The Desperation "Repair it Regardless" Dilemma

Flymo was the company that had those hovering lawnmowers, right?

Your is the more common style with the powered wheels. Can you share a photo of the complete unit? Curious what it looks like all together.

Good job on keeping it alive/working.
 
Many years ago we were in the same situation when our Bolens mower died on the spot. Bolens had been out of business for nearly 20 years and parts for their machines were about as available as those for your Flymo. In this case the 14 hp engine needed a coil which was custom made for that particular machine. The wife finally had enough of me fixing the machine as much as using it. She came to the door and said "It's time to let that antique go. You can buy a new tractor, but do your research because I don't want to have to buy another one every couple years."

I started searching for replacements and found there were literally dozens of makes and models available. It got so complicated I had to make a spread sheet to help wade through the process. It took nearly 6 months to narrow it down to the top 4 brands. All had been in business for many years and offered similar products at similar prices. It finally came down to who had parts available long after the sale. As it turned out John Deere was the winner. They still stocked parts for their first garden tractors that were made in 1966. They weren't cheap. but at least they were available 36 years later.

That clinched the decision. I ordered a JD 445 with all wheel steering. It's now over 21 years old and has been the most dependable machine I've ever owned. It still looks like new and in all those years the only things it's needed is regular maintenance, a new set of tires (the originals literally rotted out at the side walls), and a couple belts.
 
projectnut said:
Many years ago we were in the same situation when our Bolens mower died on the spot. Bolens had been out of business for nearly 20 years and parts for their machines were about as available as those for your Flymo. In this case the 14 hp engine needed a coil which was custom made for that particular machine. The wife finally had enough of me fixing the machine as much as using it. She came to the door and said "It's time to let that antique go. You can buy a new tractor, but do your research because I don't want to have to buy another one every couple years."

I started searching for replacements and found there were literally dozens of makes and models available. It got so complicated I had to make a spread sheet to help wade through the process. It took nearly 6 months to narrow it down to the top 4 brands. All had been in business for many years and offered similar products at similar prices. It finally came down to who had parts available long after the sale. As it turned out John Deere was the winner. They still stocked parts for their first garden tractors that were made in 1966. They weren't cheap. but at least they were available 36 years later.

That clinched the decision. I ordered a JD 445 with all wheel steering. It's now over 21 years old and has been the most dependable machine I've ever owned. It still looks like new and in all those years the only things it's needed is regular maintenance, a new set of tires (the originals literally rotted out at the side walls), and a couple belts.
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Well... as long as it did not have a Tecumseh HH100 engine... since that company went out of business, finding replacement engine pars is very difficult... but yes John Deere is the best when it comes to parts availability. Everything on the John Deere side, they have available...

1967 JD 112 - work in progress...

IMG_1345.jpeg

Used replacement engine block found in eBay

IMG_1357.jpeg

New old stock valves also found in eBay...

IMG_1370.jpeg
 
wachuko said:
Flymo was the company that had those hovering lawnmowers, right?

Your is the more common style with the powered wheels. Can you share a photo of the complete unit? Curious what it looks like all together.

Good job on keeping it alive/working.
Click to expand...
OK - when I can get back to where it is, I will take a few photos.

Flymo were originally famous for the "hover" type, and come to think of it, I still have an abandoned one of that sort stashed in the neighbor's barn. I thought it was not so much "flying" as "dragging around a plastic guard with a spinning blade" in it's undersides.

Great job on the John Deere. The ride-on tractor is not in the same league as a walk-behind mower. John Deere kit is very popular around here, but I think most of the stuff on the farm out back is JCB. When I am done, stuff like mowers will not have a home in my outbuilding. I am already getting picky about what machines will grace that space. I just have to navigate the line between replacement and nonsensical repairs.

Fixing up? Repairing? Refurbishment? Restoration?
I guess it may be about the status of the object when seen through the filter of a guy who is a member of a group called "Hobby Machinist".

