Thanks for Watching! Find a link to all of my "Must Have", Favorite Tools HERE!! www.amazon.com/shop/chickanic?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_aipsfshop_aipsfchickanic_9ERPFPBNGQ924P8NS63B
I am 57 years old, My father bought a used snapper rear engine mower when I was in second grade. It had a Birggs on it and manual start, 30" cut. it has been used ever since that day. I STILL use that mower to this very day! maintenance is a beautiful thing. Oh, YES, it is still running on that never rebuilt or repaired Briggs! Of course, there are belts that have worn out and blade replacements but that is it.
My father bought a rover colt ride-on mower in 1980, with a 4hp briggs engine. We backed onto a bush block, it never really had an easy life. It's had haphazard maintenance, but the engine is still going strong.
I worked in a sales and service shop many years ago and we had a similar problem. I hit upon the idea of calling everyone the first week of the month with the idea that people collecting Social Security, Welfare, other government payments, and pensions would get their checks and have money. It worked like a charm... Initially there were a lot of items and it took a lot of phone calls. However, within a few months the volume dropped to a handful and items didn't accumulate. The phone calls took a lot less time than shuffling stale items around on a daily basis and it freed up space for storing fresh repairs. Also, money in your pocket today is worth more than money in your pocket a year or two from now!
@@Michael_Ellicott It might be useful for some businesses today to know that.... Forty years ago, when we cleared the shop out via phone calls, I don't think it worked that way.... Those recipients were a small part of the issue compared to several of the other categories anyway!
You saved me 12 hundred dollars and now your my go to person I sent my JD tractor mower in to JD to put in a new cam. They charged me 45 dollars for telling me it was a broken cam in witch is what I told them when I brought it in. Then said it would be 12 hrs of labor. Total of 16 hundred dollars. I brought it home and you walked me thru it. 300 dollars in parts and 4 hrs. Labor I did myself. Thank you so much. Your truly the best. Jerry from Ms.
@@blaws6684 I once said "nothing runs like a Deere, but nothing cuts grass like a DIXON" when only Dixon had a Z.T.R. now everybody makes a zero turn mower.
Given the price of new equipment these days, it's nice to find a place that sells fixed up used equipment. I bought a used 1993 John Deere LX176 mower in 2002. For the past 20 years, I've mowed 2-3 lawns every summer with it. My 1994 McCulloch grass/brush trimmer is still running strong. I bought a 3.75 hp B & S engine from Fleet Farm in the mid-1990s, & it's on its 4 used mower deck. I use 3 chainsaws, & the newest one was bought in 2005. My Honda ATVs are 1985 & 1996 models. Most everything I own is old, but do it yourself maintenance is cheap! It's why I find myself watching Chickanic, Steve's Small Engine Saloon, and others. Good stuff!
You are an amazing young lady. I'm hooked on your videos. I firmly believe schools should offer "shop" classes like they used to. Small engine repair would fit right in with carpenter shop and machine shop. I also believe that every high school graduate should know how to type, read a ruler, balance a check book, and sew a button a shirt. I'm old school......and old.
They taught some, but not all of those things at the Lutheran High School I graduated from in 1986. What do they teach kids in high school today?? The correct answers to the questions on the SAT and ACT exams.
Knowing how to type isn't old school, in this day and age of computers it's more important than ever. I can't believe the people who get all bent out of wack because they don't teach cursive writing in school anymore, it's like oh yea, being able to send out nice looking cards at the holidays once a year is certainly more important than keyboarding skills in this day and age, sure thing.
@@michigandon But, why can't it be both? Had a small engine repair class in JR High, a typing course, a wood/metal shop, and college prep in HS. Got a 31 ACT w/o one of the study books they have now. Worked as a Honda Mechanic while in college. All my college testing equated to 95%, and I maxed the ASVAB. After I retired, I taught Microprocessor Electronics...until I was told I couldn't flunk anyone. My daughter got almost as high as I did in mechanical and electronics (ASVAB)...and went into Bio-Medical Equipment Repair. Now there seems to be more social experimentation than useful training in school. The worst thing that they do is stereotype.
Used power equipment can be a double edge sword for both the dealer and the customer. More than once, now, I've seen an unhappy customer that bought a cheap "clunker" have a huge negative impact on the local community's confidence in that dealership.
my lawn boy wouldn't start, and i watched your video, and fixed it, venturi plugged,so grateful to you for saving me money. i'm in vancouver canada, and can't find anyone to fix mowers, even thought about taking course, but it's very expensive. wishing you all the best.
When I was in High School (about 43 years ago) my brother, neighbor kid and I took and old 8hp wheel horse riding mower and put a Honda 750cc motorcycle engine on it to pull in garden tractor pulls. We had a great time. Original Peerless rear end did not last long and we ended up putting solid shaft on it. I just got it back from the neighbor's barn where it sat for 37 years (needs a lot of TLC). Looking at your recycle pile reminded me of how we ended up with the wheel horse. We cut, sold and delivered firewood to finance our project and buying the motor at a salvage yard.
THANK YOU!! Since subscribing two months ago, I've repaired/refurbished 5 chainsaws, 5 trimmers, a Mantis tiller, a generator, 4 riding mowers, and an Echo blower. Lots of carburetor tuning, fuel line replacement, and FUN!
There’s a mower shop close to me that I get a lot of work they screw up. They’re always throwing equipment in a container. One thing I think about is taking seats, tires/rims, steering wheels and other stuff off that you wouldn’t normally think you would need. I even have old equipment in my yard I keep just to pull parts from. It’s good to clean up, but there’s a lot more money being thrown away than you realize
Yea I wish life gave me the kind of lemons she's talking about, I'd turn them into Scotch. I'd fix and sell them, the one's that cost too much to fix I'd canabalize for every good part and catalog for sale or use to fix others, what's left over would go for scrap weight. As you said, wheels, seats, decks and anything else that's serviceable will sell and you can price it cheap because it didn't really cost you anything, and by having it cataloged if you got in something that needed something you have to make it operational then you know you have it and you can get it going fast and get rid of it. I wish I could get every shop like that in my county to give me everything they consider a nuisance and just want out of their way, I'd turn everything into money one way or the other, people who don't have the money to buy new mowers, chainsaws, snow blowers, leaf blowers, hedge clippers and weed wackers are always looking to buy something used, especially mowers, that's a big one there.
@@dukecraig2402 yea I know what you mean. Anytime I get a bunch of push mowers people just want to get rid of they sell fast. And most of what I run into is the carb just needs a good cleaning
@@bobbycalcote You can get brand new carbs for stuff nowadays that cost just a few bucks more than a rebuild kit, they're not worth messing with anymore, for $15 you can get a new carb and just put it on saving yourself a bunch of time and aggravation.
@@dukecraig2402 yea that’s true, and for the most part that’s what I’ll do. Old carbs go in my scrap pile for the most part, unless gaskets are good and I don’t want to have any money in a machine
Bre, there is no way I would allow a year to go by. If customer doesn't pick it up within 3 months, it's mine. Sell or Recycle, either way it's goin'! Thank you for making this video. Have a GREAT SEASON!
I use to refurbish chainsaws, but no longer bother. I only expected to break even, and more times than not people would offer half of what I had in parts. Yep. No thanks.
