Snapper Lawn Mower War Story.

[volvoguy87]

I bought my 1st house recently and just got the keys this past Thursday. A friend of mine used to have a commercial landscaping company and he gave me his old Snapper for free. It's a circa 2002 21-inch cut self-propelled walk-behind mower that was loved, quite literally, to death. The engine had essentially blown itself to bits.

Thus far I'm into the machine about $450.00. New wheels (steel, not plastic), new mulching blade, new handle and handle pad, new drive system belts, new belt drive pulley, new blade drive block, and a new engine. I don't know the power rating on the engine, but it's a Briggs & Stratton 875 series 190cc OHV engine. I wanted a Honda engine, but that would have been an additional $200.00 I didn't want to spend.

This house was a foreclosure and the grass was 3 feet tall, and thick. I set the throttle for high, the drive for low, and plowed right in. I ran the mower for a long time and it NEVER stalled! I mowed grass, weeds the size of bathtubs, small trees, debris from cutting down some overgrown and out of control bushes, etc. and the mower just kept right on going. It's a heavy beast, but it can't be stopped.

I think I'm a Snapper fan for life now.
What are your favorite mower war stories?
Dave

I fought the lawn and the lawn won (not!).

 

[arbilab]

"I fought the lawn and the lawn won".

I'm sure Bobby Fuller would be pleased with the tribute.

Breakin rocks in the... hot sun
(refrain)
I needed money cuz I... had none
(refrain)

I left my baby and it feels so bad
I guess my race is run
Cuz she's the best girl I ever had
(refrain)

I wrote a song and the song won. It's been in continuous release since 1969 and will outlive me. I couldn't be more pleased. Google "Mehameha".

I use powder (Tide HE) without any dissolvablity artifacts.

 

[arbilab]

Oops, that last line was cross-mojination from another thread. Smoke came out my jumblies.

I've had a number of Briggs apart and the only parts I ever had to buy for them was air filters and spark plugs. Even when both the valves stuck open. Very admirable design. My last one lasted 20 years and is probably still going somewhere.

 

[sudsmaster]

My current mower is a push mower. An MTD with an OHC Honda motor. The deck is stainless steel, as well. It's a great little machine, more than enough for the postage size lawn in front of my home (it's about 30 feet by 30 feet, if that).

It mulches well, and will do a credible job of picking up clippings with the included bag. Starts always on the first pull as long as one remembers to turn on the gas and pull back the choke.

It's also better on gas than my previous mower, another MTD product with a steel deck and a Briggs & Stratton flathead motor. That one worked OK but was more of a hassle to convert between mulching and bagging. I think the Honda motor is more powerful but power is not generally an issue for such a small lawn.

I understand the challenge of a new home with neglected yard. When I bought this place in '97 the house itself needed a lot of work (repainting, stripping off wallpaper, removing carpeting, refinishing hardwood floors underneath) as well as various plumbing issues, so I didn't get to the yard until late in the summer. By then the weeds had grown waist high. I didn't have a lot of garden tools at the time and actually got a lot of black plastic to "solarize" the soil after I'd whacked down the weeds. I don't know how well it worked because I've been fighting the same weeds ever since, but a year later I put down about 3 inches of very good compost, and then started planting trees and flowers and a veggie garden etc.

Along the way I got a Patriot chipper/shredder which I couldn't manage the place without. I use it to reduce a large "harvest" of ivy clippings to compostible size, as well as bush and tree clippings/limbs. An Echo single sided big tooth hedge trimmer helps a lot too. And then there's the rear tine 5 hp tiller (another MTD product) which gets broken out around this time every year to prepare the vegetable garden for another planting. Make my own compost from the aforementioned trimmings and kitchen scraps and spread that around... the plants love it.

No grass back there... I use the back yard for fruit trees and vegetables.

[this post was last edited: 5/20/2012-09:50]

 

[tolivac]

The rebuilt Snapper mower did well in the story---For radio stations--you never know what sort of old,beat up mower is there-for neglected tower feilds-go to the local Rent-All place and rent a tractor and bush hog.One that I rented for a neglected feild was a Kubota tractor with a "Dixie Cutter" brand bush hog-did great!!!since the tractor had a front loader(the bush hog acts as a counterweight for a full loader)Used that to blaze trails to some of the tower guy anchors that needed painting.and that "Dixie Cutter" chopped up some forgotten coiled guy cables in the brush!!And looked at its blades when I was done---not a nick in them!!Otherwise that tower feild was mowed with a Massy Furgeson or Jacobsen tractor.Ran both to death.We also called those "ground radial finders"becuase AM stations have ground wires buried around the towers-and many times had to remove wire wrapped blade shafts!The wires are plowed with Ditch witch type tractors and cable plows.A copper sheet is around the base of the tower and the radials connected to it for the station ground conduction.-so for AM stations--half of the antenna system is underground.and these go bad after 20 yrs or so-and the system has to be redone-signs of this are reduced station coverage-and "holes" in your pattern where they shouldn't be.Have had to redo grounds a few times--not fun-esp if the transmitter is on-you get RF burns on your fingers!
for at homne have a John Deere #145 tractor and a BD rechargeable mower.I used to have a JD walk mower-but hated the thing.Its B&S motor has the shear pin INSIDE the motor-not outside-on the blade shaft as on older ones.Of course those can be fixed in minutes-the internal one-mower goes to the shop-left the thing there.didn't want to bother.The electric one is BETTER!

 

[miele_ge]

interesting article about snapper and how they said no to wa

Read it in "Fast Company" magazine several years ago.

 

Seems like a good solid company - we need more of them these days.

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/102/open_snapper.html