I've been able to fix three lawn mowers so far this summer, but I
really don't know anything about them. All the fixes I did were obvious
and easy. I didn't have to know what the parts that needed to be
replaced were called.

I held a carburetor in my hand for the first time today. I'm almost
55. As it turned out, a friend who teaches shop in North Carolina
called to say hello just at the right time. He suggested I take Junior
High shop, but he asked me some questions and helped me discover why
the reservoir was leaking. I'm still not finished with the mower I'm
working on (as in, I don't think I put everything pack together
properly) but it doesn't leak anymore...

Are there any good books for someone who is kind of clueless? And
manual free? I need to have a better grasp on how everything works.

Look here.

http://www.opeonthenet.com/








"montana wildhack" wrote in message
news:2008070615454116807-montana@wildhackcominvalid...
I've been able to fix three lawn mowers so far this summer, but I really
don't know anything about them. All the fixes I did were obvious and easy.
I didn't have to know what the parts that needed to be replaced were
called.

I held a carburetor in my hand for the first time today. I'm almost 55.
As it turned out, a friend who teaches shop in North Carolina called to
say hello just at the right time. He suggested I take Junior High shop,
but he asked me some questions and helped me discover why the reservoir
was leaking. I'm still not finished with the mower I'm working on (as in,
I don't think I put everything pack together properly) but it doesn't leak
anymore...

Are there any good books for someone who is kind of clueless? And manual
free? I need to have a better grasp on how everything works.

On Sun, 06 Jul 2008 15:45:41 -0400, montana wildhack wrote:

I've been able to fix three lawn mowers so far this summer, but I really
don't know anything about them. All the fixes I did were obvious and
easy. I didn't have to know what the parts that needed to be replaced
were called.

I held a carburetor in my hand for the first time today. I'm almost 55.
As it turned out, a friend who teaches shop in North Carolina called to
say hello just at the right time. He suggested I take Junior High shop,
but he asked me some questions and helped me discover why the reservoir
was leaking. I'm still not finished with the mower I'm working on (as
in, I don't think I put everything pack together properly) but it
doesn't leak anymore...

Are there any good books for someone who is kind of clueless? And manual
free? I need to have a better grasp on how everything works.

Engine manufacturers usually offer books for their engines. I found mine
at a local small engine repair shop.



--

=================================================
Franz Fripplfrappl

"montana wildhack" wrote in message
news:2008070615454116807-montana@wildhackcominvalid...
I've been able to fix three lawn mowers so far this summer, but I really don't
know anything about them. All the fixes I did were obvious and easy. I didn't
have to know what the parts that needed to be replaced were called.

I held a carburetor in my hand for the first time today. I'm almost 55. As it
turned out, a friend who teaches shop in North Carolina called to say hello
just at the right time. He suggested I take Junior High shop, but he asked me
some questions and helped me discover why the reservoir was leaking. I'm still
not finished with the mower I'm working on (as in, I don't think I put
everything pack together properly) but it doesn't leak anymore...

Are there any good books for someone who is kind of clueless? And manual free?
I need to have a better grasp on how everything works.


http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/lmfaq.htm

montana wildhack wrote:
I've been able to fix three lawn mowers so far this summer, but I
really don't know anything about them. All the fixes I did were
obvious and easy. I didn't have to know what the parts that needed to
be replaced were called.

I held a carburetor in my hand for the first time today. I'm almost
55. As it turned out, a friend who teaches shop in North Carolina
called to say hello just at the right time. He suggested I take Junior
High shop, but he asked me some questions and helped me discover why
the reservoir was leaking. I'm still not finished with the mower I'm
working on (as in, I don't think I put everything pack together
properly) but it doesn't leak anymore...

Are there any good books for someone who is kind of clueless? And
manual free? I need to have a better grasp on how everything works.

Don't feel bad.

I once saw a cartoon showing a cardiologist the carburetor from his BMW with
the caption: "There are many things about the carburetor we still don't
understand."

On 2008-07-06 19:51:44 -0400, "HeyBub" said:

"There are many things about the carburetor we still don't
understand."

;-)

I don't feel bad. I don't expect to be rebuilding carburetors, but it
seemed like I could if necessary.

I had no idea I could fix these things, so I'm happy that I'm making
some sort of effort to take the mystery out of it. I appreciate repair
people and their knowledge and talent, but I also don't want to get
help unless I really need it.

On 2008-07-06 17:32:54 -0400, "jacko" said:

Look here.

http://www.opeonthenet.com/

Thanks. We have 4 broken snow bLowers in our garage and I want to
reduce that number. I am responsible for "breaking" two of of them
because I didn't know how to use them. They're going to need new belts.
If I fix them, I probably won't ruin the belts again.

On 2008-07-06 19:13:51 -0400, franz fripplfrappl said:

Engine manufacturers usually offer books for their engines. I found mine
at a local small engine repair shop.

I can't find the model number of this mower which makes life difficult.
I don't think all Japanese built Toros are the same...

On 2008-07-06 19:17:20 -0400, "Bob F" said:

http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/lmfaq.htm

Bookmarked. Thanks. I guess a magneto isn't some sort of hypnotist. I
see a couple of chapters with my name written on them.

On Jul 6, 8:44*pm, montana wildhack
wrote:
On 2008-07-06 19:17:20 -0400, "Bob F" said:

http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/lmfaq.htm

Bookmarked. Thanks. I guess a magneto isn't some sort of hypnotist. I
see a couple of chapters with my name written on them.

Sam Goldwasser is a great guy, I don't know how he was able to put all
this information together, but he has answers to just about everything
relating to home electrical/electronics, plus a lot of other stuff I
have never even had a chance to look at.

Bob Hofmann

Most products which can be serviced have "service manuals" available from
the manufacturer. In the case of a lawnmower, you would get a service manual
from the engine manufacturer.

The factory service manuals for anything will give specific service
information for that specific product and tell you exactly what to do,
whereas "generic" service manuals try to cover many different products and
can be frustrating to use.

The best example of this is for a car. Get a factory service manual from the
dealer parts department (which would be for one specific model) and compare
that with the generic service manuals at auto parts stores.

My car factory service manual tells me exactly how to remove the inside door
handles (use a rag to un-clip holding ring), how to remove the dash,
computer error codes, etc. It is twice as many pages as the generic (which
covers all models for several years) and it only covers my car!


"montana wildhack" wrote in message
I've been able to fix three lawn mowers so far this summer, but I really
don't know anything about them. All the fixes I did were obvious and easy.
I didn't have to know what the parts that needed to be replaced were
called.

I held a carburetor in my hand for the first time today. I'm almost 55.
As it turned out, a friend who teaches shop in North Carolina called to
say hello just at the right time. He suggested I take Junior High shop,
but he asked me some questions and helped me discover why the reservoir
was leaking. I'm still not finished with the mower I'm working on (as in,
I don't think I put everything pack together properly) but it doesn't leak
anymore...

Are there any good books for someone who is kind of clueless? And manual
free? I need to have a better grasp on how everything works.

On 2008-07-07 10:04:03 -0400, "Bill" said:

In the case of a lawnmower, you would get a service manual
from the engine manufacturer.

We have been unable to determine the model number of one mower, so
that's an issue.

My question, however, had more to do with wanting general information
and the specific manuals, while extremely handy for ordering parts (and
I mean both putting them back in place in order and replacing them with
new parts), doesn't tell me how to diagnose problems or do tune-ups.

I'm new to this stuff, so I need to start with something like, "Get to
Know Your Friend the Internal Combustion Engine" and "What Makes Your
Self-Propelled Mower Move."