There must be a smile here somewhere but I can't find it.

I've had a Lawn Boy mower setting out frontt, with a FREE!! sign on it, for a week, and nobody has grabbed it yet! I don't care if it runs or not-parts is parts!
I don't work on them! I can't seem to get interested in fixing them, and if somebody leaves one to be fixed--it ain't fixed when he comes back! And, i told one guy last week to not even take it out of his truck!
Those mowers seem to have a bunch of "hokey" mechanicals in their make-up, and i just am not interested!

You guys are just plain dumb. Well let's see. A coil went out. Well woop te do. A $35 coil and it will run another 15 years. Your uninformed diatribe about the manuals if just ridiculous. Lawn-Boy posts the entire service manuals online for free. Duh
rustyj14, "Hokey mechanicals in their makeup". Showed your ignorance there huh? Hey they are made in USA. Where's your famous backing for US made stuff. Yea, I figured....whatever. You say you don't use anything made in China and yet you can ridicule Lawn-Boy?? You are using a computer. Half the stuff in it is made overseas. Better go put it out front.

I guess the Âseveral points I was making were lost here, but that isnÂt too strange considering that the good old American consumer gets to repurchase all those basic things like lawnmowers over and over again because there are so many who are willing to shell out for junk designed by merchants instead of engineers. For those who need such things spelled out:
1. My post described how using a multimeter to check the resistance of the coil is easily done, and one shouldnÂt just replace parts without trying to determine how the old one is defective. Judging from some of the threads to be found here, that might be basic but needed on this forum.
2. If one hesitates to purchase online, one can expect to buy a coil locally at an exorbitant price.
3. Doing a google search it is obvious that quite a few others have had similar problems with lawnboy coils to say nothing about the mechanical makeup of the mowers.
4. Two cycle mowers are not available here and the green movement while admirable, creates problems out of all proportion to the so called solutions. Like phasing out two cycle engines to solve global warming and like adding ethanol to gasoline which creates more pollution than it reduces.
5. IÂve spent over thirty years repairing Âmechanical calculating machines where if one dropped a pin in the top, it would never pass through the mass of mechanical movement to come out the bottom. With that background I think I am justified in my contempt for the quality of products on the market today with no alternative except wasteful replacement after trying to resurrect stuff that should have been interred long ago. But thatÂs the purpose of this forum isnÂt it, to try to save junk by hearing how others solved their problems?
6. Well, I guess everyone is entitled to their own opinion of manuals. IÂve had my say on that. :-)
No charge for the smile.

You're funny. Your shallow attempt to categorize Lawn-Boy mowers, the consumers who find them worthy of repair, and the people who design them is ridiculous and condescending. Designating yourself as "justified in your contempt for quality"" because you worked on antiquated adding machines is absurd to say the least. That statement, while meant to impress with your self indulgent opinion of yourself, speaks volumes about you apparent lack of knowledge on the subject of Lawn-Boy mowers and the production and marketing history.
Even more humorous is your exclamation that you have solved the diagnosing problems of Lawn-Boy coils by measuring the coils resistance. Lawn-Boy coil problems are considered a weak point but it is much more complex than what you imply. If you think it is that simple then let me tell you....you do not have a clue. The one point I agree with you on is your assessment of the "so called Green movement"

Hey, I thought this sentence was funny: Quote: No obvious problems and the technology must date back to when hand sickles were the latest thing.

I also dread seeing them in my shop.

This post has no credibility because no where does the poster indicate just how old the machine is. Is it 5 or 15 years old? I'm not a 2-stroke Lawn-Boy aficionado, but for many years they were the mower of choice among commercial landscapers in my neck-of-the-woods. That has to tell you something.

>"This post has no credibility because no where does the poster indicate just how old the machine is"That would be a good point in a different ÂvenueÂ.
As I recall my follow-up post enumerated six points none of which expressed my displeasure because the mower crapped out after only _____ years. By proof of credibility, the information of how many times it was started, and how long it ran, or what the condition of the terrain it was used on, or if the proper gas oil mix was used should also be given as if I were asking the manufacturer for a refund. My original post did say that the manual was probably mouse chewed "under years of junk". I might have added Âalong with the dated receiptÂ, but in the absence of that I would say about six or seven years old (?) with very little use since the riding mower* always did the bulk of my grass cutting. But then, you sound like a company rep defending his source of income by asking for proof that mower wasnÂt everything a good American should insist a mower be. By your standard, many posts on this forum lack the credibility you require, so IÂm in good company; but the points I made are valid enough, and the mower did fail as described.
Today I had occasion to visit our local big chain store and noted about six or eight shiny new lawnmowers on display. IÂd bet that since the cheapening of, and mass marketing to the consumer, that few of them will make it very far before they too need to be replaced. The cheapening of products was, and is, essentially part of the thrust of my original and follow-up posts. Since I hadnÂt numbered and spelled it out too, perhaps that didnÂt occur to anyone?
But thanks for your input. You might suggest the bylaws of the forum be changed to require age-related credibility when describing failures of products.

* I guess I shouldnÂt mention it, but IÂm still using my dadÂs Simplicity riding mower (model 700) that has to be about fifty years old. You can assume that information lacks credibility too.

Most entertaining thread of the week! ;)

i used to build these in galesburg illinois at gale products / a division of OMC . they decided to move the whole operation to missisippi for lower labor costs and it backfired -- no one wanted to work 5 days a week and punch a timeclock / was taken to waukeegen and then OMC corporation fell apart - bankrupted by bad management. Lawn-boy went to Toro - johnson and Evenrude went to Bombardia ( sp ) and OMC stern drives went to volvo. they were a damn good mower back in the 60's and 70's - all stuff made on site - even had our own aluminum foundry and magnezum foundry too -- those decks were sure light -- another great company brought down by greed - i still have one.