Definitely AVOID This Brand At All Costs 

Taryl, you just spent 40 more minutes on this mower than the manufacturer ever did.

Got a snowblower by them. Tried to get it fixed a month after purchasing it and they never responded. Ended up getting my state attorney general involved and my credit card. Ended up getting a chargeback on the purchase. Don't get this brand! It's as bad as EZ works...

Sad part is everything made now a days is just to be thrown away. They make nothing to last. And they make it even harder to repair. Good video

When we were kids side shaft engines were like gold. Cut off a chuck of baseball bat, hammer that onto the shaft and mount it on an old bicycle with a pivot arm to engage it with the rear wheel. Not too smart but great fun.

With the Hollywood actors strike raging on, I think it's time for Netflix to engage Taryl and the boys for a full length, feature film..

My landlord said she'd knock some money off my rent if I took care of the lawn. No problem...just get me the tools I need . Then she showed up with this exact model from WM and I knew I was in trouble. On 2ND USE the plastic channel where the handle mates to the deck cracked so I had to reposition and redrill new mounting holes. A few mows later the latch where the pull handle mounts to upright handle snapped off. And the best of all...the mower starts fine when it's cold, but once it warms up...don't let it shut down or it will take 10-12 pulls to get it to restart again! Complete and total GARBAGE on every level

That horizontal shaft lawn mower was neat but the recoil spring rewind tool was the best part of the video - never seen a commercial tool for that task before.

Good product. Will introduce it to my homie

It looks like it needs a front wheel alignment!😄

Sorry I left it at the dumpster Taryl but even the scrappers in the neighborhood kept bringing it back. 😂

This makes me think someone said "hey, we bought a shit-ton of these engines, but we can't use them for anything" while someone else said "we just made a bunch of mower decks, but we can't get a supplier for engines" and still someone else said "hmm... what if we..."

I sent an email for replacement last Friday and they replied my email today, and finally got my problem(ask for replacement blade) solved. I guess they just don’t work on weekends?

1) We have 20.000 horisontal shaft engines in warehouse 1 - what to do with them? 2) We have 20.000 empty lawnmower decks in warehouse 2 - what to do with them? 3) Let's combine them!

*The board meeting shot at EZ WURKZ was HILARIOUS!!!* You have a spring winder like Marshall has over at Wristwatch Revival. The scream at 14:44. Is that somebody getting their bill?

I returned mine the day I got it. The engine actually was twisting the deck when running. The most dangerous mower Ive seen in my years.

A good friend has a small engine repair shop (snowmobiles, quads, PWC's garden tractors, lawn movers and on and on ....) for the last 30 years. I help occasionally and he also refuses anything Chinese made. Unfortunately today parts are hard to come by. They're out of stock or no longer available. I hope people who watch your channel realize the hours ($) you sometimes spend to repair small items that are needed to make a machine function properly. Costumers drop off their dirty poorly maintain machines and are often taken aback by the invoice. $12.95 for parts and $145 labor. They just don't see the work being done while sitting in their office chair. Well done sir. Enjoyed the video.

At least my power smart snowblower has been used five seasons. so far so good.

I FF through a lot of this and may have missed where you pointed out the RF wheel is bent at a strange angle. That's a real pile of junk. Best part of this was seeing the recoil spring winder - very nice tool.

My neighbor bought one of these pieces of junk this past spring from Menards. We liked to never get it to start when it was fresh out of the box, and then couldn't get it restarted after shutting it off. He drained the fuel and attempted to return it after only having it in his possession for about 90 minutes. Menards refused to refund his money because it had fuel in it at some point and they wanted to send it in for repair. Apparently this is their policy on all gasoline engine equipment. Needless to say a massive argument ensued and they eventually saw things his way and gave him his money back. The mower was not a store stocked item but an email special and was selling for $199. This is a perfect example of you get what you pay for $199 you don't get much here!

Powersmart is based out of Itasca, Illinois. One came in that needed a belt cover. They sent three of the wrong one before sending the correct one. Their snowblower engines are made by LCT or Loncin.

I have had many bad experience’s with recoil starter’s and that damn spring! No wonder people just buy a whole new part. Thanks for showing how to properly repair one. I believe the whole world is going with disposable products you buy cheap ,use until it fails then it becomes part of the landfill problem? Unless you have lots of time and patience to truly Fix something you would be back in the market for a new lawn mower 😢

I bought a powersmart lawn mower recently and I checked the engine of it just now, it is vertical. Maybe this one you got is an old version.

I bought this brand of portable generator last year. We take it with us when we're out and about, it's handy for charging our devices, and it's almost a year old and still going strong.

I love it when you talk about crap bogging down a shop. People just assume looking for parts is free………a guy still gets paid to do it just like the guy installing the parts.

