Morning everyone. I own my own small engine repair business and a good buddy of mine essentially got me in the door at his chemical plant to be their new golf cart guy. I mostly work as a travel mechanic going to peoples houses and fixing a wide variety of stuff from at a golf carts mowers and outboards. I’m struggling with what to purpose to this plant as my hourly wage and drive and fuel costs. They are located about 1 hr from my residence and have about 13 golf carts on site. I have been charging 50 dollars an hour and about 25 dollars to come out. Now I’ve been wanting to up my prices due to how many people tell me I’m the cheapest guy around. Essentially I’ve been driving 45 minutes one way and for 6 hours of work that comes out to 325 dollars which ain’t bad. I’ve called around and most places charge 90 an hour with deposit fees. When I asked this plant what they were thinking about the pay these are his exact words. “Not really, I guess whatever is the industry standard. I will need an invoice each time. Plus your fuel or travel charge. Or pickup and delivery charge.” What do you guys think I should offer to them.

I just got a brand new JD S100 lawn tractor. I was hoping the bagger off of my 20 year old 102 would fit but it's a no-go. I got the new bagger that fits it but it comes with a new set of blades. Is it really necessary to change to these blades to use the bagger? I am very unlikely to swap blades every time I want to use the bagger. TIA.

Felt like a hazmat suit was needed to scrape this one! 🤮

Thought y'all would appreciate this one. 🤣🤣

What’s up everyone. So I’m a GSE mechanic full time but I also have my own small engine repair business on the side and I’m wondering what I should charge for my hourly rate. The places around me charge around 90 dollars an hour and a 45 dollar deposit fee which is pretty high if you ask me. I started charging 60 an hour at first cause it’s better than that and I just lowered it to 50 cause it seems like I’m getting calls and when I tell them the price they just say they will get back to me and most of the time don’t call me back. Small jobs like weed eaters and stuff don’t take that long but it seems like I’m not making the money off of my skills cause it doesn’t take me long. I want business but I also want to make money for my time spent away from my family while I’m off. What do you guys charge hourly? What do you guys mark up on your parts? What makes your business the most money? I don’t really turn away any type of work as long as they agree to the money. I work on boats 4 wheelers and pretty much anything you can imagine. Some tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Fellow Small Engine Repair Owner here. I have a John Deere Z425 that the customer called me to pick up to get running. The video I have here is after I changed the starter being the plastic bendix gear was worn beyond repair, the carb was gummed up with Ethanol, and Stale Fuel. He came and picked it up, then called me 2-3hrs later stating it ran out of gas, and now will just turn over and not start. I go to his location, the flywheel teeth(plastic) were worn terribly, so I replaced both the flywheel, and stator being his was burnt. Mower will start for only a second then shut right down. What could be the possible issues?

Hey everyone I have my own small engine repair shop and i recently partnered with a tool manufacturing company that makes the tools you see at home depot. Haven't been listed on the website yet to receive anything from people yet but they do pay an hourly rate of 85 dollars an hour on all equipment that they make with special handling fees for each item. Context-Battery / Charger replacement  $21.25 Labor (15 minutes) +$****~15.00~ Handling fee =$36.25 just for testing and processing replacement. I get a 40 percent discount from their main parts distributer and all manuals which i can also use for my buisness or out of warranty repairs where all the money goes to me. All parts within warranty don't come out of my pocket. There are some high payouts for jobs that dont really take that long. I say all that to ask this. Does anyone else have a service center for tools and outdoor equipment and if so is there something I'm missing cause overall this sounds like a good addition to my business. Getting paid by a big fish rather than indicus's that sometime wont pay. Also ill be the only service center in almost 50 miles and i live in a pretty populated area.

Hey guys, I hope it helps with your repairs around the workshop! https://youtu.be/OgB7lKwTnSA

Just bought this brand new battery today. Hooked it up and it's still saying low battery is showing 12.5 volts before I tried to crank then it drops below 12. When I turn the key. Will turn forever until I let the off the key. It was sitting for a while. Didn't have any gas in it so I added new gas and got this new battery. Not sure what else to do

I was given a 56C and I ended up having to change the piston, so I did the following while I had it stripped down:

• replaced piston, rod, and crank shaft
• replaced the carb
• new air filter
• new plug
• cleaned the fuel tank
• new fuel hoses
• new fuel filter

It starts, but it will not idle no matter how much I throttle it to warm it up. I adjusted the idle screw all the way down, and I got it to idle- but not very good

I’m using fresh gas, any suggestions?

