The ol' Briggs & Stratton Diesel

[tgordon]

LMAO:-laf:-laf:-laf:-laf:-laf

Do you guys just try anything flamable to run these things on?



In the 20's there were several farm equipment manufacturers who made the "All-Fuel" tractors. They usually had one manifold for intake and exhaust to heat up the mixture as you described before it got into the engine. I have even herd of guys using used engine oil to run their John Deere A's on with no problems. Just dropping a hint for you guys with the time and equipment.



As for the distilate, kerosene and diesel, they are a lot alike, yet they are very differant. I had an older gentelman explain it to me once, but my, oh crap I forgot where I was going with that.

 

[icman95]

Vaughn,

I'm even more amazed that you needed your mower in February (your original post said you started this in Febuary 03). Here in CT I'm nowhere near putting my snowblower and plow away in Feb. In fact, last winter the first snow storm we got was in Feb. My first mow isn't until late April or early May. Your current location says WA, where were you before you moved that you needed to mow in Feb? I wonder... . diesel in the snowblower... . ???

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

Mine doesn't have a choke either. The best warmup procedure is wet the air filter good with gas then once it's burned off it's running fine on diesel.

 

[JApol]

Vaughn,

I'm even more amazed that you needed your mower in February (your original post said you started this in Febuary 03). Here in CT I'm nowhere near putting my snowblower and plow away in Feb. In fact, last winter the first snow storm we got was in Feb. My first mow isn't until late April or early May. Your current location says WA, where were you before you moved that you needed to mow in Feb? I wonder... . diesel in the snowblower... . ???

I grew up about 60 miles west of Vaughn. Sometimes it could get into the 50's during Feb and where I was was usually cooler as we are closer to the mountains.

 

[OKish]

Well guys, tried this on my 65 cub cadet 100 with my modded kohler. hehe, didn't like the diesel too much. was running good then after 45 minutes it started spewing black and white smoke out the breather and muffler, started rattling nice and good, i tried to shut her down but it started detonating and pinging, shot the dipstick out. i finally got the air cleaner off and tried to choke her but it detonated again. and shut off. Ended up killing the piston!!!!

OOPS!
#ad

#ad

#ad


decided to rebuild the engine the CORRECT way!

#ad

#ad

Shaved the head too!
#ad


Gonna try the diesel thang again!
#ad

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

Vaughn,

I'm even more amazed that you needed your mower in February (your original post said you started this in Febuary 03). Here in CT I'm nowhere near putting my snowblower and plow away in Feb. In fact, last winter the first snow storm we got was in Feb. My first mow isn't until late April or early May. Your current location says WA, where were you before you moved that you needed to mow in Feb? I wonder... . diesel in the snowblower... . ???

Yep spring comes a bit eary in some parts of WA, it's fairly mild most of the time for being inland . . . on typical year mowing starts here mid-late March but on mild winters the grass starts growing in Feb. Sometimes have temps in the 60s to near 70 but it can also be cold and in the 20s. We are usually "snow safe" by March, snow is rare past the end of February (on years we actually get snow). But once in a while we get an old fashioned winter. . . 03/04 was bad. . . 12" of snow and below 0



OKish maybe next time retard the timing quite a bit, and maybe put in a thicker head gasket

This winter I may tear mine down just to see how it looks.

 

[ekroman]

Once upon a time, when I was about 17 or 18 years old, I had mixed up some engine cleaner with some Kerosene. I think it was called "Gunk SC" (Super Clean). I left it in a gas can in the garage.



I woke up from a nap, and my Father was outside mowing the grass. He normally didn't mow the grass, and the mower sounded awful: it was smoking, and it was misfiring. That little green Lawnboy two stroke was gasping it's last. Yup, he had filled the tank with degreaser!



I sprung to my feet and ran outside. We shut off the mower, and I was certain we killed it. He had mowed most of the front yard.



Drained the gas, refilled with fresh premix, and I broke the rope starter trying to start it. Replaced the rope starter, and it ran better than ever!



That was 20+ years ago. Last night, I used that mower to grind the leaves in the yard. Never opened it up, it's almost 30 years old and still runs with the best of them.



Haven't tried Kerosene in it since then!



Eddie

 

[obert]

A Story

I went to get Dad's ol' Farmall F-30 out of the shed to clean up for a show some years ago, found the gas tank dry. It had been sitting for about 10 months, I figured I'd have to clean the mag insides a bit, too, so I got the 400 fired and pulled the 30 up to the garage.



