WANTED: No frills push mower (Lawnboy?)

atlarge54

Member
The lady of the house likes to push mow the small yard (good exercise) while I do the big areas. We've used a Toro Personal Pace mower for the past few years and I'm getting sick of working on it. Recently replaced a blade drive/brake belt and cable for blade brake. I am really glad I didn't spend $400+ for this mower as it's just too complicated for a simple 22" mower. I have a Honda 216 push mower that runs fine but don't really care for the self-propelled mechanism.

I'm contemplating looking for an old 2-stroke Lawn Boy mower that is just simply a push lawn mower. Any experts here on what model to look for? I'm pretty well versed in 2-cycles and like their simplicity. When did they quit using points for ignition? Are parts easy to find?
 
Well, each to his own, I guess. I am no fan of them, but I work for a Toro dealer so we fix them.

There haven't been new 2 cycle Lawn Boys in the 12 years I have worked there. And the last two oldies that were in here (Last year) both
came back with the same problem (hard to start) before the year was out.

I know your frustrations with the Personal Pace. Several parts on them were built to meet the price, not for to last a while.

Why don't you just remove all the self propel stuff and just push it?
Last year two customers brought theirs in for service with instructions not to attempt any self propel repairs.
 
I have about 20 restored Lawn Boys. I'm not sure of the exact number anymore.
For a nice, well built, self propelled Lawn Boy, the 10515, or similar model, would be great. It is no frills, except for it being self propelled. 4.5 HP motor. Circa 1993, or there abouts.
mvphoto79972.jpg

It has a 3 speed trans, and while not considered a "Personal Pace" mower. it is fully adjustable, depending on how hard you squeeze the handle. It's the mower my wife uses, and has used since we bought it in '93.

A good, non self propelled choice would be a 7268. ~ 1980. It is strictly push. 21" cut. Very light weight, and will run forever.

mvphoto79973.jpg


For an even lighter weight, 19", easy to push mower, a 5242 would be great. ~ 1974. weighs next to nothing.

mvphoto79974.jpg


Personally, I would avoid a mower with capstan drive. Many considered these mowers to be under powered, as the capstan drive was not real efficient, and required much of the mowers HP, simply to drive it. It is the type of Lawn Bot where a small top section of the handle is cocked forward, engaging 2 steel rollers against the rear wheels. Once in drive, it has 1 speed. Either you had to keep, up, or on some occasions, was too slow, and users would eventually end up not using the self propelled feature at all. This particular mower, is also electric start
mvphoto79975.jpg

The 6.5 HP Dura Force mowers have more power than you will ever need, but in my opinion, are heavy, They are available in SP, or push.
mvphoto79976.jpg



Lawn Boy was owned by a variety of different parent corp. I believe the last being Toro, but don't quote me on that. The last 2 stroke, I think, was in 2004. The gov'ment decided to protect us all from the high polluting 6.5 HP motors. Although a 200 HP boat motor was fine. Go figure.

If your wife wants a
"classic"mower, here are some options, but they don't come cheap.
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mvphoto79978.jpg


mvphoto79979.jpg
 
(quoted from post at 21:29:51 08/10/21) The lady of the house likes to push mow the small yard (good exercise) while I do the big areas. We've used a Toro Personal Pace mower for the past few years and I'm getting sick of working on it. Recently replaced a blade drive/brake belt and cable for blade brake. I am really glad I didn't spend $400+ for this mower as it's just too complicated for a simple 22" mower. I have a Honda 216 push mower that runs fine but don't really care for the self-propelled mechanism.

I'm contemplating looking for an old 2-stroke Lawn Boy mower that is just simply a push lawn mower. Any experts here on what model to look for? I'm pretty well versed in 2-cycles and like their simplicity. When did they quit using points for ignition? Are parts easy to find?
ave you thought about one of the new battery powered mowers like the Ego? Might be worth a look.
 
Other than adjusting once the self-propelled portion isn't too bad. It's not a terrible mower, just glad I didn't spend $400 on it.
 


That 7268 looks like something I'd like to try. Are parts hard to find, particularly rubber parts (primer bulb? etc.). Does that model have points?

Does the 4-digit numbering system have any significance?

I did a bit of research and lawnboy model F was claimed to be one of the best but I don't see model F's when I do a search on ebay.

