1966 Briggs and Stratton - Original Wind up starter - First start

[@лилианадолгова-и2м]

The assembly of the lawn mower could be done without any problems kzbin.infoUgkxTPN04aT-Qdjr_KS3ql7ng8wnU3wwsCqk also recommend I just puzzled something about the red strange “key”. However, it quickly turned out that this creates a kind of contact bridge between battery packs and lawn mowers. An additional backup as a father of a 1 year old nephew is great!! :-)

[@garyalensr]

This is by far the coolest lawn mower ever!!! Companys definitely don't make then like this anymore. The sad part is they make them so cheap that when they break down after the first season they hope you just buy a new one. Thank God there's a thousand vids on KZbin showing how to fix them. Really cool video, thanks for sharing

[@CraftsmanontheLake]

We had one when I was a kid...Sears. After awhile the wind up spring went. We welded a large nut onto the shaft and started it with a large 1/2" electric drill with a socket in the spindle. It worked good but you needed to know when to pull it off after the engine engaged.

[@deborahchesser7375]

Or the drill went for a ride lol. We had a big Milwaukee hole shooter like your talking about, with the pipe on the other side to hold onto it. My Dad got one bound up putting railing on the porch, it spun him around, hog tied him with the cord and he fell in the bushes, I’ll never forget that 😂

[@patrickflohe7427]

BAHAHAHA I bet you did have to pull it off at the right time!

[@cottoncox1435]

My Dad had one back in the 1960's I wish they still made them that way. You're lucky to have one.

[@davidclark8286]

That’s when Briggs & Stratton made a great engine.

[@jack-dh9hs]

David Clark are they not still great?

[@TFD1982]

jack definitely not I see so manny returned every week it’s crazy and from what it seems to be most of them have no compression

[@dylanclay2741]

@@TFD1982 that's from usually sticking intake valve or running it out of oil , see it all the time

[@bcubed72]

@@jack-dh9hs I really like their flatties; OHV, not so much. The basic design was the same from the 1950s, but towards the millennium they started "decontenting" with a vengeance (omitting the drain plug, for instance). Also the plastic carb on the smaller flattie is a joke, but a fairly cheap joke to replace if it comes to that. Of course, the EPA won't let us have flatheads anymore...

[@doct0rnic]

@@bcubed72 flat head is the least efficient, the briggs flat head was rough inside kind of surprised they run so well with so much impeding the air fuel mixter, even so there's a reason why everyone including car companies got away from the flat head

[@appalachianamerican7171]

Love the wind up deal. Better than pulling your arm off. Seems like we are going backwards.

[@bcubed72]

Gee, it seems to me the exact opposite. In the amount of time it took him to wind it up and release, I could have pulled the cord 3-4 times. And with more force, too. This seems more geared for invalids, small children, and petite women.

[@EpicConspiracy]

i never have pulled a cord more than once last 10 years

[@dailystruggle2762]

Same engines as todays ones...

[@LakeLeePrism]

STA-BIL

[@Billy_Darley]

@Daver G i love honda products but i hate todays fuels. they suck. and in WA forget finding high octane, 92-93 is about as good as it gets.

[@mercoid]

My father bought one of these new in the late 60’s when I was 3 or 4 years old. I was still mowing the lawn with it well into the late 80’s. And it was purple and called Mustang!

[@jamessommer6077]

Very interesting as my grandfather still has a mid-1960's crank style mower such as this one and also a 3.50hp Briggs engine,he calls it the "Monster" his is a gold color and still works 50+ years later.

[@703am]

I'm in my 60's now and remember using one of these as a kid thanks for posting , brings back some memories

[@Rog1550]

I know I'm getting old if I still remember wind up mowers.

[@greenidguy9292]

Rog1550 ditto

[@robertkuhnke6156]

Uhh yep

[@michaelwashington2682]

You ain't alone. LoL

[@michiganmagneto]

I remember those. Grandparents had one parked under their mobile home. Took some tinkering but got it going. After that, it ran great.

[@terrydriggers5217]

Yep. My grandmother had one and I mowed with it several times.

