All outdoor power equipment requires some maintenance to keep running in top shape. By changing the oil, air filter and keeping the equipment clean, you can extend the normal life by several years. I don’t know about you, but I prefer to get my monies’ worth from something. I believe the average life you can expect from any piece of outdoor power equipment is about 10 years, ± 2 years.
Case in point, last year, my 10 year old craftsman lawn mower bit the dust. The aluminum crank case cracked and leaked oil all over the place. I used this lawn mower at our rental house, which had an acre of lawn, then when we moved here, I used it for four more years, again, mowing about an acre of lawn every week.
Last fall, my 9 year old chain saw broke the connecting rod. The chain saw was heavily used, and a higher quality unit like a Stihl or Husqvarna may have lasted longer. This year, my 10 year old string trimmer bit the dust. The cable that transfers power from the power head to the cutting head unsprung. The whole unit was beginning to fall apart anyway, again, a higher quality unit may have lasted longer. So I have concluded that 10 years of medium to heavy use is about all you can expect from most stuff.
The Toro Model 20071A Lawn mower was brand new last year, and it has been a good unit so far. Always starts on the first or second pull and does a real nice job with the lawn.
Maintenance is pretty easy. Changing the oil took about 15 minutes, including 10 minutes of warming the engine up. I like to change the oil when the engine is warm because the it thins out the oil and more of the old oil comes out of the crank case. This unit does not have an oil plug on the bottom of the engine, so it needs to be tipped on its side. This is best done when the fuel tank is nearly empty, so gas does not leak out when it is tipped over. I use a catch pan, then empty the catch pan into my “dirty lube oil” container, which is a 5 gallon gas can so purposed. When the dirty lube oil container is full, I take the oil to my favorite garage, M. Alpert and Sons, for recycling. The lawn mower takes 20 ounces of SAE 30W detergent motor oil.
The air filter should be changed every year. The replacement filter is a Tecumseh 36905, which I found at both Lowes and Home Depot.
The old filter is on the left. That is the filter that came with the lawn mower after one season of use. You can see why they need to be replaced every year.
The only other thing that is recommended is to lube the wheel gears for the front drive wheels.
An occasional blade sharpening will also make cutting the grass much easier. You can tell when your lawn mower blade needs to be sharpened by how cleanly it is cutting the grass. A blade of grass that looks torn or shredded where it was cut is a good indicator that the blade is dull and needs to be sharpened.
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I have a 2007 20071 6.5 toro and in the second year it won’t start at all replaced plug ( the old 1 Looked black and a bit gas covered) Still 100 pulls later it still won’t start. Primed it but pressure in bulb doesn’t build. Gas is full/oil too. Any ideas? Anyone? Can’t find manual for troubleshooting ideas.thanks!
Try the Toro website. There are pdf’s that will show you an exploded diagram of the carb. it sounds like the caarb floats have varnish (a natural byproduct of cheap gas) on them. This varnish will not allow the floats to slide up and down in their slides. Simply removing the bowl on the bottom of the carb (near the air filter)will show you the slides and float. With a clean rag wipe the brown varnish off the slides. drain gas into a can before you remove carb parts, otherwise it will drain onto the mower deck. after replacing all the parts you may have to re adjust the carb needles for air and gas mixture. here is a link to where to find the diagrams. (https://homeownersolutions.toro.com/portal/server.pt/community/solutions_home/222).
I have a model 20016 Toro 22″ Recycler selfpropelled lawn mower. How do you tighten the belt that drives the front wheel self propelled mechanism?
I had the same problem over the weekend with my TORO, I replaced the sparkplug which didnt help then I went to the Gas station and bought new gas. The next time it started it quit seconds later, I did this a few time then I manually primed the Mower for about 5-10 seconds while it was “running” which resolved the issue. Hope this helps.
JUST MADE THE SAME MISTAKE TODAY… GAS STATION GUY SAID 5W. BUT I LIKE THE IDEA OF GOING TO MY LOCAL LAWN MOWER BUSINESS.. IF I NEW WHERE THERE WAS IN PHOENIX…
WHAT IS THE CORRECT OIL FOR THE TORRO?
SAE-30W I believe
I have a Toro recycler mower. The right rear height adjustment lever broke. I have removed the wheel, gear etc, but don’t know how to remove the silver, grease bearing. I think this will be an easy fix, but not if I can’t remove that piece. Thanks in advance.
Jackson
I bought second Toro lawnmover in 2006 based on the performance of the old one that I was happy with.
