Looks great with the new catcher on it. That sure was a good find!
MU
MU
New parts and update for the '49 Jacobsen reel mower!- Pictures!
Well I've done a few more (small) things to my '49 Jacobsen Lawn Queen within the past month or so since the last time you guy have seen it.
I bought some new tires for it off of Ebay for it (http://cgi.ebay.com/Jacobsen-Sears-...CI%2BIA%2BUA%2BFICS%2BUFI&otn=15&po=LVI&ps=54) as they seemed to be the closest to what I could find to the stock size which is 10.50 x 1.75. I was really excited when I got them as I have never seen a tread design like this before for reel mower tires.
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They were however not even the leaste bit plyable, just rock solid. Soaking them in boiling water did soften them up a little bit, but they unfortunatetly split right in half when attempting to mount them on to the rims. At this point, I was regretting even taking the originals off thinking I should have just left well enough alone because they were not cracked, just bald. I was debating whether I should purchase another pair of these, but decided against it as the new ones I would get would most likely just do the same. I think they were just really old (been sitting around for along long time) and rubber starts to break down over time and get brittle, so I assume that's what happend. I ended up taking my chances on another auction the same seller had only these were different style and type (http://cgi.ebay.com/Jacobsen-Sears-...I%2BIA%2BUA%2BFICS%2BUFI&otn=15&po=LVI&ps=54). I figured I had nothing to loose as I couldn't even use the mower how it was with no rubber on it and I couldn't find any other replacements out there. Anywhere. When I got these, they were quite a bit more plyable as they were without even being in the boiling water. Got these mounted on the rims this time, only problem was the right tire has a nice tear in it from working it onto the rim so I am eventually going to order another set so I can replace the one on that side. The left one is perfect. It sure hooks up faster than before!
The mower had always been kind of a handful to mow with, especially when mowing in tall grass so another thing that I did was swap a smaller crankshaft pulley onto it from a spair Jacobsen engine I had. Basically what would happen was when you'd mow in taller grass and have it throttled up, this would mean the mower itself is going to travel faster because the speed is totally controlled by the rpm's of the engine rather than having the speeds like modern mowers have so you can walk slower, yet still be at full throttle. With the throttle up on this, you'd be literally jogging behind it to keep up. At full throttle, It was as quick or quicker than our commercial Honda walk behind mower in it's highest speed at full throttle. Here's a video I made of it a while ago to give you a little idea of what it was like to mow with it with the larger pulley,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NCekzshTl8.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IL7CvJt4es
Here's a video of it with the new pulley to compare. Maybe hard to tell the difference in the video and more easily noticable while mowing with it. You'll see that it doesn't track 100% because of that cracked tire, so will need to replace that soon
Any how, the smaller pulley sure worked wonders! Now the mower is a torque monster. It's just a nice leisurely walk now with the rpm's lower while mowing through tall grass. Now there's none of the chasing behind it nonsense in order to have rpm's up.
I guess the last thing that I've done to it lately was buy a brand new grass catcher for it. I haven't been able to find one that will fit it anywhere, none have been wide enough. I found an old lawnmower shop (Aurora lawnmower) that had a couple of brand new ones that actually were wide enough to fit and they said once these were gone, they were gone as they are no longer being produced. Man, was I excited when I found it!:bannana:
I *think* however this one may have been manufactured wrong as the support bar that goes inside of it is on top of the frame, so there is no way to put it down inside of it. Take a look at what I mean,
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I'll probably go back down there sometime and swap it out for their other one as they said I could return it, or have them show me as to what I'm doing wrong as I am completlely puzzled as to how this would work the way it is.
Next thing for it (other than the new tire) will be a tank coating kit. I noticed there's some small flakes floating around in the bottom of the gas tank. I'll probably just boil it out and buy a tank coating kit for it.
Here's some pics of the recent work!
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New tires
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Comparison of the smaller pulley vs. the stock one. Also bought a new belt as the other one that I bought was a little too long for the smaller pulley.
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New grass catcher
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I bought some new tires for it off of Ebay for it (http://cgi.ebay.com/Jacobsen-Sears-...CI%2BIA%2BUA%2BFICS%2BUFI&otn=15&po=LVI&ps=54) as they seemed to be the closest to what I could find to the stock size which is 10.50 x 1.75. I was really excited when I got them as I have never seen a tread design like this before for reel mower tires.
They were however not even the leaste bit plyable, just rock solid. Soaking them in boiling water did soften them up a little bit, but they unfortunatetly split right in half when attempting to mount them on to the rims. At this point, I was regretting even taking the originals off thinking I should have just left well enough alone because they were not cracked, just bald. I was debating whether I should purchase another pair of these, but decided against it as the new ones I would get would most likely just do the same. I think they were just really old (been sitting around for along long time) and rubber starts to break down over time and get brittle, so I assume that's what happend. I ended up taking my chances on another auction the same seller had only these were different style and type (http://cgi.ebay.com/Jacobsen-Sears-...I%2BIA%2BUA%2BFICS%2BUFI&otn=15&po=LVI&ps=54). I figured I had nothing to loose as I couldn't even use the mower how it was with no rubber on it and I couldn't find any other replacements out there. Anywhere. When I got these, they were quite a bit more plyable as they were without even being in the boiling water. Got these mounted on the rims this time, only problem was the right tire has a nice tear in it from working it onto the rim so I am eventually going to order another set so I can replace the one on that side. The left one is perfect. It sure hooks up faster than before!
