So we needed a new lawn mower for the maintenance guy at the cabins, now I had bought a poulan at sears, 3.5 hp, took 20 pulls to start 8 years ago, took it back to sears got a partial refund, and got a craftsman with a honda engine. It has been good, but the salesman was like if you can’t start a 3.5hp how do you think you will start a 5.5hp motor.
I am it is not me it is the mower, mower has been good, first pull and it starts every time.
So I had a choice of mowers, mtd (no go) poulan (no go) Lawn boy, sure let’s try it for $50 or so more.
Yard guy is it 2 cycle?
No I don’t think they make those anymore.
Lawn boy, that should be good.
In reading it has an oil fill, but no oil drain, now on my honda engine you have to tilt the mower to drain the fluid, but now no oil change ever needed just fill oil as needed per lawnboy manual
Now we are seeing this for transmissions in cars, and how many of us old farts will be sucking out the oil from the lawnmower with a turkey baster to do an oil change in a lawnmower, count me as one, but I for one thinks this stinks worse than taking out throttle speed control for lawnmowers, as I was told it reduces emissions, tell me how being able to run a lawnmower at 1/2 speed if that was all that was needed vs full speed all the time reduces emissions!
I think I am getting to be a crotchety old fart but it does not all make sense to me.
How soon before cars go the way of lawnmowers, you can fill the oil but no need to change it, fingernails on a blackboard to others, never minded fingernails on a blackboard I suppose because I was the one doing it
Yep, it’s an EPA thing mostly. But MTD engines I believe are all LCD or something (Liquid Combustion) since MTD and Briggs got in a tizzy when Briggs started making equipment. So I won’t buy MTD anymore with a LCD engine. Then Poulan is made by Huskavarna (at least the riders), and Craftsman is both MTD and Huskavarna. A lot of them come out of the same plants with just different colors.
When I bought my Toro back about 1977, I said I wanted electric start because the AMF I had was a piece of junk and took 20 pulls to start it. The guy said you don’t need it with Toro because its guaranteed to start on the first or second pull. Has a compression release and sure enough worked for 20 some years.
As far as oil changes do what you want but I’d be changing oil regardless of what the manual says. Might want to just take a look underneath to see if there is a plug still there. Otherwise just tip it over like I do with my generator and pressure washer. I noticed that Northern Tool has a pump for oil changes for about $30 which would be the easy way but I’d like to get all the junk out that accumulates in the bottom. I don’t want to get off on a tangent about the K46 hydro transmission but the manual says lifetime fluid too. But in another says to change at 50 hours, then every 200 hours. Lifetime without changing is 200 hours. Because no one would spend the extra 50 cents for a plug, you have to pull the transmission and tip it upside down. Truly I worry about the state of our manufacturers and who trained the engineers and the MBAs.
If you do a search of MTD brands you will be stunned at how many different names are under the MTD umbrella. They own Troybilt and Cub Cadet and a lot more. There are not anymore 2-cycle lawn mowers sold in the US anymore.
Just remembering a guy who bought an mtd snowblower that never worked from day one, no support, no repair guys would look at it, I hope at least there will be lawnboy support along with the first pull guarantee for 2 years, he was a little peeved at first when his wife sold the snowblower at the garage sale for $5, BUT THEN HE WAS LIKE IT NEVER WORKED ANYWAY.
I had an MTD blower and bought one for the kid too. They had the Tecumseh sno engine and nothing wrong with them at all. Most small engine shops will service MTD. I only had one issue with the engine but that was taken care of under warranty back then. If you look at them, they all pretty much use the same transmission disc and impeller gear. Maybe not interchangeable but very similar. Even Snapper. I’ve got a feeling though that MTD bought out Lawn Boy or else Briggs did.
That’s why I’ve said before I want a law that requires the conglomerate to be listed in addition to the trade name. Now want to talk about who owns the power tools?
Edit: Nope Toro bought Lawn Boy. They bought Wheel Horse too but looks like they junked the brand.
Same thing with MTD blowers now though. Since Tecumseh sold everything to the Chinese and went belly up, MTD blower use the LCD engines, not Briggs. So I won’t buy another MTD blower.
I’ve had an MTD snowblower for 15 years and it still starts with one pull every time and runs great.
