Picked up Toro 22040 Commercial with Suzuki engine

[Jeepster_nut]

I found a nice 1997 Toro 22040 Commercial walk behind with the suzuki engine and aluminum deck on Craigslist. Unit is in great shape low usage. Compression is 150psi. Anyone have one of these? From what I've read the suzuki engine is bulletproof. The manual states that the motor only turns 3k rpms +/- 150. I have to set it with my tach to confirm though.

Came with bagger (also never used as he used mulching plug) and owners manual and parts manual with some opti mix 2 cycle oil packets and a can of fluid film he used to spray the underside of deck with. This this is built... I wish they still made this kind of quality.

 

[The motor guy]

This reminds me of a time I went to the mower shop and they had one that looked like it was brand new and they were asking like 1800 bucks for it. I was thinking nobody will ever pay that much. You could almost get two commercial 4 strokes for that price. Thought i'd share this little story.

 

[Jeepster_nut]

Yea, the seller said he paid $1300 for it, in 1997 dollars that alot- heck still is today for a mower. I have been in the market for a mower to replace my ailing Honda and had been looking at the Snapper Hi Vac units on mowersdirect, but couldnt pony up $850...

 

[JTK]

Great find! Those were crazy expensive when new.

In the event you need parts, it's the same Suzuki engine that some of the older Toro single stage snowthrowers use. I had one in my Toro CCR2000.

Joel

 

[Jeepster_nut]

Thanks, I have heard the coil is over $100 so I will be hoping that it never goes bad lol. The motor appears to have been well lubricated from what I can see through the spark plug hole. Plus the compression is 150.

It sounds relaxed at 3000 RPMs (which is the designed operating setting) Its gonna take some getting used to.
Im tempted to adjust the governor to rev it up a bit. The manual for the motor states that it can do 3600 RPMs. Hmmmmm......

 

[JTK]

Yes- I don't think the 'zukis in the Toro snowthrowers spin much faster. Low mellow exhaust note and heavy flywheel.

Kill the ignition and they coast to a stop with a Brrrrrrrrrrrr....

Joel

 

[Jeepster_nut]

The only thing I don't like is the way the drivetrain is designed. There is the one handle that you squeeze that lets you start it and also kills the engine when it is released. It also disengages the drivetrain when released by removing tension from the belt. its that "zone start" with BBC (blade brake control) nonsense. The transmission is a 3 speed with neutral on the deck that you would use your foot to move between speeds -another not so ideal setup IMO.

Problem I see happening when I start cutting with it is having to stop motion of the mower (letting go of the handle to disengage the drivetrain, and inadvertently shutting the mower off) DUH!

The other option is sliding the gear selector over to Neutral with my foot, but the mower would be in motion, and I would be doing the one legged hop to keep up with the mower while trying to kick it to neutral- another DUH!

The other option is to slightly lift the rear wheels off the ground when I want to stop and then kick the gear lever to Neutral- Doable but not ideal in every lawn cutting situation IMO.

So..... what I am going to do is setup a simple on/off switch to the coil grounding wire and disengage the BBC cable. The current switch is a contact of sorts that grounds the coil when the handlebar lever is released. This is done by the BBC cable. Its like a 2 in 1 setup.. The BBC cable engages the BBC and actuates the switch that grounds the coil- pretty simple.

This will allow me to release the handlebar lever (which disengages the driveline by slacking the belt) without having to muck around with the gear selector. The mower would then remain running and the BBC wouldn't engage.

I have to study how this is setup but I believe its doable. The spring that puts pressure on the BBC lever would have to be removed, and the BBC lever secured to not engage (probably with strong zip ties). I would have to mount the on off switch to look pretty too. Maybe do a flush mount into the air box, which has plenty of real estate to accommodate an on/off switch.

 

[Best F100]

The Suzuki 2 stroke engine is the second most "stout", ( or commercial grade) engine ever made in my book. The most commercial grade being the 2 cycle Subaru Robin engine found in some older Snapper walk behind mowers. As noted before, the drawback is the price of a replacement coil, which is more in the $175 - $200 range. Many landscapers have favored this Suzuki/Toro mower combination over the years.

Full disclosure: I've owned a Robin powered Snapper (now sold), and have a 2 stroke Suzuki powered Toro + two, 6 1/2 HP, 2 stroke Lawn Boy mowers in my family.

 

[Jeepster_nut]

Lets hope the coil never goes bad then. OUCH!

I got my BBC bypass done. Installed a nice on off switch on the handle bars. Works great!

 

[Jeepster_nut]

Heres some pics.

Toro 22040 pics

 

[ccdhowell]

Wow, very nice mower you got there.

 

[Jeepster_nut]

Thanks, the only real scratches on the deck are on the sides as you can see, this is as expected though. I may get some Toro red and touch them up, but I will just end up scuffing them again...

I plan on running the Stihl HP Ultra that I run in everything else. The Opti 2 that he gave me will be kept as spare oil.

 

[Jeepster_nut]

Does anyone know if the toro suzuki engine has a cast iron cylinder insert or is it aluminum only?

Also, I was reading in the manual that the operating RPMs of that engine are 3600, which makes the setting of 3000 +/- 150 seem too low to really use the motor to its full potential. So I cranked it up to 3600 (no load) RPMs. I figure this will be a good setting because once there is a load on the motor it will drop somewhat.

Now the motor sounds like its working. It just didn't sound like it was running much higher than a fast idle before when it was set to 3000 RPMs. And from what I have been reading, these motors can take it.