My dad bought one of these to do yards in town and it was about 1945. He kept it in our basement and one day I found a go kart frame, so I took off his childhood engine and made a go kart about 1969. He didn’t seem to mind but he did find me a 5 hp Clinton motor for it. He helped me fix it up to a nice kart. We took a part a Cushman bike to use the two speed transmission and the front and back wheels to use one the back. We spent a lot of time together from then on. Moving to mini bikes a couple more karts and eventually he got a 350 Honda bike after I go my 250 Yamaha. My dad passed this year. I cant express how much this means to me
You don't realize how much this channel means to you until you check in on a Sunday morning and there's not a Mustie1 video to watch! So glad you are feeling better-- kidney stones are no joke, and they can be a lot harder to fix than an old mower!
My grandpa had one of these in about 1952 or 53. I was sooo impressed with it. He would let me walk with him with my hands on the handlebars. It was so mechanical and impressive to me! It was the beginning of my love for gas powered anything. It brings back memories…
I started on one of these at 6 years old (Grandpa wasn't in to ''Safety''!) and it was the only kind of Mower Gramps would allow on his ''Turf''. He swore it made the yard like a Putting Green thus filling the neighbors with envy...and that was the Goal!
after getting hit by a tractor trailer in 2007 disabiling me, i couldnt do much, thanks for making this part of my life more enjoyable, I hope your well
I would be so chuffed to have a mower like this one! Always loved how much nicer a reel mower cuts, and this one is so light weight yet still a reel style. What a little gem.
Back in the late 50's and 60's my 2 brothers and I each had a section of yord to mow. We used a push style reel mower. I remember when dad bought one like this one with an engine. It was a modern marvel back then. Good video and I'm glad you're feeling better.
In the late 80s or early 90s my gran gave us one of the old push-style ones, no idea how old it was. The blades were pretty blunt and the handle was as floppy as this one, making the whole thing really difficult to push. The tiniest twig would jam the thing and you'd bump into the handle trying to push. I was pretty happy when I got a beaten old electric Flymo and eventually threw the reel mower away. It was old but it had enough plastic parts to be beyond sensible repair.
@@timdoyle66 These were used in Australia and New Zealand as well, most push mowers some with engines, we can still buy them new down here, if you can find a vintage one with a engine you can pay big money for them. Yes they did do a great job.
Rubber is made with oil, a 14" tire in 1985 was made with about 7 gallons of various kinds of oils and waxes. Belts, have the same properties. With that said, never park your car/tires on a oily patch, as the oil in the tire will eventually react with the oil on the ground, and turn it into chewing gum. Today's tires have more synthetic oils, so they are not as suspectable.
About 70 years ago when I was a boy and mowed our lawn for the first time, we had a reel mower. One thing I recall was that the mowers travel was at a slower pace than Darren's jackrabbit "Homko." That gave the blade more time to repeat the cut and gave a nice flat mow rather than a spital look over the grass surface. Hope you're feeling better Darren. Best, George, Danvers, MA
Kidney stones are THE WORST!! I used to get migraines as a child, but not so much anymore. Glad you're feeling better, and I hope you continue to improve!
One of my chores when I was a kid was to mow the lawn. This was the kind of mower we had. The yard was on a slope and I used to mow barefooted, early in the morning while the grass was still wet. Luckily nothing bad ever happened, but it was the machine where I first learned how to diagnose engine problems with my father.
That Briggs and Stratton engine looks like a model 6S. I used to have one of those. They were made between 1949-1957, all cast iron. Better than the aluminum engines of today. Glad to have you back, Mustie. Hope you are feeling better.
I grew up using that style mower in the early 70's I'm 61. Many golf courses use reel mowers on the greens to produce that manicured end product. They really do a fine job. Godspeed for your recovery. By the way, I still miss the old shop. It was nice stopping by again!
