Target Sports

I own the biggest POS mower in all of Bell County.

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  • Rating - 0%
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    Jan 5, 2012
    18,591
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    HK
    I'd almost think y'all were joking...but...


    Honda-GXV120-lawnmower-with-Garrett-turbo-and-large-wheels-02.jpg
     

    Brains

    One of the idiots
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    Apr 9, 2013
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    Spring
    I've sprayed my lawnmower before. Grass was too thick to handle, but I had a spare bottle with a couple pounds of nitrous still left in it, and an old NOS dry kit nozzle and jets from a direct port kit. Sounded like I was going to put the rod through the case but it held up great. Those old Briggs & Stratton motors are tough as nails.
     

    Texas42

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    Nov 21, 2008
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    I, coincidentally, fixed my mower today. Emptied the gas tank and put good gas in. New gas tank too. Works, now I have to actually mow.

    I didn’t not see that there are some electric Kobalt mowers at Lowe’s.....
     
    Rating - 0%
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    Jan 5, 2012
    18,591
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    HK
    I, coincidentally, fixed my mower today. Emptied the gas tank and put good gas in. New gas tank too. Works, now I have to actually mow.

    I didn’t not see that there are some electric Kobalt mowers at Lowe’s.....

    A guy that sold mowers at Home Depot. That later quit and worked for TSC. Explained that electric mowers are for maintenance. Meaning it's not worth a crap for tall grass. It however works fine on keeping already short grass, short. So if you're into mowing the grass before it grows two inches. An electric would work. If you need a mower that'll cut tall, shaggy grass. A gasoline is what you need.

    This was about 6 years ago. Electric motor technology has advanced but you still don't see the roving grass crews using electric. Everything is gas and zero turns.
     

    jkingrph

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    Jul 5, 2008
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    Jacksonville, Tx, W.Monroe, La
    I had one that would fit that category. A cub cadet hydrostatic lawn tractor I bought back in very late 80's or early 90. About third use, the electric blade clutch burned out. Then tabs that were simply butt welded to deck would break if deck touched almost anything solid when mowing, I cannot remember how many times I pulled that deck out and hauled it to the welding shop to have them welded. Next, them engine, a Kohler that had massive cast iron cylinders, that looked more like an aircraft engine. When it was running it was great, but the starter was a POS. It got to the point I had to take the starter off about twice a year, clean, re lube the bearings and Bendix so it would start. It would eat batteries, there was something about it that constantly drained the battery, so I finally installed a quick disconnect.

    Somewhere along the line something in the transmission broke, fortunately like when the blade clutch burned it was under warrenty. The dealer said they had to remove the transmission to work on it and one of the wheels had rusted to the shaft and it would have to be replaced as it would be damaged during removal and was not covered. We argued about that one and I won. Dealer service was really the pitts. I kept it going for a few more years, until my son was home from college and helping me mow when the tranny broke again. By that time the dealer had dropped them and I carried it to an independent shop. He looked at it and said it would cost more to fix than it was worth , so I gave it to him and said maybe someone could use the engine which was strong in spite of the starter problems.

    Got a John Deere a few days later, that was in 2000 and it's still good, so good that the battery lasted 16 years, although I admit I added a battery maintainer after getting it home. It got to the point where constant twisting on the steering wheel was doing a job on my back so I got a Scag zero turn about 6 years later.

    Never again anything with the name cub cadet. Admittely I got a lemon but some things the factory did not want to cover under their warrenty even though it was in effect.
     

    TexasRedneck

    1911 Nut
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    Jan 23, 2009
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    New Braunfels, TX
    Two words - Ethanol Free. Many Murphy's have it now - in REGULAR. Don't use premium fuel in mowers - your valves won't like it. I use the ethanol free and Stabil, and have a 16 year old Honda pressure washer that stlll fires up on the 2nd pull.
     

    BRD@66

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    Jan 23, 2014
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    Liberty Hill
    For you cheap bastids with lots of hair (so you can pull that hair out), here's a PITA EtOH removal recipe. It's very specific, personalized, & detailed for reference to my "lab equipment" but it's generic enough that you can get the idea. It does work & it costs waaaay less than store-bought EtOH-free gas. Got it from a motersickle magazine. YMMV

    EtOH removal from gasoline (09/13)


    1.Put about 2 L of unclean gasoline and 4 oz of water in a clean, dry, 3 L Coke bottle. - not too much water - see 6.)
    2.Shake it well and let it set for about an hour.
    3.Thump the sides of the bottle sharply to cause trapped water/alcohol bubbles to fall to the floor of the bottle. 4.Siphon (don't bother with the Harbor Frt siphon pump - suck it up!) into another bottle (for now it's a 2 L Coke bottle). For now, don't get closer than 1" to the lower HOH/EtOH layer to assure no HOH/Et pick up. 5.Satisfied that siphoned liquid is gas layer only, transfer to the final holding bottle - one of the bleach bottles. 6.Transfer the mostly water/alcohol but with 1" of good gasoline mixture to a 15 oz coke bottle, let it set, thump the sides. Or maybe into a Dawn squirt bottle; shake, invert, allow to separate & squirt the bottom, HOH layer out the bottom, THEN salvage the last of the gas & effectively skip 7. 7.Siphon most of that gasoline into the interim bottle (see 4). 8.At any time you need to remove water drops from a bottle between steps, rinse with rubbing alcohol & shake it dry. 9.Toss the nearly-all water/EtOH leftover into the milk jug to start brush fires with. 10.Add 1/4oz or 7.5 cc (about a capful) of octane booster to the cleaned gasoline & shake it up. 11.Use the clean gas as needed
     