I very much enjoy working on saws. I don't refurbish chainsaws anymore due to losing money. People would literally want me to sell them a refurbished saw for $25 when I spent say $100 on all of the parts. I have my own saws I typically service myself. My brother in law has a saw that mysteriously quit working on him he wants me to see if I can get it running so he has a back up to the new Husqvarna he recently purchased. I agreed because he's family. It very well might be the problem Miss Bre has discussed in detail here.
@machinesnmetal I live in the Midwest, so people are definitely after a good cheap snowblower. Riders, push mowers, and pressure washers once it's nice out. Everything else is generally more trouble than it's worth.
Lots of money in saws. You just have to know saws and which ones are worth fixing. Those homeowner plastic poulans go on sale for less than 100 bucks so it's hard to get more than 60 used. And they're a pain in the ass to work on, not worth messing with. Keep the bar and chain and maybe the coil, rest is junk
I'm a shade tree semi-pro small engine mechanic. I have picked up 6 riding mowers, 3 push mowers, 4 chainsaws, a 150cc go kart, a 2000 watt generator,7 weedeaters, a pressure washer, and a tiller since I opened up shop. All but one of the riding mowers are good to go now, so it should be a lucrative spring for me, lol.
For years I did small engine repair out of my garage, it never ceased to amaze me how many people would walk away from a machine over a minor repair, or tell you to go ahead and fix it then never show up to get it. It got to the point where I refused to touch 2 strokes because I got tired of storing hundreds of string trimmers and cheap chainsaws that no one wanted. The last straw was push mowers, a few years back I had accumulated over 100 of them, all needing simply carb cleaning or new blades. They'd rather go down to the big box store and hand over their credit card for a new $800 mower than spend $80 to fix what they had. Worse yet, used mowers won't sell for much here, regardless of what it is. I pulled out a few Honda, John Deere, and Craftsman self propelled mowers and got them up and running to sell after they had been here for more than two years. A few were in new condition, but top dollar here on any push mower is around $45 for a self propelled rear bag model, or $20 for a plain mower. Even then they don't move very fast. They want a warranty and delivery for free too. I gave up on selling mowers and broke them all down for parts and sold the parts online. (Which is what I found that many were doing with those $89 Walmart mowers a few years ago, they'd buy a new mower, break it down and sell all the parts). The other issue here is how to sell them, there is no way I'd leave a row of them out by the road with a sale sign without a huge chain, and even then they may still try to run off with one. CL and FB are a waste of time these days with nothing but scammers and information miners lately. When it comes to scrap, the yards will not take anything that's not metal, meaning they want the oil drained, the recoil stripped of any plastic, the wheels and cables gone, etc. A few refused to take anything that's not broken down by metal type, and refused to pay at all for sheet metal saying they can't get rid of it. All told me they will not take steel cables. Riding mowers are a real pain because lately they want proof of ownership or origin. Then they won't take tires, seats, or steering wheels, and the fuel tanks and plastic parts must be removed. On top of that, the county refuses to take those items in the trash or recycle bin so they pile up until they have a hazmat day at the county yard every spring. Right now I have around 30 push mowers and a hundred or so spare used motors, plus a few dozen riders that need batteries and maybe a carb clean that will not sell if I buy a battery and put any time into them. Its a shame because some are decent machines but people simply won't dig into their pockets and would rather use their credit card.
Loved the tour of the old equipment in back of the shop. I noticed that there were no green old Lawn Boy grass cutters. I still use the one I picked up about ten years ago manufactured by Outboard Marine in the 1970s. The deck is magnesium and you pull the starter with two fingers.
My lawnmowers, both push and riders as well as wood splitter are put in a corner in the fall. They get dug out around May. Luckily I never had issues with any of them starting fine in the spring. What really impressed me was my motorcycle set for two years and put a charger on it. It fired right up as if it was just run yesterday. Must have something to do with being parked in a dark, cool garage. Keep videos coming. Central Maine,,,
There's a local mower shop that has four long narrow tents with shelves full of old and broken mowers, tillers, etc. They stay there, sorta organized, until there really isn't anything left to salvage, then off to recycling! No guarantees, but there's a good chance you can find something to fix old mowers when new parts are not available. Used parts are a good deal on newer mowers too. You've got a good start on a mower junkyard. Seems like a good idea!
A tip, a lot of scrap dealers will bring you a container, for free, for you to keep round the back of your shop, year round, and you just call them when it’s full, and they’ll come and exchange it with an empty container. That way you can throw stuff into the container as it accumulates, so no ugly scrap pile to look at and eventually clean up.
The company we use has always been very honest with us. Most times it takes 2 trips with the dumpster to clear the lot vs. 10 with our 18' trailer. That's a lot of time and diesel saved, so they can pay us a little less.
My grandfather bought an eager 1 push mower (not self-propelled) from Sears in the 60's and used until mid 80's. I took and used it 5 years and then put it in my barn. About 4 years ago my good mower broke, I put in gas and a lead additive and it started 3rd pull. Still have it.
boy, you have a lot of "stuff". gonna be fun clearing out the back 40. Great tip on the mower blade. i don't have one, but its a great hack for better quality and saving $$
Isn’t it amazing how many people leave equipment or forget about it??!! We have a 90 day limit before it’s resold or junked because we just don’t have the room nor the ability to carry the cost of repairs. Our standard policy. It’s also amazing how many people come looking for something left over two years ago…. Good Luck Bre!!! Great video!!!!
@@classicamericanflyertrains2423, yes they do…. They expect it to be here and don’t really want to listen or look at bottom of ticket stating “If not picked up in 90 days unit will be considered abandoned and sold.”
@@richnorman5017 I deal with the public also and see how they “expect “ things to be. I also have to explain things to them and they don’t want to listen.
I worked at a local shop for some years. One time in the spring we had one of those customers that had to have it now. He had three or four pieces. He was loud and obnoxious about it. Well we accommodated him and got it done. Months go by and he hadn't even called. My bosses wife, who runs the front discovers this and gets a little hot. She calls, and finds out the guy died the day he dropped the equipment off to us.
For some odd reason, my gasoline and fuel mix lasts a LOT longer than yours. I buy a good stock of gasoline every fall in preperation for possible heavy and frequent winter ice and snow. Often, we get very little bad weather and the fuel is used in spring and summer mowing. Even 2 cycle mix that is a year old still runs normally, although I never leave fuel in the equipment, just in the Jerry cans.
It's so easy to save one's self into a real mess. I hate throwing away things because there's something "good" left on it. LOL!! "I might need that one day" gets me into trouble all the time!! LOL!!
I still use a push mower the was given to me 35 years ago. A few years later it needed a new engine and I found a deal on a comparable one. Finally the deck started going and I found one almost exactly the same with a blown engine. So I love my 35 year old mower. Lol
I had a couple of different folks that would pick up my scrap. I was willing to give up the money it might bring. I kind of always felt like those people had to eat as well. It never looked to me like they were eating all that well either so why not help them out a little were my thoughts. This freed up my time for doing things that paid a lot more. I sold a lot of used mowers as well. In the spring I would have up to fifty used mowers and they would be gone in a couple of weeks when the sun came out. This more than paid for my spring orders for parts. I wish you future success in all of your endeavors!
We had a policy that everyone knew about when they brought their stuff in, because they had to sign the form when they dropped it off, they had 30 days to pick it up, or it was sold to pay their bill. Scrap man came by once a month to pick up the dead, since he was just a scrapper, that stuff was sold on halfs. He did all the work, and we split what the stuff brought. Kept us from having to mess with it. He'd bring the reciept back, and gave us our part. But he took the time to break it all down, sepsrate the aluminum and metal. Worked out well. Like you said, trash to treasure.