[@wind-solar]

My dad bought a new mower from Montgomery Wards in 1970. It had the wind up starter and the fluid nozzle on the muffler for mosquito fog. How am I still alive?😆

[@4gauge10]

@Charles Williams Nope,if you Google"Montgomery Wards"or type in www.montgomery wards.com,you'll see this store STILL exists. They STILL HAVE a Montgomery 💳⬅credit that you can use,or pay cash from your bank account.

[@MrSammythebull25]

Ha Ha..That's funny brother...

[@billlowe6883]

Appearance of his foot under the mower deck while cranking adds a nice touch. 👍

[@lukebecker1959]

@@drewshubeck3000 im not a wimp

[@stevenhimmelreich4737]

I was given a 1966 Turfmaster that has a 3.5hp Briggs and Stratton. It has a pull cord to start, but I'm pretty sure it orginally had a wind up. It runs great and I've been using it for many years. The deck is machined aluminum also. It is a very reliable engine. Never gives me any starting issues. Great machine, made in USA.

[@justincase3320]

My dad had one in the early 70s. The crank or winder would kick back and he would cuss like hell.

[@mattbayes1871]

This brings back memories of my childhood and the mower that my father had. Thanks for sharing!

[@georgeharleydavidsonrider156]

Thanks for the memories

[@josephsfields]

I pushed one of these in 1970 at age 8. I remember like a kid that I thought it would be the most fun ever. The yard was 2.5 acres so the fun part was over pretty quick. It was not long before my folks had to threaten the lash to get me motivated. The end of the story is that 2.5 acres killed that old thing. My pops brought home a brand new Sears self propelled mower. 2.5 acres killed that one too in about another year or two. See, the thing is, my old man is the least mechanical guy on Earth. I still laugh when I think back at how that blade never got sharpened, ever and changing the oil was an idea my mom came up with. She was the type to read an owners manual on that new expensive Sears mower that came home in her red Ford LTD stationwagon with the simulated wood paneling on the side.

[@geoffreyjones2000]

Wow...my childhood. :)

[@blessed7fold]

Joseph Fields LMAO 😂😂😂

[@Quanter44]

Joe, You just wrote my childhood to a tee! No kidding. You are my same age. Dad had a new Ford (Country Squire.) station wagon every 2 years when I was growing up. We had that old hand crank B&S mower with a knob on it to start it after winding. Motor was white and deck was green.

[@ianwinfield929]

I could visualize your whole trip down memory lane

[@horsepower0539]

Yeah I know now if you have a kid do that he think you're killing him we all did are work at that time

[@TheAussieStig30]

I have a 70's 2 stroke 139cc Victa with a crank handle like that. To me, that brings back my first memories of lawnmowers and when I decided to collect or restore, maybe hoard them, I had to have one. Mine needs a carburetor but I'm positive it will run. I've got spark and compression so it should run. I remember back in the early 80's mowing the lawn didn't always happen, because our Victa Cortina wouldn't always start, until later when Nan bought a Scott Bonnar with a Briggs pull start motor. We had that mower over 20 years and was running when I sold it to a friend. I now own a current key start 2 stroke Victa, plus a new electric mower, but once my wind up mower is running, that will be my main mower.

[@rebus9]

Thanks for the look back!! My family had one of these wind-ups when I was a kid, and I spent a lot of hours mowing with it.

[@Foxonian]

My dad had a wind up mower like this that he fixed up after finding it in the dump in the late 70's. We used it for years until the block failed.

[@centralcoastcamper9631]

I haven't seen a wind up start mower since the 1970's. Brings back memories.

[@blacksheep9734]

CentralCoastCamper good ones? Ir just cranking and cranking and cranking

[@ricktempleton3415]

We had one of these mowers. It was nice to go down memory lane.

[@dam4274]

My Dad had bought an Ariens in 1968 with a great Tecumseh motor. His Dad bought a Jacobsen in 1970 with a windup Briggs on it. I liked the windup but the damn Briggs was always hard to start.

[@martinbenton742]

My grandparents had a Craftsman mower with that crank starter. It lasted for years. It beat the hell out of yanking a dam rope. This is the only other one I've seen. MB BAR RANCH

[@jrsaunders2691]

I have a Toro

[@RFKFANTS67]

Thanks for sharing this. I had a few in the early 80's as a kid. You should rebuild and keep that ole girl..

