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So my 10 yr old mountfield sp46 has developed a major crack In the blade shaft housing which subsequently split. The blade went out of alignment and also took out the belt and belt cover. Parts are around £50 to replace them.
Its around 10+ years old and was a hand me down from Mrs monkeyboys granddad. Has been regularly serviced every year and the engine runs fine. But it's always been a little small for our garden, which takes around an hour to mow with it.
So should I repair or replace it and if so what with, any recommendations?
Max budget of £400
As several landscape gardener mates told me about 10 years ago, the answer to any petrol lawnmower purchase dilemma is 'whatever new or used Honda Izy suits your budget'.
Love mine. Utterly bulletproof.
The Honda Izy are good, personally I prefer using a Hayter , I've got 2 Hondas and 4 Hayter in different gardens.
Reduce the amount of lawn area, have a bit more natural and wilder space then get a battery mower to cut what's left.
£50 to repair vs £400 to replace - no brainer to fix unless you've other reasons...
If it’s £50 to replace bits and runs well then I’d be tempted to do that.
I’ve got a lawnflite LF43SPBR which I’ve had since March 2016. Never had any problems starting it - I’ve changed the oil / spark plugs / air filter once so far with no other attention given. I bought this one as it has a driven rear roller rather than rear wheels so it stripes the grass nicely.
Briggs and Stratton engine is very common and presumably easy to get parts for - I’d say it doesn’t have quite as much power for getting through long grass as the ancient mountfield I had before that. I paid £20 from gumtree for that with a rusty deck that I patched. It had a Honda engine on there that was just a bit nicer than the Briggs and Stratton that replaces it.
I looked at Honda engined stuff at the time but they were out of my budget. Looked at a Hayter as the main alternative option but I think the Lawnflite was better reviewed / had a better deck (maybe the Hayter was metal rather than composite).
I bought one of these a couple of months ago
https://makitauk.com/product/dlm382ct2
Really pleased with it. I did already own a number of the LXT range of power tools so the extra battery packs come in very useful. As does the new Makita chainsaw that arrived the other week 😀
No messing with mains leads or extensions and no need for petrol and servicing. Plug the packs in and away you go.
I’ve also got a Makita, except the 46cm wide, metal decked one that runs off 2 batteries and easily lasts an hour for regular trimming, but will cope with foot-high, rough grass if needed. Relatively quiet too, no need to check oil, petrol, plugs etc - stick the batteries in and go.
Well my lawn are is over 1000sqm, and I def want petrol.
The Honda Izys are interesting but the cheapest new self propelled is a little over my max budget. The mountfield sp53 has a Honda engine though so I may well go with one of those....
Fix it.
I'm not really seeing why you wouldn't fix it?
If you want a new mowers is a different question.
If that's the case sell the old one after you've repaired it.
It reads like you’d like a new mower and why not.
I have a Honda powered mountfield, I did lust after the full Honda experience but couldn’t afford it at the time.
I’ve had the sp425 for 6 years now ! I’m partly ashamed to say I’ve not done anything to it in that time apart from keep it clean after each mow and make sure the fuel switch is always off after using it.
Yet every year it starts first time, runs like a dream and nothing has broken and it does a really good job with the lawn. I’d always go for one with a Honda engine.
I’m not really seeing why you wouldn’t fix it?
Its an oldish mower that I can fix and sell on cheaply, but I now don't trust to be reliable..... It'll probably keep going another 5or 10 years, but it's always been too small for my garden.
Aaannnnnddd......
In typical STW forum style, I'm going to go with a lawnmower that no one has suggested or even mentioned. A Husqvarna 47cm on the advice of the guy that does the servicing for me as parts are easy to come by and in his experience little goes wrong with them. His initial advice was also for Honda Izy but I just can't afford one and there's nothing 2nd hand within convenient collection distance.
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Also in classic STW style... mini goats.
mini goats
This was exactly my wife's reply when I said the lawnmower had broken....