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The Great Big Lawnmower Thread

aoifski

I'd appreciate some advice about lawns and lawn mowers. We have about 1/4 -1/3 an acre of lawn. Top soil was put down when we moved in about 4 years ago, not the best stuff - quite stoney. We raked but did not rotovate it at the time, and then rolled and then sowed a lawn.

It's ok - the surface is a bit rough still and not flat. We have a petrol rotary at the moment and it takes quite a while to cut all this grass. And it grows like wildfire in the spring/summer.

We want to buy new rideon mower and I am all for buying a tractor mower to spin around the lawn in as little time as possible.

My husband has gotten it in his head somehow that he wants this manicured lawn, and wants to buy a petrol powered cylinder mower - the ones used for cricket and golf greens! Believe me our lawn and surface is far from this!

Questions:

To get even surface with manicured lawn would we have to rotovate and completely redo the surface/soil and resow?
Presumably a cylinder mower (self propelled) is totally unsuitable for what we have right now?
Any tractor mower recommendations for a nice cut which will appease my husband?!

Thanks in advance!

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limnam

deezell wrote: »

Either Harkins or Waterside I'd say. Both stock Toro, Waterside has non elelectric 20975 for £1195, Harkins dont sell online but their website shows a bunch of mowers in the mowers link and I can see a Timemaster in the image.
http://www.watersidelawnmowers.com/index.php
http://www.harkinlawnmowers.com/service.html

Called today, everyone seems to be on holidays

deezell

limnam wrote: »

Called today, everyone seems to be on holidays

Hardware shops shutting down completely for the August week/fortnight is very old school. In the 80s you could hardly buy a nail during the break. Who remembers half day closing on Wednesdays?

NIMAN

limnam wrote: »

Called today, everyone seems to be on holidays

Harkins should have been open, was it lunchtime possibly?

deezell

MahatmaGeansai wrote: »

The 20976 looks to have the same 223cc engine here.....

Mea culpa, it does indeed. That replaces the 20975 non electric which is identical but with the 190cc engine. 30" cut would need the bigger job.

limnam

NIMAN wrote: »

Harkins should have been open, was it lunchtime possibly?

One had an answering machine saying they'd fecked off

and one phone kept ringing out.

Cant remember which is which

kaiserrussel

Hi There

With the summer we have had I wonder would sales of lawn/garden power tools and mowers have taken a hit?

any reductions available? I have a husq cth151 that I was thinking of upgrading from. No reason only to get something a little newer

thanks in advance

NIMAN

I ended up going for the Honda HRX in the end.

Was severely tempted by the Weibang, but went the few extra hundred for the Honda.

jingojonson

Hi All

Bought a brand new replacement briggs engine 19.5HP for my lawnmower last year and this evening its started smoking.

Last engine had similar problems and I think it was head gasket.

Am I just really unlucky or whats the story with these engines - the lawnmower has had no hardship and not much use since I fitted the engine last year.

I think its under warranty but it will be a pain to get it back to dealer I bought it from (assuming they honour it)

Any thoughts?

J

deezell

jingojonson wrote: »

Hi All

Bought a brand new replacement briggs engine 19.5HP for my lawnmower last year and this evening its started smoking.

Last engine had similar problems and I think it was head gasket.

Am I just really unlucky or whats the story with these engines - the lawnmower has had no hardship and not much use since I fitted the engine last year.

I think its under warranty but it will be a pain to get it back to dealer I bought it from (assuming they honour it)

Any thoughts?

J

Do you mean a lot of smoke in the exhaust, or is there smoke escaping from some other part of the mower. If you open the oil filler plug while running is there smokey blowback from here? Maybe post a short video attachment.
With your new engine, did you have to reuse parts from the old, such as the exhaust box, or was it just a case of drop in and fit the cables and blade.
What oil did you put in it, did you check the oil levels frequently?. It sounds like its burning oil, due to oil getting past worn, overheated rings on the piston. Is the oil very black. After a year on a new engine it should hardly have changed colour.
The only other issue might be a loose or damaged exhaust box, but the new engine should have had this already on ? If gas was escaping through a head gasket on the old engine, it would have to have been severely scored to warrant a new engine, and not just a new gasket and sealant.
Check what brand and grade of oil you are using. If the oik gets low and you are mowing slopes its easy enough to get oil starvation which will cause excessive wear. Piston rings can overheat and stick. You'd notice poorer compression on pull starting, big puff of smoke maybe.

jingojonson

Hi there

Thanks for reply - found lawnmower guy who diagnosed contaminated / dirty petrol - will follow it up.

cheers

J

deezell

jingojonson wrote: »

Hi there

Thanks for reply - found lawnmower guy who diagnosed contaminated / dirty petrol - will follow it up.

cheers

J

Petrol with diesel or kerosene in it? I hope you kept your original engine, it should be fine. I once pumped 30 litres of petrol from a friends car when he accidentally put it in itstead of diesel, before he copped. It was about 5 litre diesel from the reserve to 25 petrol, i took it home and used it up in the tractor mower. Plenty smoke but it worked fine!

jingojonson

No diesel - think my dad used my petrol can to "mix" two stroke for his strimmer
and I put about a litre of that in. Didn't run it for long and have flushed the tank.
Hopefully ok now

red bull

Thinking of buying a sechondhand Countax ride on 16hp

Discodog

red bull wrote: »

Thinking of buying a sechondhand Countax ride on 16hp

Be careful. They are excellent machines & can be got cheap because they have a bad reputation because people don't know how to maintain them.