Cleaned up the mag and spark pins. I know Dad's good for putting any fuel in whatever can is empty, so I put a sniff to the can I grabbed and it had that awfull gas smell. Dumped in about 3 gallons. Started cranking>> by hand, mind you- no electric here.

The 30 can be contrary on the first start of the year, so I armstronged her for about 15 min. , without effect. Checks reveal fuel to cyl and good spark, so I say it has to start. Being a determined (and dumb??) young man, I pulled that crank for another 30 min+. Finally it fired. Once. A couple more cranks and she fired enough to spin the engine and catch a few more strokes and took off. Simultainiously I noticed the white cloud rolling out the exhaust and knew exactly what had been wrong. Diesel smell doesn't overpower fresh gasoline!



A bittersweet time, I was miff'd at getting the wrong fuel, but so proud to have hand crank started a Gas/kero spark engine, with flat top pistons no less, on #2 oil. Oo. I left it run for a while to enjoy the fruits of my labor. It ran suprisingly well after a little heat was in the engine.



I got on the ol' man for that, we now have dedicated and marked fuel cans.

 

[bmoeller]

OOPS!

#ad


#ad


#ad




decided to rebuild the engine the CORRECT way!



#ad


#ad


Shaved the head too!

#ad




Gonna try the diesel thang again!

#ad

Good looking old girl. I used to run one. We had a mower and tiller for it.

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

I went to get Dad's ol' Farmall F-30 out of the shed to clean up for a show some years ago, found the gas tank dry. It had been sitting for about 10 months, I figured I'd have to clean the mag insides a bit, too, so I got the 400 fired and pulled the 30 up to the garage.



Cleaned up the mag and spark pins. I know Dad's good for putting any fuel in whatever can is empty, so I put a sniff to the can I grabbed and it had that awfull gas smell. Dumped in about 3 gallons. Started cranking>> by hand, mind you- no electric here.

The 30 can be contrary on the first start of the year, so I armstronged her for about 15 min. , without effect. Checks reveal fuel to cyl and good spark, so I say it has to start. Being a determined (and dumb??) young man, I pulled that crank for another 30 min+. Finally it fired. Once. A couple more cranks and she fired enough to spin the engine and catch a few more strokes and took off. Simultainiously I noticed the white cloud rolling out the exhaust and knew exactly what had been wrong. Diesel smell doesn't overpower fresh gasoline!



A bittersweet time, I was miff'd at getting the wrong fuel, but so proud to have hand crank started a Gas/kero spark engine, with flat top pistons no less, on #2 oil. Oo. I left it run for a while to enjoy the fruits of my labor. It ran suprisingly well after a little heat was in the engine.



I got on the ol' man for that, we now have dedicated and marked fuel cans.

Wow, that must've left some sore muscles

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

Well got the season underway by mowing the lawn & garden patch yesterday & burning $1. 50 worth of expensive #2 in the ol' push mower! Since it was a warm day it started right up using the usual routine of a little gas down the carb and in the air filter. The nice thing about parking the mower for the winter with diesel in it is you don't have to worry about the "gas" going "bad" and gumming up the carburetor :-laf

 

[icman95]

I mentioned this in an earlier post, but DAMN MAN! I couldn't mow my lawn if you paid me to. We had more snow come down Saturday, completely covering it all. I like winter and even make a few bucks plowing the snow, but you're making me jealous! Good luck with this season.

 

[AFoulk]

I bet I could talk my buddy into trying this with his old Jacobson lawn tractor. We experimented with different sparkplugs to raise the compression ratio, and even modified the mowing deck to turn it into a mulching mower. Has the hydraulic hitch on the back of it too. We even pulled his smowmobile trailer (old popup camper chassis) with his pig cooker on it (old cement mixer water tank) with his dodge neon chained to the back of it... . up the steep hill in his yard yet. I wish you coulda seen it. I had to stand on the hitch so he could get traction, and his neighbor had to sit on the hood to keep the front tires reasonable close to the ground I think all it has is a 16hp single cyl. Kohler and hydrostatic drive.

His 81 Cubcadet will pull my truck up the hill his driveway is on, popping a wheely the whole way. Thats got a 18hp twin cyl. Kohler in it.

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

I mentioned this in an earlier post, but DAMN MAN! I couldn't mow my lawn if you paid me to. We had more snow come down Saturday, completely covering it all. I like winter and even make a few bucks plowing the snow, but you're making me jealous! Good luck with this season.

