Thank you for making this video! I have a Husqvarna that has their Autowalk that is the same design and I've been having a similar issue. I'll be able to adjust it this weekend!
Don't have no use for one of these , my old trim mower is just a motor and blade . But thanks for the video Bruce , your a big help to so many . Maybe even me on my next repair for someone else !
Last weekend I replaced the cable on this exact mower for a friend, it had broke off because it was seizing up due to corrosion inside the shroud of the cable so I put a new cable through the existing shroud and lubed it well and it works great now.
I did work on a cub cadet mower, with all wheel drive, same kind of handle, but with this you pull one side it would engage the front wheels, and the other side engaged the rear wheels and both 4 wheel drive, really rather cool.
Nice fix Bruce - the hoard pays off again. - Don't feel too bad about having to go to the store - you have Canadian Tire - about the best store I have ever visited. Cost me 150 USD in over-weight luggage last time I flew back from Toronto - all because I had paid a visit to CT
Good Job I would still order the bushing to replace the one you took out of the other handle and charge the customer for the part. I think that's only fair. Good Job as always. Have a great day. God Bless!!!
Fixed a similar model yesterday. Cable for drive control not available. Bought a cable at a bike shop. (The inner cable only, not the sheath ) works ok now. They used cheap cables on these mowers but it starts first pull and runs perfect.
That seemed to be a nice smooth runner even without the inertia/mass of the blade turning. A pity about all that plastic , designed to last four or five years, even though the engine, with proper maintainence, would far outlast the mower. Thanks for another great vid Bruce.
wait till they start coming with eyesight and adaptive cruise control, lol. my favorite self propel lever was that small metal one that was up in the top corner of the handle that you push down on to make it go. i had one on a 1977 jacobson but i think they had em on old snappers too.
That was a tricky devil...as you said, it was a good job you had a spare, not only for the comparison but also for the plastic bush. I hate it when a customer doesn't tell you they've been in there already and lost stuff
Hey Bruce , love the videos. Im enjoying working on lawn mowers. I dont see a video where you clean and remove carbon . Some videos use sand paper some use a brass steel brush . Would like to see how you clean them .
Sometimes I felt like in a roller coaster with your camera 😂🤓 To assemble something and find out that I missed a part could have been me. The results count 😂😎👍👍
Sorry, roller coaster wasn’t meant as a critic but just a joke. I am planning to do some videos in the future concerning my experiences with „smart home installation“. I am very interested in electrical work. Your videos are great!! My problem sometimes is that I forget where all the screws, bolts and washers belong. Especially when I don’t finish my work soon and start again a few days later. So: sorry again for that misunderstanding and go on, I will follow you!! 😘😘👍👍
i have one handle style with craftsman. manual states as i squeeze speed will increase. mine just does one speed when i press in all the way. takes 2 seconds to move. Do i need to tighten bolt inside as you did?
Another Great video Mon Ami ~!~! yes I agree that the lever housing should be made out of alum or mag since it's a high end / high dollar mower That was a good 75 dollar repair and tune up....... Cheapo always isn't good.... Ashurii buys the good stuff with the bigger Pro series Briggs engines.... Plus tard Mon Ami ~!~!
I was thinking about you yesterday. I was cutting up some 3/4 inch plywood with my Makita 13 amp saw for some pieces to park my John Deere on and get it off the moist gravel. Thanks
I agree with you all, the ez- walk system is problematic at best, good thing you saved another one to compare too! I took one apart also and was sorry I got in to it.. same thing sticky rusty cable issue. so much "plastic" to go wrong.
Nice job, but I wouldn’t even have tried to repair it were it not mine. If I had the spare part donor,the customer couldn’t afford the repair, as I would charge almost the cost of a whole new unit. That being said, unless the bushing was available, then still costly. A super video, I’ve never seem one of these. Greetings from s Fla where it’s 78 and raining.
You can uses google. I just typed in "Right Hand controller for EZ Walk craftsman mower and got this" Make sure it is the right one. ther are other sources parts direct etc. www.searspartsdirect.com/product/5ojc7uzupx-0071-917/id-190038
Hello Bruce, I see this model quite a bit at my area SEARS "scratch & dent" clearance center for around $80.00. I haven't bought one yet but I'm thinking about it. I have picked up a lot of good stuff at this place. Not sure if you have anything like that up your way. Also, I have recently read in a few publications to NOT to use carb cleaner on the small engines because it eats the gaskets,rubber parts...have you heard of this ? What spray do you use / prefer ? Have a great day sir.......Kenny-Florida
Lost the damn roller same as you. I scoured the garage... no luck. I could swear the thing was never in tjere in the first place. I dont have a spare. What do I do?
