Mountfield mower?

I'm not familiar with that model, but Mountfield make a variety of mowers ranging from poor to reasonable.

The better ones have:

• cast aluminium frames rather than pressed sheet steel
• Briggs & Stratton engines rather than cheap Italian imitations
• a roller at the back rather than wheels all round

I've had a Mountfield, model unknown, cast ali' frame, for 15 years and so far it has never let me down. B&S engine always starts after the winter. If I had one complaint it would be the belt drive for the self propulsion, it looses a bit grip after a while, but is still much better than pushing it! I'd certainly go for another one as and when this one gives out, no signs of that yet though.

The cheap pressed steel Mountfield one I had (a special at B&Q), had a plastic carburettor and diaphram (on the B&S engine), the latter which required replacement after only a year of use.

It kept letting me down starting, so impatient I flogged it to the neighbour (who I think has since got rid off it) and got a well reviewed cheapie Honda izy which is a lot easier to start, (no manual priming button), powerful and quieter.

Used to have an old rotary ATCO that lived for almost 30 years until I unwisely got it converted for unleaded and lost it's power. A gasket then failed and as there was a possibility of spraying petrol at the back of the spark plug, and same also dropping on the hot exhaust, I skipped it rather than bodge a repair.

That Mountfield bought in haste was not a good replacement, but probably the bottom of the pack. Worth doing some research.

This is the machine I am thinking of buying

Mike

In message , Bill writes

The cast ali' will corrode away eventually. Helps if you clean off wet grass clippings. The roller on the belt tensioner benefits from lubrication. Mine is an Empress and probably older than yours. I fitted a new main roller recently. This turned out to be metal rather than the original plastic job.

regards

'Fraid I don't know anything about machines of that ilk - my experience is limited to rotary mowers which you push along!