I went out yard sale shopping but got a late start. went to one at around 11am and out front was this one in the free pile, it had a note on it stating it had engine problems, lets find out if that is true shall we?
You really should get yourself a bigger ramp. For a lot of years I use the same kind that you are. One day on craigslist as I was looking at Harley parts I came across someone who had the big ramp that folds in half. Normally those ramps go from 150 to $200. I looked at it nothing was broken I asked why are you selling That's when he told me he was getting rid of his Harley and no longer needed the ramps. Needless to say I scooped those up in a heartbeat. It has made things a lot easier for me. I enjoy watching the videos you have a lot of knowledge. I know a lot of things but I don't know everything. That's why I enjoy watching videos like the ones you make. I learn things from you that I can use here at my garage. I don't work on things for money most of the time I don't charge my friends and neighbors and family nothing. With the exception if I need to spend money to fix it. With a lot of the things I've learned on RU-vid I have a pretty good track record of making things run without spending money.
Mustie, I'm glad you used the "One Ramp" at the start of this video. I'm 69 years old and didn't use any sissy ramps.... two back surgeries and a third in the near future, I whished I used ramps instead of lifting heavy stuff out of the pick-up. Thanks for your videos Mabey some one will learn what I didn't the hard way. Carl
Having taught myself about cars and small engines, it is amazing to me that people will throw perfectly good machines away and spend money unnecessarily on new ones simply because they refuse to learn anything about them. I worked at a salvage yard for several years, and saw many perfectly good cars junked due to minor and easily repairable problems, simply because the owners never bothered to learn anything about cars. I am certainly no expert, and certainly do not Mustie's level of knowledge, but engines are incredibly simple if you take the time to learn.
Amazed how eager folks are to throw stuff away. That motor sounds really nice and it looks like he looked after it. Maybe he wanted the new GT-XL Turbo version and had to convince the wife!
When I was scrapping I would always try to fix lawnmowers instead of scrapping them. Most of them only took very minor repairs. The most I ever spent fixing one was $11.00. I enjoy your videos.
Wow, awesome score. I'm always amazed at what people will throw away. As the old saying goes, one man's trash is another man's treasure.. Some people just have more dollars than sense. Thanks for sharing...
I got a nice 1 year old craftsman lawnmower for free once as well. The guy said he pulled and pulled and pulled and gave up so be bought another brand new mower. It was out of gas...
I got a Dyson vacuum once that was overheating. Quick google search - check the removable filters. They are washable so after I rinsed out the brick dust, it’s still running well after 6 years.
RSMLauderdale101 Last month a guy gave me a Stihl FS80R weed trimmer, an HS45 Hedge trimmer, a 350 backpack blower and a 1979 Homelite Super XL Automatic Chainsaw. A few other things too. Only the backpack blower needed work, all the other stuff runs abd works. He just wanted the stuff gone, his brother refused to clean up the shed. Now I have over a grand of goodies, that was just one score recently. Gotta love it. Those Stihl products, they are top notch.
I was shocked the seller was familiar enough with an engine to claim it had "a bad gasket", but not enough to know he/she could possibly be over-filling it with oil. If I had to guess, they wanted a new mower and fabricated an excuse to get it.
I had an older gentleman with a White brand riding mower that so wanted a new mower. His wife told him to get it looked at first. I told him that it was in super shape other than a few simple repairs that I gladly did for a small fee. He was upset because he wanted a shiny new mower but I told him the new ones do not have the same quality as the one he had. 6 months later he passed away but his wife said she now used the mower and admitted he just wanted to spend money on a new toy. Sad that he didnt get his new toy but she was very happy with my honesty and really liked the mower anyways.
Nice free mower. FYI: Please buckle your belt even on short hops between yard sales. Air bag & no safety belt = bad news. Also start using your RIGHT hand to open door from inside vehicle. That way you will NEVER miss a passing vehicle as you will have a better view of the road & automatically see a view of the mirror. ( you have a family) later.