Around my house they put it all in the back. They want people buying new stuff. She’s a great lady. People in her area are so lucky but they don’t know it.
You , well not just you but everyone , should check out some of the street scrapping channels. It is amazing to see the things people toss out along with the things that look newer but truly are junk.
When I managed a Dixon/ Echo shop, the BFI guy would drop off pieces. One a Homelite Super XL had a new bar and chain. On inspection I found a cracked fuel line. A .30 piece and it ran great. 30 years later it's still my go to saw for quick cuts. Got an Echo trimmer the same way. Fuel line again.
My father used to adapt the ignition module for a Kawasaki motorcycle. To replace the unavailable module on Rupp snowmobiles. It had a little hotter spark but everything operated perfectly. He did a lot of these conversations.
I can. None of it is really high grade stuff so they often balk at the cost of repair. When they bought this stuff it was cheap. Ie the $90 mower. Putting $90 into it isn't worth it when they can just get a new one for that price, which is most likely what they did immediately after getting her repair estimate 2 years ago. Now that they cost more new, they're worth throwing money at because A) as she said she doesn't have money out for labor, she gets reimbursed when it sells and B) she can now sell it for what it originally cost new, and it's still a bargain. People almost never abandon mid to high or commercial grade equipment.
That's why I will continue to mow my lawn with my mid 80's Toro Wheelhorse. It's ugly but runs great and always starts. Love the vids, keep them coming.
Moved into my new house in 2001 bought an Ariens tractor 1 1/2 acres used every year still do but 4 years ago I bought a brand new old stock 17 year old Areins tractor that was exactly the same as my 1st just the next size up . Moved my 1st over to a rental property I own and it still runs great
i have a heavy weight attachment the goes on the front. it helps balance the mower and turn better without the front wheels sliding. 5 yrs old and no failures. great info on amazon replacement part for steering. thanks!
Nothing I love more than flipping push mowers. You can get them absolutely everywhere, parts are cheap, and everyone needs one. Plus I can fix up to 20 a day, then sell them for between 100 and 250. It’s an amazing spring time hustle.
The shop where I worked years ago had unclaimed machines. Some as much as three years old. We tried to get the boss to sell but he always resisted. When he had to close the business due to health, everything went to auction. Parts inventory, tools etc. Most of the unclaimed went to recycle. By the way, that video you did on the $13 fix was the first one I watched and what got me to subscribe.
Appreciate your suggestions and tips, rebuilt my Husqvarna chain saw that leaked bar oil per your suggestions! Thanks and best of luck in your business
I am hoping to get my 20th year out of my 18hp Craftsman mower this year...just to prove a point. Thanx to you doll teaching me how to change the cam thing. 🥰🥰
Fixed my neighbors Murray with the Briggs plastic carburetor. It had plastic pieces in the carburetor from deburring from the manufacturer. Plugged the carburetor. Put in new plastic white thing with the jets. After I fixed it they didn’t want it back because they were using an electric mower for several years. It’s a super easy fix.
Brought back a lot of memories. Atleast you make the effort to sell some of it. I saw a couple of items that I would have bought in a heartbeat vice pay brand new... unfortunately I don't live anywhere near your shop. Enjoy your channel.
7:00 This area needs a load of "concrete wash-out" Its the left over concrete when the mixer truck goes back to the shop and they wash out the truck. High rock content with some concrete.. If its a sloppy mess, you spread it about 6-8 inches thick and screed it like a slab. Wait a week and you can park a pickup on top of it. Best of all, wash-out is cheaper than fill dirt and you get a concrete slab so you don't have to slosh in the water.
I am so glad to count myself as “ one of the talented ones”. Whats talent but effort. Saves alot , gives me something to do, and something to be proud of. I dont collect the awesome numbers of abandoned machines a shop does. Keep your eyes open! Lol
WOW. That's a lot stuff! Very cool vid, and thanks for the walk-around of the property. My very first thought when you started explaining the Hyper-Tough blade/adaptor situation was "There HAS to be a work-around" Great tip on the MTD adaptor/blade. This will save someone the headache of doing all the research. :)
We had a nice Briggs and Stratton mower, all we ever done to it was change the oil, and sharpen the blades, we'd most likely start it after we let it set all winter,with out draining the fuel or putting any stabilizer in the tank, it goes to the quality of a good old B&S from the 80s
25 years ago I bought a ‘74 J D 140 w/ 48” mower and a 46” snowblower from a guy who had just bought a Cub Cadet. I’m still using it and a couple years ago I heard he was looking for another mower because his was finished.
I bought my mower in 2010 towards the end of the season after hitting a rock that bent the crank shaft.. All that was left in the stores was the economy single speed strippers. Over the winter with new parts from B&S and old parts from the dead mower I converted it into a variable speed/noise with inline fuel filter. It is in my shed with a security cable and padlock after someone stole the old parted out one sitting behind my shed. Hope they tried to start it as some of the governor parts are gone. Back then I noticed B&S on line was selling the air filters and other common parts for less than the "big box" stores.
R.E.Kohler flywheel magnets:I reglue them after glass beading the internal surface area(JB Kwik) make sure each magnet's pole are ALL turned in the same direction....8 dollars versus 200.00 for new one.
Great video. Looks like you and your husband have a lot of work there. Too bad your shop isn't in NE Kansas, I could give you a fair amount of business. But if I am ever in that part of Arkansas again I am gonna stop in and see what ya have for sale. You never know what you will find in a small engine shop. I only follow you, Steve's Small Engine Saloon and 65Ford. All 3 of you give out the best tips and are so honest about it all.
If I lived closer, I'd buy the boneyard late 2000s JD LA series for spare main assembly parts like the deck, cutting deck and tuff torq transmission. Mine still runs like a top, especially after changing the fluid in the non serviceable transmission.
As a self taught small engine repair person, I found that by turning mower or power saw on its side and cranking it over will unflood it or with lawnmowers adjusts the carburetor quickly and fires up more quickly.
Just sub'd. Several things: Red Vette is nice. You Remind me of my wife. "U wash the dishes and clean the bathroom. I'll handle the yard . " Last and most importantly. Excellent job young Lady.
Pricing: 100% agree that prices are insane (and getting worse). So I've been buying good used and fixing them. Self-propelled mower,rear tine tlller, and a chipper. Troy Bilt chipper and tiller and Craftsman on the mower.Tiller still has paint on the tines:600.00 Chipper was a barn find and 11 HP :250.00 Mower was used twice to mow a small yard: woman didn't like it: 200.00. Also bought a low hour (meter works) JD 850 tractor.5140.00 for that. Deals are out there but you have to look constantly and know what you're looking at.
Hey Chick. That is unbelievable. I can't figure out why people don't want them. Well, more $$$$ for you and a good deal for someone else. Thanks for sharing.
Haha as a mud mower guy, I'm on the hunt for a peerless 820😀 Who isn't 😂 The mst-206 ain't too bad ,but those 820s can be made bulletproof. I do mobile service work, so I'm always trying to spot the boneyards out back when I drive by 😄 One will fall in my lap someday when I'm not looking 😂
Edit commented before I watched, lol You can use other with the hyper tough, I found one of the side of the road and couldn't find any blades to fit it, and then found a second Craftsman with the similar Briggs engine, and the adapter worked fine once I swapped them
I run though local mechanics shops and ask if they have anything the customers abandoned because they are too expensive to fix. You would be surprised at how nice some of these machine are.
