The Great Big Lawnmower Thread

I'm hoping to get a 5112 when they come back in stock - I think the extra few bob

gets you a lot more. Thanks for all replies.

will ya look at this begob, never seen the like of it before

anyone ever own one?

Just an observation. I’ve had various Viking ride on and no issue with any. Was at my local dealer this morning and noticed the display model stihl ride on had a loncin engine…..I currently have a 5112z which is a great mower. My only observations are the drive belt is ridiculously hard to change (although one has not failed on me). Parts are expensive but to be honest all I have bought in last 5 years was one pulley. If anyone is buying one my advice is always get the bigger grass box !!

While we're at adverts, any of you have/used this?

Seller claims it's secure, but looking for second opinion.

Thank you very much.

I'm not much concerned about it being tiresome - I'm pretty sure it should be easy to convert it to be powered by impact wrench or the likes. :-)

Well the 6 reviewers in this OZ site all gave it only 1 star.

Aside from that, it has 7 years under its belt, but 300 hrs. Which is 43 hrs per year. That's quite heavy use maybe doing 1.5 plus hours per week over the season, so it mowed a large plot.

At the price being asked, they're basing its value at about €6000 new, which is a high end price for this cut width class. This is assuming the use is average but I would consider 300 hrs a bit more than average, more like ten years use than 7. If they're calculating about 58% depreciation, it fits the rule of thumb of first year .8 and 6 years at .9, compounded. I'd be more inclined to use 70%, .8 and 8 at .9 valuing it at about €1800, and that's generous, as I wouldn't have paid €6000 in 2015 new for a mower with a 107cm cut. And speaking of engine, while I have no opinion of Kawasaki v other engines, I noticed the seller declined to inform a poster that it had a kawasaki, stating it was a Husqvarna engine. Perhaps he didn’t know, or had issues with it over the years. He's buying a diesel (ie, commercial) engined mower to replace it, so that's a pointer to the work it done, or maybe his frustration with the petrol engine. Those are my opinions, a mix of research, maths and word signals.

How fast would you expect a self-propelled mower to be? I picked up one of these mowers from agrieuro. It has a 200cc engine. It's been going great! But I feel a bit impatient with the speed it moves at. I don't think there's much wrong with it, the cable tensions appear to be good.

I suppose I would have expected to be turning the forward speed down, rather than leaving it on max all the time and wishing it to get a move on. I've seen videos of people almost being pulled along by self-propelled mowers.

I get that going too fast might make the cut suffer. Maybe I need to just learn to be patient?

Yes, I've tried this. The clutch lever is as much under tension as it can go while allowing the mower to start.

And the speed control appears to work in a way that less tension sets a higher speed. So I've backed that off as much as possible. I'm going to go out now and have another look at it to make sure I've understood it correctly.

OK, deep in the spec for this mower is this;

Transmission data

Gear shifting system

Mechanical transmission

Gear shifting mechanics

steel gear

Number of forward speeds

4

Throttle lever

Yes

Traction

rear wheels

Actioning

Lever on the handlebar

So it's a 4 speed mechanical box, impressive in a mower this price with a Honda engine. So no variable speed, just a straight shift from 1 to 4. All that's left for you to check is if all four speeds are available when you move the lever. If there are only three, the cable may be too tight and its not slackening off enough to drop the box into 4th. If you have 4 speeds, and 4th is too slow, not a lot you can do I'm afraid. * this is assuming that they're not implying that the 4 notches of a variator belt transmission are 'gears', and not just steps in range of ratios. You'll know if its a gearbox, as there will be a distinct shift in speed on change from one to the other.

Variable sheave transmission, not seen one of those in donkeys years. Had a John Deere that had that arrangement.

Belt wear can be an issue but the pulleys can also wear.

First time poster, and i know feck all about lawnmowers. I've read back the thread to see if i can find an answer to these two questions, so apologies if i've missed it.

