(first posted 3/12/2011. Updated 3/12/2021 with new ending and pictures of the disassembled worn out engine)
After a record mild winter, the grass is calf-high, and it’s time to bring out my collection of fine vintage mowers from the shed. I don’t know about you, but lawnmowers were a critical gateway to satisfy my childhood lust for cars and internal combustion devices. My first mowing job came at the age of eight, when a neighbor inquired if anyone in our household was willing to make fifty cents. My mother had to start the Briggs and Stratton, and I was off on a long career of mowing, with a lightweight, easy-to-push mower almost exactly like this one.
But I hate the evolution of mowers; they parallel that of cars: they’re full of safety devices and cheaper materials that have made them heavy and complicated. I gave up on a crappy (not a Honda) new mower years ago, and have assembled a mini fleet of the finest, lightest aluminum and magnesium deck best-mowing mowers ever. These are the equivalent of old Porsches or? And the price was right: I mostly found them sitting at the curb with “Free” signs on them.
This old Montgomery Ward with the classic B&S 3hp engine may not be exactly a 1964 (I don’t read VIN numbers!), but it’s representative of the vintage. A featherweight aluminum deck with nice “vacuum action”, the unobstructed pathway for the mowed material means this puppy will rip through the tallest, thickest grass, weeds, brush and baby rabbits without ever slowing down or clogging a deck or bag.
Did someone say bag? The single most wretched invention in mowing since the safety handle and heavy steel decks! Leaving the clippings on the lawn is how grass naturally feeds itself! Why would anyone want to go to all the effort to haul it off, and then have to spread fertilizer? This mower flays the grass so finely (and far), in a day or two, the cuttings aren’t visible. Or I long ago stopped caring.
The most pathetic thing I see constantly is people struggling to mow thick spring lawns without the bagger and with the opening to the rear closed off; folks, it just doesn’t work! They end up mowing at a snail’s pace, and torturing the mower and themselves. I could whiz through their jungle in a fraction of the time with one of these babies. It’s another example of how what was common knowledge is now lost on so many.
These mowers are absolute featherweights; I can pick one up ever so easily, and toss it in the back of my truck or xBox. In the sixties, when people had the priorities straight, light weight was a primary selling point for mowers. You simply have no idea how effortless these mowers scoot along, even up hills. And don’t even mention self-propelled mowers: think of mowing as good exercise, not a chore. I speed walk with this one.
When I found this mower at the curbside, I was attracted by that lovely deck (I’ve become an aficionado of old alloy decks), but I pulled the starter to see if it would turn over. It was almost frozen up. The oil was totally empty. Good way to get a B&S to stop running. I brought it home for the deck anyway, put some fresh oil in it, and pulled a bit. It began to loosen up. Pull a bit more, put in some fresh gas, and it sprang right to life, the Lazarus of mowers. That was eight (now nine) years ago. And we (my younger son, mostly now) have about a dozen rental houses to mow (they’re clustered like in a complex with common yard area). It hasn’t shown any sign of petering out yet, except for a mild drop in compression. I know where to find plenty more of these engines, if the need arises. But the deck is a keeper.
The other mower in the fleet is a Sears (above), and it sports a genuine magnesium deck! Its deck lacks the nice swirled chamber of the Monkey Ward, and the magnesium deck is having structural issues, such as holes appearing (from gravel?) and a big crack I had to mend with a steel plate.
It probably won’t last as long as the other one, but its engine is still in the prime of its life, and has decades ahead of it. Well, instead of talking about them, it’s time to go put them to use. Which one shall it be today?
Update: (this article was first written exactly this time last year): I pulled out the Sears yesterday after sitting in an open-sided shed all winter, and it started up on the second pull (with a little puff of white smoke). And I also have a new addition to the fleet:
A Lawn Boy, considered by many to be the all-time durability champ. Two-stroke, which means a flavor of oil in the air. That makes me wonder if one could use vegetable oil, to make it smell like french fries? I picked it up last fall and have been too busy to mess with it, but I doubt it’ll take much to get it purring again.
I discovered the miraculous simplicity and lightness of Lawn Boys when I had a gig mowing a neighbor’s lawn. She had one from the early fifties or late forties, similar but not quite the same as above. It was nothing but the deck, wheels, handle and a totally bare engine with exposed flywheel/fan which required a real rope starter, that had to be wound around the fan pulley each time.
