They always ran like that... Dude those were bad ass mowers back when I was a kid... I used to cut grass in the 80's when I was 10 and those were the best!
Great video Hank. I always learn something new from watching your stuff. I a case like this with such a badly decomposed carb, I would just look for one on Amazon. They are only around $20 give or take.
Nice save man! seems like the really old Tecumseh's where pretty good engines. I have one similar in my junk pile, same engine, a little different deck, runs a little on starting fluid. I think you've inspired me to try to get it running! Lol.
Nice restore Hank. If you don't have an ultrasonic cleaner, you can get one at Harbor Freight and clean it with purple power. cleaner and water. Chem Tool type cleaners are hard on the alloy metals that these small engines at made of. Do not use that type of cleaner/dip on Honda carbs. They have a anti corrosion coating on them and the dip type cleaners will eat that coating away and the carb will have a very short life after that. I will use Dawn dish soap and water in the ultrasonic cleaner to avoid eating up the alloys that are coated. Those old style Tecumseh filters were held on by a heavy wire spring type clamp that went on similar to the fuel line hose clamp. Some of the old timers would put a light film of anti-seize on the mounting surface on carb before installing air filter to keep it from corroding to the carb so it comes off easier.
+Raymond Campbell Ive never had to use it on Honda carbs before Ive never seen one gummed up like a briggs or tecumseh carb yet, but as far as using it in general goes i've been using it for years with no negative affects, I use it in situations like with this carb in this video and its always worked perfectly... I have had some of you guys report in saying similar stuff but honestly I have never had any reason to not use it. I've put countless carbs into it never more than 30-45 min and it does a fantastic job breaking up all the crap, I also always go back and clean it out again afterwards. I did ask about that clamp at my parts store they did not have the part and as far as antiseize if I were to put any of that on there Im afraid it will fall off as it is already fairly loose, I could easily pull it off with the clamp still on if I worked it enough.
+Raymond Campbell interesting. I just got a 25% coupon too. Some of the reviews are saying to seal the seam first before you use it. Guess with extensive use it will leak and short it out. Other than that seems good. I'll probably pick one up
Good ol' Tecumseh. I have a 1992 Craftsman II push mower with the 3.5hp Tecumseh on it. Except for a carb rebuild 6 years ago, and a new blade, she still fires up on one pull. When we were kids, we would always chose Tecumsehs over Briggs for our go-karts and mini-bikes. The carbs may be a bit finicky on them, but they always seemed to have more torque than B&S back then.
I learned a lot about small engines in the eighties and most of the engines I played with were dumped Kirby-tecumseh4 stroke engines on Scott Bonner mowers or Rovers. I had a wreck yard full of them lol. If I got bored on a Sunday arvo I would build an engine out of parts and have it going, so easy to work on. Thus I love your vids when you play with old stuff. They won't make you bread, but it's great fun getting them going. Many of the mower guys throw the old girls for scrap and you get to see a Briggs carby rebuild on a modern engine.....again. The most interesting rebuild I did was a 60s tecumseh 2 stroke. When running right with no air leaks, they were a nice engine.
New reply on "Hey I recently found your stuff. I really like your videos. This one about the vintage craftsman brings back memories from my childhood with my father's mower. 1973 craftsman push mower, that I used untill 1998 when I moved out. Yes it still worked. Nothing ever done to it. Just fill oil and spark plug from time to time. Every spring spray carb cleaner in cylinder to start for the first time. They don't build them like they use to.
Had a similar model in the 80's Sears Craftsman Eager-1 engine Tecumseh Had the electric start feature..you plugged an extension cord in and pressed a button to start it...also was self propelled by rotating a black handle forward...in it's day it was the top of the line mower..
