Here's one for the petrolheads here. Knowing you lot you will be able to answer it! Got rid of the old mower with 20 years loyal service behind it with a Briggs and Stratton engine on it which is still running perfectly ( it's the rest of the machine that's knackered). Went down to B&Q and found that Mountfield only fit Briggs and also Honda engined to their more expensive models with the lower priced ones coming with an engine badged "Mountfield" so probably a cheap Chinese engine. You think it would give reliable service or should I pay a bit more for a Briggs and Stratton or Honda powered Machine. If the latter which engine is the best? I am inclined towards Briggs for parts availability. A qualcast Suffolk Punch ( with Kawasaki engine) would be nice but beyond my budget! Just as an aside one does not see Tecumseh engines anymore. Does anyone actually know what
I'm talking about :)
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I bought one of the cheaper Mountfiled self-propelled ones at a staggeringly cheap 117 quid (once all the discounts I could get were factored in) I'm happy to take my chances with the Chinese engined ones (if they actually are), it replaces another electric Mountfield which has given over fifteen years service and still works, it's just that there's a slightly bigger lawn here !
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You should speak to the chaps who set the land speed record the other day on a lawn mower they obviously know there stuff.
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A Honda-engined Honda lawnmower came out on top in this Which Mower? thread:
www.car4play.com/forum/post/index.htm?t=545&v=f
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Our Honda lawn mower (actually built in France) has given sterling service for over 10 years now. Recommended.
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My son bought a Mountfield 4 weeks ago - parts missing when box was opened. A well known DIY co supplied the bits that were missing
Next day he filled the machine with oil & petrol and despite the best efforts of a neighbour who is a mechanic it would not start.
The DIY chain refused to take it back as it had petrol & oil in it. Mountfield were not helpful on the phone.
Back @ DIY store he complained that the machine was not fit for purpose and said he would as the Credit Card Company to refund his money.
DIY outlet then crumbled and gave him a refund.
I have a 17" Flymo petrol with B&S motor - 3rd season now and it is fine - £127 IIRC after discounts, weekend 10% etc etc - bought from Homebase
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Next day he filled the machine with oil & petrol
Despite the writing on the box - I failed to buy the oil and had to go back the next day - the Mountfield oil was cheap enough (£6.00 per litre) but I resisted the temptation to fill it with oil I found in the garage....knowing my luck etc etc....
On the machine was a label saying "Do not contact the store in event of warranty claim - phone this number" - my contract was with the shop not with Mountfield. Tesco tried this on with me when a belt broke on a brand new Vax cleaner - phoned the number on the label and they said "10 days to deliver" this was two days after my wife died when the house was subject of constant callers in filthy weather. Took it back to Tesco and eventually got my money back after brow beating the "manager" (pimply youth with an earring).
Back to the Mountfield - seems well enough made and a B&Q special model - seems to have been made in Italy.
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>> Next day he filled the machine with oil & petrol and despite the best efforts
>> of a neighbour who is a mechanic it would not start.
Did he try Bradex Easystart?
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It's only a blimming metal blade that spins around once a week or so,
I've got the Honda Izy thing - an 18 incher but my FiL has a cheap Champion thing that cuts
his grass the same as mine does.
Tecumseh (USA) made good 2 stroke injuns, dunno if they still do though.
Its like jam jars these days - they're all boringly reliable (more or less)
Ya pays ya money & takes your choice :)
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This should ensure that your mowing times are a bit quicker:
tinyurl.com/34r7jdv
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Dunno about the engine, but I'd go for a cylinder mower for regular use any day. Needs less power, too.
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I bought an old non working Suffolk Punch 14 inch cylinder mower about 10 years ago, which was being sold as spares for £10.
I bought it with the intention of using it for spares for my existing 12 inch, which I had previously bought out of the free ads.
It turned out that despite looking a bit rough, all it needed was a new spark plug and lead and a new bit of cord for the pull starter. it was actually better than my old one.
I don't suppose it starts as easily as a new one but I have learnt it's technique.
In fact first mow of the year and I was thinking after the winter layover, If the thing takes more than 5 minutes to start, its going to the big garden in the sky.
Petrol on, tickled the carb half a dozen times, and it started second pull.