I think I would post a 2 month pick-up or it's yours rule. Do you have to remove all fluids before scrapping? There's so much plastic on equipment now a days.
East of where I live is a large small engine repair shop and bone yard. In the 1990's it was a snowmobile bone yard. I used to go there quite often. I was on my way to the place when 9-11 took place. Now it is mostly a lawn mower/ snowblower bone yard. They have 55 gallon metal drums FULL of dead chain saws and weed wackers, blowers, you name it. I still go there but no longer work on Snowmobiles. I sell anything that is not picked up after 6 months. I do not have the time to go after the owner if they do not bother picking up their equipment. I can sell this stuff and at least get my time and effort back out of it. As far weed wackers are concerned, I quit repairing them last year. People do not want to pay to fix them because it's cheaper just to buy a new one usually.
Haha, I have a Maytag that belonged to my grandparents, off grandma's washer, I disassembled it to free the piston, wow those rings are thick, like nothing today, I have yet to put it back together, people forget about things they aren't using, that happened to me, I hope to complete it this summer.
When you buy a ride on mower check the quality of the steering system and whether it has replaceable wheel bearings. If not it will be junk in no time. I'm using a 40 year old 26" walk behind and a 30yr old Honda self propelled 19" mower. I buy new brush cutters and get over 10 years use out of a Shindaiwa or Kawasaki easily. I do not use ethanol fuels and stop engines by fuel starvation where possible and only fill the mower for today's job to keep the fuel fresh.
I worked with my father to run his lawn and power equipment business some 55 years ago. It is interesting to see what has changed and what hasn't. We did have some stuff abandoned, but not as much as you see. I'm guessing the economics have changed. More equipment was "buy it for life" then so maybe customers were less likely to leave stuff behind? But we did have a "graveyard" in the basement where we would scavenge parts for our customers. In those days, the pace of change hadn't kicked in yet. You could actually buy the same model for several years in a row! Imagine that! Our major engine repair was to replace "Points and condenser." People who stored their machines outside ended up with oxidized contact points so they had no spark in the spring. "Solid state" ignition put an end to that issue. I wasn't unhappy to leave that line of work because I realized people didn't come to you because they wanted to; they had to. It seems you have adopted a sense or humor about that. It's what you have to do, isn't it?
Back in my day we put up a sign saying how far we were behind during the busy months. That way we weren't usually bothered unless someone tried to sneak it in, didn't work but you might be surprised how often that was tried. We also had a boss who always tried to put his friends 1st which would really ball things up till I had some customers who were scheduled in that slot ask him about that. We had some that would call ahead so they had an idea when to pick up or at least call 1st. When you have a boss that doesn't have a clue what goes on in the shop nor cares he's a problem but the shop people take the brunt of it. I was all to glad for retirement.
It's amazing how much people go and abandon at a shop and then the shop has to pay for the labor to strip the parts and the service to bring over the bins for recycling. I would assume that you at least get a diagnostic fee up front so that you are not completely out money? Also that's a good size holding yard for machines!
I don't know if you just get horrendous gasoline in your area or if it's just the small quantity in a push mower but my tractor holds 3 gallons and it has no problem running on the full tank with stabil that I park it with over the off season. My generator holds 7 gallons and does the same. They both run just fine on the 5 gallon can of gasoline with stabil that I keep for the generator over the off season. Both the tractor and generator fire right up, the tractor in the first few spins and the generator on the first or second pull. I don't have a push mower but my small batch leftover 2 cycle mix gets used for fall and spring bon fires.
You need to know about Star Tron fuel enzyme, it makes gas last for years and will protect the small motors, been using it for a few years now, had an old RV run after 3 years gas stored, still smelled pretty good. It really is hard to believe. I never got 6 months out of Stabil. I promise you won’t believe it until you try it. I run it in all my engines now.
A local doctor had his fingers chopped off because he didn't take off the spark plug. With the blowers, they're used by a lot of guys doing control burns to put out fires. It sounds counter-intuitive but it really does work! That may be another avenue to make sales.
Loved the tip on the "way more heavy dutier" lawnmower blade. Y'all mostest definitely frum the South 😂🤣😂. If y'all were closer (we're in East TN), we'd be customers. Love the channel!
Thanks for Watching! Find a link to all of my "Must Have", Favorite Tools HERE!! www.amazon.com/shop/chickanic?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_aipsfshop_aipsfchickanic_9ERPFPBNGQ924P8NS63B
I am 57 years old, My father bought a used snapper rear engine mower when I was in second grade. It had a Birggs on it and manual start, 30" cut. it has been used ever since that day. I STILL use that mower to this very day! maintenance is a beautiful thing. Oh, YES, it is still running on that never rebuilt or repaired Briggs! Of course, there are belts that have worn out and blade replacements but that is it.
This is amazing , I have 5 snappers & they are tough but I’ve never heard one lasting this long , Thankyou for sharing this .
My father bought a rover colt ride-on mower in 1980, with a 4hp briggs engine. We backed onto a bush block, it never really had an easy life. It's had haphazard maintenance, but the engine is still going strong.
@@BL2197 wow
That is really cool.
Just shows how important good maintenance is.
@@fergusonto-2032 sure thing!
I worked in a sales and service shop many years ago and we had a similar problem. I hit upon the idea of calling everyone the first week of the month with the idea that people collecting Social Security, Welfare, other government payments, and pensions would get their checks and have money. It worked like a charm... Initially there were a lot of items and it took a lot of phone calls. However, within a few months the volume dropped to a handful and items didn't accumulate. The phone calls took a lot less time than shuffling stale items around on a daily basis and it freed up space for storing fresh repairs. Also, money in your pocket today is worth more than money in your pocket a year or two from now!
fwiw up that to every Wednesday .. social security checks are issued on each of the first 4 Wednesdays of a month depending on the payees birthday
@@Michael_Ellicott It might be useful for some businesses today to know that.... Forty years ago, when we cleared the shop out via phone calls, I don't think it worked that way.... Those recipients were a small part of the issue compared to several of the other categories anyway!
Genius!
You saved me 12 hundred dollars and now your my go to person
I sent my JD tractor mower in to JD to put in a new cam. They charged me 45 dollars for telling me it was a broken cam in witch is what I told them when I brought it in. Then said it would be 12 hrs of labor. Total of 16 hundred dollars. I brought it home and you walked me thru it. 300 dollars in parts and 4 hrs. Labor I did myself. Thank you so much. Your truly the best.
Jerry from Ms.
Nothing runs like a Deere!
The bucks just jump out of your wallet!
John Deere dealers have a LOT of overhead to pay for.
@@blaws6684 I once said "nothing runs like a Deere, but nothing cuts grass like a DIXON" when only Dixon had a Z.T.R. now everybody makes a zero turn mower.
Given the price of new equipment these days, it's nice to find a place that sells fixed up used equipment. I bought a used 1993 John Deere LX176 mower in 2002. For the past 20 years, I've mowed 2-3 lawns every summer with it. My 1994 McCulloch grass/brush trimmer is still running strong. I bought a 3.75 hp B & S engine from Fleet Farm in the mid-1990s, & it's on its 4 used mower deck. I use 3 chainsaws, & the newest one was bought in 2005. My Honda ATVs are 1985 & 1996 models. Most everything I own is old, but do it yourself maintenance is cheap! It's why I find myself watching Chickanic, Steve's Small Engine Saloon, and others. Good stuff!
