Briggs and Straton

[old2soon]

Got home after the P G R mission today and I decide to sharpen the lawn mower blade and get it ready to go.  Weren't we just bitchin and grouchin bout snow a day or two ago??  Got the blade sharpened and reinstalled and I WAS gonna clean the plug but I figured W T H-i'll pull it NO more than 3 times THEN i'll check the plug.  Now mind you-this thing has been sitting 5 or 6 months with good ole corn gas in da tank. First pull and the durned thing fired right up.  I THINK/HOPE/BELIEVE I may have put a touch of Techron in the fuel BUT I ain't fer sure on that.  Just seemed like last week I was still shovelin that white crapola off the sidewalk and NOW the cursed grass needs cut.  Run it about 25 mins cutting grass 2moro then do an oil change.  RIDE SAFE.

[wiggydotcom]

That's good, Dennis. I had 2 good experiences myself. I didn't pull the batteries on either John Deere- the one up in the shed at the lakehouse or my zero turn at my current house. I was stunned that both sat in all that 30 below zero stuff all winter(inside unheated sheds) and both cranked over and started without even needing a charger. I was quite surprise.

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

the one up in the shed at the lakehouse or my zero turn at my current house. 

You Can't Hide Money 


I hate mowing , I hate lawnmowers even more.

[cookiedough]

smokinjoe,  at least it is exercise and some of us, like me, need it, sitting on my bum in an office setting listening to a bunch of whining, bitchy women. 

Mowing gets my mind off stuff but so does riding the Valk,  which 100% sure all of us would prefer the latter. 

By the way, do all of you put sae-30 weight oil in your lawn mower engines or just use regular old car oil say 10w-30?  Pretty sure my push mowers all recommend sae-30 but have seen some riding mowers taking regular car oil like 10w-30, etc.? 

Reason I ask is the darn sae-30 briggs and stratton oil is like 8 bucks for 48 ounce jug  vs. car oil being about 2.50 per 32 ounce quart bottle.

OOPS, sorry if I opened up another oil debate, this time on mowers. 

[old2soon]

smokinjoe,  at least it is exercise and some of us, like me, need it, sitting on my bum in an office setting listening to a bunch of whining, bitchy women. 

Mowing gets my mind off stuff but so does riding the Valk,  which 100% sure all of us would prefer the latter. 

By the way, do all of you put sae-30 weight oil in your lawn mower engines or just use regular old car oil say 10w-30?  Pretty sure my push mowers all recommend sae-30 but have seen some riding mowers taking regular car oil like 10w-30, etc.? 

Reason I ask is the darn sae-30 briggs and stratton oil is like 8 bucks for 48 ounce jug  vs. car oil being about 2.50 per 32 ounce quart bottle.

OOPS, sorry if I opened up another oil debate, this time on mowers. 

Mine calls for straight 30 weight and I bought the wally wurld brand to use. In fact in the owners manual they are VERY emphatic about straight 30 weight NOT a multi-grade. RIDE SAFE.

[BF]

smokinjoe,  at least it is exercise and some of us, like me, need it, sitting on my bum in an office setting listening to a bunch of whining, bitchy women.  

Could be worse.  You could be in an office listening to a bunch of whining, bitchy men.  

[czuch]

"Tell us about the women at work you hate".
Straight 30.

[Patrick]

Its hard to kill a good ole Briggs.

[Art708]

One year when I was living in Florida, I decided I didn't want to work a job. I started buying and selling used mowers. I would buy only B&S engine mowers. I would pull the plug and put my finger over the hole and pull the starter. If it had compression I would make my offer. I'd take it home, put a kit in the carb, a new plug, clean it up and do a rattle can paint job and sell it. I had a long waiting list of people who wanted used mowers. I would pay 3-5 bucks for one....there was always something on it I could use....deck, wheels,flywheel, carb. I'd have maybe 10 bucks and an hour labor in it and would sell for 50-80 bucks. B&S makes a great engine. All in all it was a pretty good way to make a living and didn't involve a lot of work.

[Willow]

smokinjoe,  at least it is exercise and some of us, like me, need it, ...

You're talking to Joe May.  A secret a lot of riders don't know is that if you take that extra large sail off the front of your Valkyrie and spend some time in the wind you really will significantly reduce the amount of other exercise you need.

You don't see overly fat people riding without the extra wind protection.   

[Serk]

smokinjoe,  at least it is exercise and some of us, like me, need it, ...

You're talking to Joe May.  A secret a lot of riders don't know is that if you take that extra large sail off the front of your Valkyrie and spend some time in the wind you really will significantly reduce the amount of other exercise you need.

You don't see overly fat people riding without the extra wind protection.   

I've had to replace too many windshields from getting cracked by an errant rock/bug/no idea what it was to wanna do that. I salute those of ya'll that do ride without a shield though!


And on the original topic... You mean you're supposed to change the oil on those things? 