I wonder how far away the garage sale is from Mustie's house where the mower was free. I think the guy will be P.O ed if he sees it up for sale and Mustie tells him the minor mistake ge made of over filling the oil. Good job Mr. Mustie I truly find your videos educational. You talk to the camera like we are there with you. That is awesome My question though have you ever been a teacher cause you would make a good one.
He would now, wouldn't he? No, he's never been a teacher, his story is a bit stranger than that. I don't remember which videos let me learn why he started his channel, but if you want to see why, find the video when Amesie brought his Saab Sonnet up, met Mustie 1 and let Mustie drive it. Darrell was visibly scared, Social anxiety. Later on, he helped Amesie pull a 96 "out of the cabbage" to be restored.
Not sure if you have heard this in a while but you have gotten so good with your camera work that we forget you are filming everything you do! Love your videos and your awesome mechanical abilities.
Steven - very accurate analysis - he puts US in a better position than he leaves himself in, at times. He is a true pro and never forgets to explain stuff to us. He is a natural. Chuck in NE Kansas
MUSTIE YOU ARE EXCELLENT MECHANIC, I ENJOY YOUR VIDEOS, WISH I COULD TRANSLATE THEM INTO SPANISH FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE MILLION SPANISH VIEWERS THAT COULD BE FOLLOWING YOU .... SALUDOS AMIGO!!!!!
Wow was that a record for the fastest lawn mower repair? Thank you so much for making these videos and making us feel like we are right there and even asking our opinion. You never seem to lose your temper if things don't work out just right or a small item ends up flying out of your fingers. I have learned so much even tho I'm on the other side of the US.
Another great watch! I was quite excited to see some footage of The Mount at the end. Put a big smile on my face. Brought me right back to childhood. Thanks
Watching you change it from mulch to bag makes me appreciate my Honda even more. One lever, slide right to left and it goes from bag to mulch and anything in between.
I once got a nice free Craftsman self propelled mower from a couple that had just moved into the neighborhood and he said it had no compression. Got it home and realized the movers had removed the spark plug! I took it back and told the guy but he had already bought new and he told me to keep it. Those scores are infrequent but awesome.
That was a good find Mustie1. I found one a couple of months ago when we had a town-wide yard sale, a Toro Personal Pace for $20, the guy said that he couldn't get the mower started so he bought a new one. Turned out to be stale fuel and a clogged main jet in the carburetor.
Yup. That stale fuel gel and a blocked jet can be found all over the country. But not a lot of people who know how to clean a carb ..... or even where it is!
You have saved me so much money. I am a constant student of Mustie1 RU-vid University. Thank you for your videos sir. And tell Ma and Pa Mustie "Howdy" For me!
On servicing those paper air filters, my initial cleaning blast with the air gun is usually from the inside out, (or against the air flow when in use) when possible. Thanks for all these lessons. Narragansett Bay.
This is the strangest designed Craftsman mower I've seen. But it's crazy to see the things people just throw out or give away free. There was nothing wrong with the mower!
I gave 20 bucks for a store return that was locked up. I realized at the store it was locked up because someone told their kid to fill the oil before cranking it for the first time and he did,,,,all the way to the top. I took it home, drained about 2 quarts of oil out of it and after an hour, it finally stopped smoking. Sold it the next day for 75.
BCtruck, rebuild, repair,repurpose overfilling wouldn't actually cause it to lock up unless the oil got on top of the piston somehow. I guess that could happen from overfilling and tipping the mower to one side but never heard if it.
Good one I salvaged had a tag reading "siezed". Took it home, and was pulling the plug to squirt some PB blaster in there, and a bunch of gas came out. Float bowl had stuck, flooded the engine and hydro'd it. Not a super expensive mower, but free is free.
Nice score on the freebie mower...quick cash flip/barter material on that one for sure! Useless movie trivia: The shot of the tour boat coming into dock reminded me of the "Königin Luise " from the African Queen.
