Quote:
Originally Posted by Erik
A friend gave me a 5.5 hp Honda push mower last year. He had hit something big with it and had bent the blade and crankshaft. I took off the blade and am using it for another project. It runs great (just a little vibration b/c of the bent crank) and a new Honda OEM crank is just $30 should I ever get tired of the vibration. The choke is a really simple lever- it operates a butterfly valve in the carb. The muffler is also well designed so that the engine is nice and quiet. I never owned a Honda mower before (only B & S)- but i am impressed with this engine.
Edit- I will agree that the Honda small engines are more complex/have more features such as:
Overhead cam/valves- but this probably gives better fuel economy
Mechanical governor
Fuel shut off valve
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its a pushmower, doesnt need OHC...
most (if not all, unsure of the early ones) of the B&S have mechanical governor (easy to disable tho haha)
most new mowers have fuel shutoff.
if you wear ear protection like you should muffler noise isnt an issue.
alot of the newer B&S engines have auto choke/throttle that works great
if its got a throttle lever usually there is a start position (aka choke)
one of the bad designs honda used is in the self propelled system, yea it worked great but the control lever on the gearbox itself is cable operated(not a problem) but that lever is plastic and pretty much pushes on a small metal plate that pushes a gear into the gearbox to engage self propelled. that stupid plastic lever wears out causing the gear to not fully engage or it engages, hit a bump disengages. usually adjusting the cable can "fix" this till it wears all out then oh joy! get to replace the whole gearbox...
also the all plastic mowing decks alot of honda mowers have aren't any lighter than the metal counterparts, hondas just saving money trying to tell us its lighter...(gotta have extra thick/alot more plastic to stand up to the mowing forces)
kinda sounds/acts like when a starter solenoid on a car goes out, will have a second of normal cranking then the gear retracts but starter motor still spins.
like i said go get the $80 walmart special already!
IF the B&S ever gives u hard starting usually juts a shot of carb cleaner down/in the intake (just remove the air filter, either one flathead screw or a tab) and then pull it it will fire over.
the only thing ive ever seen really "wear out" is the lever you have to hold down to start the mower, well thats essentially releasing a parking brake on the flywheel. sometimes that shoe can be worn out, but that depends on how often you stop the mower (just like brakes on a car)
i gotta admit Ive never replaced one, way easier to disable it
just take that black wire off, remove the bracket/cable/lever/shoe and it wil start. to stop just short the wire to the block or deck (not your fingers its shorting out the spark is what your doing - be smart lol)
so to counteract all the negativity up there i will give a list of things to look for in a good mower:
1 high back wheels, makes turing easier
2 IF you can find one for a reasonable price ball bearing wheels, makes pushing REALLY easy and the plastic wheels wont wear out
3 comfortable handle position, kinda personal preference as some like the straight bar others like the u shaped thing.
4 brand doesn't really matter (non honda that is) as thier all made by pretty much the same companies with other stickers/colors (just like chevy and GMC is pretty much the same damn thing)
5 fuel shutoff is nice but not completely necessary, if the gastank is lower than the carb it aint needed at all but if its above then id look for one.
6 what HP to get - depends on how thick the grass is, if its alot of weeds or typical grass then 3 hp is plenty, if you have really thick grass then 4-6 (prolly use another mower to figure out how thick is too thick) also depends on how often u mow
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