The Great Big Lawnmower Thread

Zimmerframe

I have a "medium" lawn as in, the Lidl florabest yoke of a few years ago was doing the job until now.

Any reason not to buy this Viking - €400

http://www.lawnmowerpartsonline.ie/shop/product/viking-mb253t-lawnmower-stock-clearance-offer

or could I do better for similar dosh ?
Thanks

Zardoz

Does anyone here sharpen their own lawnmower blades ?
I think the blades on my mower are getting dull .

I had the machine overhauled last summer but I dont think they sharpened the blades.
Is it possible to sharpen them without taking off the blade as the last time i tried that ,oil started leaking out of the machine.
Its an old machine,an Asuka with a Mitsubishi engine ~20 years old,its built like a tank so I think it could be hard work getting the blade off.

Willfarman

Zardoz wrote: »

Does anyone here sharpen their own lawnmower blades ?
I think the blades on my mower are getting dull .

I had the machine overhauled last summer but I dont think they sharpened the blades.
Is it possible to sharpen them without taking off the blade as the last time i tried that ,oil started leaking out of the machine.
Its an old machine,an Asuka with a Mitsubishi engine ~20 years old,its built like a tank so I think it could be hard work getting the blade off.

It needs to come off. Most likely a left hand thread and usually a simple job with a pnuematic Air gun. Any repair place should do it for 20 squid.

homer1982

I am looking to buy a ride on lawnmower soon, I have an acre of lawn to cut so looking at something big enough. I've narrowed it down to Honda HF2622 for €4790 or the John Deere X305R for €4995, can anyone recommend one of these by the specifications or another ride on lawnmower similar.

monkeynuz

18MonthsaSlave wrote: »

where are the valves located? to the side of the barrel or above it? irrespective of whether there is a ohc or not if the valves are above the barrel it is an ohv engine.

The engine on suresanders link is the gcv ohc engine not the gxv ohv.

18MonthsaSlave

and are the valves above the barrel or beside it?
both are premium engines. why introduce doubt in to the mind of those asking the question.

monkeynuz

18MonthsaSlave wrote: »

and are the valves above the barrel or beside it?
both are premium engines. why introduce doubt in to the mind of those asking the question.

The gxv is considered the superior Of the two engines, you mentioned the ohv as being very good, a lot of people would assume you were referring to the better one. You aren't making any sense and perhaps were confused yourself as to the difference or apparent lack of according to you.

18MonthsaSlave

benefits of an OHC are marginal. move from sidevalve to OHV brings absolutely massive benefits

yipperduigs

Hey Folks,

What are your thoughts on this machine: (can't include a URL for some reason)

Stiga Estate 5102H - Specification:

40 inch Cutting deck
540cc Briggs and Stratton engine
Hydrostatic transmission
260 litre collection bag
Easy empty grass box
Twin cutting blades
Mulch kit included
Tow bar included
Battery charger included

AMRentals in Newry can deliver this to the south coast of Ireland for €3,200. 1 years' warranty - if anything goes wrong they'll come to your house to fix the issue.

Garden is just under an acre, and it's flat ground.

thanks..

Happyman42

Zardoz wrote: »

Does anyone here sharpen their own lawnmower blades ?
I think the blades on my mower are getting dull .

I had the machine overhauled last summer but I dont think they sharpened the blades.
Is it possible to sharpen them without taking off the blade as the last time i tried that ,oil started leaking out of the machine.
Its an old machine,an Asuka with a Mitsubishi engine ~20 years old,its built like a tank so I think it could be hard work getting the blade off.

Not that hard to do with a bit of care and attention.
http://www.familyhandyman.com/automotive/lawn-mower-repair/lawn-mower-blade-sharpening/view-all

18MonthsaSlave

yipperduigs wrote: »

Hey Folks,

What are your thoughts on this machine: (can't include a URL for some reason)

Stiga Estate 5102H - Specification:

40 inch Cutting deck
540cc Briggs and Stratton engine
Hydrostatic transmission
260 litre collection bag
Easy empty grass box
Twin cutting blades
Mulch kit included
Tow bar included
Battery charger included

AMRentals in Newry can deliver this to the south coast of Ireland for €3,200. 1 years' warranty - if anything goes wrong they'll come to your house to fix the issue.

