Need a New Lawn Mower

[DerekV]

I have a fiskars reel mower that uses gearing to make it easier to run. Pushes fairly easily, I just found it impractical for me.

Haha, I’m currently converting one of those to electric. Manual reel mowers are a struggle with thick and dense warm season turf grasses like Bermuda. Two 60v BLDC motors, one to drive the rear axle and another for the reel. Variable speed with rpm readouts for both. Going to run three M18 batteries in series. Modified the height adjustment, ditched the front wheels, and retrofitted a slick billet grooved front roller from a 45cm Swardsman. Height of cut range is now ~3/8” to ~1-3/4”. Just waiting on the parts to come in, any day now

 

[strantor]

Haha, I’m currently converting one of those to electric. Manual reel mowers are a struggle with thick and dense warm season turf grasses like Bermuda. Two 60v BLDC motors, one to drive the rear axle and another for the reel. Variable speed with rpm readouts for both. Going to run three M18 batteries in series. Modified the height adjustment, ditched the front wheels, and retrofitted a slick billet grooved front roller from a 45cm Swardsman. Height of cut range is now ~3/8” to ~1-3/4”. Just waiting on the parts to come in, any day now

Do you have a build thread on this? I have questions and I'd like to follow along but I don't want to hijack this thread.

 

[DerekV]

Do you have a build thread on this? I have questions and I'd like to follow along but I don't want to hijack this thread.

Nah not yet, been way too busy lately. I may start one when all of the fun parts come in. Feel free to PM me in the meantime.

 

[mike93lx]

Haha, I’m currently converting one of those to electric. Manual reel mowers are a struggle with thick and dense warm season turf grasses like Bermuda. Two 60v BLDC motors, one to drive the rear axle and another for the reel. Variable speed with rpm readouts for both. Going to run three M18 batteries in series. Modified the height adjustment, ditched the front wheels, and retrofitted a slick billet grooved front roller from a 45cm Swardsman. Height of cut range is now ~3/8” to ~1-3/4”. Just waiting on the parts to come in, any day now

Sounds fun. Want a backup mower?

 

[Firebrick43]

I somewhat disagree with this. It is true there are two Honda lines of small engine (actually three). The GX are industrial/commercial and the GC are consumer engines - throw away, if you will. Most lawnmowers use the GC line. They actually make (or made ad one time) the GS line, which was an industrialized GC.

However to say the GX is better is not exactly accurate. The GC engines are made to a price point and they will not last as long as a GX, however they start easier, are quieter, are lighter and have more power for a given size than a GX engine. And they cost about half as much. They are way better than any other brand of cheap engine.

I'd rather have a GC engine on anything I use at home, just because they are quieter and much easier to start. I've never had a GS, but it seems like that would be the best of both worlds.

That said, I've had craftsman, Husqvarna, Toro, MTD and Honda pushmowers. The Honda is head and shouders above the Toro, which was significantly better than the others. I wouldn't buy any other brand.

IF a GX/GXV engine were any easier to start they would start themselves when you weren't around. Seriously, I have never pulled one(that I remembered to turn on the gas) more than twice after setting all winter, most of the time its once. And the pull is light.

And I highly doubt at full rpm with the mower blade engaged, that there is much difference in noise. At idle there might be some difference due to the lack of metal gears or push rods. Honda GX already set the standard for noise.

I hope that yamaha brings back the chain drive overhead cam engine that it bought from subaru. Those were nice and durable.. They never made a vertical however

 

[mervyn]

I see lawn mowers on Craig’s list, some are nearly new and others are running for $100 or less.

Sometimes you can find a good one for free. Friend of mine got one that someone had kicked to the curb as junk. Looked fairly new. All that was wrong with it was it was over filled with oil.

Anyway, my current push mower is a Cub Cadet. Bought it 4 years ago. Just fired it up after winter nap and started on second pull. Once grass hits high gear , I mow once a week. Keep blade sharp.
Best of luck.

 

[IndyGarage]

IF a GX/GXV engine were any easier to start they would start themselves when you weren't around. Seriously, I have never pulled one(that I remembered to turn on the gas) more than twice after setting all winter, most of the time its once. And the pull is light.

And I highly doubt at full rpm with the mower blade engaged, that there is much difference in noise. At idle there might be some difference due to the lack of metal gears or push rods. Honda GX already set the standard for noise.

I hope that yamaha brings back the chain drive overhead cam engine that it bought from subaru. Those were nice and durable.. They never made a vertical however

I have probably 5-7 of each kind on various pieces of equipment and a couple of chinese clones. GC's are definitely easier to start. Many of them have the auto choke on them, which works great. Not that the GX's are hard to start, they are just an older design and don't light off as easily. The GC's are also noticeably quieter when run side by side. Part of it might be the belt drive cam and the plastic parts, but I think they have a better mufflers too - they were made for residential lawnmowers, and I think Honda did all of us a service. A summer day in the neighborhood isn't as noisy as it used to be. On top of all that they use less gas.

Many people denigrate the GC engines unnecessarily. Unless I'm using it every day or in an industrial setting for hundreds of hours at a time, I much prefer the GC engines. As I said, they did make, and might still make, a GS engine, which was the more modern GC design with heavier bearings and parts more like a GX. I don't think they sold well, but that might be the best one they make.

 

[ddawg16]

OP- are you bagging the grass, or mulching? If you're mulching, that's extremely difficult for the mower if you're cutting more than an inch of grass.
I mow every 7-10 days and a side discharge works fine as long as the grass is fairly dry.

It's FL....grass is NEVER dry

 

[bluwolf]

I ended up buying the Honda HRX217VKA. I thought I would wait until I was actually able to put this to the test. We've been fairly dry here in Florida. So the grass wasn't that bad. Well, we finally started getting rain and the grass turned into a jungle. This lawn mower is awesome. Didn't even stutter in the really heavy stuff. I'm a happy camper again.