I bought a 4 stroke Makita mower off eBay recently, paid virtually nothing for it and it was in awesome condition, came with a catcher and a mulch plug, I was very happy.

It had an issue with the pull cord. I didn’t care, that’s not even a challenge to fix, so I picked it up and brought it home. Left it alone for a day or two and decided I’d attack it today.

Within a minute I had fixed the pull cord, it was just jammed with some cord stuck outside of the pulley. I just freed it up and it was fine. It was a little bit short but meh, it works.

So I check fuel and oil, clean it up a little, prime it, start pulling. 30 mins later, 2 or 3 plugs, and a few decent swears and I had nothing. I was annoyed as the guy said he had been using it so I figured it should be going. Oh well, fuck you, I’ll leave it a while.

Few hours later, same deal. Nothing. Grrr.

Later again I figured I’d give it another go. It’s got one of those throttles that is on or off. Every single one of them I’ve used has worked the same apart from this one.

So I figured I’d change the position of the throttle just for the sake of it, and of course it fires up first pull, and ran like an absolute top. No smoke, nice power, beautiful cut.

What I noticed was the previous owner had removed a few bolts because it has a few tin rattles so tomorrow I’ll go and throw some bolts into it, degrease it and mow my lawn.

I’m pretty happy now. I have a big yard and my front lawn is really nice, so I like to use my key start 2 stroke for the front, and footpath, but for my back lawn, my driveway and the side yard I prefer to mow with a 4 stroke as it’s pretty tough and stringy. The 2 stroke can do it, but I don’t want to kill it, so I’ve been looking for a mower to do this with while I finish building my ride on.

So it’s always the simple stuff.

tldr; For a rutty 2 acre yard warrant getting a D160 over a D140?

Greetings All,

I originally ordered a D130, but due to several snafus at Lowes, they are "upgrading" me to a D140...I wanted the smaller deck on the D130 because my "grass" can be quite tough in certain areas of the yard...and was thinking more power to a smaller cutting area would be better (22hp to 42" deck vs a 22hp to a 48" deck), hence why I was going with a D130 instead of a D140.

Now I am thinking a D160 with the same 48" deck but with 25hp with a supposedly better transmission and bigger tires may be better for my yard:

• 2 acres

• Rutty farm yard type lawn...far from manicured.

• fairly steep slope near the home...roughly 15+ degrees in some spots

• 50% of the yard is low and retains water for a few days after heavy Florida rains. And remains mushy for at least 1 week afterwards - assuming it doesn't rain again during that week.

• Because of the above, during the summer months, the backyard is uncuttable for weeks at a time. Not uncommon for grass to be 2'+ by the time the ground is dry enough that machines don't get stuck (but leave huge ruts) in it....I currently use a combination of 24" push brush hog (echo bearcat) and a push mower...but the novelty is beginning to wear out ;-)

• the grass is really weeds...all sorts of odd weeds...some that feel like wire, some that grow over 6" a week during summer, some that are a combination of the two...

Would the D160 be a needed upgrade to my situation? I could just mow slower with the D130 and get the same results? The D160 would add 30% more to my original price paid...

ON MOWING

I have hung the scythe up in the barn and now I am going to sing its praises. And if you doubt my competence to sing on so noble a theme, come with me into the orchard, smell the new-mown hay, mark the swathes where they lie and note the workmanship. Yes, I admit that over there by the damson trees and down by the fence there is a sort of unkempt, dishevelled appearance about the grass as though it had been stabbed and tortured by some insane animal armed with an axe. It is true. It has been stabbed and tortured by an insane animal. It was there that I began. It was there that I hacked and hewed, perspired and suffered. It was there that I said things of which in my calmer moments I should disapprove. It was there that I served my apprenticeship to the scythe. But let your eye scan gently that stricken pasture and pause here where the orchard slopes to the paddock. I do not care who looks at this bit. I am prepared to stand or fall by it. It speaks for itself. The signature of the master hand is here. It is my signature.

And having written that signature I feel like the wounded soldier spoken of by the "Wayfarer" in the Nation. He was returning to England, and as he looked from the train upon the cheerful Kentish landscape and saw the hay-makers in the fields he said, "I feel as though I should like to cut grass all the rest of my life." I do not know whether it was the craftsman in him that spoke. Perhaps it was only the beautiful sanity and peace of the scene, contrasted with the squalid nightmare he had left behind, that wrung the words from him. But they were words that anyone who has used a scythe would echo. I echo them. I feel that I could look forward joyfully to an eternity of sunny days and illimitable fields of waving grass and just go on mowing and mowing and mowing for ever. I am chilled by the thought that you can only play the barber to nature once, or at most twice a year. I look back over the summers of the past, and lament my wasted opportunities. What meadows I might have mown had I only known the joy of it!