I've got the LX176 also, missing hood, but that Kawasaki engine and the K61 transaxle are going to last forever it seems like
You are an amazing young lady. I'm hooked on your videos. I firmly believe schools should offer "shop" classes like they used to. Small engine repair would fit right in with carpenter shop and machine shop. I also believe that every high school graduate should know how to type, read a ruler, balance a check book, and sew a button a shirt. I'm old school......and old.
They taught some, but not all of those things at the Lutheran High School I graduated from in 1986.
What do they teach kids in high school today?? The correct answers to the questions on the SAT and ACT exams.
Knowing how to type isn't old school, in this day and age of computers it's more important than ever.
I can't believe the people who get all bent out of wack because they don't teach cursive writing in school anymore, it's like oh yea, being able to send out nice looking cards at the holidays once a year is certainly more important than keyboarding skills in this day and age, sure thing.
@@michigandon But, why can't it be both? Had a small engine repair class in JR High, a typing course, a wood/metal shop, and college prep in HS. Got a 31 ACT w/o one of the study books they have now. Worked as a Honda Mechanic while in college. All my college testing equated to 95%, and I maxed the ASVAB. After I retired, I taught Microprocessor Electronics...until I was told I couldn't flunk anyone.
My daughter got almost as high as I did in mechanical and electronics (ASVAB)...and went into Bio-Medical Equipment Repair. Now there seems to be more social experimentation than useful training in school. The worst thing that they do is stereotype.
We well they still have that at strom thurmond
High school in south carolina
@@dukecraig2402I keep a diary and writing cursive is much smoother and less awkward than writing block!
I wish my power equipment dealers would offer used equipment like you do. Always nice to have some inexpensive backups.
A lot of them send it too a auction house
@@randytravis3998 I’ll have to check that out! Thanks!
Used power equipment can be a double edge sword for both the dealer and the customer. More than once, now, I've seen an unhappy customer that bought a cheap "clunker" have a huge negative impact on the local community's confidence in that dealership.
my lawn boy wouldn't start, and i watched your video, and fixed it, venturi plugged,so grateful to you for saving me money. i'm in vancouver canada, and can't find anyone to fix mowers, even thought about taking course, but it's very expensive. wishing you all the best.
Love your knowledge of how to deal with old worn out small engines, this stuff is not taught in school, hats off to you!!!😎👍
When I was in High School (about 43 years ago) my brother, neighbor kid and I took and old 8hp wheel horse riding mower and put a Honda 750cc motorcycle engine on it to pull in garden tractor pulls. We had a great time. Original Peerless rear end did not last long and we ended up putting solid shaft on it. I just got it back from the neighbor's barn where it sat for 37 years (needs a lot of TLC). Looking at your recycle pile reminded me of how we ended up with the wheel horse. We cut, sold and delivered firewood to finance our project and buying the motor at a salvage yard.
Thanks for your videos. You have an excellent "pace" of presentation, not too long winded and detailed enough without becoming boring.
THANK YOU!! Since subscribing two months ago, I've repaired/refurbished 5 chainsaws, 5 trimmers, a Mantis tiller, a generator, 4 riding mowers, and an Echo blower. Lots of carburetor tuning, fuel line replacement, and FUN!
There’s a mower shop close to me that I get a lot of work they screw up. They’re always throwing equipment in a container. One thing I think about is taking seats, tires/rims, steering wheels and other stuff off that you wouldn’t normally think you would need. I even have old equipment in my yard I keep just to pull parts from. It’s good to clean up, but there’s a lot more money being thrown away than you realize
Yea I wish life gave me the kind of lemons she's talking about, I'd turn them into Scotch.
I'd fix and sell them, the one's that cost too much to fix I'd canabalize for every good part and catalog for sale or use to fix others, what's left over would go for scrap weight.
As you said, wheels, seats, decks and anything else that's serviceable will sell and you can price it cheap because it didn't really cost you anything, and by having it cataloged if you got in something that needed something you have to make it operational then you know you have it and you can get it going fast and get rid of it.
I wish I could get every shop like that in my county to give me everything they consider a nuisance and just want out of their way, I'd turn everything into money one way or the other, people who don't have the money to buy new mowers, chainsaws, snow blowers, leaf blowers, hedge clippers and weed wackers are always looking to buy something used, especially mowers, that's a big one there.
@@dukecraig2402 yea I know what you mean. Anytime I get a bunch of push mowers people just want to get rid of they sell fast. And most of what I run into is the carb just needs a good cleaning
@@bobbycalcote
You can get brand new carbs for stuff nowadays that cost just a few bucks more than a rebuild kit, they're not worth messing with anymore, for $15 you can get a new carb and just put it on saving yourself a bunch of time and aggravation.
@@dukecraig2402 yea that’s true, and for the most part that’s what I’ll do. Old carbs go in my scrap pile for the most part, unless gaskets are good and I don’t want to have any money in a machine
Your a amazing and talented woman I get so much from you thank you for everything you do
All that, and she's "easy on the eyes" as some would say. :D
@@berkeleygang1834 her husband is not too better than looking dude either LOL coming from a older man who has nothing no desire men
@@paulprigge1209 Yeah, he's not someone I'd ever mess with. LOL
Kinda sad we have to coach our words when giving others a compliment.
Bre, there is no way I would allow a year to go by. If customer doesn't pick it up within 3 months, it's mine. Sell or Recycle, either way it's goin'!
Thank you for making this video.
Have a GREAT SEASON!
Even 3 months is being more than fair, 30 days and it's time to cut bait or fish.
After 90 days at my shop and no pick up, it is no longer their equipment.
7:00 "Stuff growing over mowers." The ultimate revenge. With a long enough time line, the planet always wins.
What a Gold Mine! Sadly no Snowblowers. I need Planetary Gears and shaft for 1999 MTD 30" 10 Hp. Easy Steer.
I use to refurbish chainsaws, but no longer bother. I only expected to break even, and more times than not people would offer half of what I had in parts. Yep. No thanks.
I very much enjoy working on saws. I don't refurbish chainsaws anymore due to losing money. People would literally want me to sell them a refurbished saw for $25 when I spent say $100 on all of the parts.
I have my own saws I typically service myself. My brother in law has a saw that mysteriously quit working on him he wants me to see if I can get it running so he has a back up to the new Husqvarna he recently purchased. I agreed because he's family. It very well might be the problem Miss Bre has discussed in detail here.
Mowers and blowers. Everything else isn't really worth it. That's what I've found out anyway.
@machinesnmetal I live in the Midwest, so people are definitely after a good cheap snowblower. Riders, push mowers, and pressure washers once it's nice out. Everything else is generally more trouble than it's worth.
Lots of money in saws. You just have to know saws and which ones are worth fixing. Those homeowner plastic poulans go on sale for less than 100 bucks so it's hard to get more than 60 used. And they're a pain in the ass to work on, not worth messing with. Keep the bar and chain and maybe the coil, rest is junk
Great video, didn't buy a new piece of equipment until the year 2000. Always rebuilt before that. I'm in my 70 s now.
I hauled off 2 trailer loads of scrap in Jan!
