Murray high wheel. mower

Couple years ago I bought Poulan riding mower from friend. She had Murray push mower, near new that wouldnt stay running and put it into my pickup too. It had Briggs OHV engine with PLASTIC carburetor. Craptastic carb and not cheap to replace. You really dont rebuild plastic carb. So made adapter using two large flat washers and short length half inch steel pipe. Winter came and didnt get back to it until this spring. Put on old adjustable Tecumseh carb that had set in old car for 20 years. It leaked a bit but mower ran, thought it would work, then started leaking again. Rebuild kit $10. NEW Chinese clone carb $11 on slow boat from China. I ordered the new carb. Used some crap Chinese based tracking. Showed it got here and through customs, then took three week vacation in Grapevine, TX. Arrived and departed couple times from Grapevine. At that point just going to wait for Ebay estimated max arrival time to expire and apply for refund. But magically it showed up at my local post office with entirely different tracking number and out for delivery. Got it yesterday. Finished mounting it and making new plate for top of throttle shaft out of washer can couple screws, with hole in correct place for governor rod. Just started it and adjusted it to the engine (I love adjustable carbs). Runs great. No leaks.

Anybody interested its carb for Tecumseh Rotary 13147 The Chinese seller gone off ebay, but there is an American seller of same Chinese carb for like $13. Still a deal. Oh noticed you can buy a Chinese plastic clone carb for original now for about same price. I wouldnt but it would be direct fit.

Ok, first I suggest if you buy a cheap mower with Briggs current model push mower engines you get the 140cc or bigger.  They sell a 125cc, but unless you have very light cutting duties its going to be on weak side.  The 140cc is enough, it went through some fairly tough bermuda.  RPM down bit but accomplished it without much struggle.  I use side discharge.  Truly not enough power to mulch and dont even think getting this size engine for self propel.  You want self propel and mulching, you want 190cc or bigger IMHO.

Oh the Briggs air filter assembly of course didnt fit the Tecumseh carb.  I first tried gimmick I saw on a youtube video, used a plastic outlet box for air cleaner and used sponge for filter.  Ok the sponge let too little air in.  So got regular foam air cleaner on slow boat from china for some generator, it was just rectangle of foam about inch thick.  I trimmed it down to fit the box and oiled it, squeezing out any excess oil.  It works fine.  the plastic box however didnt hold up.  Obviously need either a metal one or maybe fiberglass one.  I found old rusty metal one and cleaned it up, punched out the slug in back of it and drilled out the nail holes so could get bolts through into carb.  It works ok.  I will have to make a nipple for the crankcase oil vapor vent hose, but for now works without it hooked up.  I am going to look at Lowes, see what a new metal box costs, if not much, get new one and paint it.

Seriously with real carburetor on it, its one pull start and mows just fine.  Dang plastic wheels with no bearings so pushes bit harder than it has to.

I was looking and closest model I saw on Walmart.com had the 125cc engine and they wanted $200.  Insane.  This is a fine $100 mower, wouldnt give dollar more for it new.  

Anymore think if you want cheap mower, find old dead mower with best deck you can find, then buy 160cc or bigger Honda, Kohler, or Predator engine and put on it.  Subaru and Kawasaki are great too, but harder to find cheap.  

I oddly didnt see any cheap new Briggs engines.  Why you would give more for a low end Briggs as you would for one of others mentioned, no idea.  The Briggs 500e is doing ok for me at this point, but I dont expect long life.  If I can get over 5 years out of it, I will be amazed.

Course also depends if you are going to do maintenence on engine.  Change oil and air filter once a year and typical Honda GCV160/190 should last you 10 to 15 years, maybe more.  they have only been around 20 years and some guy claiming 15 years and still running fine is longest life claim I have seen so far.  Older "commercial" GXV120/140/160 engines could go upto 30 years or possibly more though mower usually fall apart before engine failed.  No idea how the clones hold up, havent used one regularly more than 3 or 4 year.  All small engines take some tinkering, especially the older they get.

The oil looked bit funky when I checked it. Thinking I bet it never been changed before, you are supposed to change it after first 5 hour use just cause of bits of aluminum from machining of casting in the factory.

Did that, what what a messy PITA. This is 500E engine and came with the shorty dipstick that screws into side of engine block. You have to use a screwdriver to loosen and reinstall it. A more painful way of doing it probably not possible.

So I did lot looking and yes some 500E and 500EX did come with the tall dipstick tube and dipstick. I took off top cover and the lower blower housing is metal and has the two tabs for mounting tall dipstick tube. Found the part number. New one is some crazy price up towards $30. Found used one for $8 shipped on Ebay. Its on its way. Then got to wondering, this is push in style with o-ring. Did the engines that had the tall dipstick have threaded hole like those E engines with the shorty dipstick??? I suppose I can drill it out a bit if necessary though that would get aluminum bits in crankcase.... Oh well, live and learn. If this engine lasts any time at all, that shorty dipstick has to go, truly should earn the engineer or company executive who thought that was a good idea, a dope slap. Also whoever thought a plastic starter cup was a good idea. Or a plastic carburetor. Jeeze louise, it shouldnt be rocket science to build some durability into an engine.

Hmm, tracking shows pre-shipment on dipstick for couple week now, not in hands of USPS. Also shows two tracking numbers for some reason. Neither shows other than preshipment info.

So suppose I gotta contact seller. A week, fine, some seller that has few sales and lives distance from PO, well cant make special trip to PO for one small item. But two weeks? Just as well order parts from China seller.

Actually been thinking about those 125cc engines. Suspect see lot of these Briggs engines showing up cheap used on Craigslist or wherever. The 125cc not such great idea for lawn mower, but if you can add weight to help out aluminum flywheel, so dont need blade, it would probably be thrifty for some things. The real weakness of this Briggs E-engine is plastic carb and apparently you hit something mowing, the aluminum sump casting is very thin and can easily crack. Used to drive a belt and replacing the plastic carb, it should work ok. Lawn mower duty probably one of harshest jobs for an engine, lot dirt and it hits anything, well...

Wringer washing machines pretty much went way of the doe-doe bird but long ago had a Maytag with the 2cycle genuine Maytag engine. Just thinking probably not too hard to replace it with small 4cycle engine. It really needs very little horsepower, a 1.5hp or 2hp would be overkill. Again this isnt an application much of anybody would need anymore, but small engine like this be fine for it. need some creativity to mount it.

And I think HF still sells a 2hp horizontal shaft Predator, which no doubt be easier to adapt.

Ok, got the Briggs tall dipstick/tube.  Removed the yellow stubby one, removed the shroud.  Dipstick tube popped right into place.  As to the shroud, when I looked, they had put the reinforcement in it around where the tall dipstick tube goes.  Basically all plastic upto the reinforcement had to be nipped away.  Soft kind of plastic so not too difficult. It works, not slickest , but works.  And such an improvement over the stubby screw in dipstick that you have to use a screw driver to remove/replace it.  

The Briggs design for "E" engine isnt super wonderful, it obviously was made to be absolutely cheap as possible and still function.  Time will tell.