I don't know what the engine is, but despite running it on virtually no oil once, it just keeps going.
I actually like cutting our lawn, nice smell, nice stripes and of course it has to be a petrol mower.
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>>A qualcast Suffolk Punch ( with Kawasaki engine) would be nice but beyond my budget!
>>
Last year I bought an almost new S/H QSF Cylinder mower with a scarifier cassette (£100) for £300.
If you go that way do not pay more than I did and make sure it is the Kawasaki engine. If you want more info on any of their 14 models ( no 12 inch) sing out :-)
Qualcast /Atco now = Bosch.
The front roller is now just on piece of plastic tube. I paid £20 for two small wheels and two bolts instead of the split rollers on the old model.
I am well pleased with it but the power can generated rear roller spin on wet grass.
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do they not come with traction control?
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>> do they not come with traction control?
>>
Nah- not like the old days. My Ransome Ajax push mover had a ribbed and split land roller which was great for corners but it had only one Henry power so so too much talk and not enough torque to cause real problems. Great machine gear drive not belt / chain drive!
I wonder how much an engineered / quality item like that would cost today ?
My new mower when doing the first cut was literaly a pain in the belly. When the roller started to spin I was walking into the pram handle. :-((
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I still have my first petrol powered garden implement. A McCulloch petrol strimmer. Still works very well indeed. Little 2 stroke engine which is very loud. It's good at strimming ( sounds like an approaching group of American tourists if you blip the throttle ) but its best trick is scaring the crap out of my neighbour's cat while the animal is still on his lawn rather than bringing its foul feline deposits to mine.........
Anyway, it is a right of passage thing isn't it, petrol powered garden stuff ? Like grey hair, one day you realise you have it. You can still just about remember a time when the very idea would have seemed preposterous but now it seems normal. Like the saying of "ahhh" after taking your first swig of tea, the involuntary groan when bending to tie a shoelace and pickles giving you indigestion.
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I've owned a modern Mountfield for about five years; it thrives on neglect, lived outside throughout the last winter due to lack of space, and yet started first time and has continued to do so. Only thing I've had to replace is the plug cap which fell apart after three years, a combination of corrosion and hitting too many fence-posts.
I would however say that Honda kit is very good indeed. Bought an old one when I first moved here and it never let me down; only bought the Mountfield because the Honda lacked a grass-box, and it was seriously cheap at B&Q.
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Petrol chain saw. Its a man thing.
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You're right Zero, neighbour was attacking a tree on our boundry with an electric chainsaw....Sheeeeez....(similar sound to that come to think of it) We have the remains of a tree that needs removing, might buy a Sthil petrol one - you know er...cos it's more efficient.
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>>might buy a Sthil petrol one>>
I have a Sthil cordless screwdriver - it's either a re-badged Bosch model or a Bosch re-badged Sthil...:-)
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>>Sthil cordless screwdriver - it's either a re-badged Bosch model or a Bosch re-badged Sthil<<
S'like a lot of 'names' these days ~ JCB = carp (except for what they're famous for of course)
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I once, a very long time ago, saw a couple of guys at The Royal Highland Show demonstrating safety overalls using a chainsaw. One bloke would stand there while the other would attempt to maim him with the chainsaw. The overalls had some kind of fibre which jammed the chainsaw.
Now can you imagine the job interview for the overall salesmen ?
"All you have to do......"
Last edited by: Humph D'bout on Mon 24 May 10 at 23:13
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Don't knock it - Zero and me'll do it....
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yup, need a part time job.
Overalls look better on you tho...............
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a long time ago a neighbour of my mum's got a job with the forrestry commission. He wanted to practice cutting wood with his chainsaw and asked if he could do it in the bottom of her garden where there was wood.
It later went silent for a long time and she was afraid to go and look. She did eventually and found him trying to refit the chain. She thought he'd had an accident!
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I do a fair bit of coppicing for a farmer friend of mine; it's the pick-up's way of justifying its existence hauling the timber back home!
Got a Stihl 14" chainsaw, very good bit of kit.
Do be careful with chainsaws, they are absolutely lethal in inexperienced hands.
The least you should wear is overalls on top of a stout pair of jeans, and steel-tipped lace-up boots; NOT rigger boots or wellies as the sawdust goes in 'em and gets stuck in your socks and then gets all over the carpets.