Wish I could find one of those hard grass bags in that mount style. I have an old late 70's early 80's eager-1 4.0 self propelled FWD 22" and its grass bag is shot. Finding replacement bags for these things is damn near impossible as they went away from that bag mount style. It died of sitting years ago as it was replaced by a 72" toro riding mower since the property it was mowing grew substantially. So before I moved out I asked my old man: if I fix that old push mower, can I have it. He said knock yourself out. pulled the carb apart, cleaned it up, new air filter, new fuel filter, new plug, oil change, fresh gas, and sharpened the blade. fires off first pull and mows like a champ. Just leaves piles of grass all over the place since I can't use the catch bag due to the tear all along the side of it. Suppose I could duct tape it and rattle can it black..
yup I agree, really odd the symptoms it was showing though im pretty sure some debris got lodged in the intake valve or something causing the initial no compression
Its a roper correct? I have one sitting my backyard, its self propelled, it has the thingy, "mechanism" up front that comes down with a roller on each side and applies pressure to the front wheels to go. Bagger is fabric instead of plastic, but has the metal bracket in the same spot. Its an ugly old thing, so I'll just take it apart for good parts when I get around to it. Has same Tecumseh engine too..Same frame, its a reddish color.
@@hanksgarage_ But was it made by Roper for Sears right? Pretty sure its a 917 model on their and since its early 80's its pre AYP. So I'm pretty sure it was a roper. I thought maybe you would know. Roper made all the Tractors for Sears up until about the mid 80's and than AYP took over. I think it was the same deal with the push mowers as well. If you look up a Roper 20" push mower, it would look just like that, just different colors and it would say Roper on it. The Roper made Sears Suburban's have a pretty big folly now.
I cleaned a Honda carburetor that looked this bad and soaked it for about three days submerged in gasoline and scrubbed on it and believe it - it ran like a champ afterwards . The main jet was so bad I had to use a micro drill bit in the drill press to drill it out - one of those do or die occasions - sometimes everything falls in place and goes right .
Old video, but I have one with this motor, mounted 180° opposite of this. Aluminum/magnesium deck as well and dual blades! Sadly the fuel tank is leaking, the idle is very erratic as well and the starter cord is /very/ fun to replace on this. I may restore the motor at some point but I'll most likely need to repower it.
Sad but true, I also have snapper with a motor like this, but it's more conventional. So far I have a Sears roebuck (the one mentioned above) A 80s era snapper hi-vac (tecumseh engine, but I can save it i think) started after 5-6 years of sitting and having a cracked gas tank. 90s era Honda HR215 (needs cables but I have those ordered) And maybe trying to fix a Manley Moore that has a very old Briggs. The rest are garden tractors and lawn tractors save the 15hp rear engined snapper. I was thinking a repower with a Kawasaki engine as it definitely is a side discharging brute but the blade setup is very weird. The cutting blade is a conventional 21" the other blade is a very small almost bent at 90 degrees on each side and goes about 1-1.5 inches higher than the cutting blade, at almost half the size. I had it running a few times (flames shot out the exhaust and rust particles) and it tended to smoke around fan, but that roebuck mower did cut extremely well!
I have this same mower and have it running pretty good now. It actually starts surprisingly easily... Anyway on mine the little throttle control doesn't seem to do anything, just an on-off switch basically. Any thoughts on what that would mean? Should I bother trying to fix that or just run it balls out all the time ?
I adjusted it further after the video. How can you tell the Rpm through the vid I am curious as you said another one I had was running at the correct speed?
+hanksranger Well, to my ears the tone of it is in B-flat (where around 3450 RPM lies) while the black one sounded like its tone was somewhere between G and A-flat (the point where 2850 RPM lies between). If you have a perfectly working tachometer you might be able to understand further what I mean.
Those Tecumseh's are too tough for their own good. This was like preteen me all over again. I remember my shop teacher telling me to stop wasting my time on the machine as it's a piece of junk that shouldn't have run in the first place. He really wanted me to learn a Lawn Boy D engine and it wasn't until the following year that I fixed that one in his shop.
2 stroke mowers are pretty much non existent here in kalifornia. Our emissions laws on small engines have always been ridiculous. I've seen maybe a small handful of 2 stroke lawnboys north of $200. A commercial one I saw the guy wanted more than 400... These older Tecumsehs are def good motors compared to the newer ones
I have a Duraforce E series engine on a 21" offset wheel push mower I'd be wiling to part with if you're ever interested. The shipping cost is the only issue I see. I haven't found anyone worthy of selling it to or giving it away. It served me very well but I've neglected it over the last 2 years after I found its replacement. I guess I'll shoot a video of my personal Duraforce in action so you can enjoy the chainsaw on a lawnmower experience. If it ever stops raining here in the NE. I picked up a Duraforce on a self propelled that became my regular runner. I jetted the carburetor on both so they run as Toro/Briggs wanted and kept up with the routine maintenance. I always used Amsoil Sabre at 50:1 with Marvel Mystery Oil to bring it to 40:1. I couldn't stand the smell of burning Amsoil so I started adding MMO because they use peppermint oil in their mix.