That's a bummer icman95 . . . well if it makes you feel any better the grass didn't need mowed but. . . probably shouldn't tell ya we've had almost nothing but 50s (and some 60s) the last 3-4 weeks



AFoulk, no need to raise compression, it would help with starting but result in more detonation once warmed up. You do need a healthy well-sealed motor. I'm thinking about dropping compression on my mower a little. You should also retard the timing, definitely helped on my mower.



I tried "dieselizing" another mower I had, but it absolutely would not run on diesel, just smoke city . . . too poor of cylinder sealing.



Vaughn

 

[Dieselnut59]

Once upon a time, when I was about 17 or 18 years old, I had mixed up some engine cleaner with some Kerosene. I think it was called "Gunk SC" (Super Clean). I left it in a gas can in the garage.



I woke up from a nap, and my Father was outside mowing the grass. He normally didn't mow the grass, and the mower sounded awful: it was smoking, and it was misfiring. That little green Lawnboy two stroke was gasping it's last. Yup, he had filled the tank with degreaser!



I sprung to my feet and ran outside. We shut off the mower, and I was certain we killed it. He had mowed most of the front yard.



Drained the gas, refilled with fresh premix, and I broke the rope starter trying to start it. Replaced the rope starter, and it ran better than ever!



That was 20+ years ago. Last night, I used that mower to grind the leaves in the yard. Never opened it up, it's almost 30 years old and still runs with the best of them.



Haven't tried Kerosene in it since then!



Eddie

Those are BY FAR the best push mowers ever made! I have two of them: A 1978 and a 1979 model. Never been into either engine and they run like a charm, even if they sit over a year.

Last time I checked, there was no 2-stroke available from LawnBoy anymore All cookie cutter 4-strokes like every other mower.

 

[Ncostello]

The best pushers ever were infact LawnBoys produced by OutBoard Marine Corporation (OMC). Todays are just a name. Not much different than Wal-mart variants.



My grandpa, some 30 years ago, bought a new 2 Stroke OMC Lawn Boy with the Magnesium metal deck. 21" cut, simple no throttle required operation, very light and easy to push. The real key and selling point then was "Solid State Ignition"... ie: no points. Still runs tops and cuts very tall grass with ease. 32:1 oil ratio but he mixes a little rich beyond that. He always has used OMC outboard 2 stroke oil and this little metal can he's had since the 1950's. It puffs a little blue smoke... but to me growing up... mowing slightly wet grass on a summer morning with some blue smoke coming out from under the deck was what summer vacation was all about. That and cutting 5 acres with a 30" 8HP Snapper Rear engine rider... . "the COMET".



A true testament to a time when you could actually buy something that WAS really better than the others. You paid more... but you got what you paid for. Today you just pay more and thats about it.



The ultimate Lawn Boys were the Commercial Line, mag decks, and the fuel tanks mounted up on the handle bar. Grandpa converted his to this tank style way back. The commercial ones had orange wheels and fuel tank.

 

[Ncostello]

Also reminds me of this rider we used as a go-kart when I was a kid. It was a RUGG brand small rider with the Briggs sitting in the middle of the chassis. You kind of straddled the engine sitting on it. My buddy's dad was a highway dept worker and he always had a can of diesel in his truck. We'd mix 50/50 gas diesel and we could make that briggs run even in the snowy months. The staight pipe would puff smoky white and the smell was that of a true diesel.



We finally killed the tractor pulling wheelie holeshots in 3rd gear while holding the governor wide open. The chain drive rear axle diff blew apart. No parts were ever available for these things even when new... so we just junked it.



I barely remember how much fun we used to have as kids. What happened?

 

[David_VT]

Vaughn,

I love when this thread surfaces! Great blast from the past with a sprinkle of good ole HVAC too!



I tried (by accident) my old sears lawn tractor... . Not so good. .

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

A true testament to a time when you could actually buy something that WAS really better than the others. You paid more... but you got what you paid for. Today you just pay more and thats about it.

Ain't THAT the sad truth!

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

Vaughn,
I love when this thread surfaces! Great blast from the past with a sprinkle of good ole HVAC too!

I tried (by accident) my old sears lawn tractor... . Not so good. .

Yeah those were the days huh David, never will forget some of the exchanges between him and Scott1! Speaking of Scotty he got married a couple years ago & has a little girl.