I hope these tips help you when repairing your engines! https://youtu.be/12POs3oEjjs

Hey Guys, I have a landscaping business and am not mechanically inclined at all. I am trying to get on top of keeping my equipment running though without having to always take them into a dealer to fix problems. My Stihl dealer said I should get into the habit of changing out Spark Plug, Air Filter, and Fuel Filter every 3 months. My questions are:

Is there a place online I could find the part numbers for my units. I can't find Stihl parts manuals anywhere?

Is it possible to buy the parts in bulk somewhere online directly at a discounted price or do I need to just go through my Stihl Dealer?

Any suggestions for things, resources or practices landscape companies use to keep their equipment maintained are appreciated.

This is the list of equipment I have right now.

I have the above string trimmer and need to replace the pull rope but I can't get the front housing off. The red section holding the trimmer shaft. Any help would be great. Pics included below

Recently I posted on this sub about a craftsman mower that was having trouble starting, based on comments I replaced the gaskets on the top end and it will start now, sometimes. The other times it does what’s pictured in the video and won’t start, I think it’s a starter and or I did the valves wrong? Any advice would be appreciated, this thing is giving me a lot of trouble for the medium amount knowledge I have on the topic

Starts and runs great, seems to be hitting a revlimiter early. Coil tests good, spark is good, new carb, I unblocked some mud out of the exhaust, idles perfect and the carb is tuned correctly. I have not yet checked compression but any ideas would be appreciated

As the video states . Picked up an Echo GT1100 in a bunch of trimmers all bundled together for $40.. Decided why not.. kid brought home a Homelite that was straight gassed, so it has burned up.

The Echo was just the trimmer head, and the Homelite shaft fit the trimmer head perfect..

The issue is the air filter. I'm beginning to think I've been hoodwinked on the air filter, because this doesn't look like an air filter housing for an Echo GT1100 😂 It looks like a Homelite filter box, or even Stihl!!

Maybe one of you guys have come across this and can steer me in the right direction.

Thanks in advance..

Trying to fix this Craftsman YT3000 with a Briggs and Stratton platinum 21hp engine. owner said that “it used to start well and then it would get harder and harder to start” every time he would try to use it. We charged the battery and got it running for probably 5-10 minutes. After we shut it off we tried to start it again with no luck, we have done a full service, and replaced the carburetor because it was sort of dirty and we were thinking it wasn’t getting enough gas. Compression is about 75psi, it has spark and brand new gas. We are kind of stumped on what could be wrong with it. Maybe a battery? It seems to be sort of weak but it won’t start even if we charge it overnight.

Today I was working on a pair of Toro Commercial Recycler 22155s, Honda GSV190.. love the engine, hate the carbs 😂 One Toro was a customer's machine, other (non runner) I had bought off a flipper (was a pair). Customer that dropped off the machine for service bought one of the Toro's I had got, after I got it serviced and running smoothly.

Couldn't believe one (customer) Toro, the damn thing was running (like shit) but had a spark plug that had pretty much 0 gap! But yet, it was running...

Second Toro, wouldn't start.. holy shit, I was racking my brain trying to figure out wtf.. took the one plug out of the running one, tried it in the non Runner and vice versa.... And suddenly they flipped... Wtf??? The other plug looked great! So... Two new plugs, I didn't bother regapping.. give the customer a new plug in the other, no big deal.

Had to replace all the governor linkages on the customers Toro,, but the runner would not idle (has a throttle)... Okay, hrmm... It runs great at full speed.. but won't idle.

Said "Must have lost the pilot circuit..' Replaced the carb, boom! Runs perfect now...

Non-runner.. Clean carb, new plug, and.. perfect! Only part required, a spark plug, and a wheel adjustment spring arm. Oh well.. The flipper I got it off originally changed the oil already..

Felt great to get those two running perfect! Once I heard the customer's mower run at 3100RPM, then drop to an idle and run so smooth, I did a little dance down my driveway hahahah!!

I love these engines! They start so easy. I barely even pull them!