+Phil Builds Yea sadly your right about the shipping costs... man those lawnboys were something else, Ill find one some day I hope but they are a for sure rarity here. We have had so many programs from the big box stores asking people to trade in their old mowers for newer more efficient ones or electric ones that it killed alot of the older stuff that used to be common.
Wow I can't believe it u got it running even though the rings might be shot! The carb was nastier than rabbit shit! although those tecumseh engine are kinda rare iv never seen one but I want one but if I get one I'm afraid It might throw a rod.. anyways nice vid and stay wild!!
+Trucker boy 98 They probably won't throw a rod just as long as they have good compression they are fine, if anything you will have to rebuild a carb but these are really simple
+hanksranger they are the troy built I have it's running but when I install the carb everything is hooked up but for some reason it's running wide open when I move the throttle it barley moves.
+Trucker boy 98 you might have the linkages hooked up wrong or they are binding up on something. Butterfly valve on the carb could need to be lubed as well.
+hanksranger ok they are hooked right l will try to get some liquid wrench but if I take the carb is off the butterfly valve is loose I can move I checked every thing what is wrong 😕😯😣
+Trucker boy 98 are you sure when it you move the throttle you are getting full movement? Try to get a vid up showing what it's doing if you can. How did the inside of the carb look when you cleaned it out?
Let plastic shoot I can tell from a later lawn mower like an 84 but that long were got to be 1980 because I got the exact same lawn mower and I'm at and I need to get mine fixed cuz it's well I'm trying to find a manual for it but I still think I like to eat Cruise one hours more than I like the Toros
I have to say the Briggs engines are better then most for the average consumer because no one take care of there shit other wise Tecumseh were ok if oil was changed often
I would like to thank you Hank I've started my own small engine repair and thanks to you and Bruce
Hi Hank and Southern
Well i just got one of these mowers for $10 on a trade in. It runs right from the start. Wow What a mower
Mine is a side bagger
Sounds pretty good can't believe you brought it back to life keep up the good videos
+Dylan Gleason Yup thanks for watchin man
They always ran like that... Dude those were bad ass mowers back when I was a kid... I used to cut grass in the 80's when I was 10 and those were the best!
Great video Hank. I always learn something new from watching your stuff. I a case like this with such a badly decomposed carb, I would just look for one on Amazon. They are only around $20 give or take.
Nice save man! seems like the really old Tecumseh's where pretty good engines. I have one similar in my junk pile, same engine, a little different deck, runs a little on starting fluid. I think you've inspired me to try to get it running! Lol.
+Alan Marshall Ya give it a try
Nice restore Hank. If you don't have an ultrasonic cleaner, you can get one at Harbor Freight and clean it with purple power. cleaner and water. Chem Tool type cleaners are hard on the alloy metals that these small engines at made of. Do not use that type of cleaner/dip on Honda carbs. They have a anti corrosion coating on them and the dip type cleaners will eat that coating away and the carb will have a very short life after that. I will use Dawn dish soap and water in the ultrasonic cleaner to avoid eating up the alloys that are coated. Those old style Tecumseh filters were held on by a heavy wire spring type clamp that went on similar to the fuel line hose clamp. Some of the old timers would put a light film of anti-seize on the mounting surface on carb before installing air filter to keep it from corroding to the carb so it comes off easier.
+Raymond Campbell Ive never had to use it on Honda carbs before Ive never seen one gummed up like a briggs or tecumseh carb yet, but as far as using it in general goes i've been using it for years with no negative affects, I use it in situations like with this carb in this video and its always worked perfectly... I have had some of you guys report in saying similar stuff but honestly I have never had any reason to not use it. I've put countless carbs into it never more than 30-45 min and it does a fantastic job breaking up all the crap, I also always go back and clean it out again afterwards. I did ask about that clamp at my parts store they did not have the part and as far as antiseize if I were to put any of that on there Im afraid it will fall off as it is already fairly loose, I could easily pull it off with the clamp still on if I worked it enough.