Garden is just under an acre, and it's flat ground.

thanks..

Looks like a castell garden to me and not cheap enough to justify travelling that far. don't expect them to honour their promise to visit if something goes wrong.

18MonthsaSlave

Zardoz wrote: »

Does anyone here sharpen their own lawnmower blades ?
I think the blades on my mower are getting dull .

I had the machine overhauled last summer but I dont think they sharpened the blades.
Is it possible to sharpen them without taking off the blade as the last time i tried that ,oil started leaking out of the machine.
Its an old machine,an Asuka with a Mitsubishi engine ~20 years old,its built like a tank so I think it could be hard work getting the blade off.

Asuka would have a blade break so I'd guess it is secured by two bolts (14mm) which should be easy enough to remove but take care which way you turn the lawnmower as you might get a hydraulic lock or flood air filter.

Discodog

18MonthsaSlave wrote: »

benefits of an OHC are marginal. move from sidevalve to OHV brings absolutely massive benefits

The main difference is between OHV & OHC. The older OHV Honda engines are considered more durable than the newer OHC engines.

Honda retained the old engine for it's professional models for quite a while.

Pushrods won't break whereas cambelts/chains can.

Discodog

Zardoz wrote: »

Does anyone here sharpen their own lawnmower blades ?
I think the blades on my mower are getting dull .

I had the machine overhauled last summer but I dont think they sharpened the blades.
Is it possible to sharpen them without taking off the blade as the last time i tried that ,oil started leaking out of the machine.
Its an old machine,an Asuka with a Mitsubishi engine ~20 years old,its built like a tank so I think it could be hard work getting the blade off.

A Powerfile will sharpen blades easily without removing them.

When you lay a mower on it's side you have to do it with the carburettor higher than the exhaust. Don't turn it upside down.

yipperduigs

18MonthsaSlave wrote: »

Looks like a castell garden to me and not cheap enough to justify travelling that far. don't expect them to honour their promise to visit if something goes wrong.

Yep, it's manufactured by GGP as well - I thought it looked like a good deal when you compare the stats to other 40'' lawn mowers. What 40'' ride on would you recommend at a similar price point?

Husqvarna seems very expensive, and the Castelgarden's 40'' are also more expensive than the Stiga.. new to all this so the mind is boggling a bit... !

Zardoz

Thanks for the replies guys ,some excellent advice there especially the link provided by Happyman42.
I'll have a go at trying to sharpen the blades later this evening

celticmicky

18MonthsaSlave wrote: »

Looks like a castell garden to me and not cheap enough to justify travelling that far. don't expect them to honour their promise to visit if something goes wrong.

What makes you say "don't expect them to honour their promise to visit if something goes wrong"? Thankfully the vast majority of our customers have no need to rely on our warranty back up as we check, test and recheck our machines before they leave. However the few that have needed it have not been disappointed - In fact there are a few posters on this very board that could testify to that fact.

18MonthsaSlave

1) Ride-ons are hugely troublesome machines, much more troublesome than premium walk-behinds.
2) Castell-garden rearbaggers are no more reliable than any of the rest of them.
3) A dealer selling over 200km remote from the Customer simply isn't able to provide support on an ongoing basis.
4) You can't check, test and recheck a ride-on short of putting it in to a grown meadow and seeing what breaks or slips; PDIs wouldn't catch problems which only appear under load.

celticmicky

18MonthsaSlave wrote: »

1) Ride-ons are hugely troublesome machines, much more troublesome than premium walk-behinds.
2) Castell-garden rearbaggers are no more reliable than any of the rest of them.
3) A dealer selling over 200km remote from the Customer simply isn't able to provide support on an ongoing basis.
4) You can't check, test and recheck a ride-on short of putting it in to a grown meadow and seeing what breaks or slips; PDIs wouldn't catch problems which only appear under load.

So your initial post was baseless hearsay passed off as fact.

With our 35 years experience selling lawnmowers in all shapes and sizes we are very aware of what is reliable and what isn't. We stick to selling only reliable machines, that are less likely to give hassle.