But it had to be the lightest mower ever built; the Holy Grail of mowers, if lightness and simplicity are your thing. They are mine.
Update (3/12/2021): It finally wore out. The compression got weaker and its oil consumption got stronger.
I took it apart, thinking I might rebuild it.
The cylinder is worn, not surprisingly. There’s a decent ridge at the top.
And a fair bit of scuffing from dirt/debris. These are of course aluminum cases, with a treated bore, meaning that honing is not a realistic option.
So it will probably just go into a bucket as spare parts. If I can find a good motor with the right (short) shaft, the deck is still usable, and it’s my favorite because it just rips through tall grass and is very light.
I actually stopped using the Ward a couple of years ago and let it sit, and turned to my other vintage lightweight, this Sears magnesium housing mower from the 60s, with a later engine. It still runs, but it’s starting to show signs of advanced age too, the beginnings of the same symptoms as the Ward’s. B&S engines don’t last forever.
I spotted this cheap little mower sitting at the curb in the neighborhood a few months back, and tossed it into the truck. It had zero compression, but looked like someone had tried to take the head off. I pulled off the head and replaced the damaged head gasket, and replaced the carb diaphragm, and it started right up. Unfortunately, this motor, like all the newer ones, has a longer shaft than what the Ward’s deck needs, so for now I’m using it as is, although the side discharge plugs up in really heavy wet grass, as we get here in the spring. It’s been a warm winter, and I already had to mow once in February!
I’d LOVE to have one of these mowers. Lifting a modern 50-75 pound mower onto a three foot high tailgate all day can be a real pain, figuratively and literally. All I can find used are miserable MTDs and heavy Husqvarnas and Hondas.
I too satisfied my mechanical cravings with lawn mowers in the 60’s. My uncle had one very similar to the first one shown above, and I mowed their lawn every time I visited them. My dad had an old mechanical reel mower which, while it did a nice job of mowing, didn’t satisfy my longings for a powered version. We did eventually get a rotary mover with a 2 1/2 HP B&S motor, following which my career in neighbourhood mowing began.
I think my favourite mower, though, was one I got later… a used late-70’s Toro. It was a rear-bagger, and if you didn’t attach the bag it was great at mulching the clippings so fine there was never anything visible. I would even mulch all the fall leaves with it, and there would be nothing left to rake! It was light, simple and ran for years. Probably still running somewhere, as I gave it away when I moved.
We never purchaced a piece of yard equipment in my household growing up. Mowers, edgers, snowthrowers and on..
I never cared too much for the Lawn Boy at first, it took a bit of time to get used to the staggered wheels, it was nice though.
We also had some strange 60s vintage mulching mower. The blade was a round disc with 4 blade “tips” attached to it. That thing was a dream to walk with, It had steel wheels with actual ball bearings in them..
Birddog, that mower would be a Jacobson, if anything.
I have a nice collection of old timers too. twin 1959 Toro whirlwinds, (Mag. deck. 1 19″, 1 21″) and a 1948 REO 2 cycle. I used to have a General Motors Co. 19″ too. I love old mowers, good to see others who do too! We have our rider mowers too… a 1964 WheelHorse, a ’75 WH, and misc. others!
I have a circa 1980 Morrison 3in1 B&S 3hp same as your Sears the pull start broke but a socket welded to some round bar voila electric start just keeps going steel deck so easy to patch and parts at any rubbish dump.
I always thought it was my nostalgic memory that made me think that old mowers used to work so much better than the new ones?!? Guess I was right all along.
Alas, living in Florida, I no longer mow my own lawn. Lawn service is simply too cheap, it is WAY too hot in the summer, and grass here grows so fast and so thick it needs mowing twice a week. You have to bag the clippings here… our thick fake grass is just too fat to leave on top. My dad made me mow the lawn every week as a teen (for free!). I grew to hate the chore, and since becoming an adult I have only mowed grass a few times. It can take hours, and the lawn guy with his huge Dixie Chopper and crew knocks it out in like 20 mins, all for about $10 a week.
I do love lawn mower stories.
