The Free Lawn Mower

[cheesy]

So, as mentioned in the Cheesy Manor thread, one of my neighbors gave me a free walk behind mower. Said it needed some work. No, it didn’t need work, it needed a new engine. Upper crank bushing was so worn out that the flywheel was hitting the coil and the carb was loose. The loose carb caused the 27 year old Briggs to run lean and scored the cylinder. In spite of all that, it ran. Badly.

I had a Kawasaki ohv vertical shaft sitting on the shelf that I bought for ten bucks at an estate sale. It was for another project that won’t die, but it didn’t fit, so it sat. I have had it since 2016. I have no clue how long it sat before I got it.

The Kaw looked like a bolt on. Close. The Briggs was held on with 5/16-18, the Kaw with M10x1.5. I opened the holes to 13/32. Odd thing is that the Briggs has a 1” serrated shaft. Never saw that before. Kaw has a 7/8” shaft and uses a Woodruff key. Hence, new blade adapter.

Anyway, give the engine a good going over. Have no spark, so I yank the blower cover and see a rusty magnet and coil. Make those shiny and now have big blue snapper. Replaced the fuel line with new line and clamps, then filled the crankcase with oil. I pulled the rope a few times to get oil into the system. Filled the tank, opened the petcock, and had gas pouring from the carb. Turned out that there was a bowl drain that was open. That made me feel a little better as it wasn’t stored with gas in the carb. Set the throttle on choke and pulled. The little bugger started on the first pull. And every time after. Idle was a bit high, so I lowered that. And that was it. Pretty pleased.

Just need to see that blade adapter and my damn ditch will come to fear me.