    Lunyfringe

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    Sep 22, 2017
    1,402
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    Canton, TX
    Two words - Ethanol Free. Many Murphy's have it now - in REGULAR. Don't use premium fuel in mowers - your valves won't like it. I use the ethanol free and Stabil, and have a 16 year old Honda pressure washer that stlll fires up on the 2nd pull.

    For you cheap bastids with lots of hair (so you can pull that hair out), here's a PITA EtOH removal recipe. It's very specific, personalized, & detailed for reference to my "lab equipment" but it's generic enough that you can get the idea. It does work & it costs waaaay less than store-bought EtOH-free gas. Got it from a motersickle magazine. YMMV

    or you can look up a station that carries it here: www.pure-gas.org

    last time I checked the closest one to me was like $2.50/gal for ethanol free 87 octane
    I run ONLY ethanol free in 2 strokes, and stored in my generators with Stabil (the Ethanol stabilizer just doesn't last as long as ethanol-free with Stabil)... I've considered running it in my Ariens Zero Turn, but it goes thru enough gas so far it hasn't been a problem... as long as I run it dry before winter.
     
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    texasnurse

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    Jul 30, 2016
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    Two words - Ethanol Free. Many Murphy's have it now - in REGULAR. Don't use premium fuel in mowers - your valves won't like it. I use the ethanol free and Stabil, and have a 16 year old Honda pressure washer that stlll fires up on the 2nd pull.

    Use unleaded gasoline with a pump octane rating of 86 or higher. This engine is certified to operate on unleaded gasoline. Unleaded gasoline produces fewer engine and spark plug deposits and extends exhaust system life.

    From Honda Engine Manual




    Sent with my IPhone with electronics and fuzzy logic...
     

    Lunyfringe

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    Sep 22, 2017
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    Canton, TX
    Use unleaded gasoline with a pump octane rating of 86 or higher. This engine is certified to operate on unleaded gasoline. Unleaded gasoline produces fewer engine and spark plug deposits and extends exhaust system life.

    From Honda Engine Manual
    you know those kinds of statements are written by lawyers and not engineers/mechanics, right?

    ALL gasoline is unleaded now- just how old is that Honduh manual?
     

    vmax

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    Apr 15, 2013
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    I hate small engines that wont run or start

    I hold the record in Shackleford County for distance throwing a chain saw.
     
    Last edited:

    ed308

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    Dec 31, 2013
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    DFW
    I use the ethanal treatment in all of my small engine equipment. Makes a difference. If I can't start an engine, I treat the engine with the Mechanic in a Bottle stuff that you get at HD. At full strength, I've never had a engine that wouldn't start after letting it sit over night. I used it for the first time on edger with a BS motor that I couldn't start for two years. Bought a bottle to try, figuring I had nothing to loose. That was 8 years ago and I'm still using that edger. I would've never believe the stuff works but it does. Has save me a lot of money over the years.
     

    Lunyfringe

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    Sep 22, 2017
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    Canton, TX
    Doesn't really answer my question.. I don't own a Honda anymore (and when I did, it was a vt1100 motorcycle engine)

    If it's made after 1995, this could ONLY apply to some other countries:
    "From 1 January 1996, the U.S. Clean Air Act banned the sale of leaded fuel for use in on-road vehicles in the USA."

    It's possible the manual is written for a world audience (but that's just plain laziness)... otherwise they haven't revisited the verbiage in that statement in 22 years!!

    Personally, I don't think Honda is somehow magically better than other companies, especially related to small engines... certainly not enough to justify the extra cost that I see associated with them on a regular basis. I'm not a hater, but I'm no fanatic either.
     

    fishingsetx

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    Feb 15, 2015
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    If that was my mower, it would have been gone a LONG time ago!!!!

    I refuse to use lawn equipment or any other small gas powered equipment that is a PITA to start! Been there, done that! It took a while, but I firmly subscribe to the buy once, cry once mantra! I dont have a push mower though. I used to buy them cheap at walmart and they seemed to last without issues.

    My current mower has never given me a single starting problem in 5 years, neither has my blower, weedeater, chainsaw or generators (all about the same age). The only thing I do is buy quality gas and add about 1.5x the recommended amount of red stabil for 4 stroke and I use stihl 2 cycle oil for the 2 strokes. When I bought the weedeater, blower, and chainsaw (different times over a 2 year period), if you bought a 6 pk of oil, you doubled your warranty to 4 years and the oil already has a stabilizer I may use 1 gallon of gas in them a year, sometimes not even that much so I practically have a lifetime supply of 2 cycle oil. The generators (yamaha 2kw inverters) are the only thing I run the gas out of before storing and that is just shutting off the petcock and leaving the gas in the tank.

    Guns have only two enemies: rust and politicians!
     
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