Rigger type gloves and if you haven't got a proper vizor (the sort you see the council boys with strimmers wearing) then wear good safety glasses. NEVER use the saw above chest height or when on a ladder!
If in doubt, pay a professional to do the job for you.
Read this if you're thinking of buying or borrowing one;
tinyurl.com/3xwjvmt
Last edited by: Harleyman on Tue 25 May 10 at 00:12
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We have a Honda, 10 years old now, always starts first pull even after 6 months in the shed (well a couple of slow pulls to turn it over then a sharp tug), the oil has been changed every couple of seasons, the airfilter and plug just once, it idles smoothly and is not too noisy under load. Some mowers are constant speed with a clutch to engage the blade and drive, I dont like that, I like it to be able to idle and for the throttle to be adjusted as I wish.
Of course I ride a Kawasaki ;-)
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My neighb at our last house used to use an ole chainsaw to cut logs for the multi-fuel stove,
An operation for carpel tunnel syndrome necessitated one hand use of said lethal weapon,
I don't ever remember seeing the use of vizor's or rigger gloves,
Tough folk these country ppl,
*SHE* came from Charlton in South London.
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>> *SHE* came from Charlton in South London.
Yes, I think mad frankie fraser knew how to use one.
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>>I think mad frankie fraser knew how to use one<<
Mad Frankie is still alive & in his 80's now, my brother used to know him quite well, he reckons that Mad Frankie used to lock himself in his bedroom for days on end as a teen and all meals had to be left outside :)
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I'm surprised that none of the diesel freaks have recommended a diesel engine!
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>>none of the diesel freaks
What have you got against us?
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...What have you got against us?...
We smell - like old people. :)
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>>We smell - like old people. :)
A daily squirt of Escape keeps me nice and sweet!
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I'm an oil head too but never heard of a diesel engine in a small rotary mower! I'm going to go with a Flymo LC400 with a 3.5 hp Briggs. As I say love Briggs motors: a friend sent me a youtube vid of a guy who ran one for ten minutes with no oil before it siezed and amazingly he managed to free it and start it right back up the next day! £110 seems a good price too!
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I bought a Honda HR194 mower back in May 1985 and have been using it ever since - it will probably outlive me! It cost £315 which, in those days, made it quite an expensive (19" cut) mower. It had an alloy deck, though the model was later produced with a plastic deck. I change the oil every autumn and the spark plug about every 10 years; a couple of years ago, I fitted a new blade. The only time it failed me was when the coil packed up about 8 years ago.
Last time I looked, Honda were producing two distinct lines in mowers - expensive ones which were the descendents of mine, and a cheaper line called something like 'Izy', though this may have changed now. Over the years, I have recommended the more 'up-market' type to friends and they always tell me what a great purchase they have been.
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>> Last time I looked, Honda were producing two distinct lines in mowers - expensive ones
>> which were the descendents of mine, and a cheaper line called something like 'Izy',>>
Yes that's right, ours predates the Izy range and was not expensive (£280 ish IIRC) though has lasted well, the deck is steel and I was advised that it would corrode so after three or four years I bought a new deck (£60 ish) which is still in the garage because the original is going strong.
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i have a 53cm Izy, with 4.5bhp and its a peach. Does my lawn in next to no time
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Does anyone else still use a push mower?
I use a side-wheel mower for our small front lawn. No wires, no smell. does the job efficiently and quickly
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There are a lot of people on Youtube who do horrible things to Briggs engines and they seem to bounce right back though: Check this video and blowing up a Briggs and Stratton revisited:
tinyurl.com/3668ekv
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Another vote for the Honda HR194. Not sure how old mine is, but when we moved here three years ago, I needed something bigger than a non-powered push mower. Picked mine up from an add in the local paper for £80.
Have changed the oil, air filter and spark plug as a service, but haven't touched anything else. Runs very well and starts first yank after sitting all winter. Doesn't seem to use much juice either, not that fuel consumption is a top prioroty for a mower!
Earlier comments re Honda now having two 'grades' of mower are correct and this is one of their old fashioned 'hewn from rock' versions. Wonder what it would be like if they used their V-Tec valve technology on it...!
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Lawn mowers: engine choice. - R.P.
