All Good Things Come To A End

[TFB1]

Hi all, first post in the Small Engine forum, but a couple may have seen me bragging elsewhere on BITOG about my 1981 Snapper mower with a 3 1/2Hp Briggs & Stratton that still ran great... Well On Fri June 3, just before 6:00PM EDST, she bit the big one, RIP...

It has used oil for years, so I always filled the oil and gas at the same time, Fri was no exception... Funny thing is it waited till I was finishing the last strip to go clank, clank, clank, blam and stall, sounded like I'd ran over something... A under deck inspection revealed all's good here but it was locked up... I pulled the pan yesterday and found the rod cap broken, which also broke the cam and splash gear... As far as wear, other than the rings being worn all looked good, crank journal was still smooth with with no sign it had ever starved for oil...

Finally she'll get a new lease on life, I have a '03 Craftsman mower a neighbor gave me that is likely in the top 10 of most cumbersome mowers ever produced... Good part is, it has a OHV B&S 7Hp engine that runs great, a couple new mounting holes in the old Snappers deck and she'll be sportin' a Hot Rod engine...

 

[TFB1]

Well plans change, the 7Hp OHV Briggs has been cast aside for a freebee 5.5Hp OHC Honda but I'm gonna have to order a pulley to make the drive system work(same if I used the B&S)... Till then I'm running this old guy again... It's at least a dozen times better than the one that blew up, but since I have almost enough parts to build another good Snapper, I'm going to do so and junk the remains...

This one belonged to my grandfather, he bought it new in the mid '70s and cut grass for the widow ladies in his church for about five years... I inherited it in '85 a couple years after he died and used it regularly through '95, when we moved to the present house... At that time I bought the 1981 that recently went Ka-Boom... This one was used occasionally till roughly five years ago, when I stored it due to several little things that needed attention... Well fast forward to 2011 and it's time to awake a old friend...

No this one doesn't have it's original engine, it's from a 1980 Montgomery Wards mower... I installed it around 1990 after the orig burned the exhaust valve and was using almost as much oil as gas... I've cut grass once with it and oil is still full, unlike the '81 that had also gotten very oil thirsty...

 

[Hootbro]

Just me, but I would have brushed aside the nostalgic history and scrapped the whole mower.

 

[TFB1]

OK when you send me the price of a new, comparable Snapper, I'll buy it...

http://brandnewmowers.com/7800707.aspx

Yes I have the bagger for mine and have exactly zero in it to put it back in service... To put the second one with the Honda engine together, is going to set me back less than $50...

 

[Steve S]

The new Snappers don't look much different.

 

[BigCahuna]

If I can make a good running mower out of two beat up ones, I'm all over it. Just last Saturday I did just that. I was given 1 4.5 hp craftsman mower, and a 6.0 hp craftsman mower. 1 had a bad frame and the other had a bad coil and sheared flywheel key.The frames for both were the same, so swapping motors took 20 minutes. A quick carb cleaning and I was out mowing.The only cost was for the new Gas. I'd never buy a new mower again after seeing what can be done for free. TFB1, your a man after my own heart.,,

 

[TFB1]

Originally Posted By: BigCahuna
The only cost was for the new Gas. I'd never buy a new mower again after seeing what can be done for free. TFB1, your a man after my own heart.,,

I bought a new mower in '71 when I bought my first house, has been the only new one in my life time... Dunno what happened to it, guessing the ex set it out for trash... I did pay $65 for the one that blew up, that was back in '96... Other than one belt for $5 and a blade for $15 or so, in 15 years I didn't spend another dime on it, thinking I got my moneys worth...

I have probably three hours in the one I pictured... With the exception of the flywheel, I removed every part on the engine possible while still bolted to the deck... Cleaned the cooling fins on the block, replaced the coil with a newer solid state type from a curbside find, cleaned carbon from head and piston(B&S recommends this procedure every few years, at least on these oldies)... Also I used the carb from the engine that blew up, she fired up on the third try and I was off and cutting...

I'll shoot a pict of the '06 Honda engine mounted on a '83 Snapper deck when it's all together, may be a couple weeks yet...

 

[Spazdog]

I've got an old '96 Murray with a B&S 3.5 that I got for free in '04.

It had been left outside for an entire winter. Drained all the water out, filled with fresh gas and oil, replaced the dry rotted foam filter that crumbled to dust when you touched it, and changed the plug. It started. Been using it since.

I won't buy anything new for it, I use it to cut the green belt behind the house (critter abatement short grass = less 'dillos, 'possums, rats, and as a consequence, less coyotes)
There are all sorts of hidden hazards in that grass. Big sticks, rocks, and one really unfortunate ratsnake who didn't lay low enough. I run over all of those things. (feel bad about that but I really didn't see him)

I give it the used engine oil out of my Troy-Bilt and when I change the plug in the TB, the old one will go into the Murray.

The governor spring was messed up before I got it and it wavers between too fast and right speed.

The muffler has a giant piece missing and a split on it....it's not really a muffler anymore.

When I switched to Echo for my OPE I ended up with a surplus of 40:1 Poulan Synthetic Pre-Mix. Guess what the poor Murray has been running on.

It doesn't burn oil anymore as much as it spits it out in large amounts when you first pull the recoil. So it's pull handle, listen to sputter and die while oil is puked out, check and top off with used oil from the PT or Troy-Bilt, restart and mow. You really gotta' see how much oil gets puked out to appreciate it.

It will not die. I have set aside enough money to either buy a HF Honda clone, or replace the entire thing with some low level MTD high-wheel mower. But this sonofa[gun] will not die.

 

[boraticus]

Some OPE I buy new because quality two cycle trimmers, leaf blowers etc. are hard to come by. However, I buy mostly Echo products which last forever.

The last new lawnmower I bought was in 1991. It's a big, heavy, two cycle self propelled Echo. A great mower in all respect other than being heavy for tight quarters work. I have recently gotten into buying and repairing old Lawn Boy mowers. I bought three a few months ago for $40.00 and have two of them running well and one not so well. I have invested less than $100.00 for the three of them. I also bought a nice 1974 self propelled LB last year for $75.00. It's one pull start mower that less than half the weight of the Echo and just as good at cutting grass. There's no way I'd buy a new mower when such great machines are available for a song.

 

[nomochevys]

I have a 1976 briggs 3.5 that still runs. I fill up the oil and check the gas and away I go. I keep waiting for it to let go. It does not make any funny noises but it uses oil and has for a long time.

These engines give a good service life for their cost. I have a 4 hp on back up for when the day comes but Im going to run it till she blows. They are hard to beat for the money.

 

[TFB1]

Originally Posted By: nomochevys
I have a 1976 briggs 3.5 that still runs. I fill up the oil and check the gas and away I go. I keep waiting for it to let go. It does not make any funny noises but it uses oil and has for a long time.

Same with my '81 that kicked the rod, really surprised me when it suddenly let go...

Originally Posted By: Spazdog

It doesn't burn oil anymore as much as it spits it out in large amounts when you first pull the recoil. So it's pull handle, listen to sputter and die while oil is puked out, check and top off with used oil from the PT or Troy-Bilt, restart and mow. You really gotta' see how much oil gets puked out to appreciate it.


I've seen one like that, was a old Briggs I put together without a oil ring for a friend(orig ring was broken), he was too cheap to buy new rings and wanted to make a few bucks cutting grass... For all the oil and spark plugs it went through, he could have bought several sets of rings...

Of course this was back when oil was maybe 39 cents a quart and a spark plug wasn't much more, but the rings were only like $3-$4... Still we got maybe $2 to cut a average size lawn...