In our experience you can do a thorough pdi on a machine, checking and testing it before delivering to the customer without there being a problem, a quick demo for them when you arrive always helps - but maybe we have just been lucky for the last decade of selling online...

The frequency of our deliveries all over the island, coupled with the great motorway network (thank you Celtic tiger) affords us the ability to stop with a customer in trouble within a few days of a problem arising. For most this is an acceptable level of service and it is always gratefully received.

18MonthsaSlave

What is your call out charge if it turns out to be damage due to end-user abuse?

18MonthsaSlave

celticmicky wrote: »

With our 35 years experience selling lawnmowers

only 35 years?
hearsay? I'm well familiar with this product irrespective of what colour it is or which sticker is affixed to it this particular season.

celticmicky

18MonthsaSlave wrote: »

What is your call out charge if it turns out to be damage due to end-user abuse?

We don't have call out charges. As stated we time repairs in with deliveries to the general area so all depends on the parts needed to fix the problem.

We have, in the past, fixed problems free of charge or at cost.

We find if you give instruction on the dos and donts when delivering the mower user abuse isn't really a problem.

celticmicky

18MonthsaSlave wrote: »

only 35 years?
hearsay? I'm well familiar with this product irrespective of what colour it is or which sticker is affixed to it this particular season.

You may be familiar of the product but you clearly aren't familiar with our company policy

18MonthsaSlave

Keep digging.

This discussion is beneficial for potential customers. I can recommend buying at a distance for premium walk-behinds if there is a significant discount but not for lawntractors; they're just too troublesome.

18MonthsaSlave

celticmicky wrote: »

You may be familiar of the product but you clearly aren't familiar with our company policy

What is your company policy when spindles collapse a few years down the line or a transmission needs a rebuild or a valve seat lifts or pcb blows on the dash or steering rack is shot.
Do you leave it to the local small-engine repair man who has no experience of the product or illustrated parts list or official service manual because it was never worth their while to get to know the product because they never sold it?
I've seen all these problems on various generations of this product that you are happy to distance sell.

Zaph

celticmicky, as you are posting on behalf of a company I have to ask you to refrain from posting any further until you have obtained a verified rep account from the guys in the office. They can be contacted at reps@boards.ie and I have made them aware that they should be hearing from you.

Please note that further posts without having first obtained a verified rep account will result in a siteban.

18MonthsaSlave

yipperduigs wrote: »

Husqvarna seems very expensive, and the Castelgarden's 40'' are also more expensive than the Stiga.. new to all this so the mind is boggling a bit... !

There are few Husqvarna products which I can recommend, riders and lawn tractors are not amongst them.
The cheaper american sourced stuff is cheaper for a reason, the more expensive american stuff like John Deere is expensive for a reason too.
At the point in the market where you are looking for a rear-discharge your options are limited and you'll probably end up with a castell-garden of some sort or another due to lack of choice on the market.

Anyway I have been looking into other dedicated mulching mowers.

https://www.deere.com/en_INT/products/equipment/walk_behind_mowers/mulching_mowers/js_63_v/js_63_v.page?#viewTabs
The John Deere here looks good. I seen an impressive video on youtube.

Then there is the stiga (at the bottom of the linked page) and the Husqvarna I mentioned earlier both with the same engine

http://www.irishmowers.com/stiga-lawnmowers.html

http://www.husqvarna.com/ie/products/lawn-mowers/lb-553s-e/

What one would ye pick? My grass never gets as heavy as shown in the video and surely these mowers would manage the odd time I let it go past 10 days in the summer. The finish wouldn't bother me so much

ArmchairQB

Hi all, I am thinking of moving from Honda 15hp v-twin hydrostatic which collects the grass to a husqvarna R213c rider that mulches or rear discharges. I liked the Honda but if grass is even slightly damp it sticks and won't collect. Flicking through this forum there seems to be mixed views on Husqvarna. Any advice welcome

18MonthsaSlave

If it sticks when collecting you won't like the look of your lawn with lumps of mulch left behind of course a dealer won't tell you this when he has the chance to extract a few hundred euro of profit out of you.
Husqvarna product isn't that great.
If you are set on mulching enquire as to whether there is a chute plug and mulching blades available for your current machine.