Mustie1, Very Glad to hear you’re feeling better!!! In my youth, I pushed a couple no motor “reel” mowers around until I could afford to buy a power New type mower to do yard work as a kid. It was great to see how you brought this one back to life. It cuts better than my old (no Motor) reel one cut…haha. That check valve was so tiny, but yougot it out. Yes, I was yelling at you to poke something through the hole on the clutch…haha! Great video, Thanks!
Flashbacks from 60+ yrs ago trying to use my Uncles, Pennsylvania brand, reel mower. Same setup save for a lever which engaged the belt idler. No grass catcher. After mowing the 1/4 acre, I then got to rake up the clippings. The mower was liberated by my Uncle from the Newport Casino (now tennis Hall of Fame) where he was Superintendent. It was used on the grass courts. The management were afraid that the Jazz festival attendees would trash the place. Thanks for clearing up how to start it. Narragansett Bay
Good afternoon Darren, great to see you back hope you are feeling better. Unfortunately there aren't any good alternatives to getting old 😁 Cheers Paul from Lincolnshire, UK 🇬🇧.
Glad your back and up 'n' running again. When I set up cylinder mowers, including sit on ones when Maintenance Manager in a Hotel group, I adjusted the cylinder so they cut a sheet of paper against the adjustable cutter blade. Best for giving a 'stripe' lawn finish.. 🤔👍🙂🇬🇧
That mower was my introduction to yard work. It was ostensibly "self propelled" but as it was well used it only had one wheel drive. I mowed our yard and our elderly neighbors yard quite a few times and soon learned that it would ONLY turn in one direction. Fun! But I DID learn that you make the best of what you have to do the job.
When I was about 10, our neighbor, a retired engineer, opened up a lawnmower repair shop. He had a reel mower sharpening machine. It was a beast. I learned a lot from him. Now l’m 75 and learning from Mustie1 and Taryl. 😂
Good to see you back Mustie, I hope you are feeling better. There is nothing better than watching all those clippings piling out the back of it, takes me right back to my childhood we used to have two mowers like that. Thanks for another fantastic video i live for Sundays with Mustie
Excellent revival! I enjoyed visiting the original shop as there were so many fun moments associated with the projects completed in that, relatively speaking, lesser square footage space. Thanks for another great day of wrenching 👏🏻👏🏻❤️🔧✌🏻
My dad had one of those, and I used to mow the lawn often with it. We lived in Vegas at the time, and we had a beautiful yard. Cutting once a week was easy work in spite of the heat, and that mower did a really great job. Obviously the safety required for production now means those aren't a thing any more, but they really did a great job. Unlike today's mowers which tend to rip grass regardless of how sharp the blades are, those blades actually cut each blade of grass and made for a really healthy lawn. Adjust the blade with the jam nuts that I'm sure you saw, and the grass height with the rear rollers which you did talk about. Once dialed in, you could have a fantastic looking yard in no time. Heal up. Looking forward to more. Can't sidestep your health. Handle that above all else.
OH! WOW!!! I wish I had that old mower. That is what I used to mow our lawn and my grandparents lawn when I was a kid. My grandfather owned a blacksmith shop and in his later years it was his job to sharpen those mowers. Recently I visited that old shop that is still there and due to antique structure laws in my town, it is still exactly the same as it was 70 years ago. I mentioned my grandfathers job to the present owner and he pointed over to one side and said, "It's still here, and it still works", referring to the sharpening machine. The old mower was a B&S with the same rope pull starter. As a teenager, I secretly took the motor apart one afternoon to see how it worked and carefully put it back together, and, thank God, it still ran when I reassembled it.
Been waiting for years to see you work on this. When I was 7 I started cutting my Dad's grass with this type of mower. Did not wear steel boots. That was in the mid to late 60's. I have the engine from this mower and it still runs
I like it! I use a manual reel mower now, and would be glad to have this one. That thing was throwing some grass!!! Wow! Nice to see the snow blower again, my grandfather had one just like it when I was growing up. My dad used it after he died, and cleared our 300 foot drive with it. We live there in New England like you.