I'm a regular viewer of your videos and have learned an awful lot from you. I do all sorts of my own repairs on just about everything. Garbage day is my drive-by shopping. In our town (Goderich, Ont. on Lake Huron) you have to pay to put out garbage so a lot of people put stuff out at the curb - free for the taking. Last week was one for the ages. In just 7 days I scored a 10 HP snowblower with all of the bells and whistles, a Craftsman gas mower, a Craftsman electric mower and a "Greenworks" electric mower. The owner of the snowblower showed up and assured me that there was nothing wrong with the machine. He had pulled the starter cord out of the machine last winter and felt that it was too old to last much longer so he bought a new one. I did a starter cord and cleaned out a jelly-filled carb fuel bowl. Started on the first pull. Tightened the wire on the electric start and the whole unit was A1. The gas mower had no pull cord. Put on a new one and got all of the grass debris away from the carb which prevented the choke from closing. Blasted a pound of dried grass out of the air filtre. Easy fix on an expensive unit. The Craftsman electric had a destroyed bottom motor bearing from the plastic fan running way off centre. Easy fix. The Greenworks looked brand new. The owner said take it away the motor is burnt out. Nope. The safety switch on the handlebars was being extra safe. It wouldn't let power go to the motor. Amputated it and installed a good old fashioned ON-OFF switch. Fixed. Good week - 4 for 4 Keep at it folks.
bucket of very hot water with dish washer tab or 3 in it brings white up brilliantly without causeing rot to fabric.... pro tip there , your welcome and thanks your helped me with tips and tricks too
Nice vid shows that not all what appears to be broke, just needs a bit of the old "tinker magic". Also it's so right you need too keep the grass down,so you can test all them bikes( large or small😉) when you get them going👍👍
Luckiest guy in the world you are! Although personally don't care for those later Craftsmans myself (to much plastic..and that bag design) they are easy quick sellers. Nice Lake, and good to see your parents get back to visit ;)
that is lake winnipesaukee. the boat is the Mt. Washington. When the kid in the video called out the NH flag i new exactly what i was seeing. its my own back yard basically.
as always thanks for the content have a great rest of ya weekend ...... i didnt put 2 and 2 together when it was being power washed ... in my mind i thought it was running then he stuck his hand under the side bahahahhahah
So this guy gave away his lawnmower because he over-filled it with oil and it was smoking a bit? I wonder why he doesn't also just get his lawn re-sodded whenever the grass gets too long.
canuckguy worried not just the guys though, the girls are holding their own too. It’s common sense and a little spirit of adventure that drives you to remove those screws or bolts and find what the heck is going on.
Its very easy to overfill these machines with oil especially at service. Usually, draining through the filler plug does not allow all the oil to drain from the crankcase and then you fill it up with the requisite amount as per the service manual - the machine is then overfilled. I did this once with my Briggs Intek on the Yardman Ride-on; it started to smoke heavily after 5 minutes and in a panic I stripped the motor right down fearing broken rings. Once into the crankcase I saw the issue; fortunately every thing was in fine order and the upside was that I rectified Briggs' diabolical engineering (e.g. head ports that were obviously shaped by a neanderthal on piecework and head/cylinder surfaces that were like the Rockies- no wonder they have a rep for blowing head gaskets!). The extra power I unleashed was a joy!!!
Maybe it's not a lack of brains, maybe their time is worth more to them than their money. I have the tools and knowledge to swap the transmission in my truck, but it's not worth taking away from family time, so I pay someone to do it.
@@delukxy Fortunately they sell quickly in my area, and being in the landscaping/property maintenance trade offers many opportunities for sales or trades.
I've have an ad that reads "Do you have a lawnmower going to the dump". I go and pickup the equipment for free, put 2 dollars into it and it runs great again. I then sell it for a profit. They don't teach you how to maintain equipment at the box stores, but I do. I guess that's why I don't see my customers after the sell. I have repair mowers that are 30yrs old, and they run great. RDM Repairs Oregon.
