Goodby old Friend.

"RacinBob" (racinbob) 05/03/2020 at 20:30 • Filed to: None

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I bought this 70's vintage Montgomery Ward mower at a garage sale in 1990 just before we bought our house.There were two mowers for sale, a no-name steel deck mower and the Montgomery Ward. The Montgomery Ward m ower had an aluminum deck which sold me.

It’s been trustworthy though I think my lack of oil changes has resulted in bore wear and low compression. In fall and spring of it’s last years would require starter spray to get running.

W hen I bought my 60's Lawnboy the Montgomery Ward was relegated to spare mower. It actually came in handy when I tossed a rod on the Lawnboy 3 years ago,

. Now that my brother gave me his ‘70's Lawnboy it was time to set the Montgomery Ward off to a new home.

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > RacinBob 05/03/2020 at 20:57

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Christ those are old! It's awesome you used them

ranwhenparked > RacinBob 05/03/2020 at 20:57

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You can’t say you didn’t get your money’s worth though. But, those old Lawn Boys are a hell of a good mower - are yours magnesium or aluminum decks

Roadkilled > RacinBob 05/03/2020 at 21:01

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Goodby mower my old friend
We’ve mowed the lawn until the end
Because of the piston rings that were leaking
And the oil that was slowly leaking
And the landscape that was planted in my brain
Still remains
With the sound of silence

BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind > RacinBob 05/03/2020 at 21:01

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May I ask...other than the kitsch factor, is there really any benefit to using a 50 year old mower?

RacinBob > ranwhenparked 05/03/2020 at 21:04

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I’ve wondered if they are Magnesium too. How does one tell?

jimz > ranwhenparked 05/03/2020 at 21:06

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my folks still have a 40 year old Lawn Boy.  Still works great.

jimz > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 05/03/2020 at 21:06

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brand new mowers don’t really do anything better.

ranwhenparked > RacinBob 05/03/2020 at 21:07

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I think its cast into the deck somewhere, but it varies by year. 

jimz > RacinBob 05/03/2020 at 21:07

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Ah, Montgomery Ward.  Just another name on the scrap heap of department stores like F&M, Service Merchandise, Hudson, Marshall Field’s, and a whole shitload more I’m forgetting. 

RacinBob > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 05/03/2020 at 21:11

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The first mower I used was a 1950's Lawn Boy Iron Horse mower as a kid. (that mower is still being used today at the family cabin)

I grew up with magneto ignition and carburetors so it just pleases me to keep them running. Plus it’s nice not spending money on stuff you don’t need.

Also, they complement my 46 year old Alfa and my 49 year old Honda 350.

BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind > jimz 05/03/2020 at 21:16

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Perhaps not “brand new”, but a 5-6hp self propelled mower sure does look easier to live with than what i imagine is a 50lb push mower 

thatsmr > RacinBob 05/03/2020 at 21:30

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When my dad decided it was time for me to start doing the mowing around 1980, he took me to the store to pick my poison, and I selected a nice self-propelled Jacobsen

facw > jimz 05/03/2020 at 21:37

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I’m sure they are massively less polluting if nothing else.

facw > RacinBob 05/03/2020 at 21:38

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Set it on fire and observe how it burns?

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 05/03/2020 at 21:39

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No but the components are usually more durable so you can just keep swapping engines onto the old deck with the metal handles and other bits. Our new mower already has lots of broken plastic while the backup circa mid 80s on its 4th engine still works in a pinch, albeit less intuitively.

Cash Rewards > jimz 05/03/2020 at 21:47

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Man, service merchandise. That's a name I've forgotten

ranwhenparked > jimz 05/03/2020 at 21:47

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I had one as a kid, bought it at a yard sale to use for a neighborhood lawn mowing business. I found out my dad threw it out in a garage cleaning some years back, it was when I was living in an apartment, so he  figured I didn’t want it.

RacinBob > Roadkilled 05/03/2020 at 22:17

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Brilliant!

jimz > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 05/03/2020 at 22:22

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What you imagine is irrelevant.

RacinBob > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 05/03/2020 at 22:24

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I’ve never weighed the lawnboys but I bet they are more like 30 pounds. Given that the lot is 60 x 15o and 4 0% of it is house garage deck and parking pad, if I can’t push the mower for 15 minutes I really don’t have a justification still racing, I call it my weekly stress test.....

RacinBob > facw 05/03/2020 at 22:27

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Massively polluting is an overstatement. I live in a town of 50,000 and you would need to drive an hour to find a bigger city. Cow and pig farts are the chief source of pollution around here.

Trust me, there is far more pollution to all the two strokes outboards on the M ississippi versus my mower, 

BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind > jimz 05/03/2020 at 22:28

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Whoa. Sorry man, I wasn’t trying to be trite or start anything  

RacinBob > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 05/03/2020 at 22:31

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I like watching this guys videos -

facw > RacinBob 05/03/2020 at 22:44

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Doesn’t change the fact that a new one will be much cleaner. I’m sure those two-stroke boats are bad too, but seriously don’t underestimate how bad yard equipment is (especially 2-stroke stuff) :

https://www.edmunds.com/car-reviews/features/emissions-test-car-vs-truck-vs-leaf-blower.html

oldmxer > RacinBob 05/04/2020 at 00:31

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i worked on mowers back in my teens to pay off my car. those old lawn boys were solid engines built to last, most of the 2 stroke engines now are designed to be disposa ble so we will have to buy more new ones

RacinBob > oldmxer 05/04/2020 at 01:00

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The thing that amuse me about our original Iron Horse mower is the carburetor governo r was exposed, We took if from the city where it cut 1/4 inch of grass a week and retired it to the cabin where it cut three inches of grass once a month + small branches.. We learned that if you put a twig under the governor as long as you kept it loaded it would cut anything that it you could feed it. Hell of a mower, 

RacinBob > oldmxer 05/04/2020 at 01:15

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The stunning thing was how expensive they were in today’ s dollars. The ol d Lawnboys were like $400 bucks back then which is about $ 2000 today, I took apart my busted ‘60's engine and the machining and materials were magnificent. You could adjust everything and the materials were selected with care,

Today everything has been cost reduced out. As an example my 10 year old Sears leaf blower recently died because they used the oversized equivalent of drywall screws to hold the engine together. I n maybe the 100 hours I used it they stripped out of its block.

I don’t think the boys at lawn boy would have allowed that in the 60's for a $2000 equivalent cost mower.  Different times but boy that leaf blower was cheap!

cmill189 - sans Volvo > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 05/04/2020 at 02:51

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So you can crack another beer or refill it with fuel without the pesky safety kill  switch getting in the way.

oldmxer > RacinBob 05/04/2020 at 22:08

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i’m blaming China, and the penny counters sending all our production over there, not as many similar jobs like that nowadays over here, now that I think about that subject we might have reason to reverse some of that with recent events