A few things though, if you have any size lawn at all (I have about 3/4 of an acre), the best mower for the job is the Toro Zero-Turning radius mower. After years of cheap lawn tractors, the Toro has cut my mowing time about half. It’s fun too, I can can zip around trees, bushes, poles, etc without having to back up. I actually look forward to mowing. The Toro also has a mulch kit, which disintegrates the grass into tiny bits. No raking or trails of grass. My Honda engined Lawn Boy push mower also has a much kit , but it seems to strain a little more with the tall grass.
I grew up with a circa 1950’s Lawn Boy. My parents were depression era cheap, so we always had old machinery. I remember having to wrap the cord around the reel, It too, had the staggered wheels. Early Lawn Boys were dark green, not the the lime-green seen today.
None of those fancy push bar controls either! The choke and throttle were all mounted on the carburetor. Naturally, at age 12, I couldn’t appreciate the fine points of the Lawn Boy, so my parents reluctantly bought a Lawn Chief mower, with controls on the push bar!
I grew up in Ohio, my folks had a three acre lot with a 3 bedroom ranch style home on it in the middle of the country (litterally surounded by corn and wheat fields) my father is a John Deere Lawnmower salesman and naturally you can guess what we had. John Deere lawn and garden tractors. He still uses the one I leanred to mow the yard with a 1973 John Deere 112. The old girl got a new engine in 1987 because my mother was still doing the job at that time and got lazy about checking the oil and blew up the old Kohler engine. Dad just put the tractor on the trailer and had the mechanics at his dealership drop a new 12hp Kohler in there, and that tractor and engine are still going strong. That tractor was my drivers “pre-training” before taking drivers education. I started mowing with it at age 12 (I’m now 33.)
FYI, it takes aproximatelly 4hrs to mow a 3 acre yard with dozens upon dozens of trees when you only have a 46in deck and a large turning radius.
Once you try a zero turning radius, you’ll never go back to a traditional lawn tractor.
They’re that much fun. The school district I work for has a king sized version of my Toro.
Saves tons of money in labor.
Back in the 80s, I bought my first house. Small yard. I started with an old fashioned push-type reel mower. I decided that there was a reason that people put motors on the wretched things.
Then I went to a long-time mower shop and bought a reconditioned Lawn Boy. Older than your green one, it was tan from the mid 60s. That little mower started on the first pull every spring for years. It was old enough that it used a 16:1 gas/oil ratio. Lawnmower and mosquito fogger in one!
I finally gave it away when my son was going to start cutting grass. As much as I grouse about modern safety features, I was in favor of them when it was my own kid who was going to use the thing. But it was a great old mower.
I get what you’re saying about lightweight decks and organic lawnscaping, but I take exception with one other point. Although I usually leave my grass clippings where they fall, I need the bagging option whenever I encounter weeds in seed. I’ve almost eradicated dandelions in my large yard by hitting them as they blossom. The bagged clippings, seeds and all, go into the compost pile. Without this option I’d probably resort to nasty chemical methods instead.
Very glad to see this new site, Paul. I’ve spent much less time enjoying that other car site since you departed.
Those old push mowers run forever , I found an old aluminum deck Jacobsen trim mower in great shape last year for 40 bucks . It still even has the little chrome ‘J’ hubcaps on the wheels !
Your comments about the light weight of old mowers really hits home. As a kid, it was my job to use a push-mower on the yard…the one I preferred was an off-brand with a stamped aluminum deck. Amazingly light and easy to push. I’d managed to get a better cut by jiggering the governor so that little 2.5 B&S engine would really sing.
Sadly, I destroyed it when I hit a high-planted cover for the water cut-off valve in front of the house…I hit the thing, HARD. Sheared off the protective bolts; the blade went flying free partly out of the housing. And the shaft was bent, and the engine frozen. As you described your experience in another section, I, too, learned all about Otto-cycle engines with that dead lawnmower…I had to make a lot of conjecture because even with the head off and the crankcase unbolted, that thing wouldn’t turn.
Don’t remember why, now. The rod wasn’t broken; must have been binding in the valve linkage.
When I was a kid, about 1967 or so, my next-door neighbor came out of the garage with a fancy new mower that sported a spring start. A handle flipped out of the top of the mower. He would wind up a spring on the top of the engine, release the flywheel with the throw of a lever, and the spring would start the engine.
I swore to myself that one day I would have one just like it. Never happened, alas!
