I borrowed a brush cutter from a friend of mine last weekend. For those of you who don't know what this is, it's like a lawnmower, but instead of a blade it has bulky weedeater line on the head with an open front so that it can cut through tall weeds and brush. He's owned this thing for 3 years,..performs regular maintenance and has not abused it over the years. It has a 6HP tecumseh flathead motor on it; which is a solid motor. Just my luck,....while I'm using it breaks a friggin' connecting rod and punches a hole in the side of the block. Worthless piece of sh*t.

On a positive note,...he's cool about it. Said it's obvioulsy a faulty part and nothing that I did. He said it would've happened to him if he was using it. I feel terrible about it. If it were you guys, what would you do? I used this thing for maybe 3 hours. I wasn't doing anything I shouldn't have been doing with it; i.e. I wasn't abusing the machine. I've decided that I'm going to buy one for myself, but should I be looking at paying for a new one for him, or splitting the cost, or should I just leave it alone? A new one runs $250.

 

I wouldn't buy him a brand new one since it was bound to break anyway and wasn't your fault. I would probably offer some money to help pay for another though. That's just me.

 

at the most, i'd split the cost. it's obviously not your fault and would have happened anyways, but you were using it when it broke and you dont want any hard feelings either. so depending on how your friend feels about it, i'd at least pitch in a little if he's cool with that.

 

I'd find a used motor for cheap and rebuild it for fun.

 

yeah, rebuild that bitch, put some dished pistons on it, you know, make it a stroker motor. Nah, really though, I'd offer to buy him a new one until he gets himself another one, or maybe split the cost for it so that you both could enjoy a new one. If he's a good friend, then he'll understand you're just trying to do the right thing and that the damage was accidental.

 

3 words... split the cost.

 

hes got enough rebuilding to last him a while as it is.
find out how much the motor costs and pay him that much

 

I say he's about finished with his current project. Once he gets those vaccum lines figured out. Then he'll be ready for something easy and relaxing.....

 

Dad took it aprat today. The crack in the block runs part way up the side of the cylinder wall. We'll try to fix it, but it'll likely be short lived. I'm pricing a new motor. We'll probably split the cost.

 

id say just give him a few beers until he forgets, and bring it to him the next day covered in dirt and tell him you found it on the way to work

 

2nd, or there are "other" ways of getting rid of debt. You can knock him off or knock him up..you choose

 

get a new one for yourself and just let him borrow it whenever he needs it

 

i think rebuilding it sounds good. You are one of few people who actually cares enough to do something like that for your neighbor. And since he is cool with it, buy a 6 pack invite him over and have him watch/help you rebuild it. he is going to feel good about himself knowing that he helped fix it. Any fool can go out and buy a new one...it takes a MAN to take the parts and put it together

 

in other words...hire a trained professional and drink the 6 pack

 

at least someone was listening lol

 

its been a few day... so whats the out come?
i agree with most of the responces here... either make an offer reguarding a new one, or help rebuild the bish.. and a 6 pack is a must LOL

 

We've concluded that nothing I did caused the blow up. There was no heat scoring and none of metal had been pulled, so it wasn't starved for oil and it didn't overheat. It just done blowed up.

I ordered the connecting rod last week. It should be in now. I'm going to pick it up tomorrow if I make it up to Redding.

I'll take some picks of the rod and post 'em. For a little 6 HP motor, it sure made a mess.

 

any updates 91? that is nice of you that you are offering to repair it...while you are at it make that 6hp maybe 8hp??? just add a sticker or two, and maybe a neon here and there and you should be set lol

 

man, 6hp? that must eat up all of the hondas around there!

 

Nothin' yet. Now I'm being told theat the order's supposed to be in this week.

 

Bump...............

 

91zxtt, look up Northern Hydraulics, now Northern tool & equip and see if you can cross ref a new motor they are usually pretty cheap. Also a place in KC that deals with cashiers checks only can probably match the motor even cheaper. www.smallenginedistributors.com example Tecumseh, model# LEV120-361012, 6hp, recoil start,has crank specs listed as 1"diax3-5/32" crankshaft stepped to 7/8" dia ect ect. $66.95 + freight. That's an example of a vertical shaft motor. I've bought lots of motors from the KC people and they are good to deal with. Phone # is (815) 421-6020 see if they'll send you a cataloge.
The web site shows a higher price than my last cataloge.

 

Thanks for the info. I was able to get the connecting rod a couple weeks ago. Dad put it all back together. I ran it for 6-8 hours over the next couple days with no problems. Gave it back to my buddy. $28 to fix it.