How Much Horse Power Is Enough For A Mower?

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Thanks for watching. Do you really need 7 hp to cut your lawn or is something going on here?

This video is meant as entertainment, always practice safety.

[amyclea]

Another great addition to the growing body of lawnmower knowledge.

[covishen]

Several years ago B&S got sued for misleading the public on the HP stamped on the engine. This is why they don't list the HP anymore for the most part. As for the rest of it, I remember my grandparents buying a brand new self propelled lawn mower with a 3.5hp engine. Years later when I was mowing people's lawns, I bought a self propelled mower with a 4hp engine, I loved that mower. It never failed or bogged down. Today because of my unique circumstances, I have a riding mower with a large engine but I also use it for all 4 seasons, with many attachments. As a regular here, you know my circumstances. Do I agree with you? Yes. Aside from specific circumstances.

[allegory]

For years I did what you do in picking up, fixing, using, and sometimes selling curbside mowers. Sometimes they needed minimal work, like a dirty carb or broken keyway. I finally bit the bullet and bought a new Honda hydrostatic with the 200cc engine because my upper back hurt so bad after mowing, not young anymore. That 200GCV is one powerful engine.
Keep up the mower rescues, I hate to see useful equipment tossed out!

[iowafox]

5 years ago when I first moved into my house from the parents house at age 20. I bought a Walmart Murry one for $100 ish. The new style Briggs engine with the plastic carburetor. Nothing fancy I liked it but didn't love it. My mother inlaw has it now. About a year ago I started doing what you do and fix older ones and free ones. My current mower is a 4 year old 22inch rwd Snappy with a Honda GCV160 5.5 engine I got from my brother sold to me since he doesn't have a need for one. I will use this Snapper till it gives out I paid $200 that I got from selling free mowers. 😅 your channel inspired me to save the old mowers and fix everything I can.

[waynestefinashen]

Any mower no matter what the size of the engine will cut grass very well provided you are discharging the grass, the blade is sharpened and the rpm of the mower is properly set to the load specification. When your mulching the build up of grass inside the mower deck may require the bigger engine.

[bob]

We had a 4hp push mower as a kid, that thing never bogged down. My self propelled Honda seems easy to stall in comparison.

[aperson]

i have a 1957 eclipse rocket reel mower with a 1hp briggs 5s engine

[jameskennedy]

👍👍I haven’t bought a new push mower in years. I have a Murray 21” with about 3.5hp B&S non self propelled. It was a curbside find & I done what you’re doing with this one. Same with my Yard Machine which is the same size with the same B&S motor. Our son found a Toro self propelled push mower mulcher with a Kohler motor E-Z start in a ditch, he cleaned the carb, put in new gas, checked the oil, pull the rope started on second pull, self propelled works but I don’t want to walk that fast so I don’t use self propelled lever. I don’t bag my grass so I don’t need the bells and whistles. Plus living in the country has it’s advantages

[thenewman]

That cleaned up nicely. Quantum engine. Good value. Good performance is based mostly on blade maintenance. Speaking from personal experience.

[charlesduboise]

For many years most mowers had a throttle lever on them and you could rev them up as you like but a throttle lever is almost unheard of now, when I was a kid in the late 70s and early 80s the pretty much standard was a 3 to 3and a half HP but now 7 or 8 horse are nothing uncommon with no throttle lever
One of the mowers I have has a 6.5 HP engine with a throttle lever it seems to be about the best choice for me, it has enough power to cut very heavy grass and still by being able to throttle it back myself gets better fuel economy when in lighter glass
It is a overhead valve Honda engine and is a rear wheeled self-propelled and the front wheels are even able to swivel, it is a toro and even being a toro isn't commonly seen outside of professional use

[lbaker]

What are you using that spray bottle to clean the mower? I would like to use that myself to improve the longevity of my mower.

[warpig]

Back in the day i owned a 6.75 HP Craftsman and it ended up lasting my about 15 years because i maintained the hell out of it. I was young and had recently got married and bought a house. I taught myself to fix it when necessary because money was tight. Now i usually get about 12-17 years on a new lawn mower because of simple maintenance.

[therandomman]

The only push mower I can trust actually has 6.5 horses is the lawn boy Duraforce. It sounds mean and cuts like it, too!

[christophermarshall]

The engine on my Yard Force mower is only 3.5 horsepower. A push mower. Light & easy to use. I can't walk very far, so I pull it along side of my mobility scooter. Makes life easy.

[unfundedopportunities]

They've eliminated the old drain plug on B&S. You have turn the whole mower over to empty oil.
I have a compact, old rear bagger that I love. When its 3.5hp engine quit, I went to Lowe's and bought an end-of-season clearance side-discharge mower. They have smaller engines, not 6.5hp. I swapped it. A cheaper way to get a new engine.

[hickorystx]

Great in depth analysis of mower hp history and rationales. Impressive! Maybe someday there will be more DIYers taking better care of their lawn equipment. Viewing your channel is certainly a plus🎉 for anyone with adequate mechanical skills. Save money, time and increase longevity of mowers!!😊

[liljoeii]

As long as it runs that's all it matters to me thank you for the video

[Rein_Ciarfella]

Wow, Eric, you’re really getting into it! 👍
Horsepower, as you say, is just numbers, although before they started not even putting markings on machines as to HP I was at least able to somewhat classify them. Nowadays they have some stupid other way of quantifying and marking them which means absolutely nothing to me. I’m guessing that the change came about for some marketing and cost cutting reasons.

[Rein_Ciarfella]

At 75 I have definitely wanted more HP, but only because I continue to want to be able to accomplish the same tasks and my body needs additional assistance to do that. I could care less about mulching or bagging - the lawn got along fine before those things were available. Then again, I could care less whether the neighbors don’t like the unmanicured appearance of my lawn. It’s only grass! I do like wider cutting ability, but that falls into the category of age taking its toll on me and wanting to spend less time on this chore before “my get up and go got up and went”. 😉😂👍

[rickthelian]

Rust free, Aluminium model 😊
I liked the Quantium motor😊
Wet or long grass, extra power required for torque, or a Two Stoke motor like Victa in Australia in the past.