Also, that's a nice collection you have.
 
I bought my first "Dura-Force" 6.5 HP Lawn-Boy 20 years ago for 20 bucks at a garage sale. Best mower I have ever owned. I have a lot of very steep banks which I mow rather than "weedwack". Because it's a 2-stroke, it mows on any angle without worrying about oil starvation. As Greg says, you will most likely never use all of it's power. Mine are all "self propelled" and because they are rear wheel drive, they give you very good traction on an uphill grade; just push down on the handle for extra traction.


(quoted from post at 10:23:57 08/11/21)
The 6.5 HP Dura Force mowers have more power than you will ever need, but in my opinion, are heavy, They are available in SP, or push.
mvphoto79976.jpg
 
(quoted from post at 06:06:14 08/11/21)

That 7268 looks like something I'd like to try. Are parts hard to find, particularly rubber parts (primer bulb? etc.). Does that model have points?

Does the 4-digit numbering system have any significance?

I did a bit of research and lawnboy model F was claimed to be one of the best but I don't see model F's when I do a search on ebay.

Also, that's a nice collection you have.

Thank You

The 7268 is an F series motor. It is not a points motor. Primer bulbs and all other parts, concerning the motor, and most of the rest of the mower, are readily available at Partstree.com.

If the 4 digit numbering system has any significance, I have never figured it out.

poke here
 
I am not an expert but I have a 10400 from early 90s that has been great.
19 inch cut with alloy deck. Is light and just about as easy to use as Lawnboy with front drive.
 
The light weight (70 pound or less) disposable mowers at big box stores might be your best bet for a trimming mower. Simple, easy to start, easy to push, easy to turn, and quiet. This time of year they should soon be discounted to make room for Halloween merchandise. If the plastic rear wheels start to wobble, replace them with ball bearing wheels ($10 each). High wheeled models are OK for straight runs of lawn, but are hard to use for trimming due to poor balance when turning.
 
The last time I looked at mowers the Lawn Boys shared the same Personal Pack drive as on Toro. Are they now owned by the same company?
 
(quoted from post at 12:13:35 08/14/21) The last time I looked at mowers the Lawn Boys shared the same Personal Pack drive as on Toro. Are they now owned by the same company?
The last I knew, Lawn Boy was bought out by Toro. Yes, you can still buy a Lawn Boy, but not a 2 stroke.
 
So here's what I wound up with, seems to be relatively low hours and runs fine. It's a 1999, a good bit newer than I wanted and two cables is two more cables than I wanted. Steel deck not cast but I'm done looking for a while. I left a $75 bid at a local auction, got a call in the afternoon that I got it for $25----gave the auction helper a $5 tip which he tried to refuse. There are still honest folk walking around out there.

I've never had any luck posting photos here. So it's a 21" with a duraforce motor not self propelled.


This post was edited by atlarge54 on 08/21/2021 at 05:01 pm.
 
Thanks for update, nice to hear what happened. You should like the DuraForce.
My 6.5 hp DuraForce on self propelled with plug and mulching blades has plenty of power.
 
(quoted from post at 03:04:01 08/26/21) Thanks for update, nice to hear what happened. You should like the DuraForce.
My 6.5 hp DuraForce on self propelled with plug and mulching blades has plenty of power.

The first mow went fine, the mulching system is far superior to the Toro and the Honda. This mower is a Silverpro series whatever that means. The gas tank is huge on this mower maybe 1/2 gallon or so. She can probably mow 3 or 4 times before adding fuel.

I will be adding an in line fuel filter ASAP.
 
(quoted from post at 15:56:21 08/28/21)
(quoted from post at 03:04:01 08/26/21) Thanks for update, nice to hear what happened. You should like the DuraForce.
My 6.5 hp DuraForce on self propelled with plug and mulching blades has plenty of power.

The first mow went fine, the mulching system is far superior to the Toro and the Honda. This mower is a Silverpro series whatever that means. The gas tank is huge on this mower maybe 1/2 gallon or so. She can probably mow 3 or 4 times before adding fuel.

I will be adding an in line fuel filter ASAP.

The difference between a Silver Series, and a Gold series..........A Silver series has a steel deck. Gold has aluminum.
 

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