Old mower low hours - Trouble spots?

[Dennis McCullen]

I have an orange mower made by John Deer some 14 years ago. It has been a great machine. I do not have a lot of hours on it for the age, about 420, but I'm having to use it more due to a bad knee. About 1/4 of the total hours came last summer. I still have my "beast" a big 34" walk behind but simply cannot get it done with that any longer. Question: I came across an identical mower that is said to have only 43 hours on it. I'd buy it quickly except for fear of long periods of no use. This mower has not been made since 2001, so I know it is at least the same age as the one I own and perhaps a year or two older. Before that, the orange mowers were made by Murray and not John Deere. I'm not a very good mechanic; I just know how to change a few parts when needed and I'm good at preventive maintenance. ANY Help is appreciated on what to look for beyond the obvious. Start it, listen, cut grass, inspect the deck.
Thanks in advance

[Lee Schierer]

If it has only 43 hours on it the plug should just about look like new and the blade should be in good shape. If they didn't drain the gas or put in stabilizer, there is a good chance the carburetor is gunked up or rusted. Put some fresh gas in it and see if it will start and run.

[Pat Barry]

I have no idea how you keep track of number of hours of use over the course of 14 years, but, lets assume its true. Biggest issues I'd be concerned about are corrosion inside the motor, ie cylinder walls, valves, valve seats, etc and then the fuel delivery system where there may be some plastic gas lines (probably easy to change) and maybe something inside the carbuerator that has degraded. So, if you can start it when its cold I think you can make an assessment of some things because you can observe how easy it actually starts up and whether it belches a lot of smoke when it first starts up. Hot starting is usually easy - I would insist on a completely cold start-up.

[Mike Lassiter]

If we are talking about riding mowers - some have hour meters on them. I have a Scott garden tractor that was made by John Deere That I bought from Home Depot in the late 90's that did a great job. I also had a Scott riding mower that was made by Murray - both orange and gray. The garden tractor came with an hour meter, the lawn mower did not.

I still have the garden tractor, but haven't used it in several years. I got a Kubota ZD331 with a 60" deck to mow with due to time constraints. It mows about twice as fast as the garden tractor. 27 hp gas engine versus 31 hp diesel.

[Steve Peterson]

I was in the exact same situation. I received an old John Deere riding mower with about 70 hours on the meter that had been parked for about 5 years. The gas tank had completely evaporated, so it needed a carburetor cleaning. I had the repair shop do it and I don't know if they replaced it or just cleaned it. It cost around $250 as I recall. It came back with 140 hours on it, so they must have had it sitting at idle for quite a while.

The other things were obvious based on the age. The tires were flat and it needed a new battery. Of course, it also got an oil change and new filters before doing anything.

After I got it back from the repair shop, it ran fairly good, but not like a new one. It smoked a bit at startup. Possibly the pistons had rusted and the rings were bad. It still ran so I didn't worry too much about it. Also, it never really re-charged the battery as it ran so the alternator may have been bad. I am not sure if this was due to the age or just bad luck.

Steve

[Dennis McCullen]

Thanx for the input. Pat and Steve , my concerns are like those you mention-inside the engine and I suppose the "cold start" would be the best way to have a good guess at whether it's worth a risk. Oh and Pat, no stopwatch - just read the hour meter on the 17.5 Kohler engine.

[Lee Reep]

My Honda self-propelled mower that I bought in 1986 blew its guts out last Fall. You'd think they would build them to last ... :p

Seriously, though, it always started on the first pull for the first 20 years or so, and for the past few years it sometimes would not start until the second pull. I think that might almost be unheard of. The day the engine blew, it sounded fine as I mowed the front and most of the back yard, and then it started surging, and then a sickening gran and a gush of oil. I really don't know what to suggest to anybody concerning telltale signs, other than when your mower is nearing 25+ years of age, maybe have a shop do a really thorough servicing (or do it yourself)! I did have the mower serviced two years ago, and they were amazed at the condition for such an old mower.

If I don't decide to find a kid to mow the lawn this year (getting tougher and tougher around here) I'm tempted to buy another Honda. I'm 62, so if a new one lasts 25 years or so, that should be the last mower I'll have to buy, God willing ...

[Steve Peterson]

Thanx for the input. Pat and Steve , my concerns are like those you mention-inside the engine and I suppose the "cold start" would be the best way to have a good guess at whether it's worth a risk. Oh and Pat, no stopwatch - just read the hour meter on the 17.5 Kohler engine.

One thing you can do is pull the spark plug and squirt a bit of oil into the pistons. Crank it a few times (without starting the engine) to distribute the oil. This helps lubricate the rings before the oil pump kicks in. It will smoke a bit when it does start, but there is no catalytic converter to get fouled up.

Steve

[Brian Elfert]

I was in the exact same situation. I received an old John Deere riding mower with about 70 hours on the meter that had been parked for about 5 years. The gas tank had completely evaporated, so it needed a carburetor cleaning. I had the repair shop do it and I don't know if they replaced it or just cleaned it. It cost around $250 as I recall. It came back with 140 hours on it, so they must have had it sitting at idle for quite a while.


The shop almost certainly left the key in the on position for several days. Most riding mowers and garden tractors the hour meter tracks when the key is in the on position and don't actually track when the engine is running. I am pretty careful to always turn the key off on my mower with hour meter to accurately track hours for oil changes and such.

[Pat Barry]

Doh! I didn't think rider mower, sorry for that. Because its a rider then I might want to repack the wheel bearings or at least freshen up the grease in there

[Curt Harms]

..............................
Question: I came across an identical mower that is said to have only 43 hours on it. I'd buy it quickly except for fear of long periods of no use. This mower has not been made since 2001, so I know it is at least the same age as the one I own and perhaps a year or two older.
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My first thought was is the hour meter original or a replacement?

[Carl Carew]

I have a twelve year old John Deere that shows 120 hours but I am positive it just works intermittently, mowing takes me about an hour and I cut about 32 times a year so its way off, but not totally broken it does slowly advance. With that level of use in twelve years I have only had to replace blades once, and one bearing in a blade drive pulley plus oil changes and a couple of batteries.

[Rich Riddle]

If it has only 43 hours on it the plug should just about look like new and the blade should be in good shape. If they didn't drain the gas or put in stabilizer, there is a good chance the carburetor is gunked up or rusted. Put some fresh gas in it and see if it will start and run.

I someone agree with this statement. The blade and plug should look newish if not abused. However, I detest that stabilizer and simply run the motors out of fuel at the end of the season. That stabilizer tends to encourage/cause smoking.