Reclaimed Oil for push mower.

[oil pan 4]

Great idea ....... I'll add a filter to my 15.5 hp Briggs Rider engine. Now all I need is a kit to do it. Any ideas out there where I can get a hold of a kit for a 15.5 hp Briggs vertical engine ??? Plenty of room to add one.

Best bet would be to upgrade to an engine that has an oil filter and sell the original one.

Well you have convinced me to dump my HPL 5w30 CK-4 HDEO in the 11’ or 09’ Focus when it hits 12k in my Dakota.

Hpl is great oil practically immune to shear loss. Send off a sample and see if it's got much life left.
I'd be tempted to run it through a fuel filter with like a 4mu beta 1000 rating.
Thata my next generation reclaimed oil. Take oil thats in fair condition such as from my wife's car, run through a fuel filter.

 

[50yr Street Mech]

Oil pan 4, that tells me that that stupid 15.5hp is a splash engine with no pump in it. Figures, just my luck. Not gonna waste the money retro-fitting it. It's undersized for the yard anyway. Eats spindles like crazy, and I even bought greasable spindles !!!!!... I'll run it till that little put put pushes up it's headstone, and buy a BIGGER TOY, like a zero turn or a scag. As long as it has bags on it, I'm happy. Can't stand de-thatching in the spring. Need something faster on my back anyway. 2nd disc went in 6-16-25

 

[oil pan 4]

Oil pan 4, that tells me that that stupid 15.5hp is a splash engine with no pump in it. Figures, just my luck. Not gonna waste the money retro-fitting it. It's undersized for the yard anyway. Eats spindles like crazy, and I even bought greasable spindles !!!!!... I'll run it till that little put put pushes up it's headstone, and buy a BIGGER TOY, like a zero turn or a scag. As long as it has bags on it, I'm happy. Can't stand de-thatching in the spring. Need something faster on my back anyway. 2nd disc went in 6-16-25

Greaseable spindles are useless. Best bet is knock the old bearing out and replace them when possible. I've found "generator bearings" to be fairly durable.
Sometimes the spindle housing breaks and you can't. But when you can save the housing, knock out the old bearing, press on new ones and fix your old spindles that cost $40 to $50 each, better than new for less than $20 if you replace both bearings.
Sometime one bearing is just bad and I'll replace the one. I'll treat the other now used bearing to a drop of 140wt gear oil.

 

[50yr Street Mech]

Good idea !!!! This stupid rider uses more spindles than gas. I will look into it. No wonder the greasable ones weren't lasting much longer. The problem lies in the cheap Chinese bearings !!! I will be looking into it. This year I got a reprieve from lawn care. Had back surgery in mid June. Had to hire out for this season. Thanks I will begin to look for matching generator bearings for next year

 

[oil pan 4]

Good idea !!!! This stupid rider uses more spindles than gas. I will look into it. No wonder the greasable ones weren't lasting much longer. The problem lies in the cheap Chinese bearings !!! I will be looking into it. This year I got a reprieve from lawn care. Had back surgery in mid June. Had to hire out for this season. Thanks I will begin to look for matching generator bearings for next year

Take a "greaseable one" apart and you'll see why.
The 4 digit number is your bearing size and then the 2 or 3 suffix or sets of suffixes are your bearing type if a special bearing material is used, grease type if a special one is used and seal type. Certain ones are used on generators. I'll have to look up what the generator coded bearing usually are again. They'll typically run 300 to a thousand hours on a generator. They'll usually start going out around 600hrs.
I can't say for sure I've had any mower spindles with generator bearings go bad. They've only been in service for probably 3 years ar the most. So not a long time either.