[@RANDALLOLOGY]

OMG that crank mower brings back memories. Had one and hated it for being hard to start. That was before I learned bout engines and that wonderful can called starting fluid. Lol

[@3713msg]

We had one of those too. The spring broke, and my father fitted a rope start recoil to it instead. It sure was easier to start, after that.

[@sambaritone]

I had one of these engines on a Sears Craftsman mower back in the 70s. Loved it, and the fact that the wind up starter was so unique.

[@Captleemo]

I remember those wind up starters. My first lawnmower was a used Yardman that had a cast aluminum or cast magnesium deck. It also had a big pedal that looked like a brake pedal but it was a blade clutch. Real handy to have if you were starting your mower in deep grass. It also had a 3,5 HP B&S engine but it was pull start.

[@drewb9034]

Good lord! My dad had a Masport Rotacut with a wind up starter engine back in the 60s like that! It had the knob to lock the engine further forward than your one plus it had an oil bath air cleaner. Otherwise it was the same as your one. I haven't seen another wind up B&S since the early 80s until your video today. They were bit of beast of an engine alright, and yep, they had "their moments!"

[@charlesmcglinchey5189]

Hi 👋 Sir I honestly really like your old Girl Briggs Statton lawn mover she is a nice 👍 old girl sir how long you had her sir 🤠

[@bobbyfranklin3734]

Gosh. I remember when I was young. Working on these old lawn mowers. Having to use them to mower yard. I haven't seen a wind up mower and over 40 years. And I'm a retired mechanic. I spent many years at a 2 cycle 4 cycle lawn mower shop this is the first one I've seen since the late 60s early 70s. They were awesome.

[@gregoryclemen1870]

that is a commercial mower, with ball bearing wheels. the engine does have a loose connecting rod/ worn crankshaft that can be rebuilt. 1968 was the last year that briggs offered the wind up starter( killed by the U.S. federal government), also that is the second generation starter. the first generation starter was used from 1960 to 1964, and it used the flywheel teeth with the holder assembly mounted on the side of the starter blower housing to stop engine rotation so you could wind up the starter. the mod. # of this engine is a 92906 , the engine build date is the" code "#, and the first two digits are the year, the next two digits are the month, and the last two digits are the day, if there is another set of digits, that would be the hour that the engine was built. example: 66032205, translation: 5th hour of mar. 22, 1966.I mhave been doing small engine work for the last 50+ years, and I collect/ restore briggs engines

[@MO3MINI]

Thanks. You know your stuff about Briggs and Strattons 👍

[@gregoryclemen1870]

@@MO3MINI I started working on small engines in 1971, and went to work in a small engine repair shop in 1973. back then , these engines were a" dime a dozen." thanks for the kind gesture!!!! I now restore these engines back to their former glory.

[@scdevon]

The rod knock sounds cool on this old beast. You can file the rod caps using common sense and "feel" and tighten the clearance back up no problem as long as it's just normal wear and the rod and crank pin aren't smoked. A set of rings, a new rod and a quick valve touch-up would really bring the one in this video back to life. These 1960s "Kool Bore" engines were MUCH better made than the later flatheads were.

[@gregoryclemen1870]

@@scdevon ``when I do an engine rebuild, everything is checked and brought back to factory specs. I have all of the special tools to install valve guides/ valve seats/ main bushings,. I also have the tools to re bore cylinders, and reface valves. when an engine is torn down for inspection of piston, cylinder, valves( burned/ stem wear), connecting rod crankshaft/ camshaft, all parts are restored and reused. anything that can not be saved are replaced. I never cut rod caps, however I will take a new .020 undersized rod and machine the rod/ crank to .005, .010, .015 undersize, and maintain a .002 oil clearance. if I have to go to.020 on the crank to get it to clean up, then the crank only needs to be under cut. you also need to check the piston for scoring/ galling, due to the fact that the chrome plating does wear off, and expose the aluminum piston. all of this is topped off with a fresh coat of factory paint, and decals to finish the job( carburation/ ignition systems get the same treatment.) lastly, the engine is started and run and adjust the rebuilt carb ."BRIGGS" really pissed me off when they stopped installing cast iron sleeves in their aluminum engines in 1964( brought back in 1979 as the "I.C. series engine".