I'm a shade tree semi-pro small engine mechanic. I have picked up 6 riding mowers, 3 push mowers, 4 chainsaws, a 150cc go kart, a 2000 watt generator,7 weedeaters, a pressure washer, and a tiller since I opened up shop. All but one of the riding mowers are good to go now, so it should be a lucrative spring for me, lol.
For years I did small engine repair out of my garage, it never ceased to amaze me how many people would walk away from a machine over a minor repair, or tell you to go ahead and fix it then never show up to get it. It got to the point where I refused to touch 2 strokes because I got tired of storing hundreds of string trimmers and cheap chainsaws that no one wanted.
The last straw was push mowers, a few years back I had accumulated over 100 of them, all needing simply carb cleaning or new blades. They'd rather go down to the big box store and hand over their credit card for a new $800 mower than spend $80 to fix what they had.
Worse yet, used mowers won't sell for much here, regardless of what it is. I pulled out a few Honda, John Deere, and Craftsman self propelled mowers and got them up and running to sell after they had been here for more than two years. A few were in new condition, but top dollar here on any push mower is around $45 for a self propelled rear bag model, or $20 for a plain mower. Even then they don't move very fast. They want a warranty and delivery for free too.
I gave up on selling mowers and broke them all down for parts and sold the parts online. (Which is what I found that many were doing with those $89 Walmart mowers a few years ago, they'd buy a new mower, break it down and sell all the parts).
The other issue here is how to sell them, there is no way I'd leave a row of them out by the road with a sale sign without a huge chain, and even then they may still try to run off with one. CL and FB are a waste of time these days with nothing but scammers and information miners lately.
When it comes to scrap, the yards will not take anything that's not metal, meaning they want the oil drained, the recoil stripped of any plastic, the wheels and cables gone, etc.
A few refused to take anything that's not broken down by metal type, and refused to pay at all for sheet metal saying they can't get rid of it. All told me they will not take steel cables.
Riding mowers are a real pain because lately they want proof of ownership or origin. Then they won't take tires, seats, or steering wheels, and the fuel tanks and plastic parts must be removed. On top of that, the county refuses to take those items in the trash or recycle bin so they pile up until they have a hazmat day at the county yard every spring.
Right now I have around 30 push mowers and a hundred or so spare used motors, plus a few dozen riders that need batteries and maybe a carb clean that will not sell if I buy a battery and put any time into them. Its a shame because some are decent machines but people simply won't dig into their pockets and would rather use their credit card.
Loved the tour of the old equipment in back of the shop. I noticed that there were no green old Lawn Boy grass cutters. I still use the one I picked up about ten years ago manufactured by Outboard Marine in the 1970s. The deck is magnesium and you pull the starter with two fingers.
My lawnmowers, both push and riders as well as wood splitter are put in a corner in the fall. They get dug out around May. Luckily I never had issues with any of them starting fine in the spring. What really impressed me was my motorcycle set for two years and put a charger on it. It fired right up as if it was just run yesterday. Must have something to do with being parked in a dark, cool garage. Keep videos coming. Central Maine,,,
Winters in Maine are like suspended animation for equipment :)
Good tip on the mower blade adaptor, thank you for another good episode.
There's a local mower shop that has four long narrow tents with shelves full of old and broken mowers, tillers, etc. They stay there, sorta organized, until there really isn't anything left to salvage, then off to recycling! No guarantees, but there's a good chance you can find something to fix old mowers when new parts are not available. Used parts are a good deal on newer mowers too. You've got a good start on a mower junkyard. Seems like a good idea!
A tip, a lot of scrap dealers will bring you a container, for free, for you to keep round the back of your shop, year round, and you just call them when it’s full, and they’ll come and exchange it with an empty container. That way you can throw stuff into the container as it accumulates, so no ugly scrap pile to look at and eventually clean up.
@@t.r.l.4377 that’s the whole point, they pay you every time they empty the container.
Problem is they will only give you sheet metal scrap prices. Problem is most people don’t have the time to separate their scrap metals.
The scrap yards in my area charge fee by the day then deduct the fee off the amount they would pay you for the containers.
@@t.r.l.4377agree! Usually they get the scrap in liew (?) of charging you rent on the dumpster.
The company we use has always been very honest with us. Most times it takes 2 trips with the dumpster to clear the lot vs. 10 with our 18' trailer. That's a lot of time and diesel saved, so they can pay us a little less.
My grandfather bought an eager 1 push mower (not self-propelled) from Sears in the 60's and used until mid 80's. I took and used it 5 years and then put it in my barn. About 4 years ago my good mower broke, I put in gas and a lead additive and it started 3rd pull. Still have it.
Thats the value of old things... I drive a 90s accord.
boy, you have a lot of "stuff". gonna be fun clearing out the back 40. Great tip on the mower blade. i don't have one, but its a great hack for better quality and saving $$
Isn’t it amazing how many people leave equipment or forget about it??!! We have a 90 day limit before it’s resold or junked because we just don’t have the room nor the ability to carry the cost of repairs. Our standard policy. It’s also amazing how many people come looking for something left over two years ago…. Good Luck Bre!!! Great video!!!!
Do the people that come two years later get mad when they find out the stuff is long gone?
Yep I have a big sign that states it plain and simple
90 days and it’s gone bye bye
@@classicamericanflyertrains2423, yes they do…. They expect it to be here and don’t really want to listen or look at bottom of ticket stating “If not picked up in 90 days unit will be considered abandoned and sold.”
@@richnorman5017 I deal with the public also and see how they “expect “ things to be. I also have to explain things to them and they don’t want to listen.
My area requires $100 deposit when dropped of. Payment in full within 30 days of notice of repair. Eliminates a lot of bs.
I worked at a local shop for some years. One time in the spring we had one of those customers that had to have it now. He had three or four pieces. He was loud and obnoxious about it. Well we accommodated him and got it done. Months go by and he hadn't even called. My bosses wife, who runs the front discovers this and gets a little hot. She calls, and finds out the guy died the day he dropped the equipment off to us.
He should have called you from the grave said he can't come. Lol
Oh my!
It happens...my new policy is $100 deposit upfront, then balance in 30 max after contact that repair is done...mechanics lein...becomes mine.
@@johnmicheal3547 The IRS will expect him to file.
@@ronaldfulton1175 And, depending on where he lived, he can still VOTE!
Awesome info about the craftsman adapter! You crush it! Love your videos, now go clean up that scrap and sell ‘em all!
I can not believe they do not come back to pickup them up.
You have good road frontage.
Cheers, Dc
Looks like a main street .
For some odd reason, my gasoline and fuel mix lasts a LOT longer than yours. I buy a good stock of gasoline every fall in preperation for possible heavy and frequent winter ice and snow. Often, we get very little bad weather and the fuel is used in spring and summer mowing. Even 2 cycle mix that is a year old still runs normally, although I never leave fuel in the equipment, just in the Jerry cans.
I also built a BR600 out of a bunch of broken blowers. We used it to clean all the grass and dirt out of the shop.
It's so easy to save one's self into a real mess. I hate throwing away things because there's something "good" left on it. LOL!! "I might need that one day" gets me into trouble all the time!! LOL!!
I always watch your shows on RUclips, and I continue to learn the dyi tricks. Thanks lots. 😎👍
I still use a push mower the was given to me 35 years ago. A few years later it needed a new engine and I found a deal on a comparable one. Finally the deck started going and I found one almost exactly the same with a blown engine. So I love my 35 year old mower. Lol
If you replaced the engine & later the deck, is it still the same mower given to you 35 years ago?