The mower had always been kind of a handful to mow with, especially when mowing in tall grass so another thing that I did was swap a smaller crankshaft pulley onto it from a spair Jacobsen engine I had. Basically what would happen was when you'd mow in taller grass and have it throttled up, this would mean the mower itself is going to travel faster because the speed is totally controlled by the rpm's of the engine rather than having the speeds like modern mowers have so you can walk slower, yet still be at full throttle. With the throttle up on this, you'd be literally jogging behind it to keep up. At full throttle, It was as quick or quicker than our commercial Honda walk behind mower in it's highest speed at full throttle. Here's a video I made of it a while ago to give you a little idea of what it was like to mow with it with the larger pulley,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NCekzshTl8.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IL7CvJt4es
Here's a video of it with the new pulley to compare. Maybe hard to tell the difference in the video and more easily noticable while mowing with it. You'll see that it doesn't track 100% because of that cracked tire, so will need to replace that soon
Any how, the smaller pulley sure worked wonders! Now the mower is a torque monster. It's just a nice leisurely walk now with the rpm's lower while mowing through tall grass. Now there's none of the chasing behind it nonsense in order to have rpm's up.
I guess the last thing that I've done to it lately was buy a brand new grass catcher for it. I haven't been able to find one that will fit it anywhere, none have been wide enough. I found an old lawnmower shop (Aurora lawnmower) that had a couple of brand new ones that actually were wide enough to fit and they said once these were gone, they were gone as they are no longer being produced. Man, was I excited when I found it!:bannana:
I *think* however this one may have been manufactured wrong as the support bar that goes inside of it is on top of the frame, so there is no way to put it down inside of it. Take a look at what I mean,
I'll probably go back down there sometime and swap it out for their other one as they said I could return it, or have them show me as to what I'm doing wrong as I am completlely puzzled as to how this would work the way it is.
Next thing for it (other than the new tire) will be a tank coating kit. I noticed there's some small flakes floating around in the bottom of the gas tank. I'll probably just boil it out and buy a tank coating kit for it.
Here's some pics of the recent work!
New tires
Comparison of the smaller pulley vs. the stock one. Also bought a new belt as the other one that I bought was a little too long for the smaller pulley.
New grass catcher
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Thought I'd give one last little update on what I've done to the mower within the past couple of weeks. Not anything real big or major, but just a couple of small things if you guys are interested in seeing.
I found an NOS coil and condenser and put them on the original motor, but found it to have some crankshaft end play and has a bit of knock to it so I think it's going to need to be pulled appart to have some work done to it.
Anyhow, I decided I'd convert the slightly newer engine on it to the early style original pull start system as the newer style didn't look quite right to me on it. You can see the pictures of that up above.
Since the crankshaft on it is slightly longer on this one than the original engine, I had to space it out with a couple of washers to get the starter ball retainer to line up evenly with the recoil assembly.
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Starter ball retainer on.
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The shroud for this motor had a bigger opening for the newer style recoil and I thought it would be best fit to use the original shroud with the smaller opening, so decided I'd put that on. Just had to widen the mounting holes slightly to accommodate the larger screws.
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Newer style shroud on left vs. the original on the right.
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I also put the POR 15 tank coating kit that I got for it in it and worked out real well and had enough left that I was able to coat another small tank that I have too which was kind of cool. Seems to be some good stuff.
Also degreased the whole mower and did a little prepping for paint. It was sure greasy to say the leaste! I'm hoping that when I come home on Christmas break that I'll be able to paint it if I can get our garage set up to do it. I'm going to miss working on it, but will look forward to painting it in the hope that it will work out. Thm:
I found an NOS coil and condenser and put them on the original motor, but found it to have some crankshaft end play and has a bit of knock to it so I think it's going to need to be pulled appart to have some work done to it.
Anyhow, I decided I'd convert the slightly newer engine on it to the early style original pull start system as the newer style didn't look quite right to me on it. You can see the pictures of that up above.
Since the crankshaft on it is slightly longer on this one than the original engine, I had to space it out with a couple of washers to get the starter ball retainer to line up evenly with the recoil assembly.
Starter ball retainer on.
The shroud for this motor had a bigger opening for the newer style recoil and I thought it would be best fit to use the original shroud with the smaller opening, so decided I'd put that on. Just had to widen the mounting holes slightly to accommodate the larger screws.
Newer style shroud on left vs. the original on the right.
I also put the POR 15 tank coating kit that I got for it in it and worked out real well and had enough left that I was able to coat another small tank that I have too which was kind of cool. Seems to be some good stuff.
Also degreased the whole mower and did a little prepping for paint. It was sure greasy to say the leaste! I'm hoping that when I come home on Christmas break that I'll be able to paint it if I can get our garage set up to do it. I'm going to miss working on it, but will look forward to painting it in the hope that it will work out. Thm:
6
Well, a little update for all who is interested in this old mower. I'm getting ready soon to paint the mower and plan to have it done by the next couple of weeks before Christmas after the prep work is done. I've also ordered a new oil hole cover for it as one of them was broken and a new decal for the oil bath. I am also going to see if I can find a replacement spring for the recoil and get one of my spair recoil assemblies going as the original seems to be getting tired and I've had them break on me before, so I would rather take care of this now rather than down the road and having to pull it appart when it's all nice painted. Luckely though these recoil assemblies can still be used even without the spring, they just have to be rewound manually. Also with a little researching I found a member of a different site who has a LQ engine who's original decal was still somewhat intact, so I was able to get a picture of the original decal and the dimensions of it as the original on my mower was too far gone to do anything with. I had a member of this site who makes decals recreate the original and he just got back to me today with the finished product. I'm looking forward to putting it in on once it's done!
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I'll post up the pictures once she's done in a couple of weeks!
I'll post up the pictures once she's done in a couple of weeks!
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