My graddad had a top of the line, self propelled, multipal roller briggs and straton , green when i was a kid back in New Zealand. Must have been like 1966 for me to remember itt ! As much as parents want their kids to mow the lawn, granddad wouldn't let us get anywhere near it !
We had one of those but instead of a centrifugal clutch, it had a handle that engaged a belt tensioner. After the blade part died, I turned it into my first go kart. Fun times for all the neighborhood kids.
Brings back memories of my golf course maintenance days! Used to mow greens with reel mowers. Of course they were made with today's technology as opposed to then.
Glad you're feeling better. My wife had a kidney stone pass a couple years ago. She was in the hospital for 4 days if I remember right. She was jacked up pretty good.
Sorry to hear about the "Kidney Stones". Hope you keep getting better. Always enjoy a Sunday watching those engines coming back to life. I have learned a lot over the years watching your channel. Keep well and looking forward to more engines. 🚗🚙😃👌👍👍
Even though I am a bit younger than you (I think), I have driven several of those lawnmower’s here in Denmark. Those are my favorite machines. I absolutely love them. They cut the grass so much nicer and you were right.- They are meant for shorter grass. All you needed was to adjust the height on the rollers and the “back blade” (if that is the right phrase? 🤔) from time to time. And also there is/was a special tool for sharpening the rolling blades. There is a reason for why they are using them on golf courses. They cut the grass much cleaner instead of just smashing it! I absolutely love your work and workshop!
My grandmother had one of those mowers with the bagger. I used to cut her grass when I was about thirteen. She would make me use the bagger because she didn't want excess grass killing her lawn. I hated using the bag. Wow, that was many years ago. I miss her.
Looks like it did a pretty good cut…nicely done, Sir! When you started cutting I suddenly had a flashback to using one of these as a kid and totally trashing my new pair of Keds…looked like I was wearing grass sneakers. Thanks for the trip back!
My grandfather had a lawn mower of that type, fully manual though. Even well sharpened, adjusted, and oiled the damn thing was really a chore to push even through the small lawns he had. No wonder they made it motorized.
"what could possibly go wrong?" immediately winds up targeted by the toe chopper 6000 and has to do his best matador impression. ole! lol! gotta love ya buddy.
That's a model 5S, 5 cubic inches. Built about 1955. The earlier, 1940s model 5s had iron cylinder heads and a mechanical internal oil pump. The maximum operating speed is 2,800 rpm because they have a tiny weak connecting rod. The later nylon fuel pickups work. I never disassembled a fuel pickup like that, that was really interesting! I used newspaper to shove between the knife and blades, while turning by hand, to adjust the slicing action. It's a lost art. The wheels inside, axles and the reel all need grease and oil. There's not a lot of horsepower to drive all that in high grass, plus all the rusty parts- only 1.5 HP total. The stored torque energy in the zinc flywheel is driving it. That machine is in amazing condition, like you said, very low hours!
What a glorious machine! Elegant in its simplicity. I am surprised that, other than persuading the clutch to work, the business end worked so well. Thought it was going to require a disassembly, cleaning and lubing. Looks like she’s just one new belt away from being a regular user - for as long as the gas tank holds out. Great video! Get well, my friend.
Congrats Mustie1 on repairing the 1970's type of mower. tells a kid, hey why don't u mow the yard with flipflops. 10th most dangerous tool, next to the hay sling.
@@Philc231 yeah My Father's was at least from the late 1940's, Briggs stopped making cast iron main engine blocks in the 1960's. This is a well preserved antique.
I have one just like it, believe it or not. It had been abandoned in a backyard shed and the new owners of the house just wanted it gone. I brought it home just for the laughs and found out it does a great job on the fenced-in section of the yard that I had been mowing with a push mower since I can't get the JD 748 through the gates. They are oddly fun to use!
