust valve stuck open one spring. Took off the flat head and tapped it with a plastic hammer while pulling the cord a few times. Put the head back on, using the original gasket and away it went. Needed to do the same thing the next year. Brought that mower home from the dump and used it for at least a dozen years on a 1/2 acre lot. Couldn't do that with any of the modern stuff.

This is gonna be lengthy but I love telling it.

I bought my first Craftsman lawn tractor in 1979. I had a 10HP model on order that they kept saying was on it's way. One day I was in the store checking on it and the Sears guy told me I didn't want it. He said he had the 11HP in stock that had a Briggs and the 10HP I had ordered would come with a Tecumseh. I bought the one with the Briggs and never looked back. One of my neighbors bought the 10HP version two years later and it blew the rod out the side of the block within 5 years.

That same year we bought the two acres my house is on now. The land had a mobile home on it and was covered in pines and gall berry bushes. We had the pines cut and commenced cleaning the place up by hand and using that poor old mower. My wife ran it in the gall berry bushes till the engine seized up. I had already had a falling out with Sears on them not performing the service under the extended warranty I purchased so I did not want them working on the mower at all even though it was still under the regular warranty. I sprayed some WD40 in the intake and spark plug hole and worked the engine back and forth till it freed up. The darn thing started back up and ran like a charm. Over the years it seized up 5 more times from being run in thick brush or pulling a trailer that was too large. I would just get on the shaft with a large pair of channel lock pliers, break it loose, and away we would go. The dang thing never even used any oil between changes. I ran it for 21 years and put 3 decks on it. The engine would still run like new when I hauled the mower to the dump.

I think back and wonder how I cleaned this place up with a lawn tractor, axe, and a shovel. I quit counting after 150 stumps I chopped and dug out by hand.