Picked up one for free, tolf doing the same thing...it ran poorly, and smoked... come to find out it have 2 stroke gas oil mix in the tank...there's your problem lady.
Oh boy. I used to work at a gas station and a guy came in looking for 2 stroke oil "oh it's for your weed whacker eh?" He said its for his lawn mower "...ugh two stroke lawnmower?" No it's a 4 stroke.."ugh sir..lemme get you the correct stuff.."
Hey man! Picked up a craftsman mower today... my first rescue. Bought it for 10 bucks after the guy ran it with no air filter for two weeks. Cleaned the carb like I’ve watched you do and by god she fired right up after cleaning every piece I could and changing the oil. Can’t wait to do it again. Thank you for the videos
Mark Wallis I was thinking the same thing. I believe the general rule is...if dip stick has threads--don't screw in to check oil level. If if no threads--bottom it out to check out level. What do you say Mustie?
I like free stuff. I got a Honda mower from a local guy who said his kids used it to mow yards with and one day it just quit running. He dropped it off at my house and when I got home I gave it a few pulls, engine turned over with compression so I checked the gas: None, added some and it still would not start so I remembered Hondas have a Low Oil shut off and checked the oil, what oil? Drained what little was in there, added the proper amount and the mower fired off on second pull. 350 buck mower for the cost of the oil. SCORE!!!!
You find the coolest stuff at cheep or free when you go yard sell probing. Soooo guess we can say it was a good day and ending it with showing folks that your ship did come in. LMAO 😹😹😹😹
Mustie has got to be one of the luckiest guys around. Free lawn mowers to free generators just sitting on the curb lol. You never see that here. They would want almost a new price for a lawn mower with a bad rod and a bent blade in my area.
Andy K Actually, they only use three bolts to hold the engine onto the deck these days. Don’t know why they still have four holes in the deck. You can’t use that fourth hole......
"should be" under the cover, appears to be removed seeing the wire isn't hanging out the side and the mower harness plus is hanging there by right rear wheel :)
Love your vids Mustie. When you pressure washed the bagger it reminded me of mine. Would not bag worth a shit. Looking from inside up to sun and almost no light coming through. Pressure washing made it bag good again.
A good find. Well my eyes aren't what they used to be and I've over filled before due to that. So' to stop me doing it there is a simple trick I learned to help me see the oil level on any dip stick better. I simply torch the tip of the stick so It turns blue/black then I can actually read the oil level much better, especially with clean oil. Just remember it's my bright idea though..lmao Great videos, please keep them coming.
You could also adjust the valve tappets as a part of a tune up. I have a 1988 model 3 HP SupaSwift Briggs & Stratton 92500 model mower which needs new rings,it smokes up like a freight train when cold then clears up after a couple of minutes, it seems to be o.k. when warm but it burned 250 mLs of oil in about 1-2 hours of use,it does blow a bit of smoke on acceleration. It only takes 600 mLs of oil & 1/3rd of the oil disappeared in the hour or 2 that it was used,I topped it up with oil before it was used as it also burned oil when it was previously used. So, I'm going to rebuild it,I'm sure it's rings as it used to start after 3 pulls of the starter cord, now it starts after about 6,the spark plug is also starting to cake up with thick carbon deposits !
I don't get why Briggs motors are considered "inferior." I have a 23 year old Briggs 22" push mower and It still has the same spark plug. Starts 1st or 2nd pull even after sitting all winter. I just change oil and blades (Florida sand) and it hums right along.
Paul Pflaum Briggs back years ago seemed to have a lot more problems. I think maybe just certain horse motors, but some were really good. I think Honda has made a lot of companies step up and get better. I'm not a big fan of Briggs. not against them either. just don't care for the way they run or the sound of them. but they are what they are. just a work motor.
richardscott; same here. mine started running rough last week so I cleaned and checked everything, regapped the plug, cleaned the carb. Check the build plate, 1999. 3.5hp briggs.
