1950 Pennsylvania Self Propelled Reel Mower

[JoeW]

Like I didn't have anything else to do to day....my new Craftsman mower with the fancy Honda engine is in the shop and my grass is high. I remembered I had an antique mower in the basement. Got it at an estate sale for nothing back about 1982. Took it home and started it right up, though I bet it hadn't been started in 10 years then. Today I dug it out and washed it off and got it to make one pop, but nothing else.
From what I can find out it is a Pennslylvania self propelled reel mower. The Briggs & Stratton numbers say it is a 1950 model with a 6 S engine. If I can figure out how, I'll attach some pictures. I'm going to give it another go tomorrow. So far I tighted up 2 bolts holding on the carberator, drained and refilled the oil, put in some new gas and pulled and wired brushed the spark plug. It does shock me when I touch the plug and pull the rope. Anyone have any ideas? I want to show Sears and Honda a real reel mower! Joe

[John Newman, Jr.]

If you've got spark & compression, all you need is gas and it should go. Check the fuel pick-up tube and / or the check valve on the end of it. A little carb cleaner and some compressed air if available should clear it.

[Austen]

Try putting some starting fluid in and see if that helps.

[Andrew Mackey]

Tryb this: Pull off the air filter, and choke engine. Try starting a few times. Open choke, and look in carb. If you don't see gas, the pick up tube in the carb, or the main jet probably have varnish on them. To clean, remove tank, gently grasp pick up tube with pliers, and twist and pull down at same time. The tube is a press fit. After removing tube, spray and soak the pick up with Berkbile 2+2 carb cleaner. After soaking, tap the large end on its side and continue to soak. Blow dry, making sure screen is clean, and make sure passage is clear, and that the check is free and working. Look at side of carb. You will see a brass screw with a spring on it near the throttle shaft, on the side of the carb. Not the small steel one on the throttle itself!! Remove this needle screw,spring, and the small packing washer. Do not loose the washer!. Remove the brass packing nut the screw was mounted in. Using a 1/4" wide flat screw driver, remove the brass screw inside the threaded bore. Be careful not to bugger up the threads in the carb body. This brass screw is the main jet. Spray and clean all removed parts, use spray nozzle on can of 2+2 and spray into the threaded bore to clean idle ports and pick up passages. WEAR glasses, and protect paint! Blow compressed air thru passages. If passages are well gummed up, you may have to clean manually with a torch tip cleaner, or fine wire, to clear out gum. After clearing all passages, re-assemble as follows - first, check to make sure check valve is working on pick up tube. Re-install tube in carb, tapping lightly with a piece of hard wood. Next, re-install fuel tank. Tighten tank screws snug - do not kill them, as the tank will warp, and then leak. Install main jet, then packing nut, and lastly the mixture screw. DO NOT install the mixture screw and packing nut as an assembly If you do, the main jet may contact screw, and wring off the tip, when you tighten the packing. INSTALL SEPERATELY! Install the mixture screw and spring AND the small brass washer, only, as an assembly, the washer going between the spring and the packing nut. The other end of the spring rides directly on the screw. Turn in the screw gently, until it just contacts the main jet. Back off 1 and 3/4 turns, fill tank, and install air filter, start and warm engine. Open throttle wide open. Turn mixture screw in until engine starts to slow slightly. Back screw out 1/4 turn, and you are set. (alternative set up - start with needle set at 1 and 1/2 turns out. Start and warm up engine
and, open throttle wide open. Back out needle adjusting screw, until you see traces of black smoke out the exhaust. Turn in screw until smoke just clears, and you are good to go.) The idea is to run slightly rich at no load, so engine has proper mixture under load. If you plan to show this engine, and idle it for long peroids, you can adjust the mixture screw at idle. Warm engine thoroughly, idle engine, turn in mixture screw until engine just slows slightly, back out 1/8 turn. This setting is for clean running - long term idling only! The engine most probably will stall if the throttle is opened.
Andrew

[JoeW]

Thanks guys, that was real fast. I'll do all these things that were suggested tomorrow and let you know what happens. I forgot to say the only things that are missing are the knob to engage the clutch and one rubber tread off one wheel. Figure there can't be many of these things left in the world. I'm thinking I need to take it apart to clean it all up. I think there is a lot of paint under all the dust and grime. I also just bought an original magazine ad that is this very model. I have about 50 other things hid back that I plan on messing with before I die...hope I get to half of them, but it will be a fun auction when I die. Too bad I won't be there. More tomorrow and thanks a lot. Joe

[JoeW]

