It goes to show that nothing beats displacement

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With my newly acquired/repaired B&S125K02 (claimed to be 6.75hp) and the rain/moisture rolling in later this afternoon, I seized the opportunity to mow my wet/soggy lawn earlier this afternoon while the front/back patch was still dry.

Yeah, the grass is pretty wet and heavy, but was able to finish them in 1 pass, with no stalls at all (try that with my current B&S 4.5hp Quattro and it would have stalled numerous of times already).

Wifey commented how powerful the 6.75hp mower is (she noticed that the grass is wet too).

It just goes to show that nothing betters a larger displacement mower when it comes to dealing with soggy grass in the PNW region..

**starting to rain now...**

Q.
 
When doesn't it rain up there. I lived in White Rock BC for a few years when I was a teenager. I loved it, being older and living in FL, I don't think I could do it again. lol
 
Yeah, and???? It'll also cost you twice as much gas to mow your yard. I think we need variable displacement, DI, turbo lawnmowers to do the job with top efficiency...

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But seriously, how about spark-assisted small diesels??? More torque, less fuel. Could probably set up the glow plug pretty easy with a little wind-up thing like you get on the survival flashlights and radios...
 
Originally Posted By: bepperb
I disagree. When it comes to push mowers, small displacement forced induction is the only way to go.


OK, you had me googling to see if such a production machine was made. As i couldnt find anything i am going to assume you just being silly (probably a tuner guy) right ?

If there was such a animal.. id love to play with a turbo lawnmower.. that would be a hoot !
 
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I think nothing beats the old 2 stroke Lawn Boy. I bought one used about 25 years ago and it had much more power then the 6.75HP mower that I bought to replace it.
 
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Yeah, and???? It'll also cost you twice as much gas to mow your yard. I think we need variable displacement, DI, turbo lawnmowers to do the job with top efficiency...




I changed from a 14HP Kohler rider with a 48 inch deck to a 25HP Kohler zero-turn with a 61 inch deck...I use exactly the same amount of fuel to mow the grass.

A smaller engine will take longer and work harder, at less fuel consumption. A bigger engine uses more fuel, but gets done in shorter time. The fuel use is a wash...
 
Originally Posted By: expat
I just give it a squirt of NOs for the tough bits
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Nice and the blade would shear off and cut your legs off.
 
I use to have a Case 60" finish mower and it did a super job on the grass, wet or not. The grass was dispersed properly and the blades were about twice as thick as the blades you find on a normal mower. Those were the days.
 
Originally Posted By: deeter16317
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Yeah, and???? It'll also cost you twice as much gas to mow your yard. I think we need variable displacement, DI, turbo lawnmowers to do the job with top efficiency...




I changed from a 14HP Kohler rider with a 48 inch deck to a 25HP Kohler zero-turn with a 61 inch deck...I use exactly the same amount of fuel to mow the grass.

A smaller engine will take longer and work harder, at less fuel consumption. A bigger engine uses more fuel, but gets done in shorter time. The fuel use is a wash...


I'd think that you'd see that my comment was somewhat tongue in cheek.

But if we're comparing 22" mowers to 22" mowers, your commentary is moot. You got an efficiency advantage because of substantially higher swept area.

At the same time, your hp/swept area may actually be lower, so then the OP's point would hold the same in the case of long, wet grass.
 
I do think personally that lawnmowers have stagnated. I mean seriously, they pollute worse than any car engine out there these days, due to lack of cat, and emission control. They are extremely inefficient, with carbeurator, most with L-head engines.

I mean, it can't be that expensive to at least make an OHV engine, with basic electronic fuel injection, and a small cat. Eh, pipe dream probably.
 
Originally Posted By: Nick R
I do think personally that lawnmowers have stagnated. I mean seriously, they pollute worse than any car engine out there these days, due to lack of cat, and emission control. They are extremely inefficient, with carbeurator, most with L-head engines.

I mean, it can't be that expensive to at least make an OHV engine, with basic electronic fuel injection, and a small cat. Eh, pipe dream probably.