[old2soon]

One year when I was living in Florida, I decided I didn't want to work a job. I started buying and selling used mowers. I would buy only B&S engine mowers. I would pull the plug and put my finger over the hole and pull the starter. If it had compression I would make my offer. I'd take it home, put a kit in the carb, a new plug, clean it up and do a rattle can paint job and sell it. I had a long waiting list of people who wanted used mowers. I would pay 3-5 bucks for one....there was always something on it I could use....deck, wheels,flywheel, carb. I'd have maybe 10 bucks and an hour labor in it and would sell for 50-80 bucks. B&S makes a great engine. All in all it was a pretty good way to make a living and didn't involve a lot of work.

When I lived in Illinois the little town I resided in had a little thing in the fall called-clean up week. People sometimes threw away perfectly serviceable stuff-furniture-boats and motors hand tools etc etc and my brothers and myself favorite-lawn mowers. We took ALL of them. Usually a new plug clean the air filter sharpen the blade once in awhile a rattle can paint job-MAYBE an hour total time and turn it for $25 $35 and sometimes the person that threw it away bought it back. And we developed a decent bone yard of spares. A lady 2 doors down from me threw out a triple dresser a chest of drawers and a dressing table. The triple dresser had a huge unbroken mirror. I had that set refinished over a winter and my oldest daughter still has that set in Texas. RIDE SAFE.

[hubcapsc]

Its hard to kill a good ole Briggs.

I blew one up one hot summer day. It made a hole in the case and oil came out.
It was well used, though 

-Mike "it was dead, Jim..."

[Serk]

Its hard to kill a good ole Briggs.

Challenge accepted.

500 Magnum vs Lawn Mower

[Serk]

I showed my lawnmower the above video as... encouragement... to work right, and had the presence of mind to have the video camera ready to record it's reaction:

skycutter

[Hooter]

the one up in the shed at the lakehouse or my zero turn at my current house. 

You Can't Hide Money 


I hate mowing , I hate lawnmowers even more.

   I'm with you! I HATE MOWING!  I can think of a dozen things to do rather than mow. Takes me 2.5 to 3 hours to do it. I need a flock of goats or something. The deer have left to so they aren't eating my grass.

[Jess from VA]

That is some funny chit Serkman. 

[old2soon]

Its hard to kill a good ole Briggs.

Challenge accepted.

500 Magnum vs Lawn Mower

Wouldn't have been a tad easier and a smidge cheaper to just pull the plug wire??  Poor innocent lawnmower and you shot it grave yard dead!!  And it NEVER drew down on you!!  So I'm guessin here that abuse of lawnmowers is legal in Texas??  And understand while I'm TRYIN to type this I'm larfing my arse off!!  I have tears runnin down my cheeks cause I'm larfing so cursed hard.  My started and ran fine THEREFORE I ain't killin it-this week.  RIDE SAFE.

[old2soon]

Now that I've settled down a bit after a member murdered his poor defenseless lawnmower!  My Poulan weed eater with it's rompin stompin 25 CC ringy dingy engine fired up easy after sitting longer than the Briggs and Straton. Couple pushes on the primer bulb full choke three pulls later it was running.  Cut the lawn changed oil in the mower and weed whacked today.  I have to do it as I can't afford to hire it out. Besides-I'm riding 2moro-and that IS a good thing.  And Lord knows I needed the exercise.  RIDE SAFE.

[wiggydotcom]

the one up in the shed at the lakehouse or my zero turn at my current house. 

You Can't Hide Money 

So I hear, Mr. Three Valkyries! 

[wiggydotcom]

When I was a kid of 10 years old, I had to mow half of our 3/4 acre yard and my brother mowed the other half. Every few years, Dad would go buy two new push mowers for us. Keep in mind, in those days there were no aluminum decks..those babies were made of cast iron and were heavy to push. It seems like they had names like Black Panther, Puma, Gargantuan...it took character to push them 24 inchers up and down the yard.

Ah, the good ole days...why would I ever want to go back?

[Billinva]

A couple of years ago, hurricane Irene came through Nags Head, NC and covered my cheap 15 year old push mower with 18 inches of salty water. The mower has  a 4 HP Briggs & Stratton engine. About a month after the storm went through. I took the plug out and cranked it a few time to blow the water out of the cylinder, took the carb apart and blew the water out, drained the oil and water out of the crankcase, and put in new oil.

The engine started up and I'm still using it. I planned to call Briggs & Stratton to give them an attaboy but never have.

[cookiedough]

My B&S 3.5HP 20" push mower new in 1993 was 99 bucks is still running but the deck, idle adjuster lever, wheels, pull cord, rewind coil, and just about everything is shot, but I can still pull the cord just enough to get it started on 2-3 pulls.

I have neglected it and have not changed the sae30 oil for past 4 seasons since I want it to die but it won't.  I've welded the rusted and way too thin of a deck twice in 2 spots and is so thin I had to bolt a 1/4" metal plate in about a 4x3" spot where handlebar brackets are in back otherwise the handlebars will fall off nothing to support it with.  Best 99 bucks ever spent.