Wish I was working on saws....

[AOD]

I spent a good part of today working on mowers for people, getting them ready for spring. In a way, mowers can be easier to work on, but can also be annoying.

Started out with an older lady's Lawn Boy. Just needed a good cleaning and a new blade, and she complained it was using oil. There's a little leak at the base of the oil fill tube, very common. New blade on, cleaned up, fresh oil, good to go.

Then the fun ones. A pair of neglected, POS stamped tin, aluminum cylinder el cheapos. One wasn't so bad, a Rally I think, just had some bad gas in it. Didn't even have a throttle, just a primer that didn't work and the bar you have to hold down. Louder than a Homelite and shakes your hands til your numb. Got it going "good enough" for the measly money I was getting paid for it. The second was a real winner, a cheap Weed Eater mower with a cheap Briggs that had sat out all winter. Pulling it over it was shooting water out the muffler. Gas tank full of water, crankcase full of water. Drained the oil, which looked more like brown turd water, dumped the gas, poured some Dri-gas and fresh fuel in the tank and fresh oil in the crankcase and gave her a shot. Coughed and sputtered water out the crankcase beather and finally came to life. I let it run for a good 10 min to get everything warm and drive off the last of the water. Vibrated like crazy until I realized someone had the blade on upside down and the spacers were all wrong.

Finished off with my own mower, my old-school Snapper with a Wisconsin-Robin. Started on the 2nd pull and ran like a champ. There is as much of a difference in quality between this mower and the cheapies as there is between a WildThing and an 026.

In closing, I admit I don't mind wrenching on mowers, it's a nice change of pace, but I can't stand dealing with someone else's incompetence and complete disregard of proper maintenance for a piece of equipment, even if it's a POS you can at least throw a trash bag over the thing and keep it out of the rain.

And oh yeah, whats a good heavy duty trimmer/brushcutter? I want something to impress my neighbors with their Weed Eaters just like I impress their WildThingies with my 395.

 

[Rookie1]

I fix up mowers I find in the garbage to sell on treelawn. I use the money to finance CAD. I dont mind working on mowers. 90% of the time its bad gas in them. only thing I dont like is they are big and dont fit on workbench as nice as saws do.

 

[ericjeeper]

I have a remedy

I fix up mowers I find in the garbage to sell on treelawn. I use the money to finance CAD. I dont mind working on mowers. 90% of the time its bad gas in them. only thing I dont like is they are big and dont fit on workbench as nice as saws do.

All it requires is a simple trip to the lumber yard. List of materials. qty.2 2x4sx96 and 2 2x4sx120
cut the two 8 footers in half.The two 10 footers in to quarters.
some 16d nails.Now build a set of saw horses..The 48 inch pieces nailed together like a tee T the four legs you can surely figure out how they attach
On horses you can have everything at a nice work height,.Plus you can impact the blade off while it is up there.
Oh and do not work so cheap you under cut your local repair guy that you want to pick up his traded in saws..

 

[pioneerguy600]

AOD, I just got 2 Stihl 009`s dropped off to me to do with as I wish, what to do with them? LOL.:hmm3grin2orange::hmm3grin2orange:
Pioneerguy600

 

[Larry Ashcraft]

And oh yeah, whats a good heavy duty trimmer/brushcutter?

I use one of the ones on wheels. Mine is a Craftsman with a 6 hp Briggs and uses .155 line. It'll take down small saplings. Not much good for trimming the lawn though.

I use it to mow places where my tractor and brush hog won't fit. It's much faster than a push mower.

 

[AOD]

I use one of the ones on wheels. Mine is a Craftsman with a 6 hp Briggs and uses .155 line. It'll take down small saplings. Not much good for trimming the lawn though.

Won't work for what I want it to do, I want a heavy duty straight shaft commercial weedwhip trimmer, and I am leaning to the Stihl FS 250

AOD, I just got 2 Stihl 009`s dropped off to me to do with as I wish, what to do with them? LOL.:hmm3grin2orange::hmm3grin2orange:
Pioneerguy600

Drain them of all oil and gas and throw them into an active volcano. Oh wait, we don't want to ruin our nice volcanos with that kind of rubbish. They need to be fired into the center of the sun.

 

[SmallEngine]

MOWERS are quick and easy quick fixes the money adds up and people are willing to pay to get them fixed instead of buying new... so yep complain all the way to the bank


BTW I NEED a CDI for a Echo 440 EVL HELP ???????????????????

 

[iowa]

Yah. I spent the last week or so fixing up my old grasshopper. It had the old 18 hp briggs twin apposed cyl. Pile of crap IMO. I have 2 of these engines. One that came with the mower and I bought a backup on ebay. I rebuilt the original one as it had a valve seat come loose. I took it to a machine shop and they bored it over .030 put new valve seat in and valves. However, that cylinder was only at 80psi. The other side was 120psi. I brought it back and they said everything was ok?!?!?! I'm thinking not..

However, while the engine was at the machine shop, I found a NEW 18hp Honda V twin. I took out the ebay engine and slapped the honda in. I had to machine some engine stand offs and make a flywheel addapter to mate to my drive shaft. Ordered a muffler and it is a hummin machine now. That Honda has way more power than both those old Briggs had combined.. LOL

Now that the mower is ready I can focus on cutting wood again. But my started went out on my truck today and need to get it fixed before sunday. Great Scott!! What's next?