Good job Yes plastic there is too much, it’s designed for failure to make you buy a new part or mower. Also the reason why I will never have one of those mowers. I prefer the single bar from the bottom to control the self propelled. For this reason
The GCV160 is (was) rated at 5.5HP, close to what you said. When engine makers went to torque ratings, the GCV160 was rated at a "torque" of 6.9. That puts it in the same neighborhood as the venerable Briggs flatheads (6.75, 7.0, 7.25, etc.) and also today's more prevalent Briggs OHV's on residential mowers in the roughly $300-500 US range. Here is a link on this: www.smallenginewarehouse.com/Changes%20in%20Small%20Engine%20Horsepower%20Ratings.pdf
I hear ya Bruce way too much plastic I have delt with something like that on a Honda but I didn't have another one took at .... so I know how ya feel . Great video but I do have one of these ez walks so know I know what to do thanks
Complexity or cable count do not necessarily influence longevity. Compare that Mickey-Mouse plastic mess with Honda's blade-clutch model, the HRX217HYA. The Honda's controls look and feel darned near commercial grade, and will probably last decades. That Craftsman is probably a $400 mower; for a few hundred more, you can have a serious, well-made Honda. That owner is lucky to have you around!
Apocalypse Now is a great movie. Interesting mower with a lot of moving parts. What ever happened to the mowers, tillers and snow blowers/throwers that had manual choke , and a fast and slow throttle lever and the kill switch was a stick pushing down a metal tab on to the spark plug. Lol! Great video Bruce!
The problem with that kind of mower is that its not something that everyone is going to be able to fix, it's getting hard to find someone like yourself to repair small engines anymore. That's why you see so many at the curb.
The mowers today have way to much moving parts on them. I think they are trying to make something different and more convenient each year. I mean how many ways can you make a mower to cut grass. A walk behind is just that, a walk behind it.
Yes they are, I have a customer that gave me his old mower because it was to heavy to go up the hill in his front yard. He has a slight incline and it is hard for his wife to go up it. I know, I have no idea why he had his wife doing it. He bought a new one from Sears and got the insurance plan where they come to the house and fix it, the first time he needed them, they said they don't do that for walk behinds only riders. They send them to Baltimore, Maryland to be fixed. haha So he has me fix it anyway, otherwise they said it would be a few months to get it back.
Plastic parts -They all only make them to last through the one year warranty. Also, their profit is usually in selling parts for their plasdick equipment. Sears is even worse than other manufacturers. Not only is their stuff built as cheap and light as possible but they also charge 3X the price of other manufacturers for identical parts.
Those newer craftsman mowers are junk. One of the big flaws in its design is how far out the front wheels are from the frame, so the wheels put a lot more wear on the bushings and bearings so you always see the front wheels on those things cocked and a lot of times one wheel will be worn nearly out while the other still has full tread. They cant spare the money for the metal on the frames anymore to have the wheels set back where they belong like on every craftsman built prior to this new age of garbage. Remember when every lawnmower had a two piece handle bar so they could fold all the way down, making them so nice and easy to fit in any car trunk and made the storage space of your mower nice and compact. Gone, cant spare the money for the metal for two piece handle's, it would take to much money out of the exec's pocket's. Another pet peeve of mine on those mowers, the grass door rubs right against the model sticker and wears the numbers off, so you get one of these mowers and the model stickers worn out, it takes a great deal more time and effort to track the thing down, their really just junk all the way around and these are supposed to be the higher end unit's. You would thing they would smarten up and move the model tag, nope. These are also your Husqvarna mowers branded craftsman and they were once American yard products who at one time built the very best products, something went down, AYP sold out or something I forget exactly what, but the company is not the same as it once was. Oh and if you want a mower that has handles that fold down now, Toro offers it, they call it smart stow and you have to pay out least 50 more to have handle's that fold down. It makes me sick and than I still see some of the Silver mowers Craftsman sold in the early 90's and most of them are still solid in great shape, these 5 years and major problems are happening, it only takes a season for those front wheels to begin their slant. We should force the people forcing this crap on us to use their own junk and see how they like it as they fall apart on them. They new briggs engine's, plastic carburetors, the entire assembly. Its really actually pretty sad the period of lawn and garden equipment we are embarking on, getting too the point, they all wont be worth fixing, just chuck and buy another one.