In the 1960s I had to mow our all lawns with a hand pushed version of a reel mower like this , NO engine, the wheels turned the rotary blades. My dad would set the blades so they would slice a sheet of paper, the full width of the cutter blade on each one. Mind you it was made of cast iron with a wooden handle. So when your a skinny 10 YO, it took some pushing !!! I still have it and it still cuts grass if you’re silly enough to push it. 😁. Great video Mustie
1:30:23 The utter joy of hearing "What could possibly go wrong ?" as you let go of the mower answers any question of your childhood influences. I love this.🤣
Watching from Brisbane, Australia. This is one of your best videos. Working it out as you go using your extensive experience. Love the final scenes with the “remote” mowing option. 😎
Best wishes for improved health. Those reel mowers are great for grooming a nice yard once you get it cut to the height you want. Used on golf courses to take care of the greens. You did a great job on getting it to working mode.
My Uncle had one of these back in the '60's. I thought it was so cool as all we had was a reel push mower, that was my job to cut the lawn every Sat. Really brought back memories for me.
As a kid, we used to have a Suffolk punch with a similar design but with a big roller, and the blades were more accessible to adjust. Also, the clutch to drive it was centrifugal, where the weights were the friction points on the outer bell. Gave an incredible cut on the grass. The cut grass with the roller looked better than the smashed grass lol
Good morning! Good to see you up and around and back at it! Nice mower! I have two of those! Okay. I lied. Mine don't have engines. They're one "old horse" powered! 😆
Great video. Love all of your videos but this one is one of my favorites. By the way, I passed a kidney stone several decades ago, and it clearly was one of the most painful things I went through. Fortunately, it eventually passed. They suggested the analyze what the stone was made of so I could curb any excesses in my diet containing that substance. Now onto the lawn mower. I'm not an expert on this, but as I understand it this is the type of lawn mowers the best golf courses demand to cut their putting greens. The advantage being that the spinning blade captures the blades of grass between the fixed shearing blade and the spinning blade. That makes for an incredibly clear cut rather than todays lawn mowers that spin fast and tear/tug the blade leaving a rough edge. It might be an idea to fine tune the adjustments, and blade surfaces to perfect that shear all the more.
😂 About 52 years ago I grafted a 26 inch bicycle onto a Gravley reel mower similar to that . The neighbors thought I was nuts until it worked.😅 used that mower for a couple of years .
WOW! Talk about a blast from the past! Does that ever bring back memories! We had the exact same mower that my Dad had got given to him by my grandfather when I was a kid!
This was a well-maintained mower! Don't forget to cinch down on that 7/16" on the mixture screw or it can vibrate out of adjustment. I have fond memories of working on these engines during the mid-60's - Reel mowers were going out, and these old Briggs were great for mini bikes and go carts. My dad had a nice tool box, so I ended up as our gang's "mechanic". My buddy and I flipped the handle over on one of these, mickey-moused a center-pivot tiller steering axle in the front, slapped a plywood seat on it and "raced" around the neighborhood on it. All with the blade running. How we got through it with all our fingers and toes, I do not know. I do remember a couple of days later after his dad saw it, it somehow disappeared! I loved watching you bring this one back, and amazed me how kind the years have been to it. They do a bang-up job on grass cutting, too. One of my lawn-cutting clients made me use her power reel mower on her grass, and the lawn looked way better than my rotary mower would do it. Plus, they are mesmerizing to follow!
Had one very similar about 1960 over in NZ made by Masport, model was lawn prince. Bought for my parents. Brings back memories, good to see you back Mustie 1.
I kind of remember mowers like that. Sort of. Maybe. Stupid brain cells. Glad prognosis looks better. Hang in. I have watched for many years and hope to watch for many more, depending on the health of both of us! Thanks for all the work you do to entertain and inform the World Of Mustonians!
👍👍 A classic and in great shape. I started out with the unpowered one with the grass catcher. My rear end got smaller with time.... lol. Glad you are doing better! Enjoyed, take care!
I love seeing these old powered reel mowers. I have a 1956 REO Royale powered reel mower that I got for a project. It still runs, but it’s just rough looking. Huge 2-1/4hp REO engine on it the runs counter clockwise and uses an external gearbox to turn the blades clockwise. Glad to see this one running.