I noticed this unknown brand was RAVED about on many YT channels when they came out a couple years back which seemed a bit fishy as it looked like they were sent out for free to have them promoted but now that the mowers have been out now only a few years and already discontinued they have absolutely fallen apart after a brief period...they were available at my Home Depot on the center aisle only one season as a low-cost mower but htey never made it to the regular location where they kept the rest of the mowers...thing looked cheap from a mile away.

I didn’t try lawn mower of this brand. But I got a powersmart gas generator last year, the 2500w one. Been almost a year of running weekly, and it’s still solid. I’ll buy it again.

Holy crap. Kinda reminds me of a Chinese line of chain saws at Lowe’s. I had one come through our shop. Needless to say, the barely used Lowe’s Chinese special went in the dumpster and we sold the guy an Echo saw. 😂

last winter we had a huge amount of heavy snow in southern Ontario and worried about clearing the bottom of my driveway from huge snow plows, but I'm impressed with this brand machine cut through it amazingly!! It's worth to try.

I'll be honest. I think the concept of belt driven is a very solid idea but when you build it with zero craftsmanship, sub quality components and no product support, it's just garbage.

I almost bought one of these due to the low price and light weight. Only small area to mow. But I looked at the comments online and they agree with you. Bought a Honda.

listing other recoils that could fit is very helpful. avoiding it altogether was the best advice

Passed on this mower last year opted for a Skil 40v and it's been awesome no bs. It replaced an old Jacobsen turbo vent aluminum deck 20" mower from the late 60's

The disposable junk they make these days makes me sick. PowerSmart takes the cake

Taryl and guys, you always keep us informed on all the mysteries and oddities, and JUNK not to buy. Thanks, we appreciate it very much helping us keep our money in our pockets. You Number one fan from the start.

I am glad you made this video about this product. I have seen this brand and similar prodducts on places like amazon. I wasnt really looking into buying one but i did wonder how good a mower it maybe. Thanks to you Taryl I definitely will be saving some money and aggravation . Thank you. I enjoy your videos

Their company's snow blowers and generators are good, this mower is not good, but other lawn mowers are good, the after-sales service was difficult to contact before, now it has improved a lot, fair review

I saw one of these but with a slightly bigger engine on a lawn care channel and I was really surprised by the design, I asked about it and apparently it is the company behind the Predator brand that is responsible for them. We don't have them here in the UK so the only mowers that have horizontal shaft engines are those high maintenance cylinder/reel mowers or the really large commercial mowers (above 52") that are often hydraulic anyway, so I had never seen anything like it before.

Another great video boys! Thanks for the heads up on powersmart and how to fix a recoil.

God Damn, those 1978, $15 dollar Briggs lawnmowers that you used to see NEVER SELLING on the side of the road just went up 20x in price!!

Tyral I have such respect to you and yours, all the knowledge, entertainment is just fanominal, you al are like part of history in the making, I appreciate all the time you share with all of us, the moment is now and forever that you have taught me so much in so many many ways, your smarts tools experience and patience is priceless to me, I thank GOD for your heart along with ALL your FAMILY, THANK YOU

Good example as to why I still use and promote 30 to 40 year old lawnboys.

Tarly, I don’t know who edits your videos but do not let them get away!!! Your videos are fantastic, great on all fronts. I sure appreciate the work that is put into your production. Keep up the good work. Thank you. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

The recoil spring winder is a large version of a watch mainspring winder.

The comments in your sunday videos you throw out like someone already said something stupid (32:35) then responds like someone actually said it always cracks me up. Awesome content Taryl, been watching for years. Thanks for all the work you guys put into these videos for us. Where's Ronnie been?

I haven't bought a lawn mower, but I recently bought this brand powersmart generator. I took it out to travel with my family and used it. So far, there have been no problems.

I have one somebody dropped off at my place the other day. Tried cranking it but felt like something was holding it back so tried starting it with a drill, got it to fire kinda but never would start. Acted like timing was off. Took a sample of the oil and it had metal slivers in it! They're junk, junk, junk!

I was looking at one of those. Glad I saw this video, thanks Taryl.

Hi Taryl, I really liked your video on the Power Smart lawnmower. You did the kind of thing I have done my whole life and I'm 71. When I was young my neighbors threw out lawnmowers and I grabbed them and took them home to take them apart to see how they worked. Eventually I began to look for what had failed. It was rare, but sometimes two mowers, or at least 2 engines would be the same but have different failures. That is how I scrapped together a mower for myself. My very first mower and it was my own. It was a REO 4 cycle vertical shaft rotary mower. One unusual thing about it was the engine had an oil pump inside it. It was a piston pump. The mower was narrow, probably 20" cut and it barely ran, but it was mine. So that was my mower for my very first paying job. I mowed the lawn for a very nice old lady named Mrs. Climber. I realize "YOU" can't make money fixing a recoil like you did, and it looks like it was kind of a fluke, but the way you fixed it I have been doing my whole life. Later I fixed cars, trucks, tractors, lawn & garden stuff. Even my house gets fixed by "ulterior" means unless I get lazy. Thank you for jogging my memory. ben/ michigan

Taryl, I wonder if this horizontal shaft engine was an answer to the “anti- dumping” law suit that Briggs & Kohler brought against Chinese manufacturers and won. Now anyone manufacturing vertical shaft engines in China has to pay a huge tariff. This is the first time I’ve seen this style engine. Thanks for sharing.

it seems like they just improved their after service team recently. I got email feedback today as well.