[@scdevon]

@@gregoryclemen1870 I appreciate your abilities. I was just pointing out how forgiving these engines are in everyday life with backyard repairs like filing rod caps and fitting stuff by "feel" the way people would have fixed stuff during the Great Depression. Eyeballing ring gaps...feeling bores with fingers...giving a plain main bearing bushing a whack to compress it and close it up a little and ream / hone it back to size, etc...

[@MikeAndNary]

We had one of those back in the 70's. I remember my dad took off the crank and used an electric drill to start it.

[@patrickflohe7427]

That’s so cool! I do have a vague memory of these….I turned 1 year old, the year this was made.

[@crossvilleboy]

I just bought a Biltmore Crank push mower. 3.5 hp. Starts and runs. $25. Very happy.

[@jerrymaulden9805]

Never seen the deck before but as a kid I had one of the hand cranks...I was born in 57... So I was 9 yrs old mowing lawns for money when this one was brand new...Now what your supposed to do is... tear down the carb and run a wire through all the holes, they kinda lacquer up after a little sitting and the fuel evaporates. Then soak the sponge air cleaner in oil and really squeeze it out, squirt a shot of fuel down the carb... You oil the sponge you don't have to use the choke... set throttle 1/4th way off dead stop. Now pull till ya gets a blister... Good good good, Now! take the air breather off and take a 8 oz. pop bottle of water and hold your thumb on the top and let the engine rev a bout half way.. Now let it sip some water, keep revving the engine, don't let it die. This will clean off the valves. maybe it might quit smoking. Maybe your wife will let you go buy a new one...

[@edwardcalvert]

I recall seeing a lawnmower with a Briggs and Stratton engine that had that kind of manual wind up starter back when I was in Kindergarten which was in fall of 1974-1975 school year.

[@mariozermeno2649]

Wow I never seen one like that before and believe me i seen my share of old mowers because that's how my dad taught me how to fix gas engines he would buy them at the swapmeet not running and I would take them apart and get them running wich later turned into working on cars . Thanks for sharing

[@wildwelder87]

Very cool! I found a mower similar to that on an abandoned property that I was helping clean up today. It's all there and I think it will run with a little work.

[@Qingeaton]

Thanks for putting this up. Probably very few working examples anymore.

[@ssnoc]

My dad had that exact mower .... I remember him cranking it up .... very cool.

[@robertthomas5906]

My Dad had a Montgomery Wards mower like that. 20". The wind up I can still hear in my head to this day. I think the whole neighborhood could hear that sucker. A lot different than this one. The main spring broke back in the late 1970s and by then you could still get one if you were lucky. Some mower shops had them in stock. Briggs stopped making them. I couldn't locate one. Wouldn't be surprised if one is on ebay. I switched the top and kept it going until 2008 or 42 years. At that point the deck was rusting out, fixture to hold the blade was rusting out and the motor had had it. Still ran though.

[@chasgantz3059]

I remember having a wind up mower in the early 70's. I've been trying to find one again.

[@42lookc]

That is really cool. I am almost certain I saw a lawn mower with that starter on it a long, long time ago. Same color, too.

[@heronimousbrapson863]

My dad bought one of these mowers with the briggs and stratton wind up starter in 1960. I used to mow the lawn with it when I was a kid. You're right, when they got older, the little metal post to which the spring attatched broke off, and the spring would work as long as it got wedged, but sping tension would cause it to slip making one heck of a noise. We replaced the spring starter with a rope pull type, but it usually couldn't rotate the engine fast enough to start it.

[@TralfazConstruction]

Reminds me of The Flight of the Phoenix (1965) engine start sequence. When my younger brother and I would work on any internal combustion engine it was obligatory for one of us to say that we were going to 'use one cartridge, ignition-off, to clean out the cylinders'.