 

[oil pan 4]

Good idea !!!! This stupid rider uses more spindles than gas. I will look into it. No wonder the greasable ones weren't lasting much longer. The problem lies in the cheap Chinese bearings !!! I will be looking into it. This year I got a reprieve from lawn care. Had back surgery in mid June. Had to hire out for this season. Thanks I will begin to look for matching generator bearings for next year

I found one my generator bearings are marked SCH ATZ. One of those means rubber bearing covers and the other one is for the grease.
These probably aren't the absolute best ones but I looked up the grease they use. It's called aeroshell22. An advanced synthetic aerospace industry Grease with excellent antiwear characteristics.
Sounds pretty good.
I'd say they'll do for now.

 

[50yr Street Mech]

I'll revisit all of this when I get back on my feet to do things. 1 yr healing time for disc replacement, which means I can't cut grass until 8-26. In the meantime, it's pain meds, then physical therapy for 3 months ( I hate P.T. ...painful as a S.O.B. ! ). By then cutting season is over, and I do small indoor work. ( OC's and touch up painting around the house). Meantime, the P.O.S. rider with it's P.O.S. bearings stays in the shed hooked up to to Noco Genius 2. HOPEFULLY, this will be the last disc to crap the bed on me . Keep hiring out to cut the grass till 8-26. Just a question : how much grease should I pump into these " greasable spindles" when new ????? I just wing it and spin the spindle to check for resistance. Grease has to expand when hot, so I don't want to overdo it. I did notice a few failures where grease got past the seals, and that was the end of them not to long afterwards. Any input would be most helpful. Thanks

 

[TCL]

Why does everyone seem to want to run junk oil in a small engine. It isn't like they hold 10 gallons of oil.
Is a few quarts of quality oil cheaper that trying to find a new what ever to either put on the what ever or completely replace it?

20 oz.

 

[50yr Street Mech]

I agree. I take good care of the small 20 oz oil engines on my trash picked machines. They saved me hundreds of dollars buying them new, didn't have to pay sales tax on them, didn't have to drive to Home Depot or Lowes to get them. All they needed was an air filter, OC, and sharpen the blade on my bench grinder. That air filter set me back $ 5 bucks for a pack of three on Scamazon. If the piston rods go flyin out the case, I'll just go find more machines. They are all over the place at the end of mowing season here in NY

 

[oil pan 4]

I agree. I take good care of the small 20 oz oil engines on my trash picked machines. They saved me hundreds of dollars buying them new, didn't have to pay sales tax on them, didn't have to drive to Home Depot or Lowes to get them. All they needed was an air filter, OC, and sharpen the blade on my bench grinder. That air filter set me back $ 5 bucks for a pack of three on Scamazon. If the piston rods go flyin out the case, I'll just go find more machines. They are all over the place at the end of mowing season here in NY

For small engines biggest problem I see is air filter. Packed with dirt, missing, loose.

 

[50yr Street Mech]

Yep, you nailed it. Those air filters get clogged up fairly quick. I mean, they're mounted right there, where the dirt / grass/ leaves get sucked right into them. Can't get much closer to the ground. A lot of people either don't care or don't know any better, so they just throw them away with a few hundred hours on them, and buy new. They are not BITOG people by any means . We have the capabilities of making them run forever. I just threw out a 1972/ 3hp / Briggs Flathead. This thing was smokin, blow-by like crazy, rod rap. Just got to the point where it was using equal parts of oil and gas. That's when you dump it.

 

[oil pan 4]

Yep, you nailed it. Those air filters get clogged up fairly quick. I mean, they're mounted right there, where the dirt / grass/ leaves get sucked right into them. Can't get much closer to the ground. A lot of people either don't care or don't know any better, so they just throw them away with a few hundred hours on them, and buy new. They are not BITOG people by any means . We have the capabilities of making them run forever. I just threw out a 1972/ 3hp / Briggs Flathead. This thing was smokin, blow-by like crazy, rod rap. Just got to the point where it was using equal parts of oil and gas. That's when you dump it.

I moved the air intake on my tractor. Probably sucks in 80% less dirt now.

 

[50yr Street Mech]

Smart move