I just told a nice lady who brought one to me that I could not get the carb for. It leaked and a carb was "not available" listed on line. I kept it for parts or if a miracle happens of some sort. Also the exhaust valve is sticky on the decompression cycle. It ticks really loud. I am just giving you a heads up.

In the background, there is a toro sw5000, I’ve owned that mower for 7 years. With basic maintenance and some lucky breakdown fixes. It’s been a great mower. The slide on the steering that controls independent hydraulic flow to the rear wheel has stuck a couple times. Rubber mallet, clean and oil. Good to go. Also, one of those dumb safety switches was giving me a problem, found which one and made an adjustment.

I have the same exact recoil spring tool. I had a heck of time trying to get the spring started. It’s a learning curve, but once you get it figured out it works great.

This is one your best skits. I love the lawn mower mysteries and oddities

THANKS FOR SHARING TARYL... Tip.. Spread a hand towel flat on your workbench. Then, dump the contents of your bolt bin onto the towel. Spread the contents evenly on the towel. Makes it easier to see the fastener you are seeking. Then grab the towel on three corners, lift off bench. This creates a funnel to pour the fasteners back into the container. Hope this helps to speed things up.

Thanks for the heads up!

Fill it with jb putty, let it harden, re-drill it, then assemble. A 5 min job that'll last longer than the factory work.

Hi Taryll. Never seen anything like that, and yes I was excited to find out more as you peeled back those covers. It's another buy, break and throw piece of cheap machinery. If no back up or parts available, it saves money on running that service, that's why they are cheap! When people bring stuff like that in for me to repair, I'm thinking about asking for a deposit as when I say I can't find the part, I get told, you can have it for parts! I also bought that spring tool. I whacked my knuckles so often, I stopped using it. I also have tubs of bits and pieces also. It may have been 10 years later you use it, but it was worth the wait lol

Grab some Taryl Apparel today! www.TARYLFIXESALL.com

Yep, we had one dropped off couple weeks ago, the belt tensioner pulley for the blade went bad and smoked the belt, searched on line and found a letter from powersmart stating they could not offer replacement parts for their units. 🤷‍♂️ called the customer and had them pick it up. Also another brand sold by rual king is pulsar, same deal even rual king couldn't get a blade for it!.

That is an awesome recoil spring tool! On some really hard springs, I have had to make a winding tool out of wood and screws. And it still sucked.

I so admire your patience as it is quite remarkable~!! It is a rare attribute in our current society and your camera man is also quite a prize~!! Love these videos~!!

I serviced exactly ONE Power Smart mower a couple of summers ago. Parts availability was a joke. I immediately updated my service ad to say all brands (except Power Smart). I THINK the one I worked on was a vertical shaft engine though.

Great advice. Don't purchase used equipment until you make sure that parts/service are available locally.

This is awesome Taryl. If I was doing this, that thing would make a quick trip to the dumpster. Like your patience

I have had zero luck finding parts for these in my shop. What a throw away piece of junk

Not sure if you will read this comment I have a craftsman lt1000 it runs but everything 2 or 3 weeks I have to change the spark plugs it or it doesn't want to start it doesn't burn oil and I replaced the kill switch I took it to a repair shop and they charged me $300 and it still is doing the same thing as before I use regular gas and 10w 30 not sure if Iam doing something wrong the repair shop replaced the head gasket and that didn't fix it either the piston and rings are still good the valves were repaired and set iam really not sure it will back fire and won't start again until I swap out the spark plug

Just found your channel. I really liked how informative this video was. Thanks for posting it. You have a new subscriber!

Easiest way of doing those springs is start with the outside in the actual pulley and work it in. No fancy tools needed.

Taryl Old School Mechanics ! Love your Fabrication , Your parts drawer is Exactly what i have , Keep Everything ! You never know when you might need it

don't know what it is but i enjoy your videos, they are practical, and funny, and real.

I bought a Hart 21 inch mower a few years ago, still under warranty. It has been in the authorized service shop for a month now... waiting for parts. It worked fine except for the 6 amp hour battery only lasting for 20-30 minutes so my 1/2 acre of grass takes 5-7 charges to completely cut... and I do not use the self propel drive, as the pulling hurts my bad knee... I can push all day, but being pulled forward of pulling something forward really hurts.

