Quote:
Originally Posted by Xist
Cajun, do you have a Ph.D. in lawnmowery? You just gave me more information than I have found in hours of research! Mom has far worse problems right now, but I have not figured out anything that I can do about them. At least I can fix her lawnmower!
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Hello Xist,
No, I've just learned through the school of hard knocks from various "deals" I "scored" over the years for cheap mowers/snowblowers, and applying what I previously learned from my carbureted truck hobby (sold, gone) and carbureted motorcycle hobby (hasn't moved in 3 years). I periodically have to re-teach myself things, like if you clean only one part of the fuel system, you'll end up cleaning it again because it gets gunked up by the parts you didn't clean.
There are plenty of folks out there with more knowledge than I have about mowers. I do Google well and get stubborn about fixing the cheap crap I have. Check Jack's Small Engines when you find your make and model number, their exploded diagrams are pretty comprehensive - and listed by model number.
As for gas vs. electric, I hope to convert an old 5hp snowblower to 240VAC corded using an air compressor motor. Driveway is short enough that a 40-50 foot cord is plenty, and I've got experience using a 120V/10A "electric snow shovel" on that driveway when the snow was light. Much nicer than the stinky gas blower, but way underpowered and shuts off a lot on overheat. Finally threw/busted the drive belt last winter so it's back to the leaky/smelly 8hp monster until I get the conversion done. Trouble is, I can convert to a modern gas engine for less than to 240VAC...
The lawn's too big for corded electric. Battery electric would be nice, but the batteries would sit all winter if it was big enough to do the job in a reasonable amount of time because it would be too big to do the driveway around the cars. I want to do a purpose-built walk-behind unit that can swap out a 32-36" mower deck for a 20-24" snowblower, but that's a lot of fab work.
I'm just getting sick of gas and oil and crap.