But second one is no good at all, does not cut clean and blade goes blunt everytime I mow the lawn. My lawn is extra healthy and clean but blade is always blunt, I complained this on Toro Website with no reply. I will not buy Toro again
Great article, Paul! I’ve check 6 or 8 sites, and yours is the first one to even mention lubing the drive gears in the self-propelled mechanism… Good job! I wish you had included photos of that work, so I knew what I was up against… Maybe I can take some when I work on mine (in about 10 min.), and send them to you?
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For Chris with the Toro that won’t start:
My Dad used to say that engines are simple – they need just 3 things to run: Fuel, air, and a spark. As with most of my Dad’s advice, there is a lot of wiggle room there!
For fuel: When you are priming the mower, and you don’t feel pressure, do you ever SMELL gas? After 20 or 30 squeezes, you should smell fuel… If you don’t, chances are you have a split fuel line that isn’t maintaining a vacuum, so it can’t get the fuel out of the tank. You may also have a dirty fuel filter, or dirt got sucked into the carb and is clogging the fuel flow.
For air: Did you check your air filter? Hold it up to the sun – if you can’t see light through the paper folds, then air isn’t getting through. My neighbor used to yank 20+ times on his mower before it would start. I checked his air filter, and it was dirty. He changed it, and now the mower starts after 2 or 3 pulls!
For spark: Did you check your spark plug? If you had an oil leak, or poor ignition in the previous year, the spark plug could have become gunked up. (That’s a technical term, but you know what I mean, right?) Over the winter, those deposits can solidified and glaze over. Then in the Spring, there is no contact for the spark to arc across.
Take out your spark plug, and check the contact – the ‘arm’ that spans over, across the plug doohickey (another technical term!) Then take a look at http://www.mudinmyblood.net/forum/images/reading_spark_plugs.jpg. This is one of them best spark plug diagnostic charts I’ve ever seen! The deposits on the arm and pointy doohickey can tell you A LOT about how well your mower is running!! See if your plug has one of the problems shown on that chart…
If it is gunked up, but doesn’t show any of those problems, then clean the plug contacts. Fold some sandpaper over so the grit is showing on both sides. Then rub it back and forth between the arm and the point. The sandpaper grit doesn’t matter too much – 110 or 220 (medium or fine grit) will do the job.
Now your plug is all shiny, right? Last thing you do is check the gap between the point and the arm. For the Toro 22″ 6.5 HP GTS, the gap should be 0.035″. If it is off by 0.001″ or 0.002″, don’t worry about it. But if it is off by more than 0.005″, you have a problem. This can cause hard starting, more fouling of the plug, rough idling, and bad fuel economy.
If the gap is too narrow (less than 0.0035″), get out a flat head screw driver, and pry the span open a scrunch or two. Then check the span again… Rinse and repeat until you have the gap correct.
If the gap is too wide – the more common problem! – get out your needle nose pliers. Put your 0.035″ gap span measuring thingy in the gap, and hold it there. Use your pliers to GENTLY bend the arm down till it touchs the gap spanner tool.
Put the plug back into the mower – be sure you get the threads lined up correctly! Don’t force anything – you should be able to turn it by hand most of the way into the engine block. Torque it down, and you are done.
Well, you aren’t QUITE done… Take a look inside the rubber housing that you push down on the spark plug. You should see a spring in there. Is it dirty, rusty, or covered in crud? That is your problem – no spark (or a very weak spark!) is getting to your spark plug.
Get out a thin nail, and some fine grit (220 or finer) sandpaper. Tape a strip of the paper on the nail, and wrap the paper around the nail shaft. Now while turning the nail, push it down into the middle of the coiled spring. Keep turning and turning to buff off all the crud. Blow out any dirt, and repeat until the spring looks clean.
NOW you are done. Push the spring/housing down onto the spark plug, fill the mower with FRESH gasoline, and try again. If your gas is more than 30 days old, put it into your car’s tank. Then go buy some fresh gas. If you have gasahol or ethanol-enriched fuel where you live, that stuff loses its *Bang!* MUCH faster than 100% petroleum gas! So fresh gas is critical…
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For Peter with the dull blade on his mower:
I’ve done blacksmithing and knife making… Your dull blade problem sounds like the steel in the blade wasn’t tempered correctly. If it isn’t tempered, the steel doesn’t have that tough, durable molecular structure that blades need to stay sharp.
