The Great Big Lawnmower Thread

deezell wrote: »

Both V twin cylinder engines, giving smooth, quiet responsive power, the Husky"s 108 cut is 6cm more than the Honda, but it's Kawasaki engine delivers a full 50% more power than the Honda, 14Kw to 9.4kw. Honda has an on demand mulch lever, I think the Husky has one also, some models did, Biocut or something. I'm not sure why you might switch to/from mulch on the fly, except for uneven growth with patches too dense to mulch.
Honda rep goes before it, there's been occasional disappointed Husq users on the blogs, of the 'never again' variety, but it would still be considered premium, despite some grumbling on build quality. The Husqvarna is rrp at €5060, the Honda looks the better deal at €4400 here, https://monaghanhire.com/products/honda-hf-2417-ride-on-mower-brexit-buster-deal ,
but you could narrow that gap with haggling.
Consider slso the Stihl 5112 Z or 6112 Zl, 110cm cut mowers with twin v B-&S engines, 11 kw of power, all the usual features, the former machine is competitively priced, sub €4k in some dealers but with a build quality on a par with either of the other two. Very robust, very smooth engine.
https://www.fitzhire.ie/tractors-mower/250-stihl-rt-5112-oz-mower.html

Western Pomise wrote: »

Currently have a Mountfield ride on mower which I bought in fairly good nick second hand off a neighbour around 3 years ago.It would be at least 10 years old and the cutting deck would be slightly wider than your typical push mower iykwim.

Our lawn is nearly an acre in size and has a slope in it down to a wall at the roadside.When cutting as you drive up against the hill I find that you always have to go into first gear (mower has 5 forward gears)……naturally this slows down the cutting process……takes me over 3 hours to cut the lawn at a time…… to me that seems like a long time to be at it…..I cut it in an anti-clockwise direction,is fairly square shaped garden.So if there is not much grass on the lawn I can cut along the top and down the side in second or third gear but then when you face across the lowest run across you are on a slope so for it and the run up against bathe slope on the far side you can only go in first gear.

The slope from the wall at the road or bottom of the garden to the top is at about 35 degrees.

I am just wondering are your typical modern ride on mowers for domestic use a bit more high powered than ones like mine?

Would have hoped they are and you could be able to drive against the slope in at least second gear while cutting iykwim.

How long roughly would it take to cut a 1 acre square lawn on a slight slope with a weeks growth of grass on it with a modern household ride on Mower?
Thanks for any replies.

Any one have any experience of KAAZ walk behind mowers. This they use mostly Honda parts as in engine and clutch but a copy of Honda as far as I know.

Can someone tell me what the rocker switch does on this machine just above ignition key (it has no lights)

Almost certainly the light switch, but actual lights on the engine cover were optional depending on which clone of this 92cn generic Global Garden products mower you have. Its around as a Castlegarden, Club Garden, Tecumseh, probably others. The switch is probably there regardless of whether it was fitted with a bonnet with a light. This manual might be of use to you.

Same mower as a Tecumseh

Blue smoke equals oil burning. Piston ring/seal gone, or valve guide excessively worn. Also possibly a head gasket fail next to an oil channel between cylinder and head.

You may have accidentally mixed oil/diesel into your petrol can also, all sorts if ways it happens.

Petrol leaking into the sump also, if the ca4b float valve is dirty or jammed, or the mower tilted over excessively can cause fuel/oil leakage and mixing.

Hi . I know Agrieuro has been mentioned a few times here . I ordered a mower with them in July and haven’t had a good experience . It still hasn’t arrived and the customer support has been poor . Told me I had to chase it up with a shipping company in Germany/ not their problem .

I won’t be using them again .

Agreed, other than trivial purchases from Amazon, buying from the UK is a cluster****. Also with the removal of the €30 customs exemption, every tiny packet is now subject to scrutiny. I'm surprised you weren't asked for VAT on the bottle of oil, unless it was dispatched from Italy.

Double checked and it was the Italian site alright . All the order emails after that came in Italian which wasn’t helpful !

mower finally arrived yesterday so at least I have it now .

dachser logistics on the Irish leg , they were great to deal with .

Jonsered and Husqvarna the same company. A 97cm mower used under 1200 will be somewhere between perfectly servicable and heading for trouble depending on the hours worked, terrain traversed and care it received. Inspect steering joints an front axle for play, deck and grass chute for corrosion, engine for starting, smoke, oil for colour and clarity. Look for cracks in major metal struts and supports, deck supports, front wheel kingpins, pedal and steering. And don't forget the seat and its subframe. Heavy use over rough ground will shake the guts out of any machine. Buying from a dealer will generally get you a short but useful warranty. Buying private might get you a gem, someone with a half acre of billiard table grass and a dry garage to store it in, but people seem to overestimate the value of well worn machines. A €500 mower could cost that again for certain major repairs if you can't diy them.

The lost compression might be severe wear, (did you check oil levels over the 6 years?), broken piston rings, burnt valves, but if it's bad enough that suddenly it won't start it might only be a head gasket. These can fail and reduce compression so severely that restarting is not possible. It's very simple to pop off the head to confirm, all the work is usually in sourcing the correct gasket. A 6 year old machine would be worth an engine fix provided it wasn't catastrophically worn/damaged from misuse or neglect.

He'll knacker an expensive Honda just as quickly! Go for something with power to spare, a large 2 cylinder engine, that will be only 'ticking over' when in use. Like this, http://www.adverts.ie/23618991

or this Honda.

http://www.adverts.ie/24649410

That's child abuse, sort of. Report him to.... the SPCL(awnmowers)

For the second time this summer the drive belt has gone on my Castelgarden TC102 Hydro (see pic). I changed it March 2020 and it lasted until March this year, then it split, and 2 days ago it split again. Prior to March 2020 (since about 2006), I personally had never changed it, though it is possible it was changed at times when I used to take it into the shop for servicing. The one I replaced in March 2020 was very very worn and stretched - it looked like it had been on for years.

I have replaced it now, but I want to get opinions as to what might be causing this.

I have checked all the pulley wheels & guides and there doesn't appear to be anything in them that might be causing a split. So I have two theories:

1. I just got unlucky and a stick or stone has got caught up each time & caused the damage
2. The replacement belts I use are of poor quality.

On 2., I really like the place I get my parts from - they are online, very reliable with fast delivery, fairly priced and, in the past have sent replacement parts at no extra cost when I ordered the wrong item. I don't want to name them here, as I don't think it would be fair.

Anyway - opinions welcome. Thanks :)

Hi Tombrown last time this happened to me it was the pulley on the chassis either side of the transmission on my JD Lr135 a Castelgarden clone - they can’t be seen unless you put the mower standing up on 2x boards or blocks about 2-3inches thick . I’ve also switched to Kevlar belts which so far is showing no wear after 4yrs.