That yard is what my heaven will look like! A tinkerers dream
I knew you worked on a lot of equipment but I had no idea the volume your shop does. Thanks for the video.
I had a couple of different folks that would pick up my scrap. I was willing to give up the money it might bring. I kind of always felt like those people had to eat as well. It never looked to me like they were eating all that well either so why not help them out a little were my thoughts. This freed up my time for doing things that paid a lot more. I sold a lot of used mowers as well. In the spring I would have up to fifty used mowers and they would be gone in a couple of weeks when the sun came out. This more than paid for my spring orders for parts. I wish you future success in all of your endeavors!
We had a policy that everyone knew about when they brought their stuff in, because they had to sign the form when they dropped it off, they had 30 days to pick it up, or it was sold to pay their bill. Scrap man came by once a month to pick up the dead, since he was just a scrapper, that stuff was sold on halfs. He did all the work, and we split what the stuff brought. Kept us from having to mess with it. He'd bring the reciept back, and gave us our part. But he took the time to break it all down, sepsrate the aluminum and metal. Worked out well. Like you said, trash to treasure.
AGAIN, a big thanks all because you have *THE ABILITY TO THINK* !!!
Amazing how much discarded machinery that people have abandoned! That's quite a boneyard! 😁
Around my house they put it all in the back. They want people buying new stuff. She’s a great lady. People in her area are so lucky but they don’t know it.
Yep, makes no sense. The repair bill is probably 3 or 4 times what she will eventually sell it for at a loss in a year.
You , well not just you but everyone , should check out some of the street scrapping channels. It is amazing to see the things people toss out along with the things that look newer but truly are junk.
When I managed a Dixon/ Echo shop, the BFI guy would drop off pieces. One a Homelite Super XL had a new bar and chain. On inspection I found a cracked fuel line. A .30 piece and it ran great. 30 years later it's still my go to saw for quick cuts. Got an Echo trimmer the same way. Fuel line again.
My father used to adapt the ignition module for a Kawasaki motorcycle. To replace the unavailable module on Rupp snowmobiles. It had a little hotter spark but everything operated perfectly. He did a lot of these conversations.
You shared a lot of knowledge and experience. Thank you.
I would love to rummage through your stuff , I can’t believe people leave equipment like that
hmmm
@@TheMountinman41 hmmm indeed. LOL
Yeah, I want that old Wheel Horse @ 7:26!
I can. None of it is really high grade stuff so they often balk at the cost of repair. When they bought this stuff it was cheap. Ie the $90 mower. Putting $90 into it isn't worth it when they can just get a new one for that price, which is most likely what they did immediately after getting her repair estimate 2 years ago.
Now that they cost more new, they're worth throwing money at because A) as she said she doesn't have money out for labor, she gets reimbursed when it sells and B) she can now sell it for what it originally cost new, and it's still a bargain.
People almost never abandon mid to high or commercial grade equipment.
Nothing like the old Wheel Horse riders my 1989 Wheel Horse mower is still getting it done mowing in summer and plowing snow in the winter
That's why I will continue to mow my lawn with my mid 80's Toro Wheelhorse. It's ugly but runs great and always starts. Love the vids, keep them coming.
Moved into my new house in 2001 bought an Ariens tractor 1 1/2 acres used every year still do but 4 years ago I bought a brand new old stock 17 year old Areins tractor that was exactly the same as my 1st just the next size up . Moved my 1st over to a rental property I own and it still runs great
i have a heavy weight attachment the goes on the front. it helps balance the mower and turn better without the front wheels sliding. 5 yrs old and no failures. great info on amazon replacement part for steering. thanks!
Nothing I love more than flipping push mowers. You can get them absolutely everywhere, parts are cheap, and everyone needs one. Plus I can fix up to 20 a day, then sell them for between 100 and 250. It’s an amazing spring time hustle.
The shop where I worked years ago had unclaimed machines. Some as much as three years old. We tried to get the boss to sell but he always resisted. When he had to close the business due to health, everything went to auction. Parts inventory, tools etc. Most of the unclaimed went to recycle. By the way, that video you did on the $13 fix was the first one I watched and what got me to subscribe.
That's an impressive mower graveyard, Bre!
Thank You Chickanic for another very informative video. Love watching you do your great work on small engine repair.
Appreciate your suggestions and tips, rebuilt my Husqvarna chain saw that leaked bar oil per your suggestions! Thanks and best of luck in your business
I am hoping to get my 20th year out of my 18hp Craftsman mower this year...just to prove a point. Thanx to you doll teaching me how to change the cam thing. 🥰🥰
Fix them all and sell. Profit is a good thing. Good for you and good for the needy customer that cannot afford new.
Fixed my neighbors Murray with the Briggs plastic carburetor. It had plastic pieces in the carburetor from deburring from the manufacturer. Plugged the carburetor. Put in new plastic white thing with the jets. After I fixed it they didn’t want it back because they were using an electric mower for several years. It’s a super easy fix.
Brought back a lot of memories. Atleast you make the effort to sell some of it. I saw a couple of items that I would have bought in a heartbeat vice pay brand new... unfortunately I don't live anywhere near your shop. Enjoy your channel.
7:00 This area needs a load of "concrete wash-out" Its the left over concrete when the mixer truck goes back to the shop and they wash out the truck. High rock content with some concrete.. If its a sloppy mess, you spread it about 6-8 inches thick and screed it like a slab. Wait a week and you can park a pickup on top of it. Best of all, wash-out is cheaper than fill dirt and you get a concrete slab so you don't have to slosh in the water.
Those are some amazing deals. A little tlc and you have some great lawn equipment. A little starting fluid might help those stubborn starters
I am so glad to count myself as “ one of the talented ones”. Whats talent but effort. Saves alot , gives me something to do, and something to be proud of. I dont collect the awesome numbers of abandoned machines a shop does. Keep your eyes open! Lol
WOW. That's a lot stuff! Very cool vid, and thanks for the walk-around of the property.
My very first thought when you started explaining the Hyper-Tough blade/adaptor situation was "There HAS to be a work-around"
Great tip on the MTD adaptor/blade. This will save someone the headache of doing all the research. :)
We had a nice Briggs and Stratton mower, all we ever done to it was change the oil, and sharpen the blades, we'd most likely start it after we let it set all winter,with out draining the fuel or putting any stabilizer in the tank, it goes to the quality of a good old B&S from the 80s
25 years ago I bought a ‘74 J D 140 w/ 48” mower and a 46” snowblower from a guy who had just bought a Cub Cadet. I’m still using it and a couple years ago I heard he was looking for another mower because his was finished.
I bought my mower in 2010 towards the end of the season after hitting a rock that bent the crank shaft.. All that was left in the stores was the economy single speed strippers. Over the winter with new parts from B&S and old parts from the dead mower I converted it into a variable speed/noise with inline fuel filter. It is in my shed with a security cable and padlock after someone stole the old parted out one sitting behind my shed. Hope they tried to start it as some of the governor parts are gone. Back then I noticed B&S on line was selling the air filters and other common parts for less than the "big box" stores.
R.E.Kohler flywheel magnets:I reglue them after glass beading the internal surface area(JB Kwik) make sure each magnet's pole are ALL turned in the same direction....8 dollars versus 200.00 for new one.
