Lawn Equipment and maintenance

Orlando_Eagles said:
Gas lawn engine maintenance down here is a lot more straight forward as you really only put it away for a 8-12 weeks tops.

I’ll say this though....I don’t have this potential issue anymore. I’ve gone all electric with the lawn equipment. Not because I’m some hippy, dippy alfalfa sprout eating guy....but just because it made sense to trust the battery technology that’s come along and go this route.

While the technology is getting good I still don’t know if I see it working for anyone that has more than a standard suburban plot to mow.

Fact remains though that unless you can keep a gas engine running forever (I cant) there will come a day when you go to buy new lawn equipment and the only options have words like “Lithium” and “#Ah” on the box.
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My toro gas is getting near end and I'm thinking electric, but have two concerns

1. I have half acre and I'd need 2 batteries and mower were it's easy to swap batteries (which i think many are easy to swap now) as it takes ~90-120 minutes to mow

2. Fall, I don't rake, I just mulch leaves and wonder if electric could handle it
 
PnkPanther said:
My toro gas is getting near end and I'm thinking electric, but have two concerns

1. I have half acre and I'd need 2 batteries and mower were it's easy to swap batteries (which i think many are easy to swap now) as it takes ~90-120 minutes to mow

2. Fall, I don't rake, I just mulch leaves and wonder if electric could handle it
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I would look for the hugest Ah (Amp hour) on the batteries, but two could do it. Everyone I’ve seen the swap out of batteries is a complete breeze.

I probably can’t speak to leaf mulching since I never need to do it. I would imagine a decent layer of leaves should I be able to be mulched right through as effortlessly as the grass you mow in the summer.
 
PnkPanther said:
My toro gas is getting near end and I'm thinking electric, but have two concerns

1. I have half acre and I'd need 2 batteries and mower were it's easy to swap batteries (which i think many are easy to swap now) as it takes ~90-120 minutes to mow

2. Fall, I don't rake, I just mulch leaves and wonder if electric could handle it
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Good questions.
1. Probably have to have 2 batteries I'd think.
2. I would hope it would handle it, and just zaps your battery; and in that case, the extra battery in #1 would do it.

It would be crappy if you tried to mulch those leaves and it fucked the thing up.
 
outofyourmind said:
Good questions.
1. Probably have to have 2 batteries I'd think.
2. I would hope it would handle it, and just zaps your battery; and in that case, the extra battery in #1 would do it.

It would be crappy if you tried to mulch those leaves and it fucked the thing up.
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that's my thought.

I do like that so far anything on my Toro that has broken, I can find a video on youtube on how to fix it, and I'm not handy. But one of the wheels is only held on by one bolt and that isn't fixable, but still usable. I just think time to move on

I've also though about getting another gas toro, but one with double blade and 30 inch deck to cut mow time, but i like idea of electric, mostly to have a quiet mower
 
outofyourmind said:
Good questions.
1. Probably have to have 2 batteries I'd think.
2. I would hope it would handle it, and just zaps your battery; and in that case, the extra battery in #1 would do it.

It would be crappy if you tried to mulch those leaves and it fucked the thing up.
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My mower mulches grass really well. Don’t see how it could be too much tougher with leaves (again, depending on how much).

I have a 3.6 Ah on my trimmer/edger. I can do the whole yard on one battery. I have a 6Ah on the mower. Even there is even a decent amount of growth to cut (thick st Augustine) I have to do one yard and then charge back up.

My yard is a 1/4 acre at most. Probably closer to an 1/8. So I would be doing a good bit of research on battery size for that much yard.

When the grass is tall it doesn’t bog down and try to stall as easily as a a gas mower, it surges up to power through it. That’s good. But, that also sucks a battery dry....so it’s give and take.
 
outofyourmind said:
I've had a McLane walk behind edger for a lot of years.
It's starting to stumble, not wanting to start, runs good for awhile, then wants to chug chug and stall, or sometimes keep going.

Never have rebuilt a carburetor, so I'm wondering how intricate this shit is.
I think it could be a number of things, but a rebuild kit should get it all.
Maybe a fuel pump diaphragm, maybe fuel metering, just don't know

Like this:

View attachment 27990



These rebuild kits are vague in their description, such as "will fit Briggs & Stratton 3-5 horsepower" etc., and since I have never done one, am uncertain if I want to take this thing all apart then discover I have the wrong kit.

@fordman84
I think you said you had some experience with these things??
Is it easy or not. Should I just jump into it or have it done. Right now it would probably take all summer to get it back from the repair shop.


Anybody have this problem.
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I have put this on the back burner for now.
It still runs ok, but stumbles and shit.

The nuts/bolts/screws all seem to have a lot of rust on them and I'm not sure I can back those out with snapping them off and creating more problems.
 
outofyourmind said:
I have put this on the back burner for now.
It still runs ok, but stumbles and shit.