The plastic is ridiculous, even the metals aren't that great anymore. They build stuff to fail in a few years to get people to come back for another and forget about parts, they cost more than the machine did in the first place, or at least cost enough to make it not worth the hassle to repair, so toss it in the trash and go buy another one...and they wonder why landfills are so full of stuff. I was given a Poulan Pro 21" 3 in 1 push mower about 8 years ago, it was almost new they used it one season, or rather part of a season and broke one of the front wheels off. A simple quick 5 minute fix for me and I've been using that lawnmower every year since then and still runs and cuts great...I have to adjust the wheels on it once in a while because of the design, but an occasional wheel adjustment every few months is far better than the garbage being built and sold today...unless you go with a commercial machine you just get a no-name machine with some brand name stickers on it to make you think you got a great machine. I had a Toro 21" FWD mower for a while and that thing was junk, once it ran for about a half hour and you shut it off good luck starting it again until it cooled down, and the FWD didn't have enough traction to move itself along and it didn't mulch worth crap either, my free Poulan Pro 21" mower does a far superior job at mulching than the $300 Toro did, glad that Toro POS is gone.
You got that right. The last descent Husqvarna product I have seen was built in 09. Poulan is/was a part of Husqvarna and I had a few sears mowers built in 09 that were still made based off the old solid format. Yours must be from right around than. I sold my neighbor a Poulan Pro 3 years ago that was built around 2000 and that mower is solid and the engine on his is the strongest sounding engine on a mower around here. Every time I hear it run, I say man that mower sounds good. It had a Briggs Quantum L head 190cc made in USA engine. I may have set the rpm slightly high on it, but its fine it can handle it and it sounds great and his lawn always looks great. Personally I still like Toro's but the fact you have to pay extra for handles that fold down now is ridiculous. The smart stow is a good idea, now you can store the mower facing up taking less space, but the fact all other mowers including theirs that doesn't offer the feature have handles that cant fold, which is ridiculous. Their is one exception, the front wheel drive model that has that crappy Kohler engine, those are junk. I've dealt with a few of them and they have major carb problems all the time among other thing's. The models built prior to 2009 that used the old style frame were better, but the ones they build now are still descent. I think I have sold 7 Toros this year alone already, only one was the newer style. All together I must have sold 75 Toro mowers in the last few years, their everywhere around here. However right now, between Lowes and the Troy-Bilts, Sears and their mowers and Home Depot, the Toro's are the best out of the big 3, unless you want to spend double on a honda at Home Depot, thats the only other option. So the fact Toro is the best one you can get at the residential level shows how bad things have got. Sears mowers made by Husqvarna AYP used to be great, not in the last 7 or so years..... I have one Toro I held onto for myself at the moment. Its an 09 model, its front wheel drive, but it has the 190cc Briggs Quantum, it was before they started using Kohler's, now you cant get a FWD with a Briggs anymore. I got it for free, their was a piece of the plastic for the throttle on the carb broke and I replaced it for nothing because I have worked on so many Toro's I have tons of parts. The other issue was the drive had no power to really carry you forward. It turned out the belt was just worn, luckily I had a spare one that was still good. As soon as I changed it, now the thing carries me forward no problem, with one arm on the mower. I have a 1994 Toro Super Pro Recycler with that cast Aluminum deck and the 3 speed trans, that one is really good, Iv'e had it a few years, only thing is the bagger and blade brake bail is cumbersome on it, on this 09 Toro its all very easy to use, thats why I hung onto it. I had it on Craigslist for about an hour for $200 and had 3 calls and could have sold it like that, but than decided to hang onto it and pulled it off, because its actually much better than the ones they build now, especially the Kohler models. However the ones they are selling now have the newer chinese Briggs OHV engine with that all plastic carb, so the Toros they are selling now as of this year are garbage because those new engines are terrible and they are only 163cc engines so less power. 2017 was the final year of production for the L head Quantum an engine that was used since 1984. Going forward the mowers selling now that have Briggs have junk motors on them. Briggs was forced to do away with the L head due do stronger emission standards from the prior administration, so the Quantum is out, its a sad year for Briggs.
Right I agree with all the statements. It can't be better for the environment to replace a unit every five years instead of 15 or 20 years. The new mowers are built in countries that don't have any pollution standards at all. Yes an L head doesn't burn as clean as an overhead valve BUT the amount of pollution is lower because they weren't produced in stinky foreign plants. WHEW GOOD RANT!!!. (I include Canada in the locally produced plants)
I'll stick with a regular push mower, none of that self propelled crap. I had a Toro FWD 21" walk behind and I hated it and FWD is useless unless your lawn is perfectly flat with no rough spots, a RWD would be far superior but I'll keep pushing mine and not have to deal with all the self propel junk failing. That Toro didn't mulch that great either for supposedly being one of the "best" mulching mowers on the market. My Poulan Pro 21" push mower does a far better mulching job for a fraction of what the Toro cost. Paying more doesn't mean a better product in this case. The only self propelled model I'd get would be a commercial walk behind like the Scag, Walker, etc. Maybe a commercial walk behind Toro that is RWD would be better, but I don't have that large of a lawn to really need a self propelled mower anyways. The guy I gave my Toro to has a larger yard and far less obstacles so he likes the self propelled feature and only side discharges so didn't care about the mulching aspect of the mower either.
