Here we go again... another Lawn-Boy

I've got one older than both of those! Last time I used it the spark went away! Points good..coil checked out OK.....no spark! I liked that light little bugger for small jobs! Sounded just like my 3hp Johnson outboard!....same company ...OMC.....OUTBOARD MARINE CORPORATION.

OhBee wrote:I've got one older than both of those! Last time I used it the spark went away! Points good..coil checked out OK.....no spark!   I liked that light little bugger for small jobs! Sounded just like my 3hp Johnson outboard!....same company ...OMC.....OUTBOARD MARINE CORPORATION.

Same company here. Spent a couple of years in
an OMC Mustang chain driven skid loader. If I'm
not mistaken, It had a Saab V-4 in it. One winter
the owner and myself hooked a log splitter to the
hydraulic take offs, and made the mother of all
splitters. We split a few pieces across the grain,
and the engine didn't even wince. Cut 'em with a
loud pop.

Bob

Different OMC...OWATONNA MANUFACTUING COMPANY. Worked there a few years. Built the Mustang main chassis!

Huh, I did not know that.
Thanks, OhBee
Bob

Ya....Owatonna Mn. We also built a 440 model ...which was painted green and badged as a John Deere!

I miss our old 2 stroke Lawn Boy mowers. Still actually have one left, but the rest all got sold. They sure wind up good and loud, but they just seem to cut and not die!

We had an old Lawn Boy. I recall finding grass in the crank case and it still ran.

Not surprizing...the crank runs in brass bushings not bearings....they wear out if the gas oil mix isn't 16/1. Same as my old 3 hp Johnson! The grass was taking up the slop ! Otherwise they got so loose they lost crankcase pressure and quit running!

I wonder if they (Lawn Boy/OMC) made mowers for IH? I remember (circa 1973) using my uncle's push-mower on his lawn. It had a yellow deck with white plastic "hood" over the engine. I'm pretty sure it was an IH badged mower. The engine was a 2-stroke.. and it resembled the Lawn Boy machines.  

Yes.. I found an image of one on google..

Very cool. I'm sure OMC made that mower for IH. Same deck, same nuclear wheels, same chute and plate as seen on the lawn boys...

OhBee wrote:Not surprizing...the crank runs in brass bushings not bearings....they wear out if the gas oil mix isn't 16/1. Same as my old 3 hp Johnson! The grass was taking up the slop !  Otherwise they got so loose they lost crankcase pressure and  quit running!

These engines (at least the F series engines) use needle roller bearings for the crankshaft. They have crank seals that do go bad and can be replaced fairly easily without even having to remove the engine from the deck or split the crankcase. When the lower crank seal failed on my old Lawn-Boy, oil would seep out onto the base plate and deck. It still ran like that however and was not even difficult to start. If you don't replace leaking crank seals, you run the risk of dirt and sand getting sucked into the needle bearings.

Not even crank seals in my old one..just bronze crank bushings! I think its from the early 60's. Everything on that International version looks just like my old green one except the color!

A good mower for mowing inclines with a 4-stroke mower. the oil is all on one side because of lubrication is used more quickly not with a good old 2 stroke When I was younger I worked in a small mechanical garage I repaired small 2-stroke 4-stroke engines The gardener earthmoving team liked them to make the land incline wit An essential tool for them

Her you go David

This one strange

getback wrote:Her you go David

oh my gawd.. that's funny... There was another.. that had a "string-trimmer" design. It was called a "Fly-mo". The design excelled for mowing steep slopes.

Here's a "Toro" model..




an Atco design..




and a more modern one..




I like the "string-trim" concept. It seems to antiquate cutting-blades.

...and, here we go again. Two more Lawn Boy mowers followed me home this past weekend.

The city-wide garage sale was held this past weekend and these were sitting at the curb of one sale with free signs stuck on them.

Model 4262 from 1987. Steel deck with an F series engine using a metal Walbro carb.



There was a mouse nest under shroud, and the engine was caked with oily dirt. After cleaning up as much as I could from the outside, I removed the carb and gave it a deep cleaning. I don't have a carb kit for it yet, so I reassembled it as-is. I flushed out the gas tank with water and noticed a leak from a small crack near the seam (but not at the seam). I used a soldering iron to fuse the crack back together. I reassembled the mower, put a little bit of 32:1 in it, and it fired right up! It ran fairly well for the several minutes I let it run. The next time I need to cut the yard, I'll use it and see how it goes.

I did get the rear grass bag for it (not shown). It looks a bit smaller than the bags used on the side-bagger models.


Now this one is cool: I also got a model 8229EA from 1971-72. Light weight magnesium deck with a D449E engine. This must've been one of the more expensive models back in the day, battery-electric start and self-propelled!







It's in a bit rough condition, but the magnesium deck has no cracks or pinholes (that I can see) in it. I have yet to dive in on this mower and try to get it going. Hopefully the engine is in good condition with no major issues, as this is the one I'd really like to have running.

Hi Admin,
Nice LawnBoys....
The 70s era ones were/are bulletproof. (before the 'safety bar')
Light, bag or mulch, great machines.
An elec start Magnesium self propelled LawnBoy ?
Now that ! Is Cool !
Take care,
Have fun,
Dave

Cool Freebies and one running already , how goo is that !?! Hope you can get the lighter Mag. deck one going ! Use to love adjusting the governor on them felt like you were going to stick your fingers in the flywheel LOL

Love those Jacob. One more thing for me to lust over.

I got the shroud off of the old one, another mouse nest inside.

The original battery is missing (probably for the best, would've likely done quite a bit of damage if it were to leak). I grabbed a weak but charged 12 volt SLA battery I pulled out of a car jump starter pack that I need to order a new battery for and connected it to the battery wires on the mower. Turning the key on the mower, the electric starter motor spun up.

I cleaned much of the loose dirt off of it, still a long way to go. It has decent compression, however it has no spark. This is an old points and condenser system (unlike the solid-state system that came a few years later), so hopefully the issue is dirty points and not a bad coil. Replacement coils (even used working coils) command quite a few $$ these days.

I loved my old LawnBoy. We inherited a 1987 self-propelled version from my wife's uncle when we moved to Mississippi in 2000. I nursed it along for another 8 years before the crank seals could no longer keep/pump air/fuel to the top end. I even scored an aftermarket bagging unit from a buddy's small engine shop when I bought/installed my first carb kit on it. Sadly, I couldn't find the seals.
That beast was the best small grass cutter I've owned!
Sigh!

First mowers I ever used were the old Lawn Boy lawnmowers. Dad always had a supply of them, even though they all ran and somehow couldn't kill them. However, neighbours didn't care for dad cutting the grass early.....

I Ωed out the coil and compared the readings to those given on another forum, and they fall right in line, so that is a good sign the coil is perhaps still good. I have a set of points and a new condenser on order.

https://www.mytractorforum.com/threads/lawn-boy-d-series-coils.1355129/page-2

944_Jim wrote:
That beast was the best small grass cutter I've owned!
Sigh!

Keep your eyes peeled on Craigslist, it shouldn't take long to see one that somebody just wants to get rid of.

Be careful though, for some reason they tend to multiply... and I'm now completely out of room for these things.