Thanks for the followup, Tom. I did what you said about the tank. Sure did seem to be a lot of rust flakes flushing out. I'd also put a new gas line and filter on. I had an second carb from maybe twenty five years ago. Apparently the only reason I replaced it was I lost its Welch Plug. I didn't know what a WP plug was until now. It looks like an thin auto engines freeze plug and covers the hole at an end of the carb base. Well, rather than doing a complete rebuild of the existing carb I installed a new WP and installed the old carb. It worked. Thanks to you I once again began looking for the serial number. Everyone had convinced me it was stamped on the motor in the vicinity of the engine head. Not for this one. I found a bradded metal plate on the mower frame behind the 1,2,3,R gears. After scrubbing I found 9172560 and they quickly hit on a Google for my mower. Thanks again. Gene

Surprised no one mentioned the site below. Some good pictures, some good links to suburban info. Some links are dead. I don't know if the webmaster has actually been updating the site lately. Those early suburbans were like mini farm tractors, and from the looks of them they were built to last. Here is a link that might be useful: Vintage sears lawn tractors

I bought our washer dryer there. No extended warranties. Both died after 18 & 20 months. Swore I'd never go back. But then came the kitchen renovation 9 years later. Found a 48" Thermador stainless fridge for 50% off. It had a small scratch on the front, and the handles were damaged due to it not fitting into someone's house. We agreed we could purchase the new handles so we bought the fridge, along with the 5 year protection plan--because it does include maintenance each year on this monster, and any labor and parts. It was very inexpensive. Also, this would allow us to have the handles installed for no additional charge. But here is where the story changes--we thought we could pick this up ourselves with the help of some neighbors-hahah. We changed our minds, and called Sears back and arranged for delivery. Somehow, they only sent 2 men to deliver this 656 lb fridge. After an hour or so, it was in my kitchen, even more scratched and with new dents. Eventually I struck a deal with the manager to have the skins replaced. He had me call the number for the service contract, I had someone come out, he took a look at it and told me he has NEVER worked on a Thermador. (So where did this fridge come from?). After putting the parts into "research", they have sent new handles, new doors (yep, the doors-not the skins--woops), and we are still waiting to have the skins sent to us. None of this is bothering us because we are still doing the renovation on the kitchen, and it truly is the nicest fridge I have ever seen. In the end, we will have a really nice fridge for 1/2 the price of what it would have cost. I'm just a little concerned about the repairman saying he has no experience (after 20+years in the business) with Thermador. He told ME to get the instructions from Thermador on replacing the handles, etc. Uh oh. I would highly suggest the plan they offer for service, etc. It really is more than just an extended warranty. Here's my fridge in the middle of construction:

weedmeister, I checked out these models online and the Kenmore one was discontinued and the other one was above my original budget price and I left the model number home when I ran out to see models in person. I appreciate your post that made me think maybe GE was not so bad. I posted this on the kitchen forum also since I have to make a decision by 7 PM tomorrow to switch the unit or just cancel the great deal I got that is only a good deal if it is for a gas range that I want. I saw the GE Cafe gas range today and fell in love with it but only had 15 minutes to see it since Reno's Appliance Store was closing. The price was a lot more than the $1250.00 budget that I had placed myself at when I started shopping but the price was still $700 less than PC Richards regular price. Then when I went home to feed my little dogs and look up information on the GE Cafe gas range online, I decided to go back to PC Richards to see what kind of deal they could give me on the range that I preferred. They ended up having the same sale for $1999.00 when I was trying to stay below $1250.00. I think I will start another post as well as write what I want to say here since I have to make a decision quickly and unfortunately I have expensive taste and I know I will never get back the money if I buy the more expensive range but I like it better. I bought the Frigidaire gas range from PC Richards tonight near 11 PM when they were closing despite not liking the warming drawer's knob on the backsplash area and not liking that I have to bump into the center knob to reach the buttons on the back due to my very petite height of not quite 5 feet. If PC Richard's Frigidaire did not have this warming drawer knob on the area in the back of the range, I think I could live with the inconvenient way I have to lean on the center knob to get to the oven controls. I think both the knob and the way the unit is built for someone taller has me wondering if I need to invest in the other unit I loved. I hope this would not be a fire hazard for me if I have long sleeves on and I am cooking stuff on the top of the Frigidaire gas range. The rebates and sale price that were only good for Black Friday today were too good to pass up if I regretted walking away and it was identical in looks to the Kenmore range but a better price even with that knob. Before I signed anything close to 11 PM when they were closing, I asked if I could have until tomorrow until 7 PM to decide if I want to switch my order to buy the GE Cafe 30" gas range that will not come with the free stainless steel fan hood and get the sales price today along with the 0% for 18 months so I have an interest free loan to have money for the new hot water heater I am going to need real soon that is also 20 years old. After my busy season, I will be fine but now if the water heater dies on me when I just did so many major renovations to my home would make funds tight. The GE Cafe gas range has everything that the Frigidaire has (4 BTU burners, 5th burner with a free griddle to replace the grates, convention oven, warming drawer, etc.) but the bottom drawer on the GE can be used as another oven or as a warming drawer and all the controls are on the front so I can reach them easily and there is a probe that will register in the front letting me know when the food I am cooking reaches the correct temperature. There is no backspash unit despite the GE Cafe being a standalone range that looks built in. It will be so much more money (despite PC Richard's sale price of $700 off their very high retail price and then the stainless steel venting hood will not be free) but I keep thinking I would like it better since it was so comfortable to use due to my height and I loved the attached probe. I love the clean look. Maybe the knob on the Frigidaire's backsplash area that is there along with digital touch controls will not bother me and maybe it is not so bad to have to lean onto the front button to reach the back controls? Other than those negatives, the range was very nice looking with so many nice features and the price of $836.00 less the $100 rebate and the rebate of $162 to make the stainless steel hood free except for sales tax and installation) made the Frigidaire such a great deal if I want it since I have the 0% 18 months interest free payment plan. Even if I switch units, PC Richards will allow me to have the 0% interest payment plan over 18 months since I used my PC Richards Card. I guess I am used to controls on the front of the range like my 20 year old Whirlpool gas range has with just the clock in the back. Any advice?