We briefly had one of those. Not a better idea…there’s a reason they didn’t make them for long. Nasty; and when they got old, the detent that kept them from tuning would start to slip and…we had to junk it eventually. Also, it was a 25″ mower, which made it rather unwieldy.
This post makes me fondly remember my parent’s Tor that they bought in 69 after buying their first house in 68. I started mowing with it as a teenager and I immediately appreciated the aluminum deck which was lighter than the steel monsters. I also really liked the actual hand throttle that allowed me to trim at low throttle for less noise and give a burst of power in tough spots. It was also stone reliable cutting for years with only an occasional trip to the shop for servicing.
As an aside, when they bought the Toro from a mower shop (remember those?) the prevailing wisdom was that Lawn Boys were very expensive and had some reliability issues, as did the equally pricey Snapper mowers.
Sadly I make do with a modern (2001ish) Sears mower with a steel deck and a 6hp B&S. While it’s a bit heavy and has the usual nanny state deadman lever it starts easily enough after a shot of carb cleaner at the beginning of the season and the failure was a cracked gas tank.
We had one like this when I first started cutting the lawn; my dad had bought it in 1968 when my parents bought the house, and it stayed with us into the mid-’80s. Helping him overhaul the motor periodically taught me the basics of internal-combustion engines. When that one died, he bought another for about $25 from a woman in the neighborhood whose husband had died, prompting her to hire a landscaping service. That one went another 6-7 years. No automatic blade brakes for us; we just followed the old-school wisdom of keeping one’s hands and feet away from a running mower.
Now, living in LA, I know no one who mows his own yard; usually a couple of guys of dubious immigration status take care of the job, for cash of course. 😉 Quite a change from my own suburban upbringing, when, to quote Hank Hill, mowing was “a privilege, not a punishment.”
“I pulled out the Sears yesterday after sitting in an open-sided shed all winter…”
Man. I’d be in a bad mood, too! 🙂
Ignore the double-post. Note to the creators of Bolt for the blackberry: I hate you.
My great aunt had a Toro that my dad used to borrow when he needed to cut the grass before I was deemed old enough, ’cause we couldn’t afford our own and the old reel mower was getting too much trouble for him (I still have it and it works!). That Toro was a tank. When that mower died, Dad finally scraped some money together and we went to Sears one fine evening and bought a massive, red, wind-up start 22″ model. That’s when I started cutting the grass, 1964, I believe. That mower worked very well for years, and if the oil was low, it wouldn’t start unless you topped it off. I believe my parents had that for about 8 years – not bad, considering how much I abused it and the utter lack of care while I was in the USAF!
That ain’t nuttin. We had an old horizontal shaft engine reel mower that the reel driver had given up on. It would always start first pull every time. We had a vertical shaft mower that was a bear to start, but, would run great once running. We would start the reel, then using a fan belt looped on the rope drum of each would start the rotary. That worked great for carb adjusting also. No wearing yourself out pulling on a balky engine.
I’m still trying to wrap my head around that!
Let’s don’t just talk about Wards mowers! They made a 2 1/2 hp edger in 1973 and I still have mine. I am restoring it and just finished the engine rebuild. It is beautifully simple and has held up for many years.
Let’s don’t just talk about Wards mowers! They made a 2 1/2 hp edger in 1973 and I still have mine. I am restoring it and just finished the engine rebuild. It is beautifully simple and has held up for many years. Here’s a photo. Original picture is on the bottom.
Beautiful. Great color combo.
Why do I love B&S horizontal shaft engines so much more than vertical shaft ones? Probably because the vertical shaft engines are almost always used on noisy lawnmowers. The horizontal shaft engines purr so nicely. I had a trimmer given to me once, and I had no use for it, but I just loved how that little 2.5 horse B&S purred.
I know, putt putt putt putt. It runs better than my Harley… There’s a lot to be said for putt putt putt as opposed to potatopotatopotato!
My father still uses his 1967 tecumseh powered sears magnesium push mower every week, it has the exact same deck and front badge as the one pictured above. no holes in his yet!