[@larrykeesee1442]

The deck looks so well made..A collectors item for sure..I remember those days..Retired Indianapolis indiana..

[@gevowavemagnet]

My dad had one of those. He finally was able to afford a Lawn Boy self propelled and never looked back at B&S again.

[@ryanmcgouirk9402]

Briggs and Stratton here happy to see you have a motor like that

[@covinomartinez6048]

Thanks for posting "MO3MINI"! I love anything '60's and you lawn mower Kick some Butt! Ciao....

[@ronyerke9250]

I remember when those mowers were new. It was a lot of fun to wind it up for a kid in single digits of age. Plus, nobody had to remember where the pull cord had been left. The mower we had before the wind-up start had a pull cord that was not attached, and a fully exposed pulley. Put the knot in the slot, win it up and pull. Repeat, repeat, repeat...

[@sentradynamics8889]

Ron Yerke my grandpa has a wood splitter with an old Wisconsin engine on it.. same thing with the rope and the pulley.. the thing will yank your dang arm off it it kicks back though. Good times

[@ronyerke9250]

I remember my grandfather getting the handle yanked out of his hand when starting a little boat motor. He got whacked on the other arm. I'm pretty sure it hurt from the look on his face. It makes me shudder. I like the newer stuff better, but those old things DID work. I really get interested in how things work and innovations.

[@garylangley4502]

My mom bought a new Montgomery Ward lawn mower with a 3.5 hp Briggs and Stratton motor that had an "impact" starter just like that one in 1966. The deck was just a regular side discharge plain-jane one. It was all painted gold. The spring in the starter broke in the '70's, so someone found a regular recoil rope starter on a junker mower and put that on. Someone stole it in the '80's, but still running.

[@randymagnum143]

There was one of these engines layingnon the ground at an auction last summer. No one knew what it was. I cranked it up, which was rather difficult as it had no mower to steady it. I held on with my left hand, cranked with my right. Hit it.......had my hand on the spark plug wire. Son-ofa-gun......got me a half dozen times before i knew what was happening.

[@tomjones4318]

Haven't heard that in fifty years. Totally forgot about that whacky method.

[@tomjones4318]

@socal rocks I remember the kid next door cranking on one of these over and over. I've been running B&S on Toros now ten years and never had any real trouble. I do wish it were easier to hit correct fluid levels though.

[@JS-kd7jf]

I wish that type starter would make a comeback! I like that, I think it's a good idea!!

[@fourfortyroadrunner6701]

My Gramps had one about 1960? ish, I was around 12. Hated it. Damn thing never started easy, even when warm. Seemed like starter just didn't have "enough."

[@6548ww]

I love these older mowers especially the ones that had the front side discharge don’t see them anymore.

[@horsepower0539]

I have an old Atlas push mower like that I bought from Western Auto I still use it to this day the tires wore out I had to put new tires on it

[@russbilzing5348]

I made plenty of money with one of these back then (when money actually had much more value than now), doing as many of the front and back yards in the neighborhoods I lived in. Of course, anything I did at home was free for my parents, as it was their equipment. It taught me to do regular maintenance and the art of doing the best work I could so I would get the best results without wearing myself out, or the mower. You could count on wearing out the spring every year or two, depending, but that wasn't much work.

[@TheJohndeere212]

I used to have some of those mowers back then. I still have one old Briggs. 1949 Briggs and Stratton Model 14

[@frank1015]

Can you make a video of it

[@TheJohndeere212]

I will try

[@frank1015]

@@TheJohndeere212 sweet because you dont see many from that era because of ww2

[@dphotos007]

My parents had the same lawnmower engine start as this mower in the late 60’s. I used to ride up and down the street behind with my skateboard. The mower had a direct drive to the rear wheels.

[@MrUbiquitousTech]

That's a cool little mower. I've seen the wind up starters, but never had my hands on one. If I ever do it's going to be a keeper.

[@davidhorsley1149]

Funny how you forget something until you see it again. When I was young (very young), we had several of these mowers, circa late 60's.

[@clawhammer704]

We had a wind up mower. I liked them a lot.

