My dad bought this Craftsman Eager-1 push mower some thirty years ago. There is beauty in its simplicity. As dad told me years ago, “Turn it to ‘HI,’ prime it three times, put your foot here, and give the starter a solid pull.” So long as there was gas in the tank, I’m here to tell you that mower started on the first try every single time. I spent many a summer afternoon behind this old Craftsman.
When my family moved to Phoenix about ten years ago, the trusty mower went with them. It sat in storage for a couple years while they found a house. That house ended up having gravel yards, so it continued to sit in the garage. One afternoon, I stopped by the house and saw the mower sitting beside the house. When I asked why it was out, I was told dad planned on rolling it out to the curb in the morning. Much like Chunk told Sloth at the end of the Goonies, as I loaded the mower into the back of the Volvo that afternoon, I said, “You’re gonna come live with me now.”
Here’s what Eager-1 looked like when I got started.
No self-propelled, safety handle, coddling here. This is a man’s lawn mower. It’s got two speeds, but you only use one of ‘em – HI – and it runs until you’re man enough to reach in and turn that knob to OFF.
Below, (starting at 12 o’clock): gas cap, throttle controls, carburetor primer bulb, pull start, oil cap.
Eager-1 has been sitting for a solid ten years. Maybe twice that.
The oil was drained prior to being shipped to Europe (we did *move* there), but it wasn’t used over there, so it might be that this guy has sat for closer to twenty years, but I still expect it to start on the first try when I have everything cleaned up and back together. I’ve already got a new spark plug, air filter and mulching blade, which ran me a grand total of $25 and change. I’ll either find a replacement muffler or try my hand at making one.
I removed the gas tank & fan shroud to begin cleaning.
This image shows the gas tank removed from the front of the engine. Little dribbles of oil over time combine with dust and dirt to form a greasy sludge that covers just about everything. On the left is the air inlet to the carburetor, the fuel feed line, and the oil filler neck/dipstick.
Backside of engine, showing (L to R): ignition wire for spark plug, carb primer tube, controls.
In the picture below, the oil tube has been removed and a clean rag stuffed into the block. Without the fan shroud in place, there was nothing to keep the tube from coming out, risking dirt ingestion.
Basic maintenance out of the way, I reassembled the mower to test fire it.
Unfortunately, Eager-1 was not ready to go yet. Before I could even give the starter a pull, fuel began pouring out of the carb. I only added a splash of fuel to the tank for this, so I wrapped an old towel around the base of the engine to soak up the mess.
Thanks to some quality information from @Vagen and @365motorwerks on Twitter this morning, I’ve got a plan of attack for pulling the carb and rebuilding it. Once that’s done, I’ll see if Eager-1 won’t reward my efforts by roaring to life on the first pull. Just like the good old days. If he does, I’ll be stripping him down even further for a full clean and re-paint. More to come soon.
(Vanessa wants the yard mowed pronto!)