I have the snowblower you were talking about. It was the only 2-stage i could find in my price range. It has a lot of features for the price, and mine has performed well over the 3 winters I've had it (because i baby it and did a thorough break-in), but as you rightfully noted it suffers from cheap materials and a flimsy body. Also non-standard shear pins, they are much thinner than other pins and you can only get them from Powersmart. The 212cc engine has been nice at least.

Thanks Taryl, I looked at one in the store and thought where would you get parts for this oddity.

Thank you for sharing.👍

I work on mechanical watches, and that recoil winder is practically a super-mega-size mainspring winder that I use on repairs. Really neat to see the crossover of industry tools!

It's the way things are going, especially with the big box store house brand mowers. THey are built to a price, I actually spoke to one of the engineers who designed for such a brand and he said they specifically requested the item be designed so it lasted out the warranty period so they dont have to replace it, but no longer than another 6 months after that period so they come back to purchase another one sooner. And thats the way with this mower, i bet something arbitrary like a pivot on the height adjustment will break and you go to order one and you ring the spares guy (if there is one) and they say "Oh, yeah, we never got any of those in!"

Yep I agree with you that is a pos. What were they thinking with this one, I have seen thet rewind somewhere, maybe on an LCT engine. Wow you could set a can of paint on it and it would shake it it up for you. Great video, when I see things like this I am glad I am not in the repair business anymore.

glad i had the $$ to buy a honda.. 5 years zero issues... I remember stacks of these mowers at home depot.. I never knew they were gas mowers.. i always pegged them for being electric cheapies.. havent seen em for awhile they mustve been a once and done kond of thing..for good reason

11:55 There is nothing more satisfying than rewinding one of those springs, getting it back into the starter assembly and making it operational again. They seem like rocket science if you haven't worked on one before.

Before I even clicked on this I knew it was a power smart lawnmower . They also make battery powered stuff

I bought a lawn mover 2 years ago, it still works well today, I also recommended it to my friends.

Taryl you are a wonderful man ! So good of you to show & explain to people what a piece of junk mower that thing is & teaching people how to fix things .

I had that exact same thing happen with a cheap generator, I dried it right through and put a longer bolt with a nut on the outside, it has seen many years of very reliable service.

I hope you saved some people from this nightmare. That is a POJ. I like that recoil tool. Them springs can be a pain sometimes. And thanks Taryl, you helped me on a zero turn that I was having trouble with. I got the one that I was working on fixed and my customer was very happy.

Looks like Hunters lawyer was hiding his stash under that mower.

I have 3 of those sitting in the junk pile from Menards. One has shreded belts and the cost of the belts plus labor is 1/2 the price of the mower. And another with the blade spindle housing sheared off of the deck. I didn't even look at the 3rd before pushing it into the pile with the rest.

I had to do some “creative” repairs to some of those Power Smart mowers I got on as trade in when selling used equipment due to not being able to get parts…even stuff like a blade and blade adaptor wasn’t available. I seem to remember buying a 22” blade and cutting it down to 21”.

PowerFart had me laughing so loud my wife had to ask me why.

That recoil spring tool was very impressive. Like you said at the end, at least you won't get a bent crank shaft from hitting something. I was thinking if these horizontal engines outlast the decks, maybe they would be transplanted onto things like edgers or small single stage snow blowers. But even after the recoil starter fix, maybe this deck would outlast this engine, if someone continued to use it.

That spring winder is the coolest tool I've seen in a while!

It reminds me of the antique savage arms mower my dad used to have that had a cast iron briggs horizontal shaft engine mounted towards the rear of the mover, and had a long belt and two pullys to operate the blade underneath.

They were just Smart enough to have Power over the unsuspecting end user.

Powersmart, anything is junk. Oh and keep up the good work on your videos you have educated me on so much keep moving forward with my small engines business here in Ontario Canada.

Thanks for the video Ole Buddy!

Anything with a 17.5hp Briggs and Stratton. My dad bought a 42" Toro Zero Turn, because I told him to. As I was the Superintendent of a County club and Toro equipment to me was hands down the best. Since buying this zero turn he has went through 3 motors. Now the 3rd motor is taking a crap after he just paid 300 for a tune up. My dad is a guy that changes his oil regularly and takes care of his stuff. He had his snow blower from 1982 to 2020.

If common core math was ever a lawnmower, I think you found it Taryl!!!!

Thanks for sharing these companies just don’t care about customers anymore sad 😢

Another great video plus good advice.

My Uncle once had a wheeless lawn mower, it hovered above the ground as you cut the grass, throttle adjustment was used for cut height.