new (to me) set of wheels...lol

[justice]

Been needing a new mower and short on $$, so I did a little bartering and ended up with this little Craftsman 6.0 hp mower. Not in mint condition, but with a new E3 plug, air filter, oil change, and fresh gas with a little seafoam, it starts on the first pull and runs pretty good. A couple of nice things about it are, it's very easy to start (which will be a plus when the wife wants to mow the yard. and parts are readily available and fairly inexpensive.

[okie1]

You done good, new ain't always better

[astroturf]

I like the staggered wheel fitment...

Congrats, Jim

[astrozam]

Is it mowin time already?

[justice]

Is it mowin time already?

we had a big drought all summer and i never had to mow (if i had watered my grass, i could have mowed but i didn't want to waste water lol). plus my 19year old mower broke down again.

now we are having more rain and my yard is growing like crazy, but i have been broke and did not want to put a mower on credit, so I started looking to barter for one and several offers, but most fell through. i finally made a deal with a guy this week for his. It's a little older than i wanted but it runs good and starts easy. Plus since what i traded for it did not cost me anything. So with getting a new plug, airfilter and oil, plus a can of gas, i have $22 invested in the mower.

[astroturf]

What did you trade?

[1Gary]

Justice-outdoor power equipment is how I make my living for many yrs.Factory trained.Do spark plugs foul or ware out?. Sure do.But it is more often a fuel issue.I suggest you run Stab-Bil all the time as the manufactures do.That will maintain the mower as a easy start.Also a common mistake while cleaning the mower is to tip it towards the air filter/carb.There isn't any valve seals in these small engines and the oil will fill the carb bowl preventing it from starting.E3 plugs??.Well more often than not it is a crutch for bad fuel as I said.The common plug for all L heads is a champion J19LM.(L heads are non OVH)You can prolong the life of the air filter with a pre-filter that you dot with oil and squeeze the oil into it.They are foam so you can clean them with soap and water and re-oil them.Having a second blade for it is a good idea to change it out mid season.It helps the life of these small engines with a sharp blade and these engines rely heavy on a balanced blade like a harmonic balancer on a car engine.So if your going to sharpen your own blades,the box stores have balancers for like under $10.00 bucks.They are a cone like thing that you put the blade's center hole on and take off material on each end to balance.Most mower shops will sharpen and balance blades for like $7.00 too.

I suggest you do the above and this mower will continue to be a easy start long term use mower.

[astrozam]

Is it mowin time already?

we had a big drought all summer and i never had to mow (if i had watered my grass, i could have mowed but i didn't want to waste water lol). plus my 19year old mower broke down again.

now we are having more rain and my yard is growing like crazy, but i have been broke and did not want to put a mower on credit, so I started looking to barter for one and several offers, but most fell through. i finally made a deal with a guy this week for his. It's a little older than i wanted but it runs good and starts easy. Plus since what i traded for it did not cost me anything. So with getting a new plug, airfilter and oil, plus a can of gas, i have $22 invested in the mower.

Glad to hear your finally getting some rain, I had heard from other folks I know in Texas that lack of rain was very severe this yr. Bartering is the way to go

[justice]

Justice-outdoor power equipment is how I make my living for many yrs.Factory trained.Do spark plugs foul or ware out?. Sure do.But it is more often a fuel issue.I suggest you run Stab-Bil all the time as the manufactures do.That will maintain the mower as a easy start.Also a common mistake while cleaning the mower is to tip it towards the air filter/carb.There isn't any valve seals in these small engines and the oil will fill the carb bowl preventing it from starting.E3 plugs??.Well more often than not it is a crutch for bad fuel as I said.The common plug for all L heads is a champion J19LM.(L heads are non OVH)You can prolong the life of the air filter with a pre-filter that you dot with oil and squeeze the oil into it.They are foam so you can clean them with soap and water and re-oil them.Having a second blade for it is a good idea to change it out mid season.It helps the life of these small engines with a sharp blade and these engines rely heavy on a balanced blade like a harmonic balancer on a car engine.So if your going to sharpen your own blades,the box stores have balancers for like under $10.00 bucks.They are a cone like thing that you put the blade's center hole on and take off material on each end to balance.Most mower shops will sharpen and balance blades for like $7.00 too.

I suggest you do the above and this mower will continue to be a easy start long term use mower.

Gary, thanks for the advice. The mower ran fine when i picked it up, but I have no way of knowing if the previous owner did proper upkeep so i just started a schedule for myself.

The air filter is a paper one, and it needed to be replaced. The spark plug that was in the mower was in fact the Champion J19LM, but..i don't really like Champion spakrplugs and prefer E3's (personal preference) so i put in an E3. I have been thinking of buying another blade (they are only $18) but I need to see who around here will sharpen my old one.

I was dissapointed that I could not find any full synthetic SAE30 oil to use (i know, overkill for a mower) so i found some Pennziol SAE30 (which reminds me, i need to get some more SAE30 and change the oil in my generator.

[1Gary]

Yeah-the pre-filter goes over the paper one like a sock.