Countax will tell you the age from the serial number.

[Deleted User]

So lads I have the Honda hrx and there was a bit of a rattle in the engine. Still going fine. Just the rattle. Dropped it in to the dealer and they say there is engine damage and the oil was low. I'm a bit skeptical because I check the oil every few days. When I bought it I was told the warranty would be honoured if there was oil in the engine at a later times.

Anyway they say they would have to strip the engine to find out the problem. New engine is €900 fitted. Rebuild they don't know until they do it.

The independent who looks after my equipment is on holidays so I can't get him to look for a week. I am wondering what damage there could be that would allow the mower to still run fine. It does everything it should only it's really loud. I was thinking valves might need adjusting.

my3cents

Deleted User wrote: »

So lads I have the Honda hrx and there was a bit of a rattle in the engine. Still going fine. Just the rattle. Dropped it in to the dealer and they say there is engine damage and the oil was low. I'm a bit skeptical because I check the oil every few days. When I bought it I was told the warranty would be honoured if there was oil in the engine at a later times.

Anyway they say they would have to strip the engine to find out the problem. New engine is €900 fitted. Rebuild they don't know until they do it.

The independent who looks after my equipment is on holidays so I can't get him to look for a week. I am wondering what damage there could be that would allow the mower to still run fine. It does everything it should only it's really loud. I was thinking valves might need adjusting.

If the valves are out on those and they do go out they tend to start really badly and not run very well.

deezell

If the engine ran very low on oil the big end bearing might be damaged, but the con rod would disintegrate quickly if you continued to use it, and it would run badly. If its working fine it sounds like some non critical parts striking, say a bent cowling against the magneto or flywheel. Also a loose engine mounting bolt might protrude downwards into the blade clutch mechanism. Take out the plug and rotate by hand to see if you can detect a contact.
An engine will vibrate if the blades are out of balance, if one has a lump chipped off. Cracked or lose exhaust manifold could be noisy too.
One thing you won't be doing is ponying out €900 for a new engine. An extra €199 buys the mower brand new,
http://www.hanlysgardenmachinery.ie/product-information/hrx-537-vye-honda

Wait till your Indy guy returns.

my3cents

Any chance the muffler has come loose?

red bull

Saw what was on offer lets say first impressions last ! What mower would you suggest for a budget of €1000

kaiserrussel

kaiserrussel wrote: »

Hi There

With the summer we have had I wonder would sales of lawn/garden power tools and mowers have taken a hit?

any reductions available? I have a husq cth151 that I was thinking of upgrading from. No reason only to get something a little newer

thanks in advance

Hi folks any advice?

deezell

Pick a brand and model you fancy. Use pricespy.ie to look for discount. Check out Viking, premium brand but some big price variations to be had. It might be down to the trade in offer youll get, so get feedback on that first if youre not comfortable selling your own. Its late in the year for a good secondhand sale from a private seller.

[Deleted User]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll have a look around it at the weekend. My knowledge is fairly limited though. The blades are in good nick. I had them off last week. They are balanced too.

NIMAN

Would an engine for a lawnmower really cost €900?

Seems a lot, considering how small they are.

[Deleted User]

NIMAN wrote: »

Would an engine for a lawnmower really cost €900?

Seems a lot, considering how small they are.

This was the price I was quoted. I've seen them on the Internet for cheaper but you have to make sure ir is suitable to mount on your machine. I also don't know how long it would take to take out the old one and put in the new one. I'm sure there is some labour cost in there.

Brianmeath

NIMAN wrote: »

Would an engine for a lawnmower really cost €900?

Seems a lot, considering how small they are.

What engine/ mower?

deezell

Brianmeath wrote: »

What engine/ mower?

Suresander's HRX 537 VYE. It has a GCV 190 engine, which can be bought new in the states for $350, used for a 100. I'm sure you'd find one for similar in euros if you dig hard enough.
Can you imagine its price as an item on a spare parts list in a main honda dealers, then the cost of stripping out the old and popping in the new. The quote for €900 doesn't surprise me in the least.

deezell

Here's an entire brand new Castelgarden mower with that GCV 190 engine for €573 delivered ffs. Dealers!
https://www.agrieuro.co.uk/castelgarden-xs-55-hvw4-self-propelled-lawn-mower-with-gcv-190-honda-engine-p-8422.html

Daz_

Hi guys. I got a brand new ride on lawnmower a few months ago. It’s seems to me that the power / speed it cuts at had reduced over the past few weeks . Is this possible or am I just imagining it ? Can something affect the HP in this manner ? Any opinion welcome ! Thanks

Rows Grower

Daz_ wrote: »

Hi guys. I got a brand new ride on lawnmower a few months ago. It’s seems to me that the power / speed it cuts at had reduced over the past few weeks . Is this possible or am I just imagining it ? Can something affect the HP in this manner ? Any opinion welcome ! Thanks

Dry grass will cut a lot easier than wet or damp grass.