I got one of these in a trade, the one I have now, is so heavy its insane, well the one wire that goes to the rear drive, the guy cut off, and checking online, it's a 3 cable set up, and they are all in one holder, you could buy 3 separate cables yes... But in order to make it appealing to a buyers eye, you would have to buy the 3 piece cable set up, but it's not happening, I'm going to part it out, the cable here in the states is anywhere from 120 to 178 dollars, that's insane, so bye bye heavy craftsman.
What? o_O What are you talking about? I've serviced this kind of mower before. The holders can be replaced by cable ties. If it has three cables, one is the blade/control cable, one is the throttle linkage, one is the self-propel tensioner. Just replace what's missing. Ebay has it all.
999thenewman I know, but it was a customer's and he wanted it back to original and he was buying the part, but I convinced him to buy new, as there was other problems with it aswell and would of cost him just about as much as new, so he bought new and I needed parts off of it, and could never sell it for the amount I needed to put into it to fix it so it became a donor and made me 3x the amount it would of made on its own.
Oh also I see that you changed your intro in the past few videos..... I'll bet good money that some haters in the past will be glad that you don't say Hey Tubes anymore..... Plus Tard ...........
I have had people bring me mowers, and they don't even know what a carb is.People who don know anything about mowers shouldn't buy these complicated machines.
What a total piece of shit design. What ever happened to just a throttle cable and the recoil handle at the starter days from ago? When I get a free "modern" push mower from the recycle center, all that crap gets removed including the flywheel "safety" brake. Thus all problems solved.
Enjoy watching your vidios Bruce you make me smile . great stuff fella
Thanks so much
Thank you for making this video! I have a Husqvarna that has their Autowalk that is the same design and I've been having a similar issue. I'll be able to adjust it this weekend!
Best of luck
Thanks so much for making this video. It really helped me a lot!
You made my day Rick
Smells like Victory! Nice you kept the other one for parts and reference. Glad you will have another happy customer Bruce!
Right. He comes by a couple of times a year with different things.
Pro trick : watch movies on flixzone. Me and my gf have been using it for watching a lot of movies recently.
@Henry Kieran Yea, have been using Flixzone} for months myself :)
@Henry Kieran yea, I've been watching on flixzone} for years myself =)
Don't have no use for one of these , my old trim mower is just a motor and blade . But thanks for the video Bruce , your a big help to so many . Maybe even me on my next repair for someone else !
Thanks Marshall
Awesome fix. I guess that is why you get all the work! Stay cool its pretty hot every where today seems like.
We are going to 26 C or about 80 today that is hot for us.
Last weekend I replaced the cable on this exact mower for a friend, it had broke off because it was seizing up due to corrosion inside the shroud of the cable so I put a new cable through the existing shroud and lubed it well and it works great now.
Perfect Thanks is how it is done. Good for you.
I did work on a cub cadet mower, with all wheel drive, same kind of handle, but with this you pull one side it would engage the front wheels, and the other side engaged the rear wheels and both 4 wheel drive, really rather cool.
Yikes!!!!
Nice fix Bruce - the hoard pays off again. - Don't feel too bad about having to go to the store - you have Canadian Tire - about the best store I have ever visited. Cost me 150 USD in over-weight luggage last time I flew back from Toronto - all because I had paid a visit to CT
We all use the store.
Good Job I would still order the bushing to replace the one you took out of the other handle and charge the customer for the part. I think that's only fair. Good Job as always. Have a great day. God Bless!!!
As it was used I charged him $10 for it. + more for the other work
Fixed a similar model yesterday. Cable for drive control not available. Bought a cable at a bike shop. (The inner cable only, not the sheath ) works ok now. They used cheap cables on these mowers but it starts first pull and runs perfect.
Right on Good for you.
You made it look easy. Great fix Bruce
Thanks Joe. No video tomorrow.
Thanks Bruce, you made my day!
Thanks for making mine with that great comment.
Thanks I replaced a cable but couldn't figure out how that plastic cam worked to reassemble Thankful for your video
You are very welcome
You got me out of a real jam today, thanks!
Glad to hear it! You made my day.
thank BP.so many to learn.
So nice of you
That seemed to be a nice smooth runner even without the inertia/mass of the blade turning. A pity about all that plastic , designed to last four or five years, even though the engine, with proper maintainence, would far outlast the mower. Thanks for another great vid Bruce.
You are so right. They do make better plastics that what are on this mower but people don't notice that because they don't break.
Good job Inspector Gadget.
good job bruce
wait till they start coming with eyesight and adaptive cruise control, lol. my favorite self propel lever was that small metal one that was up in the top corner of the handle that you push down on to make it go. i had one on a 1977 jacobson but i think they had em on old snappers too.