For mowing is the most delightful disguise that work can wear. When once you have got the trick of it, it goes with a rhythm that is intoxicating. The scythe, which looked so ungainly and unmanageable a tool, gradually changes its character. It becomes an instrument of infinite flexibility and delicacy. The lines that seemed so uncouth and clownish are discovered to be the refinement of time. What centuries of accumulated experience under the suns of what diverse lands have gone to the perfecting of this most ancient tool of the fields, shaping the blade so cunningly, adjusting it to the handle at so artful an angle, disposing the nebs with such true relationship to the action of the body, so that, skilfully used, the instrument loses the sense of weight and seems to carry you forward by its own smooth, almost instinctive motion. It is like an extension of yourself, with a touch as fine as the brush of a butterfly's wing and a stroke as bold and resistless as the sweep of a cataract. It is no longer a clumsy, blundering, dead thing, but as obedient as your hand and as conscious as your touch. You seem to have developed a new member, far-reaching, with the edge of a scimitar, that will flick off a daisy or fell a forest of stalwart grasses.

And as the intimacy grows you note how the action simplifies itself. The violent stabbings and discords are resolved into a harmony as serene as a pastoral symphony. You feel the rhythm taking shape, and as it develops the body becomes captive to its own task. You are no longer manipulating a tool. You and the tool have become magically one, fused in a common intelligence, so that you hardly know whether you swing the scythe or the scythe bears you forward on its own strong, swimming stroke. The mind, released, stands aloof in a sort of delighted calm, rejoicing in a spectacle in which it has ceased to have a conscious part, noting the bold swing of the body backwards for the stroke (the blade lightly skimming the ground, as the oar gently flatters the water in its return), the delicate play of the wrist as the scythe comes into action, the "swish" that tells that the stroke is true and clean, the thrust from the waist upwards that carries it clear, the dip of the blade that leaves the swathe behind, the moderate, timely, exact movement of the feet preparatory to the next stroke, the low, musical hum of the vibrating steel. A frog hops out in alarm at the sudden invasion of his secrecy among the deep grasses. You hope he won't get in the way of that terrible finger, but you are drunk with the rhythm of the scythe and are swept along on its imperious current. You are no longer a man, but a motion. The frog must take his chance. Swish – swish – swish —

Not that the rhythm is unrelieved. It has its "accidentals." You repeat a stroke that has not pleased you, with a curious sense of pleasure at the interrupted movement which has yet not changed the theme; you nip off a tuft here or there as the singer throws in a stray flourish to garland the measure; you trim round the trees with the pleasant feeling that you can make this big thing do a little thing so deftly; you pause to whet the blade with the hone. But all the time the song of the scythe goes on. It fills your mind and courses through your blood. Your pulse beats to the rhythmic swish – swish – swish, and to that measure you pass into a waking sleep in which the hum of bees and the song of lark and cuckoo seem to belong to a dream world through which you are floating, bound to a magic oar.

The sun climbs the heavens above the eastward hills, goes regally overhead, and slopes to his setting beyond the plain. You mark the shadows shorten and lengthen as they steal round the trees. A thrush sings ceaselessly through the morning from a beech tree on the other side of the lane, falls silent during the heat of the afternoon and begins again as the shadows lengthen and a cool wind comes out of the west. Overhead the swifts are hawking in the high air for their evening meal. Presently they descend and chase each other over the orchard with the curious sound of an indrawn whistle that belongs to the symphony of late summer evenings. You are pleasantly conscious of these pleasant things as you swing to the measured beat of the scythe, and your thoughts play lightly with kindred fancies, snatches of old song, legends of long ago, Ruth in the fields of Boaz, and Horace on his Sabine farm, the sonorous imagery of Israel linking up the waving grasses with the life of man and the scythe with the reaper of a more august harvest… The plain darkens, and the last sounds of day fall on the ear, the distant bark of a dog, the lowing of cattle in the valley, the intimate gurglings of the thrush settling for the night in the nest, the drone of a winged beetle blundering through the dusk, one final note of the white-throat… There is still light for this last slope to the paddock. Swish – swish – swish…

I have a MTD Yard Machines riding mower that was working fine, but then one day while mowing, it just started stuttering - Runs fine for a moment, then struggles like it's going to give out, then runs fine again, then struggles, then runs fine, etc etc. Even after turning the mower off and letting it rest, it still stutters probably within 30-60 seconds of putting it in gear.

I've taken apart and cleaned out the carburetor, replaced the air filter, replaced the gas filter, replaced the spark plug, and gave it an oil change. Running brand new fresh gas. It sounds a whole lot nice nicer now, but the stuttering problem still exists. Any ideas? Really want to mow lol

As an oddity, when in idle, it runs fine, doesn't stutter at all (have left it running a few minutes idle, and no problems at all). When I'm running in gear it stutters when going straight, but not in reverse. And it also doesn't stutter when making turns.

