Lawn mower build update ( video added )

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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by GunnyMack »

Tranny fluid!? Careful it doesnt turn into a Prius! :lol: :lol:
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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by Marvin S »

Cool looking machine you got there Pitchy Is it a Clinton engine?
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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by Pitchy »

Marvin S wrote: Fri Aug 23, 2019 6:19 pm Cool looking machine you got there Pitchy Is it a Clinton engine?
Thanks it`s a 1 1/2 hp Lauson.
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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by Pitchy »

Marvin or anyone know what this is, there`s a light horizontal spring in the bottom.
Crank case breather, primer ?

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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by harry »

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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by OldWin »

That'll work just as good, buddy!
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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by Bill in Oregon »

Boy, Lenn, if you ever gave a small engine class for dummies, I might have to drive to Minnesoty ... :lol:
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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by piller »

Years ago, my Dad made a sickle mower. He put a frame together and made it front wheel drive with a rear engine mount. It was 3 speed with reverse, and it used a belt drive with a foot pedal tensioner to make it go. He had a lever system with ratcheting teeth to raise or lower the sickle head. It worked pretty good on pigweed and ragweed. I wish I had a picture of it. He put a used engine on it and fabricated the frame himself.
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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by Marvin S »

I can’t tell from the picture but was it there to hold a breather filter down? You probably know that lauson turned into Tecumseh
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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by Pitchy »

Thanks everyone and thanks for the link Harry, if ya have a 1994 issue look up two articles of my hot air engine builds.
I read the whole write up on the lauson engines but still in the dark about what that thing is.
Maybe i`ll figure it out if i get it running.
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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by GunnyMack »

I think you are on track with it being a breather. With the top of it missing might explain why its seized up...
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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by Pitchy »

Could be Gunny, well we got the flywheel off and the valve cover and its pretty cruddy.
Here`s a trick i learned for freeing pistons, ya put some brake fluid in the cylinder and place a little piece of rag on the piston that works as a wick.
It will burn slow and heat the cylinder and piston and hopefully let the brake fluid seep down into the rings.

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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by harry »

By looking at this picture I would say it’s a crankcase vent

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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by piller »

That rag and breakfluid burning trick sounds better than using a torch. Probably less heat and it is spread out.

Dad had an old Tecumseh lawn mower when I still lived there. That motor had more power and would wrap up tighter than any other small engine I ever used. I never saw grass thick enough to bog it down. It used to throw the clippings 30 to 40 feet.
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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by Pitchy »

Yep i think we are right about the vent, there`s a spring in the bottom and probably a ball.
I tried pounding on the piston with a block of wood but movement, i fear the inside of the crank case is rusty too plus the valve s are stuck.
I`m going to fill it up with fuel oil using that vent and let it sit for a few days and try again. :)

piller that sounds like a strong engine you had. :)
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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by piller »

It was the strongest engine on a push mower that I have ever seen. When you shoved the throttle forward it would make the front right wheel come up about an inch.
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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by Pitchy »

Here`s a better look at the vent valve.
Appears to be a fiber washer with a ball behind then spring.

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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by Marvin S »

Check valve for crankcase breather.
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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by Pitchy »

Yepper. :)
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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by Pitchy »

Got some movement on the crankshaft this morn but the piston didn`t move, the piston is all the way down which isn`t great for pounding on the piston.
I may drain the fuel oil out and try heating up the cylinder next. :)
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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by OldWin »

Heat is probably a good plan. Best of luck, Pitchy.
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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by Marvin S »

You may look into evapo rust it is a good product that actually works.
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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by piller »

Marvin S wrote: Sun Aug 25, 2019 10:15 am You may look into evapo rust it is a good product that actually works.
I got some of that at Harbor Freight, and it worked well.
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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by Pitchy »

Its a total loss, we removed the engine and broke it down and inside is total rust the oil pump is rusted solid and not salvageable.
God the rest of the machine freed up nice sickle moving ect...
The shaft height and bolt spacing looks the same as the preditor motor so i might look into put a 1 1/2 hp one of those on it.
It`s what it is disappointing but thats what happens when people leave stuff sitting outside.
The belt pulleys will be here tomorrow for the reel mower build so back to that for a while. :)
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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by AJMD429 »

I have been a 'BCS' guy for 30 years.

Way better than the other products out there.

https://youtu.be/gKJygd-zf4U
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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by Marvin S »

That’s too bad but like you say you can leave stuff sit out and expect much later. I have an old Briggs 8 cubic inch gear reduction motor from a planet junior about the same way.

