Converting an Electric Mower to Petrol

[Aled Owen]

I have a lawn which is simply too big for an electric mower to cope with, also I hate having to mess around with the cable all the time. Rather than buying a new mower I've looked at Briggs and Stratton engines as well as Honda engines and it seems it would be cheaper to buy an engine and adapt it to fit the mower.

Has anybody done this before, is it actually possible? It's got a steel chassis not some cheap plastic rubbish (ironic considering it was pretty cheap mower).

The only problem I can see so far is having to replace the sproket (and perhaps blade) because the Honda engines seem to have a bigger output shaft diameter than on the current electric engine (I've not measured it yet I can't find my depth gauge D:, all in good time though)

Any help would be appreciated

Thanks Aled

[willshak]

Aled Owen wrote the following:

You might find that it is cheaper to buy a gas mower than to convert what you have to gas.

[The Henchman]

The best value is to buy a gas mower in October or November when they are half priced cleared to sell. Big box stores in February and March make deals to sell manufacturers' previous year models, generally for half price.

Rental stores will sell mowers at end of season too.

Craigslist, Kijiji, Freecycle?

[Aled Owen]

At the moment it isn't statistically, I can get a rubbish plastic thin for less than £100 from B&Q but it's almost guarenteed to break Considering I'm not going to start the project until Winter I'll have look at mower prices around the end of the season. I had my eye on Honda or a VIKING mower but I thought if I converted my Mountfield t Petrol I could get a few good years out of it still

-- Aled Owen

[trader4]

Sell the electric one you have and buy a petrol one, either new or used. If you buy it used, it will kind of like swapping, with no fuss, no muss. There are so many obvious practical problems, that it surely isn't worth the time and money to try to convert one.

[Red]

I agree. You would have problems with mounting holes and length of shaft. In addition to the engine you would need to buy throttle cables and the safety brake. Then you would need holes drilled in the handle to mount the controls. WAY to much trouble.

[Frank]

I googled long and hard for "redneck lawnmower". Came up with a lot of neat stuff but not exactly what op wants. I suggest tying a small gasoline generator to the top of the electric mower to free it of the cord ;)