Glad see you back, and feeling better Mustsie. Hopefully whatever meds was given is helping u. Thank you for a video this week. There never expected but greatful have you and them here.
This was the first power lawn mower my dad ever had. It was used when he got it, and replaced a push type reel mower. It ran until the carburetor/intake mount broke. No one in town at thst time could weld it, so it went to the dump. But I mowed the yard for a number of years without loosing any fingers or toes. Thanks for the memories.
Good morning Mustie and those other stalkers in the room. Glad to have you back Mustie and good to hear that you are on the mend. Jim in central florida
At 21:21 you said it all; this 60+ kid did indeed build his first go-kart using identical motor and lawn-mower, a real work-horse. The self-propel was broken, so the wheels were just stationary. My brother and I struggled behind that mower for years with stuck wheels. One day I put a key into a certain cog in the wheel drive mechanism and it self-propelled like a champ, for like a month, before Dad let me have the motor for our saggy bed-frame go-kart. We'd spin that rope-start cup by stretching a V-belt with a 1/3 hp electric motor. MAN was that 'Kart a lot of fun! But now I miss the mower just as much.
my maternal grandfather (b. 1894, d. 1968) , a man that after retirement spent many hours gardening and maintaining his lawn, used one of these reel mowers. and claimed it was the only thing that could cut his Bermuda grass lawn properly. in fact, they perform poorly on most lawns with modern grasses. and on the OTHER side of my family, my fraternal grandmother (b. 1898, d. 1967) had a HAND operated one (no engine) that my dad used to use to cut her lawn when we visited in the summer. as a youngster, i wasn't even strong enough to push it fast enough to get it to spin the blades. ha!
@@gs1100ed They are... but two or three of them side by side are called a "gang mower".... and the groundsmen ones used in public parks hydraulically powered off the tractor...
WE were the first in our neighborhood to have one of these types of mowers because my Dad felt bad watching me sweat so much in the dog days heat. The plus side to having one of these was that he allowed me to make some side money mowing other people's yards...so that was cool. I'm now 72 years old.
Im glad your feeling better brother. I had one of these in the 80’s me and my friends sent it back and forth unattended across the yard. Best b day present a Mustie upload
That was really entertaining. My dad bought a Toro mower in 1967 that is almost identical. As a 12 year old it was my job to cut the grass with that thing. I had more fun holding it on the sidewalk and running the engine up to lay some rubber. He said if you don't quit doing that you will be paying for new tires. Well, I have been holding on to that machine all these years and I did have to buy new tires for it years later when I decided to use it on my own property. 57 years and its still running! Keep wrenching, I enjoy you videos and your easy going approach to troubleshooting and repair.
Thanks for the video. I still remember picking the trash for those engines to make go-cars back when I was a kid.. Most of the trashed engines were Briggs 1,75hp, 2hp and if we were luck a 3hp.. Made fun go-carts where we always thought about the brakes when we were halfway down the street.. Best of luck with getting better D. Mustie. Appreciate the video.
Mowed lawn for $ as a Kid in the 60's. Used mower like this. Tied my wagon to it, and used it to pull me around the neighborhood as I went door to door looking for the next job. My father couldn't understand the amount of wear that I put on the tires. lol
Darren, I'm so very glad that you are on the mend. My oldest son (42) just went through the same thing and he was miserable through the entire ordeal so we can relate to what you went through. Remember to take it easy for a while and let your mind and body heal...and it will in time. This was a great video and it brought many memories for me of long ago. Thank you and always....SAFETY THIRD!!
Wife's sister in law is dealing with kidney stones at the moment too so wish you well on your recovery bro. Cool video with a great result. Safe travels. Ken.
when I was 12 or so, had a lawn job that used one of these...hell to start and smokey and smelly. I earned every bit of my 5 dollars! Hope you're feeling better!
Glad you are doing better, also really glad to see the old shop/garage again. Brings back memories. Been watching your videos for a long time. This was a really nice mower, heard these are better for the grass too.