Just looked at that ultrasonic cleaner though. Do you have one if so how do you like it
+hanksranger Yes I have one. It does a decent job, both running with or without heat.
+Raymond Campbell interesting. I just got a 25% coupon too. Some of the reviews are saying to seal the seam first before you use it. Guess with extensive use it will leak and short it out. Other than that seems good. I'll probably pick one up
Good ol' Tecumseh. I have a 1992 Craftsman II push mower with the 3.5hp Tecumseh on it. Except for a carb rebuild 6 years ago, and a new blade, she still fires up on one pull. When we were kids, we would always chose Tecumsehs over Briggs for our go-karts and mini-bikes. The carbs may be a bit finicky on them, but they always seemed to have more torque than B&S back then.
Great video had one like that cleaned carb twice still wouldn't stay running,bought new carb for it on ebay for $11 now runs great.
I learned a lot about small engines in the eighties and most of the engines I played with were dumped Kirby-tecumseh4 stroke engines on Scott Bonner mowers or Rovers. I had a wreck yard full of them lol.
If I got bored on a Sunday arvo I would build an engine out of parts and have it going, so easy to work on. Thus I love your vids when you play with old stuff. They won't make you bread, but it's great fun getting them going.
Many of the mower guys throw the old girls for scrap and you get to see a Briggs carby rebuild on a modern engine.....again.
The most interesting rebuild I did was a 60s tecumseh 2 stroke. When running right with no air leaks, they were a nice engine.
Really nice that you brought this back to life! Just the idle speed is still wayyyyy to high.
That is an awesome vintage Tecumseh!
New reply on "Hey I recently found your stuff. I really like your videos. This one about the vintage craftsman brings back memories from my childhood with my father's mower. 1973 craftsman push mower, that I used untill 1998 when I moved out. Yes it still worked. Nothing ever done to it. Just fill oil and spark plug from time to time. Every spring spray carb cleaner in cylinder to start for the first time. They don't build them like they use to.
What do ya fill your spark plug with?
Your right, their not as ugly as they used to be...
Nice save! It's great you saving these vintage mowers which I believe are worth saving. Hope you find an old Lawn Boy or Toro soon.
+ChicagoSirens Yea we will see about that I will be very surprised If I ever find one here sadly
Had a similar model in the 80's Sears Craftsman Eager-1 engine Tecumseh Had the electric start feature..you plugged an extension cord in and pressed a button to start it...also was self propelled by rotating a black handle forward...in it's day it was the top of the line mower..
Hey Hank, I have an old mower setting on my bench identical to yours but it’s red, can’t find a model number to get parts, any ideas. Thanks!!
4 years later, and you mention cult following for lawn mowers. That is what got me here.
Wish I could find one of those hard grass bags in that mount style. I have an old late 70's early 80's eager-1 4.0 self propelled FWD 22" and its grass bag is shot. Finding replacement bags for these things is damn near impossible as they went away from that bag mount style. It died of sitting years ago as it was replaced by a 72" toro riding mower since the property it was mowing grew substantially. So before I moved out I asked my old man: if I fix that old push mower, can I have it. He said knock yourself out. pulled the carb apart, cleaned it up, new air filter, new fuel filter, new plug, oil change, fresh gas, and sharpened the blade. fires off first pull and mows like a champ. Just leaves piles of grass all over the place since I can't use the catch bag due to the tear all along the side of it. Suppose I could duct tape it and rattle can it black..
Use Gorilla Tape, it's strong like duct tape and already black lol
Hank I like the older craftsman lawn mowers how have you been I just got a free mower 5 .4 craftsman self propelled
The compression is impressive for an abused mower :-) :) :-)
yup I agree, really odd the symptoms it was showing though im pretty sure some debris got lodged in the intake valve or something causing the initial no compression
hay hank doy you have any of the bags that dit that model
What parts kit did you buy? I just inherited the same lawn mower from my grandparents!
That's s cool, I love love love that old stuff..
yea they are cool for sure man
Its a roper correct? I have one sitting my backyard, its self propelled, it has the thingy, "mechanism" up front that comes down with a roller on each side and applies pressure to the front wheels to go. Bagger is fabric instead of plastic, but has the metal bracket in the same spot. Its an ugly old thing, so I'll just take it apart for good parts when I get around to it. Has same Tecumseh engine too..Same frame, its a reddish color.