Tecumseh no longer exists as an engine manufacturer. And I discovered that the parts supply has almost completely dried up.
In my case my spine wore out before my lawnmower and I ended up buying an electric mower. With the exception of the motor, blade, and handle, it’s entirely plastic. The deck, wheels, everything is molded plastic. I’ve had it for a few years now and love it. It’s extremely lightweight and immune to corrosion, and there’s no gas or oil to worry about. It’s perfect for my tiny lawn.
Barky, I have to wonder if you’ve tried looking up your engine on the internet. I’ve often found maintenance manuals for things that such information didn’t come with. Perhaps that’ll serve to find an oil drain plug.
I liked the two stroke Lawnboy mowers made in the1950s. I mowed many acres.with one of these mowers. The owner’s manual csme with complete instructions and blow up diagrams on disassembling the engine. At the end of each season, I would install new piston rings, magneto points and condenser, new needle and seat in the carburetor, then.clean the exhaust ports, air filter, sharpen the blade, and replace the spark plug. The mower was good to go for the next season. The fuel requirement was regular gas with a half.pint of non detergent 30 weight oil per gallon. I am sure the EPA would never approve such a mower today.
I bought a used Black and.Decker battery mower from a friend to see how well it would work for me. I prefer a gasoline push mower. The batteries.make the Black and Decker hard to push. I do like the quieter operation. I think the new ones may be better with lithium ion batteries instead of lead acid batteries.
If I.buy a new.gasoline mower, I will find a way to change the oil at the end of each season.
Hi there. Barkydog made a token effort to connect lawnmowers to cars, but it seems to be all about mowers. If possible, could you steer this discussion back toward the topic? Thanks.
Sure I go off topic from time to time, salient point, when do cars become like lawnmowers, no drain plug because you never need to change the oil, @cdaquila I understand lawnmowers are not cars, but they are engines, so If I thought of putting a new lawn mower engine in my Yugo, would that be acceptable?
I rode around on my lawn mower this afternoon but I didn’t take it to work. I did haul some tree limbs though with the car to the compost site. Checked the oil, checked the tires, and making a list before winter.
I rode our churches John Deere about 5 miles from the house it was stored at until our church had a shed built to store it. I used a bike and walking path that went through a university and golf course. Everyone was waving at me, I guess they thought I was a groundskeeper.
I got tired of all the people with pickups who said they could help but were never available and the grass needed cutting. I put my bicycle in the van, dropped the bike at church, drove the van to the house and rode the bike back to the house after I moved the mower. There-car related.
Yeeha the 2 weeks of summer came early this year, swimmers itch already, oh and yes, swimmmers itch does not affect cars. Now I hear the 371 highway rebuild between Nisswa and Pequot Lakes has everyone thrown for a loop, I mean a big loop due to intersection closures, people are callin me to ask how to get to the lake, I tell them how to get there on the back roads, but the jughandle intersections are going to be fun to learn.
I have a 20 in Lawnboy made by Toro that is supposed to have the oil change and it has no drain plug, you tip it to drain the oil. I think it drains better than with the plug. If the cars keep getting smaller. pretty soon the manufacturers will eliminate the oil drain plug and tip them.
I had to change a tire on my 16 year old riding mower and was going to tip it on it’s side because I can’t get the wheel off the axle but I discovered I am no longer strong enough to do it.
Yeah I have to tip up the snowblower to change the carb bowl gasket, I can still do it,but @oldtimer-11 feeling what you are going through, willing to come by if you are near Chicago, I have had so many freinds help me, and so many friends I have helped, pass on the favor is all we need.
Ah Nisswa. We had a choir concert in Brainerd in 65 and took in the dance in Nisswa. I didn’t get the impression the boys there liked out of towners. Last time I was up there a guy had two 59 Fords for sale together for something like $5000. One was a hardtop convertible. I looked at them but man that is a lot of work and money.
I suppose it is stupid to say, But Nisswa folks have always been good to me, I know the local wild rice sellers, prop repair guys, welders, auto repair, hardware store, etc. It is like when you went into a hardware store and needed a 2 cent bolt, a key for a lock that was discontinued 50 years ago they are just there to help, now Nisswa is tourist trap the home of “pretty good shopping” but It is like going home when I am there, being with the old timers in the boonies, a handshake and your word matters more than an american express gold card,