Oh, man! Now mowers! It’s an old thread, but I gotta chime in. In another thread about overloading pick-ups (which I have oodles of experience in), I mentioned I’m a professional landscaper here in Florida, so I kinda know my way around a mower. I too, don’t like to bag, my time and motion studies don’t support it. I side discharge everything, and then do “clean-up” passes if needed. Mulching? You gotta be kidding me, try that with wet grass. When first starting out, I swore by the “el cheapo” 21-inch pushers. Light and cheap, but those Briggs motors are crapola (though not as bad as Tecumseh). Upgraded to Lawn-Boy for durability, those 2-strokes were worth every penny. My helper quit one day over having to push, and I subsequently discovered most self-propelled’s needed “help”. Then I got a Snapper. When they say “It’s a snap with a Snapper”, they aren’t lying. They will pull themselves out of a ditch! My first true “production” mower came in ’93, a used ’91 Toro 36″ mid-size walk-behind (Old Betsy). Talk about nirvana! You can put a stand-on “sulky” behind it, but I never did. Bought a brand new one just like it in ’02, and in ’06 a 44″ zero-turn-rider that cost more than the truck. The ZTR was nice, but it was heavy and too expensive; sold it and the newer 36″, and got a used 44″ mid-size. Back to “Old Betsy”, I always said when it died, it wouldn’t be scrapped, but rather i would bury it with a memorial. It’s been THAT good. The machine is now 21 years old, it’s had it’s share of repairs, but the motor’s never been open, not even a carburetor rebuild. If measured in homeowner’s use only, it would be at least 100 years old. I wish it had a hour meter, my estimate is 10,000 hours. It’s old and tired, but still stands ready for back-up duty. But alas, a tear comes to my eye. Last weekend, a gentleman asked if I’d like to sell Old Betsy, he saw it, and liked it. My initial reaction was no, it’s like family. Then I thought why not? I hardly use it, and it’s not what it used to be; so we haggled and it’s his now, for $525. I paid $1500 so many years ago, made at least a million bucks with it in tow, it’s time to say goodbye.
Forgot to add, Old Betsy has a Kawasaki 12.5 hp; keep the filter clean, and it’s bulletproof!
I have a Montgomery Ward Leaf vac that works well but I cannot find a new drive belt for it. Can anybody hlp me. qcc48@yahoo.com
I need a 1979 sears surburban 12hp riding mower deck. Please help. joshuafmbcpastor@aol.com
Lawns in Tucson: a rarity now. We had one when I was growing up in the 50s and 60s, and eventually my dad got a power mower (Sears). It was a big help back in those days. But lawns aren’t common in Tucson any more; the priority is to reduce water consumption, and lawns take an awful lot of water here. Mostly, if people have a lawn, it’s a very small one for the kids. Favored landscaping here is with plants that do well in a dry climate. People will make an exception, though, for citrus trees, although our winters will occasionally kill or severely injure citrus (really!). Nothing like the fragrance of citrus trees blooming in March and April here.
There’s one lawn remaining in our neighborhood; I think it’s been grandfathered in. Maybe the original owners of the house still own the house; the neighborhood was built in the late 60s and early 70s. We’ve been told the neighborhood originally had putting greens throughout; they’re all gone, and all of the landscaping is desert-compatible plants. So, no lawn mowers around here, except for the one house. We hear a lot of blowers, though.
I used an early 80s Toro side discharge with front wheel drive when I was a kid mowing lawns…really shallow deck but it cut well. I remember my neighbor cussing his Lawn Boy because it never wanted to start, and with teh staggered wheel it would leave “smiley faces” in the lawn if you weren’t careful. I use a 90s era Snapper Ninja with the old-school Snapper rear disc drive set up…great suction, built like a tank. I paid $50 for it several years ago. My wife prefers her Honda HRX217 but it has poor suction and leaves stray blades of grass standing up, which irritates me to no end. I would have a shed full of old mowers if my wife would let me, but, alas, she won’t.
Your Monky Wards is a 1968 or 69. The engine is from the mid-1980’s though. That engine should be cream white, with a gold Briggs decal, red lettering saying “3.0 HP, 4 cycle, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.” and it was diamond shaped. (If you had the right one.) Your definitely right, these mowers were the best! I sort of dislike Magnezium because of holes.. but I still mow 9 lawns commercially, and the newest mower is a 1986 LB. Great to see others like me… No old mowers where I am.. they’ve all died off. Too bad..
Great post!
I have a old tractor that’s mad by “general part company” model “maverick”.the company went out of business in 1970 or that’s what I read. I can’t find anyone who knows anything about it. It has all the bells and whistles. Electric start, cig lighter, lights and, the pickup box. Any info would help.
