I would not consider striping it for parts unless the engine was damaged from sraight gas, even then i would hesitate. I personally hate to see vintage lawn boys working fine but taken apart only to sell in pieces on e bay. Its a compete waste of a valuable item that only becomes harder and harder to find. Generaly issues with this mower include carbon on points if no spark which can be cleaned or replaced. Carb nozzle blocked from old fuel or primer pump not working due to wear on the rubber part of the primer. after you verify the mower has fresh fuel and spark at the plug tilt the mower part way so the carb side is upright and pump the primer. Verify fuel sprays out of the nozzle when priming. Having the mower tilted sideways uses gravity to have the full prime go in the engine block and helps start a engine thats been stored long term. If all else fails and give up let me know and we can work something out to have it shipped to me where it can continue on in life

Janet..thanks for sharing your gardens. I hope you can take some of your beautiful iris, hostas, columbines, etc. with you on your move. Yes, junk "evolves"...thank goodness! It will be a new challenge for you all...starting over! And your creations will be wonderful! I live near New Hartford where so many people lost everything with the tornado and then the floods this summer... 240 homes out of 270...many that NEVER flooded before. We are in the country so personal property not affected by the floods. We are helping "re-build" our town again. School will be opening on schedule Aug. 18th. So many volunteers still coming in! AWESOME! I've rattled on...but I am so glad you shared with this post...a story of more "survivors!" Thanks again for sharing. Jeanne S.

"-Type: We started it from sod about 5 years ago but I really don�t know what kind the builder put in (I would love to know if you can tell from the pics)" Being in Minnesota you probably had Kentucky Bluegrass sod, as that is the main grass grown in MN, and the best suited for its climate. The pics aren't very good in regards to determining grass type, but I bet it was at least 50% KBG. "Soil: Seems pretty good, but has some clay. (not an expert so I am not sure exactly what to look for)" I have a hunch that you have issues with your soil, it's probably your main problem. If you had sod put down, the grass probably looked great for a year or two, but then started heading south. Your first step before you do anything is a soil test from a reputable lab. Don't bring it to your local extension office, or a local nursery. I recommend you send it to Logan Labs in Ohio, get the basic soil test that costs 20 dollars(http://www.loganlabs.com/). "Treatments: I was receiving professional spray feed/weed treatments 4 times a year but recently stopped because of poor results and a bump in pricing." If you have the time, do your own fertilizing and weed treatments. Most lawn services have one thing on their mind, profits. They really don't care if your lawn looks great or not, you do. Their timings and products aren't ideal either. "-Condition/Issue: There appears to be a lot of excess thatch or something else that causes a lot of dead brown grass trampled down or growing sideways between the healthy blades of grass. My lawn has thinned it out and caused it to have a poor color." Thatch is a layer of dead material that rests on top of the soil, your lawn looks like it has more dead blades than thatch. It could be fungus, or just grass that needs a lot of help. " I did attempt to dethatch using a rented dethatcher about 2 years after laying the sod but it was a lot of work and had very little impact." A dethatcher normally isn't that tough to use, and if you had a lot of thatch it would be obvious after using the dethatcher for one minute, unless the tines weren't low enough. "I am willing to put in the time, effort, and money to get this lawn looking perfect." Good, it is going to take a lot of blood, sweat and tears. "I have done a lot of research and I was thinking of aerating this fall and seeding/fertilizing (not sure what kind of product to use.)" No offense, but if you have done a lot of research you would probably know what kind of grass you have, and an idea of what type of grass and produts you want to use. I wouldn't aerate unless your soil is compacted. Aerating can bring up a lot of weed seeds as well. If you thought using a dethatcher is tough, a core aerator is three times the work. "But can I do something in the mean time? Do I need to dethatch again before or after aerating? Am I even on the right track? Could this be a fungus or disease?" Summer is not a very good time to do much to your lawn as it is stressed from heat and drought. If you have a thick thatch layer, then it would be helpful to dethatch prior to seeding. Sure, it could be fungus/disease. "Any help or direction you can provide would be very much appreciated." If you want the best lawn on the block without going the sod route, then you will have to kill all your old grass off with Round-up and seed elite cultivars of KBG. Unfortunately this renovation process should have been started this spring. If your soil test shows your soil to be in terrible shape, then I think you are starting too late. KBG seed in MN should go down around August 15th, so you are looking at a month till seed drop. Round up takes 1-2 weeks till total kill, so there is almost no room for error here. If you are going to do it regardless of what people say, then after you take your soil samples for your soil test put down Milorganite, 10 lbs per 1000 square feet. It will provide some organic matter and some very slow release nitrogen.

pps7 -- I hadn't thought of hanging a pendant or other fixture there but that would really look nice too! Our U-shape is a little different than yours, as we come to a landing and then turn 180 degrees to the opposite direction. So our landing is 7 feet wide or so. A niche there would be great. I hadn't thought of pot lights in the niche, though. Good idea? What about an electrical outlet -- I wonder if that would be useful?