They got rid of them because they lasted too long. (Joke)
Great video Bruce good thing you had that extra part eh
You know I don't keep the big parts but I remember looking at that part on a teardown and thinking "I will need this"
Well worth keeping those cables for extra parts always worth keep parts.... those are like $200 brand new. Great fix Bruce 😃
Thanks James
i cant imagine you being grouchy,its a good thing you save that stuff because it helps with speedy repairs!
Thanks for the kind words.
That was a tricky devil...as you said, it was a good job you had a spare, not only for the comparison but also for the plastic bush. I hate it when a customer doesn't tell you they've been in there already and lost stuff
I never really did confirm that. He may have been
I'm a big fan of the self propelled mowers. Not a fan of the plastic parts. You did an excellent job !
Thanks a lot!!!
Hey Bruce , love the videos. Im enjoying working on lawn mowers. I dont see a video where you clean and remove carbon . Some videos use sand paper some use a brass steel brush . Would like to see how you clean them .
I don't have a lot on film. This little tiller was cleaned near the end at 12:47 The video below.
th-cam.com/video/coZfgnII-hc/w-d-xo.html
Sometimes I felt like in a roller coaster with your camera 😂🤓 To assemble something and find out that I missed a part could have been me. The results count 😂😎👍👍
It is hard. I do this all by myself. I went to your channel and saw you had a playlist but no videos made. You really should try it.
Sorry, roller coaster wasn’t meant as a critic but just a joke. I am planning to do some videos in the future concerning my experiences with „smart home installation“. I am very interested in electrical work. Your videos are great!! My problem sometimes is that I forget where all the screws, bolts and washers belong. Especially when I don’t finish my work soon and start again a few days later. So: sorry again for that misunderstanding and go on, I will follow you!! 😘😘👍👍
great job bruce
Thank you Brandon.
i have one handle style with craftsman. manual states as i squeeze speed will increase. mine just does one speed when i press in all the way. takes 2 seconds to move. Do i need to tighten bolt inside as you did?
I would try. Lubricate the cable as well.
Ez walk now and easy fix good job 👍👍
An easy walk in the park.
Another Great video Mon Ami ~!~! yes I agree that the lever housing should be made out of alum or mag since it's a high end / high dollar mower
That was a good 75 dollar repair and tune up.......
Cheapo always isn't good.... Ashurii buys the good stuff with the bigger Pro series Briggs engines....
Plus tard Mon Ami ~!~!
I was thinking about you yesterday. I was cutting up some 3/4 inch plywood with my Makita 13 amp saw for some pieces to park my John Deere on and get it off the moist gravel. Thanks
I agree with you all, the ez- walk system is problematic at best, good thing you saved another one to compare too! I took one apart also and was sorry I got in to it.. same thing sticky rusty cable issue. so much "plastic" to go wrong.
Yes. These machines have to be stored inside.
Nice job, but I wouldn’t even have tried to repair it were it not mine. If I had the spare part donor,the customer couldn’t afford the repair, as I would charge almost the cost of a whole new unit. That being said, unless the bushing was available, then still costly. A super video, I’ve never seem one of these. Greetings from s Fla where it’s 78 and raining.
We are going to 21C today. About 73F for a high.
Hey Bruce what is the proper gap on these mowers? Awesome fix. 👍👍👍👍👍.
There are a lot is gaps on these. The spark plug gap is .030
I can smell that ;-) I wouldnt want one of those far to complicated. You have to be a doctor and a detective mate. Great job ;-)
Thanks Davey
Awesome.... Some morning Bruce.
Right it was. I am glad I had parts.
I need a right handle for same mower where do i buy one
You can uses google. I just typed in "Right Hand controller for EZ Walk craftsman mower and got this" Make sure it is the right one. ther are other sources parts direct etc.
www.searspartsdirect.com/product/5ojc7uzupx-0071-917/id-190038
Hello Bruce, I see this model quite a bit at my area SEARS "scratch & dent" clearance center for around $80.00. I haven't bought one yet but I'm thinking about it. I have picked up a lot of good stuff at this place. Not sure if you have anything like that up your way. Also, I have recently read in a few publications to NOT to use carb cleaner on the small engines because it eats the gaskets,rubber parts...have you heard of this ? What spray do you use / prefer ?
Have a great day sir.......Kenny-Florida
When I use carb cleaner on carb parts i submerge them in gas right after as you are right.
Bruce Pender Thank you Bruce, I learn something new every video
Magnific 👌
Gracias.
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN SAVING PARTS
up to 8 years seriously. Longer for my own equipment.
Hi Bruce. Just a funny, shouldn't it be an Ezed walk? hahahaha. It's an EEZEE WALK :-) Summer arrives at 4:07 am June 21 "CST"! hee hee. Happy Summer.