 

[AOD]

I have found that it's hard to make money on fixing junk push mowers, nobody wants to pay more than $20 for a walk behind unless it's a really good one, and it's barely worth your time at that tiny bit of money, not to mention if you need any parts. There is a reason so many end up out at the curb. Riders seem to hold value a bit more and aern't much more complicated. Fixing mowers for other people usually brings a bit more money.

 

[Rookie1]

We will see how the economy does me but I get 40 for plain jane push mowers. I probably spend a little more time on them then I should but 40 is good with me. I have a couple of riders Im going to sell this spring. I have sold a couple in the past and seemed to get all the "super hagglers" looking at them. Lowballing me into frustraton. I also find the riders need batteries for starting theres 40 bucks right off the top. Im not sure they are worth it.

 

[AOD]

I'm lucky to get $40 for a basic push mower. It's usually $25 tops. The worst is trying to sell stuff at yard sales around here, nobody wants to pay anything, people want to give me checks or make payments on something thats $40 or $50. Craigslist is much better for selling "bigger ticket" items than yard sales.

 

[motomedik]

Oh and do not work so cheap you under cut your local repair guy that you want to pick up his traded in saws..

I don't care if guys do the work, but if you undercharge it doesn't do anybody any good. The work is worth a fair price, if done well and right, no matter who does it.
I have a guy around here that is doing complete motor jobs on the race quads for $100. Normally it takes me 8-12 hours @ $25/hr to go through these at home. Makes me crazy! Its not worth the stress and time for 100 bucks! Can't possibly do a thorough job for that kind of money. (They tell me he comes after work to their shop, and works for 4-5 hrs total) I spend that much time on the head, if it gets ported, seats cut , valves, etc.
Not trying to derail the topic. This kind of stress that comes with my regular job is why I think I enjoy the saws and for that matter the weedeater, mowers, etc. They are simple and useful and MINE!!! I get to enjoy the fact that they were junk and now are something that I get the benefit of using. They are my little reward for all the things I have fixed for someone else. Then I do something for ME! But then its hard to sell them off.

 

[teacherman]

I spent a good part of today working on mowers for people, getting them ready for spring. In a way, mowers can be easier to work on, but can also be annoying.

Started out with an older lady's Lawn Boy. Just needed a good cleaning and a new blade, and she complained it was using oil. There's a little leak at the base of the oil fill tube, very common. New blade on, cleaned up, fresh oil, good to go.

Then the fun ones. A pair of neglected, POS stamped tin, aluminum cylinder el cheapos. One wasn't so bad, a Rally I think, just had some bad gas in it. Didn't even have a throttle, just a primer that didn't work and the bar you have to hold down. Louder than a Homelite and shakes your hands til your numb. Got it going "good enough" for the measly money I was getting paid for it. The second was a real winner, a cheap Weed Eater mower with a cheap Briggs that had sat out all winter. Pulling it over it was shooting water out the muffler. Gas tank full of water, crankcase full of water. Drained the oil, which looked more like brown turd water, dumped the gas, poured some Dri-gas and fresh fuel in the tank and fresh oil in the crankcase and gave her a shot. Coughed and sputtered water out the crankcase beather and finally came to life. I let it run for a good 10 min to get everything warm and drive off the last of the water. Vibrated like crazy until I realized someone had the blade on upside down and the spacers were all wrong.

Finished off with my own mower, my old-school Snapper with a Wisconsin-Robin. Started on the 2nd pull and ran like a champ. There is as much of a difference in quality between this mower and the cheapies as there is between a WildThing and an 026.

In closing, I admit I don't mind wrenching on mowers, it's a nice change of pace, but I can't stand dealing with someone else's incompetence and complete disregard of proper maintenance for a piece of equipment, even if it's a POS you can at least throw a trash bag over the thing and keep it out of the rain.

And oh yeah, whats a good heavy duty trimmer/brushcutter? I want something to impress my neighbors with their Weed Eaters just like I impress their WildThingies with my 395.

I sure like that 4 mix FS90, AOD. It is really cool, and it has torque to cut down small trees. Weird sounding at first, but fun to use.

 

[johnnylabguy]

I learned the fixer upper lawnmower game a long time ago. Started taking freebies in and reselling them as a hobby when I was just out of school. The last straw was when a tightwad buddy called me and left a message saying his $30 pushmower lost a bolt when he was using it...three years later! I only tinker on my own toys now.

 

[Bowtie]

Im pretty happy with the Echo SRM 260. Its a straight shaft strimmer with big ole balls. Its ran awesome for me for the past 3 years. Comes with a 5 year warranty as well.

 

[AOD]

Echo trimmers are out, I use one at my regular job (Deere branded Echo) and I think it's a pile and it lacks power. 4-mix is out as well, I've used one of those and HATED it! Does Stihl make a traditional 2-stroke trimmer/brushcutter anymore or have they all gone to 4-mix. Looking for a decent used trimmer is an exercise in futility, all I find is cheapos and electrics.

 

[teacherman]

Echo trimmers are out, I use one at my regular job (Deere branded Echo) and I think it's a pile and it lacks power. 4-mix is out as well, I've used one of those and HATED it! Does Stihl make a traditional 2-stroke trimmer/brushcutter anymore or have they all gone to 4-mix. Looking for a decent used trimmer is an exercise in futility, all I find is cheapos and electrics.

I hear there is a kit to convert an 009 into a string trimmer/brushcutter...:greenchainsaw:

I will keep my eye out for one.......