If it's a old Flymo, it gets pop-rivets prosthetics in aluminium. Repairs regardless is a kind of extension to hoarding junk!
BUT ..
If its an old South Bend, it gets unlimited TLC. Every part that it needs gets replaced/restored, upgraded, and made to look good. Maybe to be like like original new, but with a specification that likely exceeds the way it was when it left the factory. OR - it might end up with modifications and extras. If it carries some patina, and dings from encounters in it's previous life, that's OK too. This is also "repairs regardless", but not to "hoarded junk".
 
graham-xrf said:
... BUT ..
If its an old South Bend, ...
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Priorities! Where do you want to spend YOUR time.

My grandfather was a machinist for Giddings & Lewis in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. His home hobby was using his machining skills to work on lawn mowers. If you asked for a picture of him, you get a picture of him on his favorite garden tractor. He built it himself. It used two 3 speed manual car transmissions, lowest speed was to put both in reverse. He'd grown up as a younger son of a farmer, and knew the older brother would inherit the farm, so he took the machining job. But he always had a big garden, apple trees, and a nice yard.
 
wachuko said:
Well... as long as it did not have a Tecumseh HH100 engine... since that company went out of business, finding replacement engine pars is very difficult... but yes John Deere is the best when it comes to parts availability. Everything on the John Deere side, they have available...
Click to expand...
The engine in the Bolens was a 14 hp Tecumseh. At that time standard Tecumseh parts were still readily available. The problem was Bolens had a non standard ignition coil designed to better fit within the engine housing. It was specific to that year and model.

I did eventually find one from a former dealer, but the price was $175.00. I put it on the engine and sold the machine before anything else went wrong. It was an excellent machine and still looked like new when I sold it. I just wasn't willing to have the machine set idle for weeks or months while I looked for parts.

The worst part is that in the past I owned a repair shop and did quite a bit of work on smaller Tecumseh engines. I still have a cabinet full of parts for 3 hp to 8 hp engines. Unfortunately when the company went out of business so did many of my parts suppliers. I finally found a supplier that had connections to several distributors. Unfortunately that dealer went also out of business last year. I have to find another parts supplier for my Toro, Echo, and Stihl power equipment.
 
projectnut said:
The engine in the Bolens was a 14 hp Tecumseh. At that time standard Tecumseh parts were still readily available. The problem was Bolens had a non standard ignition coil designed to better fit within the engine housing. It was specific to that year and model.

I did eventually find one from a former dealer, but the price was $175.00. I put it on the engine and sold the machine before anything else went wrong. It was an excellent machine and still looked like new when I sold it. I just wasn't willing to have the machine set idle for weeks or months while I looked for parts.

The worst part is that in the past I owned a repair shop and did quite a bit of work on smaller Tecumseh engines. I still have a cabinet full of parts for 3 hp to 8 hp engines. Unfortunately when the company went out of business so did many of my parts suppliers. I finally found a supplier that had connections to several distributors. Unfortunately that dealer went also out of business last year. I have to find another parts supplier for my Toro, Echo, and Stihl power equipment.
Click to expand...
You would know this.
I had a Sachs-Dolmar chain saw I bought new in 1986.
It was a great saw! Lost it in the fire, but it would start first or second pull 30 years later. Very powerful-never had a problem.
I always drained the fuel and added fresh when it was to be stored.
Someone told me it was a Stihl saw with quality components from more than one source??
What can you tell me about the brand??

Thanks,
Jeff
 
Sachs-Dolmar were out of my league. I was mainly into the lower end engines like B&S, Tecumseh, Kohler, Power Products, Clinton, Remington, & West Bend. My only experience with Sachs was when they started supplying engines for snowmobiles. A salesman came by to try to get me to inventory some parts. Since I rarely worked on them and the parts were out of this world expensive I passed.

My experience with Stihl is limited. I only have a few pieces, and they have been acquired in the last 5 years or so. I finally got tired of continually repairing the old junk and upgraded
 
In the same general category of do it regardless, moving the air compressor to a cubby on the outside of the shop is now on my list. Wife is tired of it drowning out her audiobooks through her headset while she’s working out there.
 
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