the price of gas engines amazes me

[Bird]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( have yet to have a quality Kohler, Honda or Robin throw a rod )</font>

Rat, I'm older than you, and I have yet to have any kind of engine, old or new, throw a rod. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif I guess there have been some manufacturing mistakes that could cause it, but usually if you keep the right amount of clean oil in them, keep the air filter clean, give them a new spark plug occasionally, and use reasonably fresh gas, seems to me they should last a long time. One of my brothers bought the cheapest little front tine tiller he could find just to have a little 10' x 12' garden behind his motorhome a few years ago. Then when I realized I was going to have to move back to town, I sold my tractor and implements before we sold the property, and I used that little rinky-dink tiller about 4 times on my 80' x 100' garden. It took a little time, but worked just fine. Of course it was a garden that had been tilled in the past many times with the tractor tiller.

 

[_RaT_]

Bird, I did have a Vermeer trencher with a 13 HP engine put a rod right through the case. The thing about it was, it smoked continuously through the many hours of use I put on it. It died in a bad spot but fortunately, the boom was up. Fortunate too was that I had a tractor with a loader. I have never wrestled any device like I have a walk behind trencher. They weigh all of about 1500 lbs or so but move & handle like they weigh 5000 lbs. It was not mine but a rental. Those don't count for thrown rods etc., their life is hard at best. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[frank_f15]

Back in the 60 's early 70's my dad ran a lawn mower repair shop as a sideline, people would come in with engines tore up and we would fix them, tried to tell them they could buy a new mower for a few $$ more but they would have us fix it! why is that?

 

[Bird]

Frank, it's hard to say sometimes how much we should put into repairs on any equipment instead of spending a little (or maybe a lot) more to replace it. We just spent what I consider a lot to replace our washer and dryer, just because my wife said she thought the timer was about gone on the dryer; said if she set it for a specific length of time, it would run a lot longer before cutting off, and she thought it was getting too hot. Now I've replaced thermostats and timers on dryers before; sometimes with good luck, sometimes not. But the old set was over 10 years old, I'd replaced a leaking pump in the washer once before, so I decided to just buy new ones. I might have been ahead financially to fix the old dryer and keep using them, but I might not have been either. When I was repairing air tools, some customers wanted an estimate in advance, but many did not. So my practice was to contact the customer, whether he had asked for an estimate or not, if the repair would cost half or more of the cost of a new tool. Many of them bought new tools, but I've had customers who would spend as much as 75% of the cost of a new tool to fix the old one. I won't do that myself, but as you said, some will.

 

[_RaT_]

I still have a Snapper push mower with it's second or third set of wheels, 2nd engine and when that goes, it may be time to retire it, but I'd frankly rather have it with the lack of OSHA supplied then the contraptions I see today. It's been a bullet proof mower that now has a $450 Honda engine that is equally bullet proof. To get the same mower would be about $800. Maybe the little Sears, Murray etc with B&S engines fall into the category you describe, but mine surely does not. It is going on 30 years old this year.

 

[oliver28472]

I rescued a Snapper push mower at our "convenience" center where we take garbage and recyclables. The spark plug was laying on the deck. I looked at it long and hard, saying to myself, I don't need another piece of junk. Cleaned out the gas tank, put a new plug, air filter and motor oil in it and crunked it right up. Now belongs to my niece. Had a nice bagger with it. It must have been pretty old cause it had a 3.5 Briggs on it. Newer ones the same size (20") have 5.5 and 6 hp on them.

 

[Bird]

<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre> It must have been pretty old cause it had a 3.5 Briggs on it. Newer ones the same size (20") have 5.5 and 6 hp on them </pre><hr />

I saw a 20" Murray with a 3.5hp Briggs Saturday evening. It didn't look very old, but I don't know how old it was. A neighbor's wife came over and asked whether I had any motor oil; said her husband needed some for a lawnmower. I took a quart of oil and went to see what his problem was, and glad I did. He had the air filter cover off and was about to pour the motor oil into the top of the carburetor when I stopped him and showed him where you put the oil. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[Av8r3400]

I have a 1957 Haughton Hurricane push mower with a cast aluminum (or magnesium) deck. When the 3.5 Briggs on it dies (soon) I'm definitely going to spring for one of those nice OHC Honda motors for it. I will last to my grandkids too! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[_RaT_]

I just tossed my Dads old Bunton mower several weeks ago. It was a 1965 vintage, came stock with a commerical Tecumseh which was the only Tecumseh I ever liked. It had a snorkel for the air cleaner allowing the air that entered the engine to be the same air you got at the handlebars. I hated to toss it as it was still a bulletproof mower, but I am in a junk ridding mode so out it went. My Snapper with its Honda is really, really nice.

 

[DaMadman]

I agree about not many throwing rods, and the first thing I thought when I realized it was a rod that went was OH CRAP! I forgot to check the oil, but the hole in the block had plenty of oil running out of it sooo I recon that wasn't the problem /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Idunno most of those motors run forever and ever, just seems I am having bad luck with power equiptment lately.

The end of last year the Garden tractor had the rings lock up, now the tiller threw a rod. I am trying to think of anything else that went bad to make the third strike. You know they say everything happens in three's. I hope something else already happened and I just can't recall because frankly after buying the Kubota I can't afford to replace anything else right now.

As far as the pricing on the tillers I do know there are light ones and heavy duty ones. In fact the one that threw the rod is was heavier and beefier than the worn out craftsman that my dad gave me to tinker with. I think I actually paid about $350 for the one that threw the rod. It was a statesman brand and was a real workhorse for the 6 or so years I used it.