What kind of oil were you adding when it needed topping off?
Do you kick your dog, too? Torture the neighborhood cats? Steal candy from little kids? Just trying to understand.
Straight 30 weight conventional oil.
None of those yet.
After a decade, it became more of an experiment to see what would happen. Nothing. It outlasted any expectation I had and in fact, its usefulness to me.
Every day is the weekend now under stay in place. Have not kicked the cat or dog,ā¦ yet. Now how to change the oil in my 2 cycle engine.
Awww crapā¦ no drain plugs on mowers anymore?
What will they do with all those damn drain plugs we made by the billions in the 50ā-80ās??!!
Theyre gonna be foisting them upon us in strange ways nowā¦ i just know it
Like drum brakesā¦ hahaha
Okay, Iām quite thrifty (cheap), but itās really about me accepting the challenge of keeping old machines alive āforeverā. I feel quite a sense of pride and Iām never embarrassed by old mowers, cars, appliances, etcetera. They are badges of courage to me and they make me feel good.
Up north I use my 1971 Simplicity lawn tractor for mowing. Thatās pretty old, now. My Simplicity Owner Manual shows a smiling couple clad in bell-bottom pants (they look Disco ready!) and of course they are frozen in time in the seventies drawing on the cover.
Itās on its second engine and that engine is starting to (well, itās been for several [many?] years, now) consume oil, but so what? I top it off before each mow, which I put off longer than what would be considered ānormal,ā but who cares? I think I had to cut 6 times last summer, PITA. The tires are original! I have a slow leak in the right front and add air every other year, plumping it to about 30 PSI!, The other tires are like, 10.
My engine prolonging lubricant consists of about 75% SAE-30 and 25% some kind of gooey Lucas oil treatment, which I stock a gallon jug (Hey, Iām following lawn mower directions on the bottle!). I think it could run out of oil and that goo would keep it running cool and smoothly, but weāll seeā¦
The first engine died in 95, a real tragedy, but glad the points and condenser and generator are gone, now. I called Northern Hydraulics and a few days later a UPS guy lugged a new B&S up my long driveway. I wrestled it into place with only slight modifications and a hole saw (new one had a dipstick!)
About once every decade I sharpen the 3 blades under the mower deck, and every other decade, actually replace them. Donāt ever sharpen blades without removing them. Donāt ask how I know, but I had to drive to a second emergency room to be seen more promptly!
Belts get replaced on a regular schedule, every eighteen years. The mower deck has has numerous cracks that I āsorta weldā with my $90 HF welder. Iām self-taught, donāt ya know, and the welds look like the metal was impacted by an intense meteor shower, but the āweldsā hold and get covered up by a cover, making me look good.
I live on a pretty good-size lake out in the sticks. I rationalize my infrequent mowing by remembering that lakefront folks here are admonished to maintain a āgreen beltā in their yards, where home owners are supposed to not cut grass, My yard is on the end of a peninsula, water on 3 sides, so I need a green belt almost everywhere, right? Well, right? Iām saving the planet.
I wonāt win the āneighborhoodā (hardly any neighbors, anyhow) beautiful lawn award, Iāll concede that to the next-door nut job who babies his lawn like heās in the city, but Iāve fun things to do and grass isnāt one. He actually takes pleasure from mowing grass and blowing snow, as he does not know how to do fun things.Go figure.
A friend explained to me how the whole crazy grass cutting scam got going. He says when settlers were living on the prairie, they were sometimes ambushed by Native Americans who were not happy with the invasion of settlers. So, theyād cut the tall prairie grass around their log cabins in order to thwart a sneak attack. He goes on to explain that there have been no such attacks in recent history, therefore grass cutting is actually obsolete. I have to agree.
Anyways, to make a long story longer, It wouldnāt surprise me if these new fangled lawn mowers that have no drain or fill for oil, left the factory floor topped-off with a mix of SAE 30 and Lucas Oil Treatment āgoo,ā or some darn thing, just like I use.
Iām not sure what kind of mowers I use here in Florida, but theyāre my favorites! I see several of them every week, from five stories up, but whatever they are and whoever it is cutting really do a mighty fine job. You go guys! Iām pulling for you!
CSA
I saw where in some neighborhoods in California many homeowners cover their yards with green gravel. Think how many more rounds of golf you could get in for a truck load of rocks.
Good thinking!.
Oooh, oooh, You know whatās cool? The golf course here (and lots of homeowners, too) use sea shells as āgravel.ā All the cart paths here are surfaced with white sea shells.(Home owners do driveways).
I donāt know where they get them, but theyāre delivered by the dump-truck load and piled by the pro shop.
They just put down a fresh layer. Now, while Iām waiting at a tee I can look for interesting shells and shark teeth. Itās just one more thing I like here. It feels kind of coastal and reminds me that Iām living what they call the āSalt Life,ā here. It actually works quite well as āgravel.ā
I wonder how much to haul about 200 yards, 1,500 miles?
CSA
Price is no object when you can get all the money you want at 0.0%.
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Aint that true, my financial adviser, take the cheap interest, stocks will go back up
Or one could conclude that it works. The thing with long grass is snakes and mice. On my old mower though I put a set of Chrome rings in it to try and reduce the oil usage but yeah, finally put a new NH engine in it. The guy that bought it just didnāt realize all the new parts and everything he got for the money. The other thing about cutting the grass even if you like snakes and mice is itās good therapy. Maybe not the same as golf, but quicker and cheaper.
In my county the water district will pay homeowners $3 per square foot to replace their grass with desert landscaping; desert plants/trees and gravel. The garden centers sell rock of natural tones of brown, gold and red. I have never seen a yard covered with rock painted green.
You change the oil every time you fill the fuel tank.
But, Iāve got sailing, fishing, swimming, kayaking, and bicycling (one step OFF the lawn) and theyāre all free and good therapy.
CSA
Shells, byproduct of oyster and shrimp harvesting, non-edible species are often dumped into the pile, are mixed with other aggravates. Managed to get a cone shell through a tire once.
Back to lawn mowers, I have riding lawnmowers with bagger attachments in a quest to do battle with live oak leaves. The old one has a B&S twin that will not die, just keeping it around to move the johnboat in and out of storage. Whereas the newer one has a supposedly superior Koehler. So one day go out to start it, it would not crank. Tried to turn the engine with a wrench. Would not budge. Pulled a spark plug, gas drained out. Nearly the entire gas supply had drained into the engine. Both cylinders full of gas. Drained a gallon of gas/oil from the crankcase.
Our city gives a sprinkling credit, for higher water usage during summer.
That was covered in a video by Tayrl Fixes All. Canāt remember why but some gas shut off issue or something on the new carbs.
Sooner or later every 4 stroke engine I own with 5+ horsepower has dumped the fuel tank through the carburetor. After cleaning the carburetor and changing the oil I added fuel shut off valves and use the fuel shut off to turn the engine off when finished for the day. I have also repaired 6+ engines for family and friends with the same situation. The engines I repaired ranged from 5 to 22 horsepower single and twin cylinder B&S, Tecumseh and Honda and also a Chinese engine on a chipper/shredder from Harbor Freight.
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That was my cure too, I added a fuel cutoff valve. I shut it off first, then the engine.
I donāt know if it was beneficial or not, back in the 50s we had an Allis-Chalmers, my father would turn off the valve and let it run until gas in the carb was depleted. Our Case and Ford tractors did not have the cutoff so he turned them off by the key. I was in my single digit years then, never asked him about that whenI got older.