That looks just like an old Bonanza ‘Pickup’ tractor! I don’t know anything about them though. I think they were built by AMF.
Looking to find out if you are willing to sell a 110 John Deere lawn tractor the year 1974-1979
I just picked up an 18in Jacobsen push mower from my local dump it was about to be thrown in the scrap mental bin and I snatched it up. I believe it has an aluminum deck with 2 small holes in it one directly in front it looks like someone drilled and one tiny one by the rear wheel not really a big deal.It is powered by a 2 or 3 hp briggs with the built in recoil all I did was drain the bright red gas out of it put some fresh gas and oil in it and it fired up after a few pulls. It is the smallest conventional push mower I’ve ever seen. People think it’s a toy it’s bright orange puts along it’s kind of cute. I’ve owned countless free lawn mowers most of witch are modern self propelled ones(witch I’ve grown to hate because they are over complicated and poorly built) but this is by far the best mower I’ve ever owned
Ah, Monkey wards! mine would be on the opposite end as far as that, My monkey wards mower is a massive 1980 walk behind with a 5hp Briggs Magnetron and a belt driven blade. Bright orange too! Currently needs a blade brake cable and a gas cap. As far as old alloys, when I was a kid, my father had a 1980s craftsman Eager-1 with a Tecumseh. he also had a 1957 Graveley (a division of Studebaker-Packard Corp.) Kleen-cut 18″ with a Clinton 4hp horizontal shaft engine on it with a belt to the blade. He still has the Graveley. I once had a Sears rider with an Aluminum deck on it and a Tecumseh OH100 10hp (OHV)
I remember as a kid around 12 to 13 I used to mow several lawns. Did pretty good on pay too. In a year I had enough to buy a 24″ front discharge staggered wheel mower. It had a Briggs 3 hp engine. Had a choke & throttle on the handles. I paid 70 bucks for this mower new. That mower did a fine job cutting grass. The grass was discharged almost as soon as it was cut. It never bogged down now matter how thick the grass was. I used that mower up until I was 18 years old. I went off into the military then. My dad hit a steel pipe & bent the crankshaft. End of the mower. Wish I still had it today. These new mowers aren’t worth the powder to blow them up. Too many safety features because of all the idiots that cant understand anything & have not a lick of common sense. These people today don’t even know what common sense is.
The Lawn-Boy was a great product. They were indestructible if you remembered to mix the fuel and oil correctly (and if you didn’t, there was a good chance you could free up a stuck engine to live again.) Hillside mowing didn’t starve them for engine lubrication like the four-stroke cycle engines. Their only “weakness” was the exhaust port periodically clogging, which of course limited fuel intake (mixture in must equal exhaust out.) When you understood that, you were good to go. However, I warrant that many of these were scrapped due to a clogged exhaust port/muffler by uninformed owners.
I have a dodge ram lawnmower that was produced in early 60 or 50 , ive not seen another one needs restored but in good shape email me if u want to buy
I have a 1975 Sears Craftsman Eager 1, model number 131.90731 that I use weekly to mow with. I love it. When I was a kid my dad had a orange 73 Eager 1,model number 131.90261 that he mowed our yard with. It’s what I learned to mow with. I’ve been looking for one for years now. Hopefully I’ll find another one somewhere. One of favorite things from my childhood.
I too keep a fleet of clunker mowers in rotation.
Anyway, one has a “double hoop” handle per the featured mower; can’t recall the manufacturer without taking a look at it. I believe that somehow the two handle halves are mounted in a “sandwich” of rubber in torsion.
So what was the handle theory?
Is it about vibration dampening?
Or simply easy fold-up for transport?
For loosening and folding or complete disassembly, to efficiently fit in the shipping box. Those joints at the junction of the two pieces loosen up very fast unless one uses nylock nuts on the bolts holding the segments together.
Love your old mower fascination Paul. Starting mowing in 1978 using Dad’s 1956 HomKo. Always ran great and cut like a demon. Never should have let it go to the curb. Picked up a 60’s Hahn Eclipse from a neighbor in 1996.Used it for a season on my new lawn, an 80’s Snapper HiVac took me to 2000 or so. A line of Craftsman 6 hp Tecumseh units held me until a curb find Honda. I’ve passed this obsession on to my 15 year old son. Here’s what he found on the curb. This 1971 Sensation runs well after the points were replaced. I enjoy using it but he’s spoiled after using the Newest Honda (a 2002 MY) that replaced the curb find one.Bought that for $75 from the guy that put the first one on the curb!