Well last year we were lucky and summer fell on a weekend up here in Western Canada
Lost the damn roller same as you. I scoured the garage... no luck. I could swear the thing was never in tjere in the first place.
I dont have a spare. What do I do?
Can you make a bushing out of a tube or pipe of something.
No one is saying how to adjust the walk speed my cable is intact but is too slow and non-existent on a slope..is there a speed adjustment???
You can adjust that cable to pull tighter.
I have the same mower with the same complaint in the shop , but cable is also kinked.
Right. There are a lot of cables. 4 actually I missed counted.
Good job
Yes plastic there is too much, it’s designed for failure to make you buy a new part or mower. Also the reason why I will never have one of those mowers. I prefer the single bar from the bottom to control the self propelled. For this reason
You know.
The GCV160 is (was) rated at 5.5HP, close to what you said. When engine makers went to torque ratings, the GCV160 was rated at a "torque" of 6.9. That puts it in the same neighborhood as the venerable Briggs flatheads (6.75, 7.0, 7.25, etc.) and also today's more prevalent Briggs OHV's on residential mowers in the roughly $300-500 US range. Here is a link on this:
www.smallenginewarehouse.com/Changes%20in%20Small%20Engine%20Horsepower%20Ratings.pdf
That is why I say about 5 horsepower. Thanks. The new ratings are a sell job.
Trigger assemblies are always rough. Trimmer triggers are the worse. Can you do a video on triggers?
I will. I did do a Husqvarna trimmer but the video was mostly carb.
All those plastic moving parts, I usually spray it all with Zep Lubricil Silicon Lubricant ... Also good for sticking air solenoid valves.
Great point!
I hear ya Bruce way too much plastic I have delt with something like that on a Honda but I didn't have another one took at .... so I know how ya feel . Great video but I do have one of these ez walks so know I know what to do thanks
They are OK. But this one is used on a BIG acreage.
It is so good you have the patience to fix that kind of stuff ...I would have thrown my hands in the air and ran away screaming
It can get challenging.
Complexity or cable count do not necessarily influence longevity. Compare that Mickey-Mouse plastic mess with Honda's blade-clutch model, the HRX217HYA. The Honda's controls look and feel darned near commercial grade, and will probably last decades. That Craftsman is probably a $400 mower; for a few hundred more, you can have a serious, well-made Honda. That owner is lucky to have you around!
He knows that. Thanks
there's a lot to go wrong with a mower as complicated as that one is.
Right. Parts are a big deal.
Apocalypse Now is a great movie. Interesting mower with a lot of moving parts. What ever happened to the mowers, tillers and snow blowers/throwers that had manual choke , and a fast and slow throttle lever and the kill switch was a stick pushing down a metal tab on to the spark plug. Lol! Great video Bruce!
I agrre. There are astill a few around. Will this mower still be around in the year 2048????
Bruce Pender
2048 is a long ways away, just the engine and mower deck will probably be around by then. Lol
The problem with that kind of mower is that its not something that everyone is going to be able to fix, it's getting hard to find someone like yourself to repair small engines anymore. That's why you see so many at the curb.
Yes. I do pick them up if they are out there. Sometimes the curd ones are better because they are a bit older and it is a fuel problem.
The mowers today have way to much moving parts on them. I think they are trying to make something different and more convenient each year. I mean how many ways can you make a mower to cut grass. A walk behind is just that, a walk behind it.
The hard part of a self propel is getting it out of the shed. They are HEAVY!!!
Yes they are, I have a customer that gave me his old mower because it was to heavy to go up the hill in his front yard. He has a slight incline and it is hard for his wife to go up it. I know, I have no idea why he had his wife doing it.
He bought a new one from Sears and got the insurance plan where they come to the house and fix it, the first time he needed them, they said they don't do that for walk behinds only riders. They send them to Baltimore, Maryland to be fixed. haha So he has me fix it anyway, otherwise they said it would be a few months to get it back.
Plastic parts -They all only make them to last through the one year warranty. Also, their profit is usually in selling parts for their plasdick equipment. Sears is even worse than other manufacturers. Not only is their stuff built as cheap and light as possible but they also charge 3X the price of other manufacturers for identical parts.
Sears is no longer in Canada. I hear in the U S another bunch just closed.
ask owner to check where he tried to fix it for bushing or go to parts list and order and pass on cost
He didn't look for parts.
