Just have to share – our Briggs & Stratton powered lawnmower started running badly last week, I identified the issue (carb gasket had sprung a slight leak), bought the part for a couple of quid, removed the carb and fitted the new part, put it back together and it started first time.

Whoo 🙂

And then shared it on the internet! +1 to scorecard 🙂

Nice! So satisfying.

I sharpened a saw for the first time ever – what a difference!!

Nice! So satisfying.

Yep – I am a pretty average DIYer unlike some of the people on here that would happily strip an engine down to its component parts and be able to put it back together so I was pretty pleased that I was able to do it.

I did the same with a petrol strimmer* a couple of months back. It’d been laid up with fuel in it for two years and the fuel lines and carb gaskets had all rotted. Picked up an entire replacement carb for a couple of quid more than a service kit, along with like half a mile of fuel hose because I’m clearly going to need that much. Twas a great feeling when it fired up first go.

(* – It’s not actually a petrol strimmer, it’s a grass strimmer which uses petrol for fuel. Details are important.)

I like it. Gaskets and springs involved so extra 1/2 a point.

I fixed a cassette deck that I’d picked up for a tenner on Friday. Well chuffed. I’ve never ever attempted anything on audio equipment. It’s playing beautifully now.

Washing machine packed up. Was most likely the brushes on the motor. £13 and a scuffed knuckle, and I saved myself a 100 quid repair call out

Doing man stuff is ace.

I’m going to sharpen a pencil with a Stanley Knife in a bit, once I’ve finished my Earl Grey.

No Harry, ding man stuff is ace when it works!

My brake cable/cut out snapped on my lawnmower. I got a replacement but it didn’t fit, I had to bodge it with bits from an old set of roof bars and circ clip. It worked first time. I also sprayed some cleaner stuff into random places in the engine. More I feel epic.

I’m going to sharpen a pencil with a Stanley Knife in a bit

Step away from the Stanley knife!
As this is STW, I give you linky

Oddly enough I did exactly the same to our Briggs and Stratton lawnmower a couple of weekends ago.

It was running lumpy and sounding like it wanted to stop when meeting a slightly clumpy section of grass, so I decided to give it the first service*

Replaced the gasket and diaphragm, plug, air filter and oil. Full service for under £10 (excluding oil, which I had from a previous car)

Very satisfying when it roared back into life like a demented go-kart and no longer slows down for anything.

* or 17 years since purchased, what ever occurs first.

Just fixed the brakes on my lad’s bike too. Both “Manly” and “Dadly”.

It would have been a bit of a poor do I couldn’t TBH, but it showed the missus that the vast array of tools acquired over the years have a purpose.

I squirted a bit of GT85 up the outer to lube the cable.

10 Hero Points™ to me.

Dont leave fuel in your petrol powered garden tools.
Well done on the man skills

It was running lumpy and sounding like it wanted to stop when meeting a slightly clumpy section of grass, so I decided to give it the first service*

Yep – that was exactly what was happening to mine.

Dont leave fuel in your petrol powered garden tools.

Are we supposed to drink any leftover at the end of mowing the lawn?

I think you’ll find you did a ‘non-binary engineering thing’, not a ‘man thing’ 😉

Replaced the gasket and diaphragm, plug, air filter

If one of my mates* wanted to do this and needed a good online resource to follow where would he look?

My mates lawnmower stutters whenever it has to deal with clumpy grass or any sort of incline.

*definitely for my mate. I clearly know how to do this as I am a bloke with natural bloke skills. I was born with the natural ability to ride motorbikes, service engines, take the bins out and cook meat on a bbq.

If one of my mates* wanted to do this and needed a good online resource to follow where would he look?

Tell your mate to Google it – I found a really helpful YouTube tutorial that walked through how to do it which I watched a couple of times before starting the job as it gave me the confidence that it was actually quite easy. It turned out the hardest bit was unscrewing the carb from the fuel tank as I struggled to loosen them without stripping the screwheads which appeared to be made from soft cheese.

Washing machine brushes a couple of weeks ago.
New shower ‘engine’ last week, which is annoying as it’s a tiny rubber seal that splits but you can’t get that bit. It’s ‘not servicable’ (it bloody is, I got it apart enough to find the split seal, you just want to supply £65 bits rather than 65p bits)
Bike mod for my dad before all that, but that didn’t go 100% to plan as I have to bleed one of the brakes again.
Head lining out of the van to confirm it’s the not the roof aerial seal leaking but the windscreen.

I think that’s all the recent stuff. Not had many broken things to repair from my partners school recently because of lockdown.

If one of my mates* wanted to do this and needed a good online resource to follow where would he look?

This video is the one that told me what to do and gave me the inspiration to persevere with the mower, as I could have used my incompetence in lack of servicing it to waste a coupe of hundred on a new mower otherwise.

Mine is exactly the same engine and I bought the genuine bits from Amazon, including the B&S vacuum oil pump thing. The sump plug is on the bottom of the mower and appears to be a 3/8″ square drive plug. I only have 1/4 and 1/2 socket sets and didn’t fancy messing about so just bought the vacuum kit instead.

This is one of the good things about the internet.  It might not have exactly the fix you need but often it’s close enough to remove the fear of trying.  Love it

I wore a check shirt when I was splitting wood. I got hot and sweaty, so I took it off.

Did you have a small piece left over, and cut yourself, thereby making a blood sacrifice to the Gods Of DIY to ensure it works properly afterwards? Then it’s a proper man thing.

High point of my manliness was identifying a roof leak then risking extreme injury or loss of life to get on the roof with flash tape and a heat gun to tape up the uneven roof tiles. Leak sorted, but I’m not after any credit for it

The funny thing is an actual crocodile found its way onto the roof at the same time somehow and I had to wrestle and incapacitate it in order to get down to safety. Again I’m not after any credit and will continue to put the bins out without seeking any credit whatsoever

I left petrol in a 2stroke strimmer unused for in excess of ten years, pulled it down off the wall and it started first time.

Petrol has changed over the years, it’s the ethanol content which kills rubber parts. The one I fixed the fuel lines had literally disintegrated, they crumbled in my hands.

Integrated washing machine needed replacing. It was sat on a hidden piece of bench/worktop, to get the door front at the right height

The new machine sat too high, despite adjusting as much as I could.

Removed afore mentioned worktop piece and cut two 5mm deep channels, with a router, to drop it to the correct height. Perfect fit.

Good job!

Even terrible low level man jobs are very satisfying.

For me, recently, it was replacing the 8 bearings on a 20 quid kids sit on “wiggle” car.

3 quid for the bearings off the Bay and pressed them in with an allen key. Real high tech stuff.

Literally, better than new.

Dont leave fuel in your petrol powered garden tools.

Use Aspen fuel to avoid bits rotting, £5 a litre for 2 stroke premix though so best used at the end of the year before storage. Bonus is that it’s in the fridge at our local industrial garden machinery place, cocktails with a kick! 🙂

Would have given you an extra point if you made your own gasket from a cereal packet, but nice work!

I re-greased the bearings on my trailer over the weekend, fingers crossed they don’t fall off.