Cheap, LIGHTWEIGHT push mower

5030 · Apr 24, 2004

Fivestring:

I went a searched the web. I spelled Flymow wrong. It's Flymo.

I did a Google search for flymo and came up with their European website. Problem is, they are no longer or not presently sold in the USA. Seems as though Electrolux group owns them. Again, I wish I still had mine. You can't beat them for mowing steep inclined slopes. I have a friend in the UK. Maybe he could get me one and send it to me. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Chuck52 · Apr 24, 2004

Fivestring,

I suspect that both mowers I bought at WallyWorld were MTD's. If I decide to wade through the grass that has grown several inches since last Saturday when I cut it, braving the crappy drizzle that's coming down, I'll go to my shed and check. Both were cheap 21" mowers, but last year when it was decided that I couldn't get a riding mower, I splurged on the next model from the bottom. It had high wheels in the back and since I have some hills and bumps to deal with I thought that might make maneuvering easier. I didn't really get a chance to find out because I almost immediately hit a stump hidden in tall grass and bent the shaft. In my next life, I plan to learn about small gas engines, but in this life I was at least able to swap the engine from the old mower to the new body. The old mower was still working OK, but in using it as a brush hog, I had managed to catch the gas tank on so many bushes and such that the main bolt holding it on had fallen off. Not having one of that size in my collection, I basically tied the tank-carb piece to the motor with wire. So, when I switched the motor to the new body, I swapped the tank-carb stuff from the old to the new. The only problem then was that the shaft length was different, so that my Frankenstein mower didn't cut as well as it might. Then one of the guys at work gave me an old Companion (Sears) push mower because he had gotten a new self-propelled. After emptying the water from the gas tank and cleaning it up a bit, it works fine. Now if it doesn't just rust completely to pieces, it should serve to do the trim work I can't do with the riding mower my CFO promises me I can get this year. I have a long ditch to do, too, and I suspect I will be unable to overcome the pucker factor to do that with the riding mower.

The idea of a used mower is probably good, if you can deal with the mysteries of the engines. To me they're black boxes with very few pieces I can swap out in case of problems.

Chuck

5030 · Apr 24, 2004

Chuck:

MTD.....M ore T ools D esired

Kyle_in_Tex · Apr 24, 2004

The old 2-stroke lawnboys were great until you loaned them out and someone failed to mix oil with the gas. I worked at a shop in high school that sold and repaired them. We had a pile of them with burned up (loaned out) engines. My boss sold me one for $25 bucks. I put a new engine short block on it (dealer cost $90) and used it for about 15 years.

Lawnboys 2 cycle mowers selling point was "33% lighter than a Briggs"

Bird · Apr 24, 2004

( The old 2-stroke lawnboys were great )

Definitely my all time favorite walk behind mowers. I bought a used one; supposedly one or two years old in 1973 or 1974. It was still a fine mower when I retired, sold the house, took off in an RV, and gave it to a son-in-law in 1989. When one of our daughters bought her house a couple of years ago, she said she negotiated with the prior owner to throw in a year old Lawnboy mower, and I told her you can't better than that. Well . . ., it ain't bad, but I didn't know they made them now with a 4 stroke Tecumseh engine. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

mathey · Apr 24, 2004

I always thought MTD = Made To Die

GerardC · Apr 24, 2004

I believe that it is one of the founders last initial "M" Tool and Die = MTD /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif!

5030 · Apr 25, 2004

Bird:

Tecumseh engines.....well, they do make really good refrigeration compressors, but their engines leave something to be desired. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif Their main plant is about 10 miles from here, in Tecumseh, Michigan, no doubt. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

GerardC · Apr 25, 2004

( 5030:

Tecumseh engines.....but their engines leave something to be desired. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif )

My snowblower has a Tecumseh 7HP. I've had it for 7 years so far and still starts right up. If I had the choice though, I'd go with B&S.
When I bought it, your statement is the response I got from most people that I asked about "How good are they".
I took a chance and so far, so good. Just my thoughts.

5030 · Apr 25, 2004

Gerard:

My snowblower has a 50 horse Kubota motor.

You are lucky. I had a Tecumseh engine on an Ariens rototiller that I sold. It burned oil, ran rough and ate one of the screws that held the choke plate on it's shaft. Made a real bad noise as the screw hit the cylinder head. I took the head off, ground the screw out of the head of the piston (it embedded itself in the piston crown), ground off the divots and put it back together. I subsequently sold it.