lawnboy lawnmowers, the best hand mower

Does anybody else have a passion for lawnboy mowers ? I now have 4 of the darn things, in my opinion they are the best mower ever made (2 cycle). I had bought a new one,commercial grade, when I heard they had to stop the production of 2 cycle engines. I had worked for a landscaper and that was all he ever had. It must be the sound, kinda like drag pipes on a harley (ya gotta love it) or the put put of a john deere 2 cylinder. Now the neighbor had one out by the roadside free, starter does not engage. $5 for a new spring and I have a fairly good running mower, could use new main bearings but after 2 pulls it is good to do work along the creek.

Any 2-stroke engine is the best in my humble opinion. More power, lighter weight, cheaper to fix, EASIER to fix, less moving parts, VERY responsive to minor modifications, ...... I could go on forever.

I need to get me one of those!

Better hold on to the ones you've got -- I have a feeling this healthcare BS that was just passed may be tied to the emission crackdown planned in 2012. They'll probably make them illegal to use, & illegal to sell parts for .... based on current trends.

Stihl is starting to make the 4 mix engine. They are 4 cycle with valves but you still mix the gas and oil. Like you said smitty, less moving parts,lighter makes them a winner in my book. If they start putting oil pans on chain saws the EPA should mandate that all trees grow in a horizontal direction so you don't need to flip the saw sideways.

Yeah, I hear that!

I don't care how advanced 4-stroke technology gets, there's no place for a 4-stroke in mini applications: chainsaws, weed whackers. leaf blowers, etc.

2-strokes are also ideal in motorcycle applications .... hell, ANY application in my book! I just wish someone would build a V8 2-stroke!

BRP (Bombardier) is leading the pack in 2-stroke technology. They are the only company that hasn't forsaken this engine. Their 2-strokes are rivaling 4-strokes in emissions output ... so the greenies can ram it! Their E-Tec line of outboard marine engines & snowmobiles shows how much better the 2-stroke really is.

And I forgot to mention in my list .... EASIER STARTING! One pull every time ... actually, sometimes 1/4 pull ....or kick.

I had a school teacher that said if he was president, he would outlaw all v8 engines, guess he would have to push the coal trucks uphill He must be retired by now, who knows, he probably drives a hummer by now Heck, I would vote him in to office, how much worse could he be ???

I never used a Lawnboy, but I have a Snapper HiVac self propelled, IMO it's great. Mine has a Briggs 4 cycle, I know they used to make them with 2 cycle engines as well.

I have used and fixed lawnboys, nice machine. Touchy about fuel as the average home owner does not mix and store fuel
properly. In a commercial application tuff to get better. The original application for them was hills and slopes, no oil starvation.
Two Strokes are the cats butt of internal combustion engines. 4 strokes are what they are. With high pressure direct injection technology
two smokers burn cleaner than a 4 stroke! I run E Tech outboards and Rotax 951 DI, absolutely fabulous power and efficient
too! So, the two stroke is alive and well into the future. If the true source of discontent is the loss of the spill fuel system(carbs), go to therapy because they are NOT coming back!

I had two little green LawnBoy mowers. One had a throttle and one didn't. I gave one to my stupid ex sister-in-law who always lets her small country lawn look bad all summer. I used to mow their lawn for them when the kids were little.
Anyway, I could let those mowers sit all winter and they would start no problem. Amazing little work horses. I love the sound too.
I don't go up there anymore, but a couple seasons ago she called and said she couldn't start the mower. I went up and it started on the first pull, then I mowed her whole lawn. What a sucker.

Paulie wrote:.............If the true source of discontent is the loss of the spill fuel system(carbs), go to therapy because they are NOT coming back!

One will be coming back in several weeks -- My RD350! I'll just keep fixing it on the rare occasion it might actually break.

My discontent is the fact that the big 4 (Yamaha, Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki) have forsaken the 2-stroke in off-road applications. Very few 2-stroke motocrossers are made these days ...eventually none will. That, & the talk about 4-stroke weedwhackers pisses me off. There's no need for that!

treehuggers at thier best

I hear that. They wont be satisfied until we're lugging around 40 lb weedwhackers & chainsaws that wont start, all in the name of clean air.

Now let me say the average guy that heats with firewood(not me) mixes his oil 32:1 4oz. per gallon, might use 4 gallons of gas and 16oz. of oil to cut 8 cords of wood. His neighbor uses 1000 gallons of fuel oil to heat his house. Witch one would pollute more

AA130FIREMAN wrote:Now let me say the average guy that heats with firewood(not me) mixes his oil 32:1 4oz. per gallon, might use 4 gallons of gas and 16oz. of oil to cut 8 cords of wood. His neighbor uses 1000 gallons of fuel oil to heat his house. Witch one would pollute more

I crunched the numbers, its a trick question. they both pollute the same

I've had my 21" Lawn-Boy Gold push mower (no sissy self-propelled for me, thank you) since 1996. I did have a bad ignition coil fixed under warranty, but that's it. I think I've changed the plug once, and clean the carbon from the muffler every few years - never much in there anyway. I either clean or replace the air filter every year. I like the two-pack of pre-oiled Lawn-Boy filters, but they sure rape you for $.25 worth of foam. At least your hands don't smell like gas for 2 days after cleaning the old one....

I don't know that 2-cycle is any better or worse than 4-cycle. Previously I had an old Toro (mid 80's) with a Tecumseh on it. I mowed my yard in high school with it. I went to visit my parents around '95 and my dad pulls it out of the shed. It hadn't been run in years, but at least he ran it dry prior to storage. We poured a splash of fresh gas in it, checked the oil, and it fired right up. I took it home and mowed with it for several years before I bought the Lawn-Boy. The Toro was only an 18" cut, and also designed to bag, not mulch or discharge. I don't bag, and 18" wasn't enough for our lot. But it always ran perfectly.

I think it boils down to maintenance. A two-stroke only needs a plug once in a while and a clean air filter. They will run and run. Finally they carbon up and you need to pull the muffler off, and maybe by then it's due for rings anyway. A four-stroke needs regular oil changes with the proper oil and also the level checked. Most also require the valve clearance be checked after a lot of hours because they will get too tight and burn them (at least the flat head engines will). Air filters and plugs are same as a two-stroke.

Lastly, engines today are cost-reduced, emissions-choked junk. Many, if not most, pushmower engines are Chinese, especially the big-box store disposable mowers. There are still premium engines, but you pay for them.

I wish I'd had the forethought to pick up a Lawn-Boy Commercial mower just before they switched to the Dura-Force engine. I like the old "F" engine design better. The Dura-Force run well once you tweak the carb jetting, but stock, many of them are horrible "surgers", but either way, there's nothing like the smell of two-stroke exhaust and fresh cut grass on a summer day....... except maybe burning coal on a winter day!

yep, Silver Series, 2 stroke self propelled for the past 13 years with no signs of dying. Ive replaced the ignition coil a couple of times and the muffler assembly under the blade but thats been it for all these years. I like the rear wheel drive as opposed to the front wheel drive mowers and the offset front wheels. Great product....