If the crankshaft is still good it should be possible to rebuild the Wards around a newer short block.These B&S engines only need a handful of special tools to strip and rebuild.
I thought the old B&S had steel cylinder liners. We had a ’64 or ’65 Sears 20″ steel deck but it was still very light. It was a great little mower but rust did the deck in. It’s amazing how much more maneuverable the light weight mowers are.
My recollection of 80s B&S is that the cylinders were plain aluminum and the pistons were stellite or nikasil coated, in the reverse of normal automotive practice. This was one of several reasons for the rental shop I worked at preferred Honda or Robin engines.
FWIW my year old Craftsman (from Lowe’s) started with 3 pulls yesterday. after spending the winter sitting
My Dad had a Bunton push-behind mower that I had to use up until I left for college in the late 80’s. It had been manufactured sometime in the ’60s and he bought it new for his side gig as a landscaper. That damn thing was indestructible—Bunton made commercial equipment, so this one was cast from a block of solid pig iron; I don’t know who made the engine but I beat on that thing constantly hoping it would break and he would have to buy me a newer lightweight Honda or Toro. But every weekend, it fired right up and I’d have to shove it around the yard, cursing at it over the roar of the engine. I’ve never seen another before or since.
I haven’t had a lawn for a while, and our last lawn got mowed by our kids with a push mower (the kind with NO engine). On my last visit to the HW store I scanned their outdoor lawnmower display and was surprised to see Husqvarna mowers with Honda engines. As the owner of a Husky chainsaw, and a Husky sewing machine (both at least 39 years old) and aficionado of both classic Husky (Swedish) and modern Husky (Austrian) motorcycles, I was surprised. But just like BMW Supra’s and other global brand collaborations, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.
Very timely. In my ’70 C10 CC from this morning, I mentioned having dropped off my tiller.
I picked it up today.
For reference, it was a freebie from my grandfather’s estate, so I knew nothing of its condition.
Playing around with it had it running some two years ago but only when pouring fuel in the carburetor. But a compression test at the shop revealed copious blow-by. So it’s time to regroup on the tiller.
A couple of weeks ago I picked up 4hp/21″ Yard Machine in the alley. Wouldn’t start. Typical neglect: an extremely dirty foam air cleaner which led to lots of gas in the oil. Fixed those two things, sharpened the blade, and it along with two other mowers I found and fixed last Fall will go on the local Craig’s List in another month or so when the grass is a foot high. It’s a satisfying (and a bit profitable) way to spend a few hours a year. Simple flat head carbureted engines.
I keep another found 20″ aluminum deck mower for my tiny urban yards.
Having amazingly bad allergies allowed me to avoid lawn mowers for the most part, but I still was messing with the same basic engines on mini-bikes and later on, my own mower, a 4 HP Craftsman, in a very ill advised year of cutting my own lawn. I would do it as quickly as I could, screw it if I missed a spot, my yard was small and I could knock it out in about 20 min walking as fast as I could. I would spend the next 18-36 hours feeling like I needed a lung transplant. Wheezing, coughing jags that went on for several minutes or until I puked, it was just a joy. I finally found a kid to cut it for $20 a pop, and that solved that issue.
I did have a minor adventure with a lawn mower that has turned into a school legend that appears to be immortal. I can’t kill it, no matter how many times I tell the truth about it. It’s almost at the “stolen election” level of crazy belief. It didn’t happen, but the believers won’t let it go. We had no actual lunch room at my grade school, we used the former girls shower room for one, it was in the basement, and was very gloomy in general. It was also a storeroom for the janitors and maintenance crews too. One of the things stored was a green and white push mower with a 2 stroke engine. My best friend and I and another kid were in 8th grade, and it was about the end of Feb or early March. For some reason, we began to talk about the lawn mower. Would it start? We knew it would soon be going upstairs to the maintenance room for the spring/summer, and it just got into our heads to see if it would start. I bet it wouldn’t start on the first pull, my best friend said it would. We bet a dollar on it. We decided to spin it up one time with the plug disconnected on it to prime it.