[@keystonedaytrip238]

Wow , I haven't seen a wind-up Briggs in forever . We had one when I was a kid

[@axleratio]

When I was about 10 years old in the 60s my Dad bought one of the first Toro electric start mowers . I was so fascinated by the fact a lawn mower would start by itself. When he was at work I would go in the the garage and start it over and over again . He kept wondering why he had to keep charging the battery more often than he had to.

[@jaydean8843]

My grandmother had one of these in the 70s I mowed her yard for 5 DOLLARS.

[@railrider4745]

oh the memories!! Dad had a 5hp on his little sears handle bar steering rider from sears... had solid hard tires on rims.

[@blackjack98enterprises]

Just seen this in a movie. The girl next door. Checking it out here on KZbin. Wow

[@enginesandoutdoors3238]

That wind up is pretty neat. I’ve always used older lawn boy 2 strokes. They are pretty good and very low maintenance. The coil needs replacing every now and then on some of mine but overall they are great. My dad has 23.

[@gregoryclemen1870]

you would be amazed, who developed the lawn boy 2 cycle engines( c/d mod.) none other than "STEVE BRIGGS", who started the outboard marine corporation with ALLIE EVENRUDE. steve briggs left briggs& stratton corporation in 1948 to start up "O.M.C."

[@jimr5703]

I actually had one of these waaay back. The version I got would release the spring tension when you folded the crank and pressed it into place on top of the mower. No switch to fuss with. I liked it the first season I had it, but then moved to a home with 3 acres of yard and bought a riding mower.

[@josephlama4097]

I love old lawn mowers especially the that 1966 Briggs & Stratton 3.5 HP wind up starter you wind up the starter and switch to on position my favorite mower.

[@scottcarlson6246]

This was still the golden age for Briggs and Stratton from the early years up to around 1980. After that, they started going to crap, in my opinion. If you have an older aluminum Kool Bore block like this, hang onto it. The older blocks are WAY better than any recent aluminum block.

[@MO3MINI]

+Gatewayuser200 I agree... But nothing has changed, I doubt many of these older mower have been treated any better in their life than the newer mowers. If anything due to there age they have been treated worse! Yet they continue to keep going... Personally I think that's down to better build quality on older mowers. Newer mowers are built for the throw away market of today. Have it a few years and take it to the tip and buy a new one. I think these will be around a far shade longer than the mowers that came out the Briggs factory this year

[@techmaven5900]

+MO3MINI The big killer of modern small engines is the EPA standards they must meet. They're set to run lean air/fuel mixtures to lower emissions and I think this makes them run hotter than the old engines. I have 2 Atlas 4HP snow blowers that run great but the exhaust smells rich like my dads old 53 Ford. LOL!

[@theunknownandunsolved6963]

Holy shit my father used to have one of these when i was a kid...now im in my 30s and i love my brigs and strats..damn wish i had that mower now :/

[@wiseal9063]

we had one like this ,except to engage the starter you just pushed the crank lever down and to check the oil there was a sight glass with a rubber bulb on it ,push the rubber bulb and if oil came into the sight glass you were good to go . We had that mower forever .

[@MO3MINI]

Sight glass sounds interesting! Never heard or seen one of those.

[@operator8014]

Oh gosh! I've seen one of those before, but I had no idea how it worked. I never thought to unfold it like that.

[@100PercentOS2]

I'm 20 years older than your mower. But I didn't remember what they look like that long ago. However I sure remember those mufflers.

[@williamriley2528]

Wow... The way-back machine. We had one of these on a bright orange Jacobsen push mower when I was a kid... My dad cussed it. It was good for at least one "F-Bomb" every spring... lmfao...!

[@MrSTOUT73]

I remember as a kid (probably 60 years ago!) we had a crank start mower similar to that one. At that time it was the "big thing" in mowers. Ours was self propelled too.

[@ROTAXD]

I’ve still got a mid 60’s Briggs 3 1/2 horse mower up to camp. No wind up start but she still fires up on the second or 3rd pull every spring.

[@paddyotable]

I remember the wind up starter being a big deal when they first came out. :)

[@oldoldpilgrim7898]

My grandfather had a windup. When the spring broke and he replaced the windup with a rewind rope starter, nobody cried.

