Ok, the Honda GCV1600 started easily... I can't say I notice any difference over my older B&S, but I was surprised because it started on the first pull (well maybe I gave it a couple of short soft pulls to recheck the oil..another point, later). The choke is interesting, it is a manual pull to set, then when one closes the autokill bail the choke start to move to off, thus one needs to be ready to pull the rope as soon as they close the bail. The engine is also rated at "2", on a scale of 10 (10 is bad) cleanliness. So I can feel better about producing less pollution when mowing with it. Something to "feel" good about. On the oil, the manual is silent on the capacity, but the machine came with the usual short quart, I think it maybe be 1.5 pints. The suggestion is put it all in, and I'm sure many/most do. However, on putting about 3/4th of it in and checking the dip stick, I see it is full. Remains at the full mark after running for a few minutes. Of course, one is cautioned not to overfill, it is a splash lub engine. It seems like a serious error on my part or theirs, when they ship a special size oil container it should be the size needed to fill the oil tank, this protects the consumer from overfilling while guaranteeing, at least this one time, that the oil tank is full. Admittedly, it is hard to see clean oil on the plastic narrow cone shaped dip stick, but I can see it is wet to the full mark with less than the full container put in the tank. If the Honda is as good as my past B&S engines it will last until I don't need a mower any more. At my age I figure within the next 5-10 years I'm going to have to move off of the big property and take up a easier life stile in a Condo of other everything is done for you environment.

Well, you mentioned heavy duty metal parts...and for that, I'd probably want the Ariens. I went with the Snapper Commercial for that reason. I looked at the height adjusters on the Toro, LawnBoy,etc. and thought they looked like they were made out of that metal that you band wood bundles together with. I think the Honda had some sort of metal for that Xenoy deck, even though the detents were plastic. My dad has a HRX217, and he likes it. I really wanted to like the LawnBoys, but I couldn't get past all of that plastic and the engine choices (refuse to go Briggs Quantum due to experience and discussions with shops). I realllly wanted the Kawasaki and I love power/idle of the engine. Tecumseh really impressed me a week ago, though, because my dad gave me his Yard Machine late last fall and I left it outside because I had no room and in the garage. We got hit with some snow that lasted months and it sat under a drift for at least 2 months, non-winterized and recently started after some priming and playing with it for 5 minutes or so. I was down to either a Husky, Ariens or Snapper. For the money, I could get the best features on the Snapper Pro. I liked the controls better on it, and the bagging system was more ideal than the Ariens for me. Plus, you can add the casters to the Snapper Commercial, and the caster model of the Ariens just didn't appeal to me at all. The Husky had the aluminum deck, but I still liked the Snapper better for that price range. I'm hoping that it will last a long time and I love it so far. Maybe all of the plastic and lighter metal on those other mowers is okay for what I would do with a mower. My dad broke the back wheel off of his Yard Machines a year or two ago, and that was the metal part.

Thanks I email him and ask. I always wondered how anyone could bend a crank by hitting something with the blade well now I'm one of them. I was in a rush, mowing as fast as that thing would go. I knew there is a stump at the tree line but on that unfortunate day, whamm. I did a bone head maneuver. Wide open and it stopped instantly! Talk about a sick feeling. So bought a crank $39 and two seals $10 and got to work. Just need to figure out where that mark is on the crank. For those of you wondering what I think of the mower(4 yrs old now). It has run excellent everytime, every year I've owned it. Starts first pull everytime, even after being winterized. It does surge a little if the temps are down in the 40's but goes away after 30-45 seconds when it warms up. No oil leaks, no burning oil. I never have had to add oil even after the whole summer has past. So I give it a thumbs up.

i removed about 2 oz of oil to make sure it wasn't that stupid. dad didn't seem concerned about that saying it was an insignificant amount. difficult to get an accurate read on the oil level due to the stupid plastic dipstick design but it seems at the correct level. i probably should stick a screwdriver in it to get an accurate read, but like i said, it isn't over-filled oil. i know the symptoms of too much oil -- heavy black smoke and very erratic performance. this is a slight black smoke, excessive fuel consumption (rich burn, burning fuel 4 times faster than it should), slight erratic performance, and degraded rpm. new spark plug was installed and gapped to 0.76mm (factory gap was actually correct). removal of air filter was tested. it is a new air filter replaced 2-3 weeks ago and frequently dusted -- i also typically use a very porous 2ndary filter (similiar to the filling of a comforter) as well to keep larger stuff off the air filter. it isn't those things. i've used new gas from two different sources. i've thoroughly cleaned and checked the carb (needle valve was perfectly clean like brand new and functioning correctly with the floater, the bulb was perfectly clean like brand new except of course with clean gas in it), everything looks good, and really, there isn't much that could go wrong with the carb with everyday use, unless i was burning sand and sludge. i also examined and cleaned the breather and it looked in good condition. the breather was clean except for the expected oil and functioning perfectly. i'm really just asking for advice on what to expect for tearing down the engine, if there is anything special that i need to know. my dad thinks it ran hot with the choke getting stuck and not releasing fully. it is likely internal to the engine. hopefully, it is just a worn belt considering 500 hours (5-10 years of residential use) is about the life of a residential mower engine, but i may have to replace rings and hone the cylinders if it was because of the automatic choke release being used and not releasing even though the lever was fully released due to dirt build-up around the linkage for it. everything else was just fyi to give my review and experience with the craftsman mower and honda engine.