Re: Refurbing an R/C mower
Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2020 11:54 am
Around here the trash pickup can't take old mowers &c so people take them to the landfill (they have a bin for scrap metal) instead of putting them out to the curb but I have the remains of a couple of Briggs engines from old mowers people gave me for parts in my garage attic; I haven't even looked at them in so long I can't remember how complete they are or what sizes
When we lived in the city an electric walk behind mower did all I needed. When we moved out of the city I spent 8 hours over several days cutting the new yard with the electric and needed all of the extension cords we owned to almost reach the far back corner. A few days later I was introduced to using a riding mower at the part time job (I was trying to start my own business but it was the wrong idea at the wrong time & place) and the following weekend we found a 5HP riding mower at a yard sale and stored the electric.
A couple of years later ('97) I took a correspondence course in Small Engine Repair hoping it would help me keep my motorcycles running (I later took a Motorcycle Repair course but I've learned far more on the forums) and at the end of the course they sent me a brand new, perfectly working Tecumseh Legend 3.5 HP engine (it would have made more sense for them to send a box pf parts to build an engine or one that you needed to fix) so I pulled the electric mower out of storage and converted it to gas.
Just after we moved to this house the sheet metal deck of that mower started to show its age so while taking stuff to the landfill I grabbed a cast aluminum deck from an old Lawn Boy to replace it and I'm still using it for the areas the riding mower can't get into. All it has needed in all that time (other than oil changes) was a couple of spark plugs and a new pull start (the Briggs ones don't fit and new ones were cheap on eBay). I'll continue to use it at least until I get used to steering the R/C mower.
Around the time I took the course someone gave me a bigger riding mower that had a couple of small problems and we used that until it broke a ring and scored the cylinder in its Briggs engine too badly to be worth fixing. After we moved here I got to know one of the local mower repair guys and he sold me enough parts from an engine an apprentice had disassembled by mistake (should have just removed it and cleaned it up) and we used that until it threw a rod. With the engine beyond repair (& the ones in the attic too small for a riding mower). I went to another local mower guy to see about an engine and he took it as a trade in on a much newer/better one with a more powerful OHV Briggs engine for less than it would have cost for a half decent used engine (no fixing the old one the rod put a big hole in the side). That one is in the shed; In over a decade it has had oil changes, a couple of plugs, new tires and new blades. And I built a cage for it to keep low hanging branches from removing my head It is in good enough shape that I figured on selling it once I get the R/C one working but when I parked it after using it a couple of weeks ago it clunked loudly when I shut the engine off and groaned instead of restarting so i guess I'll have to look inside the engine first, a job for next spring.
Anyway, all that is to say that I'm no stranger to working on mower engines and I do have some parts around but this is my first Honda small engine (I've always wanted a Honda mower but I've never seen a used one for sale) so nothing I have fits.
The local mower place told me they get Honda parts through Lindsay Cycle (where I get parts for my bikes) so I called and Gary (parts guy I have a years long relationship with). It turns out there are actually 3 springs in there (I only saw 2 so I'll need to look for where the 3rd one goes) and they don't have them in stock so he ordered them for me and I can pick them up the next time I'm in Lindsay. And he confirmed that the springs that is missing one end is usually the culprit for hunting/surging.
The total came to $12 and change including tax. Sometimes it is cheaper & easier to get stuff from the Honda dealer than it is to buy online.
When we lived in the city an electric walk behind mower did all I needed. When we moved out of the city I spent 8 hours over several days cutting the new yard with the electric and needed all of the extension cords we owned to almost reach the far back corner. A few days later I was introduced to using a riding mower at the part time job (I was trying to start my own business but it was the wrong idea at the wrong time & place) and the following weekend we found a 5HP riding mower at a yard sale and stored the electric.
A couple of years later ('97) I took a correspondence course in Small Engine Repair hoping it would help me keep my motorcycles running (I later took a Motorcycle Repair course but I've learned far more on the forums) and at the end of the course they sent me a brand new, perfectly working Tecumseh Legend 3.5 HP engine (it would have made more sense for them to send a box pf parts to build an engine or one that you needed to fix) so I pulled the electric mower out of storage and converted it to gas.
Just after we moved to this house the sheet metal deck of that mower started to show its age so while taking stuff to the landfill I grabbed a cast aluminum deck from an old Lawn Boy to replace it and I'm still using it for the areas the riding mower can't get into. All it has needed in all that time (other than oil changes) was a couple of spark plugs and a new pull start (the Briggs ones don't fit and new ones were cheap on eBay). I'll continue to use it at least until I get used to steering the R/C mower.
Around the time I took the course someone gave me a bigger riding mower that had a couple of small problems and we used that until it broke a ring and scored the cylinder in its Briggs engine too badly to be worth fixing. After we moved here I got to know one of the local mower repair guys and he sold me enough parts from an engine an apprentice had disassembled by mistake (should have just removed it and cleaned it up) and we used that until it threw a rod. With the engine beyond repair (& the ones in the attic too small for a riding mower). I went to another local mower guy to see about an engine and he took it as a trade in on a much newer/better one with a more powerful OHV Briggs engine for less than it would have cost for a half decent used engine (no fixing the old one the rod put a big hole in the side). That one is in the shed; In over a decade it has had oil changes, a couple of plugs, new tires and new blades. And I built a cage for it to keep low hanging branches from removing my head It is in good enough shape that I figured on selling it once I get the R/C one working but when I parked it after using it a couple of weeks ago it clunked loudly when I shut the engine off and groaned instead of restarting so i guess I'll have to look inside the engine first, a job for next spring.
Anyway, all that is to say that I'm no stranger to working on mower engines and I do have some parts around but this is my first Honda small engine (I've always wanted a Honda mower but I've never seen a used one for sale) so nothing I have fits.
The local mower place told me they get Honda parts through Lindsay Cycle (where I get parts for my bikes) so I called and Gary (parts guy I have a years long relationship with). It turns out there are actually 3 springs in there (I only saw 2 so I'll need to look for where the 3rd one goes) and they don't have them in stock so he ordered them for me and I can pick them up the next time I'm in Lindsay. And he confirmed that the springs that is missing one end is usually the culprit for hunting/surging.
The total came to $12 and change including tax. Sometimes it is cheaper & easier to get stuff from the Honda dealer than it is to buy online.