Yea it’s a sears machine
@@hanksgarage_ But was it made by Roper for Sears right? Pretty sure its a 917 model on their and since its early 80's its pre AYP. So I'm pretty sure it was a roper. I thought maybe you would know. Roper made all the Tractors for Sears up until about the mid 80's and than AYP took over. I think it was the same deal with the push mowers as well. If you look up a Roper 20" push mower, it would look just like that, just different colors and it would say Roper on it. The Roper made Sears Suburban's have a pretty big folly now.
Pretty sure it was a roper made machine. agreed
I cleaned a Honda carburetor that looked this bad and soaked it for about three days submerged in gasoline and scrubbed on it and believe it - it ran like a champ afterwards . The main jet was so bad I had to use a micro drill bit in the drill press to drill it out - one of those do or die occasions - sometimes everything falls in place and goes right .
got a old craftsman eager 1 push mower with a stuck valve a socket extenshion a
hammer and some penatrating oil later it runs great.
Old video, but I have one with this motor, mounted 180° opposite of this. Aluminum/magnesium deck as well and dual blades!
Sadly the fuel tank is leaking, the idle is very erratic as well and the starter cord is /very/ fun to replace on this.
I may restore the motor at some point but I'll most likely need to repower it.
Whats sad about these is parts are getting harder to find for them. A repower may be your best and only option.
Sad but true, I also have snapper with a motor like this, but it's more conventional.
So far I have a Sears roebuck (the one mentioned above)
A 80s era snapper hi-vac (tecumseh engine, but I can save it i think) started after 5-6 years of sitting and having a cracked gas tank.
90s era Honda HR215 (needs cables but I have those ordered)
And maybe trying to fix a Manley Moore that has a very old Briggs.
The rest are garden tractors and lawn tractors save the 15hp rear engined snapper.
I was thinking a repower with a Kawasaki engine as it definitely is a side discharging brute but the blade setup is very weird.
The cutting blade is a conventional 21" the other blade is a very small almost bent at 90 degrees on each side and goes about 1-1.5 inches higher than the cutting blade, at almost half the size.
I had it running a few times (flames shot out the exhaust and rust particles) and it tended to smoke around fan, but that roebuck mower did cut extremely well!
What year is this old mower?
If you're in a pinch and need a wire to clean carb jets, I've found electric guitar strings work well.
Hey man I've been trying to find one that cranks like this old school. Where are you based out of?
Cali, no longer have this one either, long been sold off
i just usually order a new carb from ebay for about 20 bucks....parts much cheaper on ebay unless you,re in a hurry
The thing is, those aftermarket chinese knockoff carbs are faulty very often. That doesn´t happen with original Tecumseh carb kits.
I had one of those old eager 1 mowers from the early 80s. It was a damn good mower
I believe it
Now the age old question, for sale or keeps?
I am pretty sure I will keep it. Not that I need another mower lol.
It's just old and neat, this old stuff can't be beat
very true man
I have this same mower and have it running pretty good now. It actually starts surprisingly easily... Anyway on mine the little throttle control doesn't seem to do anything, just an on-off switch basically. Any thoughts on what that would mean? Should I bother trying to fix that or just run it balls out all the time ?
+thereve check the linkage going to the carb
Would love to see a follow up video on that old Honda mower.
+Sean “S3EN” Slater Ill have to pull it out of the garage maybe I can get to that this weekend not really in grass to mow though
Imagine VTEC on a mower lol
oh god lol
Just got one of those today. Never saw one till now.
awesome you are looking at it.
It has a ton of compresson the average is 100 psi for a new mower so that thing is very good
I wish I had watched this before I bought a new carb, I might have saved a few buckshot oh well!
This engine should also be running between 2700-3000 RPM at full throttle.
I adjusted it further after the video. How can you tell the Rpm through the vid I am curious as you said another one I had was running at the correct speed?
+hanksranger
Well, to my ears the tone of it is in B-flat (where around 3450 RPM lies) while the black one sounded like its tone was somewhere between G and A-flat (the point where 2850 RPM lies between). If you have a perfectly working tachometer you might be able to understand further what I mean.
On low speed, the engine should be running 2300 RPM.
wow what a resurrection runs like new!