That BCS stuff is nice but you need very deep pockets to own it.
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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by Pitchy »

Thanks Marvin, yea this thing was so original it would of been real nice.
Have to keep my eye open for a running motor, they put a specific crankshaft in it also with a tapered shaft, the gear in the reduction unit has a tapered hole in it.
I think a straight shaft would work as i could turn the hole to fit a straight shaft and everything else looks to be the same as far as a predator bolt up but then it isn`t original.
So for now back to the reel build and get it running right.
I only paid 50 bucks for the zipper so not out much. :)
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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by GunnyMack »

Aw that's a shame it's a loss! Always great to see old machines operating.
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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by Bill in Oregon »

Lenn, have you checked over at Smokstak.com? Hope you can find another Lauson.
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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by Pitchy »

I checked there but didn`t see any.
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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by Blaine »

Pitchy wrote: Fri Aug 23, 2019 4:41 pm Thanks Jay, didn`t have any so filled it up with tranny fluid. :)
Caitlyn Jenner almost died when he ran out of tranny fluid. :o :shock: :o
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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by Pitchy »

I don`t give in easy, went out and took it all apart again and got the piston loose and the valves.
Sprayed it all down with oven cleaner for the night, the pump i`m not sure can be saved as it layed in the bottom in the water.
Wonder why it wasn`t a slash system maybe it will be.
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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by Pitchy »

This morn while waiting on pulleys we got the engine spinning free and cleaned out, i don`t see the purpose of the oil pump they had in it which is repairable so i removed it.
There`s a dipper on the connecting rod so i think that will do the job, the oil pump didn`t have any lones on it so it most of just squirted oil straight up.
The issue now is freeing up the governor the collar is froze on the shaft so soaking and heating , if we get that loose its put it back together and clean the carb and hope it runs. :)

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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by Bill in Oregon »

Good luck Lenn! If anyone can revive a fallen engine, it is you! 8)
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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by piller »

Sounds as if it is going your way.
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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by M. M. Wright »

Here is where I'd use a points eliminator but these look pretty good so? Give me the specs on your rings and I might have set. I need the bore diameter and the thickness of each ring if you want to go to that much trouble. Worked on an old Ithica 37 pump this morning and it shoots and shucks now.
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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by Pitchy »

Thanks fellers, got it on the bench and runs if i put gas in the spark plug hole, i think a valve is leaking hardly no compression.
I`ll pull the head tomorrow and check it out, i know when i was pulling it over before with my hand over the cylinder it would suck my hand down good then wouldn`t.
Thanks Ron let me fiddle a little more first and cool beans with your gun. 8)
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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by Pitchy »

In the mean time we got the belt drive on the reel mower, have to tinker a little yet but works good.
I can`t believe how fast it is even at a idle, of coarse if i had a flat lawn where ya could go straight longer it would be better my yard looks more like a motocross track. :lol:
I didn`t have a belt the right length so i wired one together for the test run and thats what`s making the clunk noise as it goes over the tensioner roller.

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Video.

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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by M. M. Wright »

Now THAT works brother! "I love it when a good plan comes together."
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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by Marvin S »

Man, you have been busy.
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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by Pitchy »

Thanks guys, belt tensioners are kind of a pain too ya can have it like in the picture or ya can lift the belt on the top.
The benefit of the top way is ya can put a stop on the tensioner so it only lowers the belt so far that keeps the belt from dropping on the pulley and causing creep.
Issue here is the motor and jack shaft are so close together.
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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by OldWin »

Nice work buddy.
Mowing in style. :D
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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by Bill in Oregon »

Love to see a natural-born engineer at work! Lenn, that Predator has a pretty nice note. I hear a lot of good things about these affordable engines.
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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by Pitchy »

Thanks fellers, got the Lauson running now to put it on the sickle mower.

Video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4wDFXxIau4
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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by Pitchy »

Well i`ll be darn, plugging up bad in that garbage i was trying it in but she`s a going but have to get a belt for the self propelled.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPhfgz3rJhU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ1LpPHDTmk
Last edited by Pitchy on Tue Aug 27, 2019 12:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by OldWin »

Couldn't see the second video.
Great job on that motor, Lenn. Sounds good.
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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by Pitchy »

Thanks Jay, something going on with utube i couldn`t see the first one at first but then it showed up so check it again after while and let me know. :)
Last edited by Pitchy on Tue Aug 27, 2019 1:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by OldWin »

I will buddy.
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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by GunnyMack »

ITS ALIVE! Glad you could save that engine. Both video clips worked for me.

Now that you have all these lawn care machines are you going to put in a golf course? :D
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Re: Lawn mower build update ( video added )

Post by Pitchy »

Thanks Gunny, ha golf coarse i don`t think that`s me. :lol:
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