Ode to an old mower
Update 12/27/2008: If you have a Sensation mower, you might like to help maintain and expand the Sensation Wikipedia article or join the Sensation Mowers Users Group at Yahoo! for help with your old Sensation mower
For the first time in what seems an eternity, the clouds broke and there was some small amount of sun for periods of the day. Today also gave us a break in the humidity which has been near 99% for most of the past week, the high at mid-day being only about 78%. A gentle, and cool 5 mph wind, gusting to 10 mph made being outside almost pleasant. I like to keep track of my local weather using Terry’s BNL weather site since I can look at trend graphs of all the important stats. It’s been so long since I’ve had a chance to work outside and mow, trim and otherwise tend to things, I grabbed the opportunity to get some of it done. Before I could mow the lawn, I knew I had to do a little maintenance on the old mower.
I say old, because I have the original purchase receipt from April 23, 1983! which shows that Dad paid $475 for it new at that time. As a quick aside, wondering how much that $475 was worth at the time, I stumbled over to Economic History Resources for an idea. Although I have not investigated this site’s methodology, the figure it returns, a $858.11 value in 2002, seems reasonable. It’s still a workhorse, so it was a good investment. I assume my mom approved the kingly sum since it was built in Wisconsin, her home state.
The documentation says that the mower was made by Gilson Brothers of Plymouth, WI. A quick check of some internet sources showed that Gilson brothers was founded in 1932 and sold to Lawn-Boy, Inc. in 1988. Lawn Boy is a division of Toro according the “Founding Industries of Wisconsin Project” http://www.uwm.edu/Library/arch/FndIndst/FIDl.htm The Lawn Boy site http://www.lawnboy.com/about/history/index.html sums up the Gilson Bothers’ 56 years of industry in this curt synopsis:
1988: To expand the product line, Lawn-Boy purchased Gilson Brothers, thereby inheriting a line of garden tractors, single and 2-stage snow throwers, roto tillers, and space heaters. Lawn-Boy headquarters was moved from Memphis, Tennessee to Plymouth, Wisconsin
At least the Gilson Brothers workers probably kept their jobs, I’ve seen a lot of take-overs where the firm is bought and moved someplace far away.
The mower is an orange, Sensation Commercial model #11L4A with a 4hp Briggs & Stratton engine (model 110902, type 3168-01, code 03031004), its a walk-behind, power mower with a 20″ blade. The blade housing is cast aluminum, and so, has not rusted a bit over the years. I’ve removed the grass chute deflector which is (was?) not aluminum and which always gets clogged with grass especially when the grass is wet and I end up spending more time cleaning it out than mowing. Without it, the grass (and whatever I happen to run over) gets shot out behind the mower at just enough of an angle to not hit me or the back wheel. I wear machinist glasses and send Emily and the dog inside when I operate it this way because its pretty dangerous to be near.
I have developed a fondness for the old mower, and I would be loath to part with it for anything short of total mechanical failure. Although I am not a particularly mechanically minded person, I have a few maintenance rituals that I always perform with the mower. These include regular oil changes, replacement or cleaning of the spark plug as warranted, cleaning of the air filter every other wow (the air filter is a sponge type, not paper - so I clean it in soap and water and when its dry, I put a few drops of machine oil on it - something my dad always did, and so I do it, though I’m not sure why). I change the blade when the grass starts to look raggedy instead of cleanly cut, and I keep it in the shed (I don’t leave it out in the rain!). I’ve learned that it might not start for two reasons: 1) that I have no gas! Even though it looks like there’s enough in the tank, it may not be enough to get into the feed line. (Thanks to Mike Crivelli who found this out for me, much to my shagrin) 2) that the kill switch on the front of the mower is connected to the safety bar by a cable and it basically grounds out the starter and won’t allow it to start sometimes even when the kill switch handle is held back. This is because slack in that cable doesn’t allow the kill switch to pull back far enough and disengage. (Thanks to Al Watson who discovered this)
Comment posted on 5-30-2005
Such a beautiful day for yearly maintenance on the old machine! Hurrah for this mower’s 22nd season of service!
For the Briggs & Stratton system 2 model 110900 (4hp @ 3600rpm), I removed the air filter cover and cleaned the sponge air filter with soap and water. I soaked it in engine oil before I put it back in (as noted in the maintenance manual - which I still have if anyone needs a copy someday). While the air filter was off I removed the rubber 90 degree elbow that connects the gas tank to the engine and cleaned it in gas. I tried to get every last bit of grime out of the metal fuel lines (there was some nastiness in there, though not much). The rubber 90 had no signs of rot at all. Keeping the thing in the shed out of the weather all these years has pretty much preserved it. I carefully cleaned out all the mechanisms around the throttle arm and zapped them with WD-40 to get them lubricated again. I replaced the old bent paper clip with a proper 3" sping for throttle arm tension - now it picks an idle speed and stays there! I don’t know why I didn’t fix that years ago… I drained the oil and changed it with 10W-30 weight Quaker State (it takes 1.25 pint). I changed the spark plug (CJ -8), though I didn’t check the gap (just remembered now)! [note 9/07: gap should be 0.03"]
As far as the Sensation (model: 11L4A) mower goes, I removed the blade (still in good shape, as I bought two in 2003 - this is the second one, but I still the other in the shed), and sharpened it up down in the basement on the grinder. I didn’t adjust the height of the wheels, although I thought about it this year - I think I like it high like my dad left it. I still have the chute deflector entirely off - danger, will robinson! and still wear machining glasses when I use it. I never understood people who think they need to hump bags of grass around or some special mulcher. If you just mow before the grass gets too high, you’re OK anyway.
Caveat: I don’t really have a lawn as much as an ecosystem.
Comment posted on 5-4-2006
Performed yearly ‘gettin ‘er ready’ maintenance last week. Replaced the spark plug (CJ-8), changed the oil (10W-30), cleaned the filter with soap and water (and lightly oiled it with machine oil), fiddled with the spring on the throttle so that it was out of the way of the air filter enclosure, and VROOM! started right up again. My neighbor who works on old tractors is impressed that it’s still running.
Comment posted on 10-6-2007
[...] dry around these parts lately, and I haven’t had the mower out in several weeks. The mower, you may recall, is an old Sensation with a 4hp Briggs andStratton engine. It’s been kept in the shed since [...]
Comment posted on 4-4-2008
I have one of these mowers in the Philippines that looks just like yours but is in a lot worse shape. I would like to restore it and make it look original. Could you please send me a larger version of your picture so I can get the colors right? My motor is not original but the aluminum deck is still perfect. I love the raised letters on the front of the deck. They just don’t make um like they used to. Thanks for the great descriptions. -Mike
Comment posted on 9-24-2008
I have the same engine, also bought in 1983, but on a Snapper mower and its odd how attached I have gotten to this thing. Likewise, I disassembled the carb. in an attempt to make it run smoother and can’t recall how the spring and paper clip were configured. Did you have a picture of that bit? I also read that Nate did away with the paperclip and replaced it with a three inch spring. I would like to know where he got the spring… I’m guessing the tension matters greatly.
Thanks
Comment posted on 9-24-2008
I posted a bunch of pictures back when I did that here.