The nuts/bolts/screws all seem to have a lot of rust on them and I'm not sure I can back those out with snapping them off and creating more problems.
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Maybe in the fall pull it into your workspace and hit the screws with a tiny bit of penetrating oil and let sit for a day, then try. I've only ever busted a screw/bolt on one of those small briggs and it was a muffler bolt that had seized in the block. Most look really bad but will bust loose rather easy, but best to try that when you have time to wait for parts to be shipped without hearing "you need to edge" from the misses.
 
Was wanting to up the performance of my Honda mower.
So I got on YouTube and saw how to increase the engine RPM's.

Took about 3 seconds to do.
Didn't bump it up a lot, just a little, but noticeable.

Will give an update on how it does. Just mowed my grass yesterday, so Friday probably.


Anyone ever done this, and if so, what were the results??? More power or not.

Here is what I watched, and it worked exactly how he said it would.
Remember, more tension on the spring makes it idle faster.







@fordman84 will probably tell me that I fucked it all up, but I haven't used it yet.
He's Mr. Technical and will want to know what the new 'blade tip speed' is or some shit.

Sounds more powerful at a higher RPM. That's all I know for now.









.
 
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Here’s my dilemma with my “lawn equipment“

My lawn guys have really been doing a shitty job lately. However, I think I may have fallen out of their billing because he hasn’t billed me (and I haven’t paid him) since last October. If I was paying him, I’d fire him.

Do I:

- Just suck it up and deal with free, but shitty service; or
- Fire him and potentially get a bill representing the last nine months of shitty service?
 
williewilliejuan said:
Here’s my dilemma with my “lawn equipment“

My lawn guys have really been doing a shitty job lately. However, I think I may have fallen out of their billing because he hasn’t billed me (and I haven’t paid him) since last October. If I was paying him, I’d fire him.

Do I:

- Just suck it up and deal with free, but shitty service; or
- Fire him and potentially get a bill representing the last nine months of shitty service?
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Either way you do it, I think they realize their mistake at some point.
 
outofyourmind said:
Either way you do it, I think they realize their mistake at some point.
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I keep thinking that, but so far he hasn’t figured it out. I was going to bring it up to him at one point, but now I’m just intrigued to see how it plays out.
 
outofyourmind said:
Was wanting to up the performance of my Honda mower.
So I got on YouTube and saw how to increase the engine RPM's.

Took about 3 seconds to do.
Didn't bump it up a lot, just a little, but noticeable.

Will give an update on how it does. Just mowed my grass yesterday, so Friday probably.


Anyone ever done this, and if so, what were the results??? More power or not.

Here is what I watched, and it worked exactly how he said it would.
Remember, more tension on the spring makes it idle faster.







@fordman84 will probably tell me that I fucked it all up, but I haven't used it yet.
He's Mr. Technical and will want to know what the new 'blade tip speed' is or some shit.

Sounds more powerful at a higher RPM. That's all I know for now.









.
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Nah, as long as you still have the governor on there you are ok. I haven't watched it yet, but probably bending the wind vane or moving a governor spring around.
 
williewilliejuan said:
I keep thinking that, but so far he hasn’t figured it out. I was going to bring it up to him at one point, but now I’m just intrigued to see how it plays out.
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Just hope he doesn't snap back and bill you for all the shitty cuts. :dhd:
 
Ok, just mowed with the higher rpms.
Cut better, mulched better, and had zero problems in tall grass.

So I would recommend it.

Waynes World Yes GIF
 
Found out that for a 21" mower, the maximum recommended blade tip speed is 19,000 ft per minute.
Which works out to about 3450 rpm.

I don't think any manufacturer is going to set it up that way out the door. They will always 'underclock' the mower to be safe.

I moved my rpm's up, just to the point to where the governor activates only occasionally, so I think I have it right where it needs to be.
I have no tachometer, so it will just have to do.

@fordman84
Does that sound right.
Am I forgetting anything?
 
outofyourmind said:
Found out that for a 21" mower, the maximum recommended blade tip speed is 19,000 ft per minute.
Which works out to about 3450 rpm.

I don't think any manufacturer is going to set it up that way out the door. They will always 'underclock' the mower to be safe.

I moved my rpm's up, just to the point to where the governor activates only occasionally, so I think I have it right where it needs to be.
I have no tachometer, so it will just have to do.

@fordman84
Does that sound right.
Am I forgetting anything?
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I usually adjusted anything not warranty related by ear. As long as it doesn't sound like it is going to lift-off then you are going to be fine. If it were in for warranty I'd check it, but I wouldn't worry about it. Like you said they are going to ship them restricted to make them able to last longer for people that don't take care of them. If you are sharpening the blade and changing the oil each season then you have nothing to worry about.
 
fordman84 said:
I usually adjusted anything not warranty related by ear.
Click to expand...

That's what I did with this rpm thing.

It always sounded like it was running slower than it should, from day 1. Can't really explain that, it's just a feel/sound thing that you mentioned.
 
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