Those newer craftsman mowers are junk. One of the big flaws in its design is how far out the front wheels are from the frame, so the wheels put a lot more wear on the bushings and bearings so you always see the front wheels on those things cocked and a lot of times one wheel will be worn nearly out while the other still has full tread. They cant spare the money for the metal on the frames anymore to have the wheels set back where they belong like on every craftsman built prior to this new age of garbage. Remember when every lawnmower had a two piece handle bar so they could fold all the way down, making them so nice and easy to fit in any car trunk and made the storage space of your mower nice and compact. Gone, cant spare the money for the metal for two piece handle's, it would take to much money out of the exec's pocket's. Another pet peeve of mine on those mowers, the grass door rubs right against the model sticker and wears the numbers off, so you get one of these mowers and the model stickers worn out, it takes a great deal more time and effort to track the thing down, their really just junk all the way around and these are supposed to be the higher end unit's. You would thing they would smarten up and move the model tag, nope. These are also your Husqvarna mowers branded craftsman and they were once American yard products who at one time built the very best products, something went down, AYP sold out or something I forget exactly what, but the company is not the same as it once was. Oh and if you want a mower that has handles that fold down now, Toro offers it, they call it smart stow and you have to pay out least 50 more to have handle's that fold down. It makes me sick and than I still see some of the Silver mowers Craftsman sold in the early 90's and most of them are still solid in great shape, these 5 years and major problems are happening, it only takes a season for those front wheels to begin their slant. We should force the people forcing this crap on us to use their own junk and see how they like it as they fall apart on them. They new briggs engine's, plastic carburetors, the entire assembly. Its really actually pretty sad the period of lawn and garden equipment we are embarking on, getting too the point, they all wont be worth fixing, just chuck and buy another one.
The plastic is ridiculous, even the metals aren't that great anymore. They build stuff to fail in a few years to get people to come back for another and forget about parts, they cost more than the machine did in the first place, or at least cost enough to make it not worth the hassle to repair, so toss it in the trash and go buy another one...and they wonder why landfills are so full of stuff.
I was given a Poulan Pro 21" 3 in 1 push mower about 8 years ago, it was almost new they used it one season, or rather part of a season and broke one of the front wheels off. A simple quick 5 minute fix for me and I've been using that lawnmower every year since then and still runs and cuts great...I have to adjust the wheels on it once in a while because of the design, but an occasional wheel adjustment every few months is far better than the garbage being built and sold today...unless you go with a commercial machine you just get a no-name machine with some brand name stickers on it to make you think you got a great machine. I had a Toro 21" FWD mower for a while and that thing was junk, once it ran for about a half hour and you shut it off good luck starting it again until it cooled down, and the FWD didn't have enough traction to move itself along and it didn't mulch worth crap either, my free Poulan Pro 21" mower does a far superior job at mulching than the $300 Toro did, glad that Toro POS is gone.
You got that right.
The last descent Husqvarna product I have seen was built in 09. Poulan is/was a part of Husqvarna and I had a few sears mowers built in 09 that were still made based off the old solid format. Yours must be from right around than.
I sold my neighbor a Poulan Pro 3 years ago that was built around 2000 and that mower is solid and the engine on his is the strongest sounding engine on a mower around here. Every time I hear it run, I say man that mower sounds good. It had a Briggs Quantum L head 190cc made in USA engine. I may have set the rpm slightly high on it, but its fine it can handle it and it sounds great and his lawn always looks great.
Personally I still like Toro's but the fact you have to pay extra for handles that fold down now is ridiculous. The smart stow is a good idea, now you can store the mower facing up taking less space, but the fact all other mowers including theirs that doesn't offer the feature have handles that cant fold, which is ridiculous.
Their is one exception, the front wheel drive model that has that crappy Kohler engine, those are junk. I've dealt with a few of them and they have major carb problems all the time among other thing's.
The models built prior to 2009 that used the old style frame were better, but the ones they build now are still descent.
I think I have sold 7 Toros this year alone already, only one was the newer style. All together I must have sold 75 Toro mowers in the last few years, their everywhere around here. However right now, between Lowes and the Troy-Bilts, Sears and their mowers and Home Depot, the Toro's are the best out of the big 3, unless you want to spend double on a honda at Home Depot, thats the only other option. So the fact Toro is the best one you can get at the residential level shows how bad things have got. Sears mowers made by Husqvarna AYP used to be great, not in the last 7 or so years.....
I have one Toro I held onto for myself at the moment. Its an 09 model, its front wheel drive, but it has the 190cc Briggs Quantum, it was before they started using Kohler's, now you cant get a FWD with a Briggs anymore.
I got it for free, their was a piece of the plastic for the throttle on the carb broke and I replaced it for nothing because I have worked on so many Toro's I have tons of parts. The other issue was the drive had no power to really carry you forward. It turned out the belt was just worn, luckily I had a spare one that was still good. As soon as I changed it, now the thing carries me forward no problem, with one arm on the mower. I have a 1994 Toro Super Pro Recycler with that cast Aluminum deck and the 3 speed trans, that one is really good, Iv'e had it a few years, only thing is the bagger and blade brake bail is cumbersome on it, on this 09 Toro its all very easy to use, thats why I hung onto it. I had it on Craigslist for about an hour for $200 and had 3 calls and could have sold it like that, but than decided to hang onto it and pulled it off, because its actually much better than the ones they build now, especially the Kohler models.