The Kohler on my Airens self propelled mower has some type of crankcase breather back into the air intake.
 
Originally Posted By: Nick R

I mean, it can't be that expensive to at least make an OHV engine, with basic electronic fuel injection, and a small cat. Eh, pipe dream probably.


Yeah, especially if you're thinkin' I'll buy one...

Originally Posted By: Donald

The Kohler on my Airens self propelled mower has some type of crankcase breather back into the air intake.

Every small engine made in the last 35-40 years that I've seen has same...


Since I recently installed a 5.5Hp OHC '04 Honda on my 21" '83 Snapper, that had a 3.5Hp flathead Briggs which was totally worn out(probably lucky to have made half the HP of the Honda), I can relate to how more power performs under same conditions... I cut some high grass for a neighbor that the old Briggs wouldn't have been able handle even wide open, the Honda barely blinked...
 
Originally Posted By: Nick R
I do think personally that lawnmowers have stagnated. I mean seriously, they pollute worse than any car engine out there these days, due to lack of cat, and emission control. They are extremely inefficient, with carbeurator, most with L-head engines.

I mean, it can't be that expensive to at least make an OHV engine, with basic electronic fuel injection, and a small cat. Eh, pipe dream probably.


The problem is that then you need circuits and an electrical system. That may be doable on a rigind mower platform, but for your general pushmower like we are generally discussing, it makes it too heavy and complex.
 
Originally Posted By: Nick R
I do think personally that lawnmowers have stagnated. I mean seriously, they pollute worse than any car engine out there these days, due to lack of cat, and emission control. They are extremely inefficient, with carbeurator, most with L-head engines.

I mean, it can't be that expensive to at least make an OHV engine, with basic electronic fuel injection, and a small cat. Eh, pipe dream probably.


That's why I like the newer B&S with walbro carbs: they simply get the F/A mixture right, much, much better than those older B&S with nylon carbs (pulsa-jet or similar).

After the mow, I took the spark plug off: I saw whittish powder on the electrodes similar to that on an automobile engine. This means that the engine is capable of reaching (then maintaining) a pretty decent combustion chamber temperature and is fed with proper F&A ratio.

Compared to all my other B&S, including that B&S quattro engine that I religiously maintained: electrode has always been a bit black but always run (indicating F&A runs richer than I thought) on them no matter how hard I tried to get the F&A right.

Of course: on the other hand: all the Honda engines I maintained are running in optimum F&A ratio fashion, citing that I can use automobile platinum plugs ( I have NGKs left over), using more like a motorcycle carb (with manual hand choke for cold starts, as opposed to that rubber bulb on B&S that sez "press 3x" for cold starts, geesh!)

small engines and engine manufacturers can do more (I know) but somehow, they opt for their profit bottomline and choose to use the cheepest way possible to get by. Adding all tons of add-ons such as PCV, cat convertor, etc. will call for more $$, which, somehow the domestic dominant player (builder) such as B&S would try not to play with, for Chonda and the likes has got on to the local small engine markets with all sorts of cheep, highly competitive pricing stuff even for chonda clones (which can be had for less than 100 USD, try that with B&S and you'll see what I mean).

Q.
 
Originally Posted By: Nick R
I do think personally that lawnmowers have stagnated. I mean seriously, they pollute worse than any car engine out there these days, due to lack of cat, and emission control. They are extremely inefficient, with carbeurator, most with L-head engines.

I mean, it can't be that expensive to at least make an OHV engine, with basic electronic fuel injection, and a small cat. Eh, pipe dream probably.


Prove to me that their emissions are a problem first. And not as a percentage of total emission - it is true that OPE emissions have risen as a percentage of total internal combustion engine emissions, but that's only because auto emissions have been going down so rapidly. As a percentage they are still small. I think you are going after some rapidly diminishing returns when you start going after OPE, especially in light of the cost.

Of course, we do have OHV engines readily available for OPE.
 
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