The old Craftsman impressed me today

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Superbuick96

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I mowed my Mother in laws lawn today,a duty I took over since my father in law passed away. But any way she had some trees taken out in the back of the yard, and a new lawn put in on the back half of the yard where the work was done. Anyway because of all the rain we've had recently its been a couple weeks since Ive had the chance to cut the lawn. The old portion of the lawn was around 5-6 inches. The new portion was over a foot high, its some kind of Kentucky blue grass on steroids or something! To make a long story short, the 12 year old Craftsman with the 6.5 Briggs MULCHED through that 1ft+ high damp might I add grass w/o a problem. No sputtering,stalling, or bogging! I guess im overly impressed because my current 4.75hp briggs couldnt cut its way out of a wet paper bag. Its amazing what a difference what less then 2hp makes when dealing with small engines....
 
Sounds like my lawn, we went on vacation for a week, it rained here all week, their is a week of rain in the forecast, so last night, like or not the lawn got mowed wet, 32 bags of grass off my lawn that normally takes 7. Mower? MTD 173cc Honda Clone OHV, never missed a beat.
 
I know my Honda Masters with the GXV160 should really have the -190 for mulching. It's a little anemic, and nothing seems to help. I have some question that the perma-set EPA carb might be too lean for it to be all it could be. The GC160 (same displacement, lower rating) on my power washer seems to have a more oomphy manner to it than my mower engine.
 
Originally Posted By: lord kelvin
The 6.5HP briggs is a powerful engine. My newer mower has a 5HP Honda engine, and it doesn't have near the same power.


There is a good joke to be had here but I will pass.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: Hootbro
Originally Posted By: lord kelvin
The 6.5HP briggs is a powerful engine. My newer mower has a 5HP Honda engine, and it doesn't have near the same power.


There is a good joke to be had here but I will pass.


LOL.gif
 
Regarding my comment:

"The 6.5HP briggs is a powerful engine. My newer mower has a 5HP Honda engine, and it doesn't have near the same power."

I can see how that came across somewhat funny. Guess what I meant is that I didn't expect the Honda 5HP engine to be so lame. It just doesn't get the job done when "mulching", and that surprises me because I see it on so many mulching mowers. I trusted MTD to size the engine properly on a mower that was almost $400, and they didn't.
 
Originally Posted By: lord kelvin
Regarding my comment:

"The 6.5HP briggs is a powerful engine. My newer mower has a 5HP Honda engine, and it doesn't have near the same power."

I can see how that came across somewhat funny. Guess what I meant is that I didn't expect the Honda 5HP engine to be so lame. It just doesn't get the job done when "mulching", and that surprises me because I see it on so many mulching mowers. I trusted MTD to size the engine properly on a mower that was almost $400, and they didn't.


See my post on my Honda Masters HR 215. Also kind of lame when mulching and it was something like $1000 up here. Of course now they equip the equivalent model with the -190.
 
Originally Posted By: lord kelvin
Regarding my comment:

"The 6.5HP briggs is a powerful engine. My newer mower has a 5HP Honda engine, and it doesn't have near the same power."

I can see how that came across somewhat funny. Guess what I meant is that I didn't expect the Honda 5HP engine to be so lame. It just doesn't get the job done when "mulching", and that surprises me because I see it on so many mulching mowers. I trusted MTD to size the engine properly on a mower that was almost $400, and they didn't.

You say 5hp Honda. Are you talking about the 5.5hp. GVC 160 Honda engine? Its rated at 6.9 torque.....
 
The $99 Craftsman mower I bought in 1980 (and gave away about 15 years ago) was the best mower I've ever owned.
 
I, too, have been very impressed with the power of my (craftsman) with a 6.75 - it really torques through very tall n thick grass without missing a beat. I gew up with pathetic 3.0 & 3.5 HP mowers and if the grass was long you had to go very slow. the problem I have with the new mower is twofold: it VERY heavy, and its a Tecumseh. I wish it were a briggs.
 
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