Hi,
I followed Andrews instructions. I found that the tub and screen going into the gas tank were probably plugged up. I also found that the thin brass tube has a split down the side of it. With a full gas tank, will that prevent it from starting? When I put it all back together the engine managed to pip and pop a couple of times as I pulled the rope, but didn't start. I kept adjusting the screw going into the carb slightly and still nothing more. I also managed to pull until the rope pulley came off. Didn't rip any metal. I assume it is held in by a series of very short bolts with nuts. There is only one of these on the housing at the moment....were there more at one time? I'm soaking all that in gas now to get the grim off at the moment.
On more thing. I am so not a mechanic! Shouldn't the spark plug shock me when I hold on to it while cranking? I can make it shock me by touching the plug tip AND the springy metal tab sticking up next to the plug that I assume is the kill mechanism, but not just simply by touching the tip of the plug. Sorry to be so dumb, been trying to make a living for years and haven't messed with engines since I was a teenager. Thanks, Joe

[John Newman, Jr.]

If your fuel pick-up tube is split it might run with a full tank of gas, but as soon as the level drops to where it will start sucking air instead of gas, she's gonna quit. Check with John Smith for a new P/U tube. He has an ad on the sponsors page under Smith Services. Probably has a used one available and may even have a new one. If you are really lucky, you might even be able to get one at your local dealer.
Your spark sounds pretty weak. Even if you are not grounded to any part of the engine, it should knock you on your butt! Check points for corrosion and proper gap. Clean off the magnets in the flywheel and the legs of the armature (coil) to remove any rust or ??? Proper F/W to armature leg gap should be around .010" (about the thickness of a business card).
I just got done messing with a B&S Mod. 5S today on a similar mower. Had no spark. Cleaned the points and it fired right up. This has got to be one of the most dependable motors Briggs made.

[CGBusch]

I just got one of those mowers last week! I went thru the same sequence of carb cleaning to get it started. I couldn't remove the jet, so I used the wire from a bread tie and carb cleaner. We got the thing running. (Even after the string broke! Rewinding the recoil was a pain!)

Its missing the air cleaner and something to keep the throttle butterfly in. Can you take a close picture of the carb? I'm just using a rubber band now.


Mine was missing the rubber from the left side tire too. (Co-incidence?) Since the rubber was smooth on the other side and didn't work well while mowing, I cut the rubber off. Now it looks more antique and both wheels match.

Whats in the steel box? Mine is missing that, but the holes are there.

[JoeW]

I didn't get to do much work today, just removed a few more parts. Trying to find the points. Then I read they are behind the fly wheel, so tomorrow I am going to be brave and attempt to remove the fly wheel. I have read all the posts on how to remove the fly wheel and will follow those instructions. I took the gas tank and carb off today, so I will get you a picture when and if I get it all back together. From what I can tell everything looks original on my mower.
Maybe the left rubber tread missing off both of our mowers indicates they made a whole lot of right turns or something. I really think I'm going to have to take a deep breath and take the whole engine and mower apart because it is caked with 50 years worth of grease mixed with grass and I doubt I'll be happy until it is at least all clean again.
I ordered a BRIGGS & STRATTON Model 6-S instructions and parts book today from an online bookstore, so that will probably help. I assume the box on my mower was for tools. I also bought an original ad for my mower off eBay and between that and the parts book the mystery box thing should be solved. I'm enjoying all this, but I'm sure scared I'm going to mess something up or forget how to put it all back together. I am sitting here with the cleaned up cowling in front of me. About 80 % of the paint is still there and the B & S decal is in great shape. Just trying to decide if I want to leave it original and give it coat of wax or something or if it will take a repainting to make me happy.
I am so fantastically busy, I have no idea why I decided to tackle this lawn mower after keeping it in the basement for 25 years. Guess it takes my mind off all the other things. Sorry to be so chatty too. Joe

[Austen]

You could just about restore the whole mower now that you have it apart!

[JoeW]

"You could just about restore the whole mower now that you have it apart!

You have far far more confidence in me than I have. I laid in bed last night wondering if I remember how to put the carb linkage back together and if the flap thing that is pushed open by the air from the spinning fins went on first behind the coil thing. It's very possible I'm too dumb for this! Have to pretend to be a carpenter today, so might not get much mower work done. Happy Tuesday to everyone. Joe

[Forrest A]

Pulsa jet carbs need a full tank to start properly, especialy if they have been dry for a long time. Check the screws that hold the tank to the carb to make sure they are tight. You may need to rebuild the carb an replace the rubber valve flap assy.

Forrest A

[John Newman, Jr.]

Forrest:
This is pre-Pulsa Jet. These carbs are about as simple as they get - no diaphrams, no float. Not too much to them at all....

Joe:
I wouldn't lose sleep over it! Sounds like you might be coming down with a case of "castious Ironous afflictionous". Early symptoms include the desire to take old engines apart. Once you put one back together again and hear it run, this disease is nearly incurable. To prepare for the inevitable, you will need to clear out some space in your garage, or perhaps build a shed. Just look around this site. Nearly everyone here has a terminal case - but you couldn't ask for a better victims' support group.
We're all here for you.