My friend put his foot against the disconnected spark plug to keep the plug wire from touching it. When I yanked the rope, the mower jiggled, and his foot slipped and the spark plug wire touched and the engine came to life in a huge cloud of smoke. It took about 15 seconds to get it to shut off. The lunchroom was smoked in, and the “lunchlady” was enraged that we had “gotten into something again”.. We thought that was it, but of course, we were called to the Principal’s office the next morning to discuss the evils and dangers of lawn mowers. Even as dim a bulb as that guy was, he figured out we thought the whole discussion was insane, and he said, “Just don’t do it again!”, and we thought, that’s that. Oh no. This was 1969 by the way.
Fast forward to about 1984. I’m at a friend of mine’s house, someone who didn’t go to that school, but now lived about a quarter mile from it, and his two kids, a 6 year old girl and 8 year old son, went there. I had never met the kids before. We got to talking about various teachers and if they were still there, and suddenly, the boy’s eyes about popped out of his head, and he said, “Are you the same “XXXXX XXXXXXXX” who started up the lawn mower in the basement?”. I said, “Yeah”, wondering how someone his age would have heard about it. And more importantly, WHY he would have heard about it 15 years later? He tells me this amazing story about me starting a riding mower up, going up and down the halls almost running over people with it, until one of the teachers jumped on, and shut it off. I busted out laughing, and said, “That never happened!”, and explained the many many problems with that story, and what the real story was. The main problem with it was how they would have pulled the huge riding mowers they had up and down the stairs. Didn’t matter, he believed it. He ignored all common sense and logic, and still believes it today! Not just him, I’ve met about a half dozen kids of all ages who have swallowed that fairy tale 100% and they won’t let it go. One of them is the son of a kid who was IN THE ROOM and he ignores his dad, and buys the fairy tale completely. They all get angry when I deny it, and it is just amazing to how they try to make sense out of it. And so, my legend continues. Totally undeserved, but there it is.
Great story! Thanks for making my (extra-early) morning.
I swear that I will never go with a new lawnmower either. This one will probably out live me, lol.
Has anyone here ever seen an Elvis mower?
I’m right there with you Paul.
I remember my dad buying an extra mower to put back right before a new set of safety regulations kicked in during the single term of the hapless Jimmy Carter. Not only am I still using it, but I’m also still using the mower it was intended to replace. It is my suspicion that new push mowers are designed to be hard to use to push people toward riding mowers.
There are several reasons why new mowers suck, and a few tricks you can do to make them suck less. Replacing the cheap plastic wheels with ball bearing wheels will improve rolling resistance. Interestingly there was a brief period when you could buy plastic wheels with ball-bearing inserts and get the benefit of low rolling resistance combined with light weight. I have them on two mowers, and a set put back.
Another issue is that new mowers have the engine turned the wrong way such that the cylinder faces the front instead of the rear. Why? This shifts the center of gravity forward making the mower harder to tip. If you think about it, pushing the mower is only half the work, tipping it for turns is the half no one thinks about, and is the reason why self propelled mowers work you harder than good push mowers. It is also the reason why modern big wheel mowers are awful. They typically shift the pivot point rearward making it even harder to tip, unlike my Dad’s 1960’s yazoo which mounted the engine between the big wheels and used a belt to drive the deck. You can improve the balance by turning the engine around. You’ll have to disable the engine brake, but you want to remove that excess weight anyway. Not to mention the annoyance.
It is also better if you have a hand throttle. A fixed setting is usually too fast for thin grass, but too slow for real thick grass. Throttling down when you can reduces fuel consumption, and also reduces noise, which in turn reduces fatigue and has the psychological effect of causing you to walk a little slower. The problem is that you’ll need a secondary lever and spring in order to control the governor instead of the butterfly directly.
I have found that the best discharge is one that is angled back instead of perpendicular, and spreads clippings over two rows. That way if you mow back and forth in straight lines on the same side (which is the best way because it looks better) you will spread the clippings evenly, and also double mulch about half of them.
-JKL
In the summers +/- 1980, I worked for our county parks department. They had Jacobsen walk-behinds with forged aluminum decks and two-cycle engines. They weren’t light, but they handled dense lawn as quickly as you could push them & they seemed unbreakable. Needed pre-mixed gas, I don’t remember if they were 20:1 or 50:1. Image is a mid-80s model; I don’t remember if the ones we had were exactly the same.