Ya I still can't believe it did what it did never seen that before
Those Tecumseh's are too tough for their own good. This was like preteen me all over again. I remember my shop teacher telling me to stop wasting my time on the machine as it's a piece of junk that shouldn't have run in the first place. He really wanted me to learn a Lawn Boy D engine and it wasn't until the following year that I fixed that one in his shop.
2 stroke mowers are pretty much non existent here in kalifornia. Our emissions laws on small engines have always been ridiculous. I've seen maybe a small handful of 2 stroke lawnboys north of $200. A commercial one I saw the guy wanted more than 400... These older Tecumsehs are def good motors compared to the newer ones
I have a Duraforce E series engine on a 21" offset wheel push mower I'd be wiling to part with if you're ever interested. The shipping cost is the only issue I see. I haven't found anyone worthy of selling it to or giving it away. It served me very well but I've neglected it over the last 2 years after I found its replacement. I guess I'll shoot a video of my personal Duraforce in action so you can enjoy the chainsaw on a lawnmower experience. If it ever stops raining here in the NE.
I picked up a Duraforce on a self propelled that became my regular runner. I jetted the carburetor on both so they run as Toro/Briggs wanted and kept up with the routine maintenance. I always used Amsoil Sabre at 50:1 with Marvel Mystery Oil to bring it to 40:1. I couldn't stand the smell of burning Amsoil so I started adding MMO because they use peppermint oil in their mix.
+Phil Builds Yea sadly your right about the shipping costs... man those lawnboys were something else, Ill find one some day I hope but they are a for sure rarity here. We have had so many programs from the big box stores asking people to trade in their old mowers for newer more efficient ones or electric ones that it killed alot of the older stuff that used to be common.
I overnight carburetor parts in vinager if they're real bad...retired Larry..
Wow I can't believe it u got it running even though the rings might be shot! The carb was nastier than rabbit shit! although those tecumseh engine are kinda rare iv never seen one but I want one but if I get one I'm afraid It might throw a rod.. anyways nice vid and stay wild!!
+Trucker boy 98 They probably won't throw a rod just as long as they have good compression they are fine, if anything you will have to rebuild a carb but these are really simple
+hanksranger they are the troy built I have it's running but when I install the carb everything is hooked up but for some reason it's running wide open when I move the throttle it barley moves.
+Trucker boy 98 you might have the linkages hooked up wrong or they are binding up on something. Butterfly valve on the carb could need to be lubed as well.
+hanksranger ok they are hooked right l will try to get some liquid wrench but if I take the carb is off the butterfly valve is loose I can move I checked every thing what is wrong 😕😯😣
+Trucker boy 98 are you sure when it you move the throttle you are getting full movement? Try to get a vid up showing what it's doing if you can. How did the inside of the carb look when you cleaned it out?
Let plastic shoot I can tell from a later lawn mower like an 84 but that long were got to be 1980 because I got the exact same lawn mower and I'm at and I need to get mine fixed cuz it's well I'm trying to find a manual for it but I still think I like to eat Cruise one hours more than I like the Toros
I have never had problems with this type of lawn mower I find ethanol free pure gas is best I've never had hoses deteriorate or carburetor issues
Classictvman is a generally awesome person
You're failing English, 6th grade me.
Hey ya get your self a cylinder horn. Just to touch up the cylinders abit.
I had one of these it was owned by a little old lady, the only thing wrong was that she put gas in the oil sump
soft or hard
3 pulls only 65 psi and lower rings
And?
hi I just seen your video I don't know why ur dry test read so high most new push mowers are in the 90 to 120 range . videos are interesting
+C Somma idk could be the fact it's older and different brand motor. No idea.
the motor looks like it's on backwards.
yea thats the vintage stuff for ya, alot of briggs motors were put in the same way years ago
I have to say the Briggs engines are better then most for the average consumer because no one take care of there shit other wise Tecumseh were ok if oil was changed often
What a strange design
Yea they really were. Very difficult to find parts for these now too
Its mint🙂
Omg it's a miracle :D
+Mitchell WildFlame yup ive worked on alot of mowers and this was a bizarre case, never had that happen before.
+hanksranger very nice save, I like this better than the one you unseized tbh
+Mitchell WildFlame ya this one has a more classic look to it
Wtf ur right the engine is on backwards