If the mower is under warranty, contact Toro for a new blade. If you don’t feel like messing with all that, remove your old blade, and take it down to the hardware store. Most after-market mower blades are made with better quality steel (more carbon!), have a better temper on them, and have extra teeth, sharp surfaces, or blade edges to maximize the mulching effect.
With your mower blade in hand, find the after-market blade that matches it in length and general shape. Then look on the back of the new blade’s package – you should see a chart listing the mower brands and models on which it can be used. If you see your mower model listed, you are all set.
After-market blades can cost from $18 to $40, depending on the brand, features and quality of steel.
Reinstall the blade, torque it down to 60 ft./lbs. – that is two or three good, hard pulls, with your foot bracing the blade, and with your hand out at the end of the socket wrench handle.
Good luck!
My Toro self propelled will not keep running unless I keep priming it. I put a new filter on, loosened the carb cap, plenty of gas. What’s next? Please help, I am a poor man and can not afford to take it to the repair man. Thanks
My Toro self propelled 190cc 6.5hp 22″ mower, the clip thing that holds the selfproplled cable to the lever broke. What can I do to fix it, without replacing the whole cable!
I HAVE A TORO GTS THAT WHEN IT GET TO HIGH GRASS THE BLADE WILL DISENGAGE..MOWER JUST RUNS OVER GRASS.
My Toro Recycler’s front wheels will not reverse? Back ones are fine front ones roll forward and lock when rolled backward?
Hey guys,
Same mower w/ same engine and all that. I bought my second-hand and have been having a few problems with it.
I replaced the air filter and spark plug (the guy at Lowe’s looked at it and said…wow they don’t even have this logo on these sparkplugs anymore, har har), and am planning to do an oil change before the next mow. The old plug looked like it had oil fouling/deposits and when I mow anything more than a few sprigs it starts to bog down and throw out smoke from the exhaust. Sometimes it will do this and sputter for 5-10 seconds then stop smoking and pep right back up.
I am thinking that it’s got a blown gasket or it is just leaking oil from the crankcase. Either way, this mower shouldn’t be struggling on ankle-deep grass at granny speed. Any suggestions?
I have a Toro 20092 Personal Pace mower whose rear wheels lock up when pulling it backward. The problem developed over a couple of months (2 year old mower). Drives forward fine. I’d like to believe it’s an adjustment of some sort but likely one or both of the gear cases. Any thoughts? Do these need to be serviced periodically?
I have a 22 inch recycler that starts, but when I engaged the self prepare bar it cuts out – any ideas?
Thanksk
For Richard Faery: Pinch off the fuel line with a fuel line clamp or vise grips or something to keep the tank from emptying when you remove the sediment bowl from the carburetor. Remove the sediment bowl at the bottom of the carburetor (bolt head) with a 7/16″ wrench and drain the fuel from the bowl- clean with carburetor cleaner and reinstall bowl, making sure to align the rubber gasket in the bowl with the carburetor and reinstall the bolt with 7/16″ wrench. Remove the fuel line clamp, let the bowl fill with fuel, prime the bulb three or four times and the mower should start and run just fine. If not, you’ll have to drain the tank and sediment bowl of all the old fuel and try with fresh fuel. I would also check the oil level… If it gets less than 3/4 full, the engine does tend to stall.
For Gene Gordon: If you haven’t done anything to it yet, I fixed mine using a bit of wire coat hanger wrapped around the cable and bend a hook in the end where it goes into the handle hole. Adjust the cable as needed to get the traction desired.
For Shawn (and possibly Mike Armstrong): It sounds like the drive mechanism is still engaged -kinda- … My rear drive does something similar when I am trying to reverse immediately after releasing the drive handle. If I release the handle a few seconds before I reverse-while I am still moving forward-then reverse, it doesn’t lock up. You might try that…
i thought id like to throw my 2 cents on how awesome a review/informative lawnmower blog is! thanks a million !! (i have the same lawn mower and now i know my oil filter type and oil grade!)
Hey Paul –
So I have this mower and it just started cutting out after 5-30 seconds. Bought it from HD about 4yrs ago. Floor model. I admit I’ve been lax on preventative maintenance. Pulled the air filter cover off and whattaya know, no filter!!! Damn HD. Damn me for not replacing it 3yrs ago.
Anyway, I took the bowl nut off, and it has frayed black plastic encircling the tip. Looks like there was a ~3/16″ dia x ~3/16″ long tube on there that is just nearly gone. Where does that bowl nut connect to (guessing air line coming from air filter).
Advice on repair? Shop down the road wants $195 for an annual service. Ripoff! Thanks.