We have a half acre site, most of which is lawn, but it's bitty, with three different sections and some trees and so on. It's all pretty flat. We've been using a walk-behind lawnmower, and are looking to treat ourselves to a ride-on one.

Is there a ride-on mower you'd recommend, @deezell that would be reasonably nimble and not leave too much to clean up afterwards?

And is there one that seems right for that size of a lawn?

thank you!

The repair guy I used for parts sometimes has a similar setup with a chain hoist not totally sure how he uses it. Think its too far inside his shed for him to able to get to with his workshop being jammed full of stuff.

Another way of lifting is to lift the front wheels

So if you are lifting both wheels from underneath then and chock the rear wheels I don't see too much problem.

Your obvious problem is the mower slipping backwards and getting the lift from the right spot without bending the engine cover.

If you have the hoist you might also have an engine hoist spreader bar. That above the the engine cover with a couple of chains down to the front axle might do the job. Just depends on the mower. You'll just have to make a judgement call depending on how strong the axel looks and if you can get a suitable grip on it.

tbh I don't really like the idea of the hoist. There is nothing really that you can attach the hoist to without damaging plastic parts. The mud guards will be in the way of putting a strap around the wheel.

By the time you have bought a spreader bar and chains you wouldn't be far off buying a dedicated jacking tool that is safe and quick. This one is down to €65 https://www.amazon.co.uk/ACHATPRATIQUE-lifter-Telescopic-saving-compare/dp/B07BHFNTRG/

With the talk of lifts I thought I'd throw this up.

The mower is rock solid and isn't going anywhere. I've tried to tip it but is won't go over (think thats prevented by the upstand that is holding the left hand rear wheel on the stand) and pushing forwards and backwards does nothing to move it. To get it up takes 45-50 pumps of the built in hydraulic jack which is hidden by the tyre. You get it all the way up then put the safety support in (I don't always bother). There is another safety feature which you can't see a bar that drops in place when its nearly fully up and prevents it dropping down this is also hidden by the pump. This bar needs to be lifted when you release the hydraulics. There is also a strap provided that is supposed to go around the higher of the two tyres on the lift.

You obviously have less access to underneath the left hand side of the deck. Normally I can get to everything but if I need better access to that side I just drop it down and turn the mower around. On that mower there seems to be no major issue lifting either side.

You can also see the blower fan referred to earlier. The housing for it is plastic so may be retrofittable.

Tip for anyone removing the blades to sharpen or to replace them check the manual if the main blade bolts are left or right hand threaded (sorry probably teaching granny to suck eggs). Its not the same on every machine but on most two bladed center discharge mowers the right hand blade has a left hand thread the left hand is a normal thread. I remember it this way you untighten away from the cutting edge (the blades are also handed) and tighten into the cutting edge or that the thread is the opposite of the side the blade is on.

Because everything is handed on the on the blade parts (blade, bolt and the fan) I take them off and replace them one at a time. It just saves having to think which one goes on which way.

Edit> RE chain hoist to RSJ. Took a good look at my mower above and with a spreader bar and a couple of chains you could definitely lift the mower up on the front axle. If you set the spreader bar about a foot wider than the axle you wouldn't crush any of the plastic. Still not an idea I'm that taken with.

Hi everybody,

Just after building a house and up until now I have had only small semi-d back gardens less than 100m2 of lawns to be cut and tbh any auld electric lawnmower did the trick.... Problem now is I have an acre to cut!😪

Anyway I dont want this whole acre to be cut and I am planning to plant trees in a lot of it and leave the grass grow long in large areas as well. But I want it to look neat so that means cutting the boarders and paths through it so it look like it was planned (for the bees!)

So I don't need a ride on as I reckon I will only be really cutting about a 1/4 of it if not a lot less. I am shopping around and came across this for €560 Husqvarna LC 151S Lawn Mower | Husqvarna CA

Is it any good and would be a worthy investment? it doesn't have the B&S engine but Husqvarna would be a good brand I would have thought. Or is there a go to mower I should get.

Thanks for the help