However the ones they are selling now have the newer chinese Briggs OHV engine with that all plastic carb, so the Toros they are selling now as of this year are garbage because those new engines are terrible and they are only 163cc engines so less power. 2017 was the final year of production for the L head Quantum an engine that was used since 1984. Going forward the mowers selling now that have Briggs have junk motors on them. Briggs was forced to do away with the L head due do stronger emission standards from the prior administration, so the Quantum is out, its a sad year for Briggs.
Right I agree with all the statements. It can't be better for the environment to replace a unit every five years instead of 15 or 20 years. The new mowers are built in countries that don't have any pollution standards at all. Yes an L head doesn't burn as clean as an overhead valve BUT the amount of pollution is lower because they weren't produced in stinky foreign plants. WHEW GOOD RANT!!!. (I include Canada in the locally produced plants)
I'll stick with a regular push mower, none of that self propelled crap. I had a Toro FWD 21" walk behind and I hated it and FWD is useless unless your lawn is perfectly flat with no rough spots, a RWD would be far superior but I'll keep pushing mine and not have to deal with all the self propel junk failing. That Toro didn't mulch that great either for supposedly being one of the "best" mulching mowers on the market. My Poulan Pro 21" push mower does a far better mulching job for a fraction of what the Toro cost. Paying more doesn't mean a better product in this case. The only self propelled model I'd get would be a commercial walk behind like the Scag, Walker, etc. Maybe a commercial walk behind Toro that is RWD would be better, but I don't have that large of a lawn to really need a self propelled mower anyways. The guy I gave my Toro to has a larger yard and far less obstacles so he likes the self propelled feature and only side discharges so didn't care about the mulching aspect of the mower either.
Thanks William. As always.
You should drop it from a helicopter 5000 ft
My plastic handle broke on it
I understand.
Way too much plastic for sure. Good troubleshooting and repair though!!!
Thanks a lot Mike.
You need a battery operated screw driver
I have never used them. I do use drills though. Thanks
I got one of these in a trade, the one I have now, is so heavy its insane, well the one wire that goes to the rear drive, the guy cut off, and checking online, it's a 3 cable set up, and they are all in one holder, you could buy 3 separate cables yes... But in order to make it appealing to a buyers eye, you would have to buy the 3 piece cable set up, but it's not happening, I'm going to part it out, the cable here in the states is anywhere from 120 to 178 dollars, that's insane, so bye bye heavy craftsman.
What? o_O What are you talking about? I've serviced this kind of mower before. The holders can be replaced by cable ties. If it has three cables, one is the blade/control cable, one is the throttle linkage, one is the self-propel tensioner. Just replace what's missing. Ebay has it all.
999thenewman I know, but it was a customer's and he wanted it back to original and he was buying the part, but I convinced him to buy new, as there was other problems with it aswell and would of cost him just about as much as new, so he bought new and I needed parts off of it, and could never sell it for the amount I needed to put into it to fix it so it became a donor and made me 3x the amount it would of made on its own.
It is a tough call.
Robert Foster I keep forgetting you all are in Canada. Prices aren't good there, usually.
Oh also I see that you changed your intro in the past few videos..... I'll bet good money that some haters in the past will be glad that you don't say Hey Tubes anymore.....
Plus Tard ...........
that,s too many cables for me.
me too :-)
WAY too complicated for my taste! I miss the old days when things were simple. There's too many things to go wrong in my opinion.
Right. They are just great until 4 days after the warranty is up.
It would be great if it would actually cut grass, don't buy this garbage. I'll stick with Troy -Bilt
I would never own one of these.
Yes there are lots of doohickies eh!!!
I think you should make drones for the Ukrainian!
Well I don't have the skill or I would.
I have had people bring me mowers, and they don't even know what a carb is.People who don know anything about mowers shouldn't buy these complicated machines.
They are the ones that do because these mowers do it all (for a while)
These are absurd. All you need is a bail. Too much plastic. Darn.
I didn't invent it I just try to fix what comes in.
What a total piece of shit design. What ever happened to just a throttle cable and the recoil handle at the starter days from ago? When I get a free "modern" push mower from the recycle center, all that crap gets removed including the flywheel "safety" brake. Thus all problems solved.
I have done that. I am restoring an old Homelite mower with an aluminium frame and it won't have a brake. No video yet.
great job bruce
Thanks EB From Alberta Canada. fun.