[CGBusch]

I used mine to mow my lawn and boy oh boy is it shifty. As you mow with it, it wants to turn back and forth as the wheels randomly alternately grab traction. Also it does minor burn-outs in the lawn... Were these things that uncontrollable when new?? Perhaps I shouldn't have removed the rubber off the one wheel?!?!

[JoeW]

I managed to get the fly wheel off successfully before it started raining. Now I am sitting in the house just sure I have lost half the parts and am too dumb to ever put this thing back together. And I am very sure I have contracted "castious Ironous afflictionous".
I think I am going to take a leap of faith and unbolt the block from the mower body and go semi-whole hog at restoration. Because I am scared, I don't think I am going to take the head off and look inside. I wouldn't know what I was seeing if I did. I did pull off the cover and look at the valves and springs....looks just like valves and springs to me....but it reminds me of my wedding night....I don't know what to do with those parts if I put my hands on them.
I remember the one time I mowed with this beast back in the early 80s. It drug me around the yard at a high rate of speed and I was lucky I didn't mow up a few cats in the process. So I'm betting these mowers were a handful when brand new too.
Thanks Mr. Busch, I was about to remove the remaining rubber from the one wheel. Does anyone know if it is possible to find a replacement rubber at this late date?
I also think I am not going to repaint any of it. Looks like about 75% of the original paint is still there and so hopefully all polished up, it will still be purty. I tend to like original condition over restored and freshly painted. I can always change my mind in the next week or 2.
So that's my progress report. It's sure nice of you guys to take the time to help me out and I'm sure when I start putting it back together I'll be needing to pick your brains some more. Joe

[Austen]

There are some shops that still carry parts for the old reel mowers. I know of a shop called Aurora Lawn Mower (in Washington state) that carrys parts like rubber for the wheels that I've seen. I would just email a few shops on the net and that's how I found parts for my Jacobsen and they were even in the same state where I live which I couldn't believe. In the worst case of not getting your mower back together, you could always bring it to a lawn mower shop and have them show you. -Austen.

[JoeW]

Ok guys.....I took it all apart.....I'm dead meat now! I put little parts in envelopes and took digital pictures...a little late in the game. Wish I had taken a good picture of the throttle linkage.....
I have a Briggs & Stratton 6 S booklet coming I bought on the web. Hopefully it will show an exploded view of all the parts and be a guild to putting it all back together.
Should I take the head off and go all the way or leave well enough alone? 25 years ago it seemed to run very well and it wasn't locked up when I drug it out the basement a week or so ago. So.......I will include a picture from an original 1950 ad and show you what my mower looks like today. Happy Sunday, Joe

[Austen]

You're at the stage where if you cleaned everything up and painted the it would look like new!

[JoeW]

I was trying to clean the parts with gasoline this afternoon and just plumb wore out. Couldn't figure out why I was sweating so badly I couldn't see what I was doing. Came back in the house and discovered it was 99 degrees outside. Silly me, we had some cool weather and I thought summer was over. Old guys shouldn't work like a dog when it's 100! After I get everything washed off with gas I'll take another look at repainting or leaving it original. I am totally amazed at the quality of workmanship and the well thought out design of this mower and engine. I haven't found anything shoddy about it and it's so nice to work on something that doesn't have screws and bolts hidden where you can't get hold of them. I was 5 years in the future when it was 1950, but those Americans knew what they were doing when this old mower was built. Even all apart on my messy front porch, it is a thing of beauty. Joe

[JoeW]

I'm attaching 2 carb shots taken from this booklet I bought called Operating and Maintenance Manual with Parts Catalog for the model 6S by Briggs & Stratton...looks original to me. Think this will help me put mine back together when the time comes. I have yet to find out what the box is for, it doesn't show up in the 1950 Pennsylvania mower ad I bought. If and when I get mine all together again I'll take a carb shot. Sounds to me like you're just missing a spring. Joe

Originally Posted by CGBusch

I just got one of those mowers last week! I went thru the same sequence of carb cleaning to get it started. I couldn't remove the jet, so I used the wire from a bread tie and carb cleaner. We got the thing running. (Even after the string broke! Rewinding the recoil was a pain!)

Its missing the air cleaner and something to keep the throttle butterfly in. Can you take a close picture of the carb? I'm just using a rubber band now.


Mine was missing the rubber from the left side tire too. (Co-incidence?) Since the rubber was smooth on the other side and didn't work well while mowing, I cut the rubber off. Now it looks more antique and both wheels match.

Whats in the steel box? Mine is missing that, but the holes are there.