Great video. Looks like you and your husband have a lot of work there. Too bad your shop isn't in NE Kansas, I could give you a fair amount of business. But if I am ever in that part of Arkansas again I am gonna stop in and see what ya have for sale. You never know what you will find in a small engine shop. I only follow you, Steve's Small Engine Saloon and 65Ford. All 3 of you give out the best tips and are so honest about it all.
Thanks for sharing the repair (Craftsman parts) information !
If I lived closer, I'd buy the boneyard late 2000s JD LA series for spare main assembly parts like the deck, cutting deck and tuff torq transmission. Mine still runs like a top, especially after changing the fluid in the non serviceable transmission.
I can't believe it. Thanks Bre.🇺🇲🇺🇲
As a self taught small engine repair person, I found that by turning mower or power saw on its side and cranking it over will unflood it or with lawnmowers adjusts the carburetor quickly and fires up more quickly.
Just sub'd. Several things:
Red Vette is nice. You Remind me of my wife. "U wash the dishes and clean the bathroom. I'll handle the yard . "
Last and most importantly. Excellent job young Lady.
Pricing: 100% agree that prices are insane (and getting worse). So I've been buying good used and fixing them. Self-propelled mower,rear tine tlller, and a chipper. Troy Bilt chipper and tiller and Craftsman on the mower.Tiller still has paint on the tines:600.00 Chipper was a barn find and 11 HP :250.00 Mower was used twice to mow a small yard: woman didn't like it: 200.00. Also bought a low hour (meter works) JD 850 tractor.5140.00 for that. Deals are out there but you have to look constantly and know what you're looking at.
In case you haven’t already been told…you rock! I’ve learned so much from your videos.
Hey Chick. That is unbelievable. I can't figure out why people don't want them. Well, more $$$$ for you and a good deal for someone else. Thanks for sharing.
The repair bill is 4x too high. They figure if it is the same price for something new, they'll buy new and leave the old equipment.
Haha as a mud mower guy, I'm on the hunt for a peerless 820😀
Who isn't 😂
The mst-206 ain't too bad ,but those 820s can be made bulletproof.
I do mobile service work, so I'm always trying to spot the boneyards out back when I drive by 😄
One will fall in my lap someday when I'm not looking 😂
They used to have a tool for a bent crankshaft where you didn't even have to split the engine open. You just pulled the motor off of the deck.
Doing the recycling ♻️ plant a great service. Renew and reuse.
Edit commented before I watched, lol
You can use other with the hyper tough, I found one of the side of the road and couldn't find any blades to fit it, and then found a second Craftsman with the similar Briggs engine, and the adapter worked fine once I swapped them
I run though local mechanics shops and ask if they have anything the customers abandoned because they are too expensive to fix. You would be surprised at how nice some of these machine are.
I think I would post a 2 month pick-up or it's yours rule. Do you have to remove all fluids before scrapping? There's so much plastic on equipment now a days.
East of where I live is a large small engine repair shop and bone yard. In the 1990's it was a snowmobile bone yard. I used to go there quite often. I was on my way to the place when 9-11 took place. Now it is mostly a lawn mower/ snowblower bone yard. They have 55 gallon metal drums FULL of dead chain saws and weed wackers, blowers, you name it. I still go there but no longer work on Snowmobiles. I sell anything that is not picked up after 6 months. I do not have the time to go after the owner if they do not bother picking up their equipment. I can sell this stuff and at least get my time and effort back out of it. As far weed wackers are concerned, I quit repairing them last year. People do not want to pay to fix them because it's cheaper just to buy a new one usually.
Haha, I have a Maytag that belonged to my grandparents, off grandma's washer, I disassembled it to free the piston, wow those rings are thick, like nothing today, I have yet to put it back together, people forget about things they aren't using, that happened to me, I hope to complete it this summer.
When you buy a ride on mower check the quality of the steering system and whether it has replaceable wheel bearings. If not it will be junk in no time. I'm using a 40 year old 26" walk behind and a 30yr old Honda self propelled 19" mower. I buy new brush cutters and get over 10 years use out of a Shindaiwa or Kawasaki easily. I do not use ethanol fuels and stop engines by fuel starvation where possible and only fill the mower for today's job to keep the fuel fresh.
I worked with my father to run his lawn and power equipment business some 55 years ago. It is interesting to see what has changed and what hasn't. We did have some stuff abandoned, but not as much as you see. I'm guessing the economics have changed. More equipment was "buy it for life" then so maybe customers were less likely to leave stuff behind?
But we did have a "graveyard" in the basement where we would scavenge parts for our customers. In those days, the pace of change hadn't kicked in yet. You could actually buy the same model for several years in a row! Imagine that!
Our major engine repair was to replace "Points and condenser." People who stored their machines outside ended up with oxidized contact points so they had no spark in the spring. "Solid state" ignition put an end to that issue.
I wasn't unhappy to leave that line of work because I realized people didn't come to you because they wanted to; they had to. It seems you have adopted a sense or humor about that. It's what you have to do, isn't it?
Back in my day we put up a sign saying how far we were behind during the busy months. That way we weren't usually bothered unless someone tried to sneak it in, didn't work but you might be surprised how often that was tried. We also had a boss who always tried to put his friends 1st which would really ball things up till I had some customers who were scheduled in that slot ask him about that. We had some that would call ahead so they had an idea when to pick up or at least call 1st. When you have a boss that doesn't have a clue what goes on in the shop nor cares he's a problem but the shop people take the brunt of it. I was all to glad for retirement.
I could literally spend all day picking around the ride on mowers for parts lol .good video.
It's amazing how much people go and abandon at a shop and then the shop has to pay for the labor to strip the parts and the service to bring over the bins for recycling. I would assume that you at least get a diagnostic fee up front so that you are not completely out money? Also that's a good size holding yard for machines!
Awesome video, I feel ya with the machines left behind I got a boat load here in New York left from last year...
We have a Craftsman riding lawn mower from 1980 18 horse 6 speed transmission still running and cutting like it's brand new from the store
I don't know if you just get horrendous gasoline in your area or if it's just the small quantity in a push mower but my tractor holds 3 gallons and it has no problem running on the full tank with stabil that I park it with over the off season. My generator holds 7 gallons and does the same. They both run just fine on the 5 gallon can of gasoline with stabil that I keep for the generator over the off season. Both the tractor and generator fire right up, the tractor in the first few spins and the generator on the first or second pull. I don't have a push mower but my small batch leftover 2 cycle mix gets used for fall and spring bon fires.
You need to know about Star Tron fuel enzyme, it makes gas last for years and will protect the small motors, been using it for a few years now, had an old RV run after 3 years gas stored, still smelled pretty good. It really is hard to believe. I never got 6 months out of Stabil. I promise you won’t believe it until you try it. I run it in all my engines now.
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A local doctor had his fingers chopped off because he didn't take off the spark plug.
With the blowers, they're used by a lot of guys doing control burns to put out fires. It sounds counter-intuitive but it really does work! That may be another avenue to make sales.
Loved the tip on the "way more heavy dutier" lawnmower blade. Y'all mostest definitely frum the South 😂🤣😂. If y'all were closer (we're in East TN), we'd be customers. Love the channel!![
I appreciated the Hyper Tuff blade and blade adapter info. I like to mess with mowers but am just a beginner but always wondered if blades and blade adapters could be swapped out. I mean, they're called "adapters" but it's hard to find more detailed information. And now I know! . . . and knowing is the battle! G. I. Joe!!
Ha Ha, 30 degrees! That's what we hear in Wisconsin call a January thaw!😉