[@gregoryclemen1870]

my first lawn mower is a briggs engine( 3 H.P. mod.# 80906 with the first generation( old style) wind up starter made in 1961. this mower was bought used in 1973, and I still use it today with 9 thousand hours on the mower/ engine

[@MO3MINI]

Can not beat an old briggs and stratton. I still use one every season from 1972. Lord know its owners. Its very tired but still has more power than any new push mower you can buy today

[@gregoryclemen1870]

@@MO3MINI I agree with you 100%, I collect the old briggs cast iron engines that date back to the first mod. P engines that were built in 1919.

[@williamfischer8867]

One of the best and dangerous starters ever made

[@ianmckinley5613]

We had a wind-up Brigs when I was a kid, it could be hard to start. Then the spring broke, dad took the wind-up mechanism off and we would wind a rope around the pulley and pull start it.

[@anthonycassata5152]

Proves that when something is made in the USA, it will last!!!👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@kenarnold9132]

Bwa Ha Ha.... just came across this vid. I grew up back in the mid '60's and my father had the same type mower (Montgomery Wards gold color). Also had a little knob you rotated to release it. Bet we changed the coil spring in that crank 5 time throughout the years. Old memories. Thanks!

[@davestout844]

I had that gold Montgomery Wards mower. I scrapped the mower but kept the crank start.

[@elijahrobinson2362]

An uncle had one of these. It was a light brown model, though. Worked like a charm for him, as did his old Snapper ride on mower.

[@tomrizzo1554]

How awesome I remember those crank starts wish I had one

[@erichurst2496]

My dad had one too. He always had a bad back and it was perfect as the pull start hurt him. A always wondered why they stopped making them

[@mowerinnovations8602]

i found a brand new one of those crank handle at the local lawnmower shop it still had the price tag on it

[@sethjacobs2328]

How was your day been going

[@MendezMotorizedBicycles]

Hey man where can i buy one of these at

[@overload65]

Had a victor lawn mower in Australia with the Wind up starter never had any problems with it cut many a lawn with it.

[@AWSmith1955]

OH MY GOD! My dad had a crank start in 1965 we HATED it. My dad and our helper home handyman next door liked to meddle with the idle mixture screws which made everything worse. Are you sure that thing's got a blade on it?

[@douglasdailey5998]

A nice piece of history.

[@theshaddowaust]

All old petrol brigs was full throttle and choke till it gives a fire then back the choke back a touch and it fires up, it needs it to suck the fuel up the tube to make it start, I even had to do it on the old firetrucks that way. Also the victa lawnmower had the wind up start it was great on a 2stroke.

[@Wildstar40]

Wow I never seen a wind up starter on a lawn mower before now in my 47 years. Now I need to find a mower with a Coffman starter on it LOL !

[@horsepower0539]

You could probably still order that from Sears it was a Craftsman riding mower green the white handled the steers it works real good

[@danieltaylor4819]

We had one of these in the late 60's. The thing was about a 25 inch cut, (yes it really was) with a 3 horse motor. Harder than hell to get started and grossly underpowered. If the grass was a little damp or taller than usual would barely get through it. God, I hated to mow in those days.

[@mikeslomski7063]

My parents bought a Sears Craftsman small riding mower about the same time that also had a wind up starter. I used that mower many times.

[@jerryblack3483]

My dad had one of those. Sometimes it seems that I did more winding than mowing. The mower that I used before it didn't even have a motor. I don't know which one that I hated the most.

[@davejamison6288]

Had one of these when I was a kid (around 1969). Hated it. Never quite catch until you'd wound and released it a few times. I had a little Power Products two-stroke that, while it didn't take as big a swath, fired up first pull every time. Ditto my later Lawn Boys.

[@frankbaublit]

That brought back the good ole days

[@retiredammo4617]

My Grandfather had the same type of engine on his mower. This thing would wear your arm out trying to start it!

[@mikeobryant7274]

I remember these. I think the wind up start replaced the ones you manually wrapped the cord around each time

[@keystonedaytrip238]

Mike O'Bryant Oh man , those mowers you had to manually wrap the pull rope on sure were fun 😒