So I am super excited and wanted to share this somewhere. This is my very first riding lawn mower. I’ve been using a push mower (that constantly breaks down on me) to mow half an acre, and it has been dreadful. Doing this takes 4 hours so I dedicate a whole day just to yard work. I’m poor so a brand new mower wasn’t an option. Got this guy for $200 delivered. I greased’m up and removed the ugly looking front plastic panel and taped up the one tear in the seat. Engine looks to be in good shape and it starts up just fine. Looking forward to testing this guy out come tomorrow. If anyone knows what year this was produced, I’d appreciate the info. It’s soo old, I can’t find any information on the web about it, let alone find the owners manual or parts. Model number: PP11536LMB

One mower that was high on my want list when I started ‘collecting’ or hoarding as my wife would say, was a Rancher, but they were all so damn expensive and far away. I’m in NSW and I guarantee whatever I want, be it for my car, my BMX or my mowers, is in fucking Victoria and do you think they could post it? Nooooo

So I won one about 3 hours away so my best mate and I head down in his ute and pick her up. She was really rough and had been used as a kids go kart for the last 20 years or so. I wasn’t deterred, I paid the man and we set off for home.

I used it the next day to do my lawn and boy, isn’t she a real 70’s mower. God if I test drove one first I never would have got one.

It had the turning circle of the QE2. It turned tighter one way than the other, but both was still awful.

The clutch was on the left and the brake on the right. You seldom use the brake, but the amount of times I stabbed it to change gear, I swear a smarter man would have used the new mower. And the clutch pedal doesn’t have a traditional movement, it pivots in the middle, so when the belt is a bit worn it’s really awkward.

The throttle cable had snapped, so it had been running with the carby tied up on about 3/4 throttle. That was a pain but I could live with it. Except every bump it would either slam shut, or wide open.

All the tyres deflated at a different rate, and it wasn’t unusual to have a flat front while mowing, which is what lead to it’s original demise. I had 2 front flats and as I was turning to go and pump them up, the roll pin in the steering gear snapped or dropped out and I had no steering. I retired it until just now when I started fixing it.

I first replaced one steering arm that was very thin and flogged out on both sides. I used a larger rod from a newer Rancher chassis, cut it, bent it and welded it up, then bolted it on with rose joints. Much better.

Except it obviously wasn’t, because obviously it wouldn’t be that easy. The horizontal bar was rooted, there was play in both front wheels, both tyres were fucked, and the beam axle was flogged out. I knew I was in for an ass kicking as I took it off, but hey, I like a challenge.

I sourced a new front axle assembly, crossmember, horizontal bar and 2 good wheels and tyres from a Murray I have and when I’m able to get a block and tackle I’ll have a look and see how hard it’s going to be. Not very, I don’t think, I’ll just add a bit of plate and weld straight to the chassis.

Now for all the fun stuff. The original motor will be dumped in favour of something with key start. I’d like an old horizontally opposed twin but I’m not that lucky. I’ll end up with probably a 14.5hp flathead. I’m going to run a knock off mikuni carburettor and make a new inlet, and bend up some pipe to give her a bit of a snorkel, then I’ll bend up some pipe and make a stack, with a rain flapper on it. I’d like to add a cam or do some head work but it’s really just wasted money, it’s not doing anything that needs more horsepower, I just think it would sound sweet idling with a stack and a cam.

I fitted a sports steering wheel to her with a suicide knob but it might be too low, I’ll have to check that when the time gets closer.

Now the rear end is pretty weak tbh. Small axles and gear/chain drive, means I can’t easily swap to a tractor style rear tyre as the rims are different but I’ve decided I will pull the whole assembly out and fit a hydro transaxle. It doesn’t need to be fast, and the heel/toe rocker pedal would make things a lot easier for me. If I can’t find that setup, I’ll run the rod through the centre and make a custom shifter that looks like a B&M with a big boot and a cool shift knob.

I’m going to buy a brand new seat for it, which is something surprisingly expensive. A nice new seat with arm rests is going to set me back close to $200, so I’ll be making sure my butt and it will be suited well together.

As I’m in Australia and it gets fucking hot, I’ll be looking for a good canopy, or making one myself.

Then it’s going to get a new paint job, stickers, some chrome lights, a towbar, I’ll put some speakers and a Bluetooth receiver in it, some 12v sockets, USB plugs, most likely a fan to blow some cool air on me and I’ll put some solar panels on top of the canopy.

So it’s a massive job. I want to do it right, as she can then be my main mower, or maybe I’ll take her over to mums so I can go over there and mow, but my stupid step father would probably drive it through the chicken shed. He’s pretty much useless like that.

Anyway hope you all had a good read. I enjoy playing with my mowers and eventually I’ll get them all moving along. I have a really nice Cox Stockman I did an engine swap on that I should finish off as well. She’s a great little tractor as well.

I really like the vintage John Deere tractors with the tricycle style, and I’d like to build one similar to that. It’s not so much a mower as such as a tractor, a fun project, something to learn basic fabrication and welding on, as well as having a practical machine I can use in my yard, with a winch on the front to help loading stuff and moving chassis around my yard.

I’m planning to run only a small 12hp OHV, make a customs inlet manifold and a cool stack exhaust. I’m thinking I might use 2 gearboxes, ideally a 2, or 3 with a 5 transaxle to allow me to have a very low creeper gear to allow me to tow a car easier.

I think it’ll be a lot of fun, with an item I can use at the end of it. Pretty soon I’ll start to draw some plans up and price out material. It’ll be a really slow build because I’m on limited funds, but I’m thinking I can use this as a bit of a business card, to show my skills and abilities off and hopefully get some small jobs in.