# "ford" edition push-mower!



## racsan (Jul 15, 2011)

well, kind of. brought this back to life and decided to go with a tractor 2-tone theme. john deere has been overdone, besides they do have push mowers, thought about oliver, but growing up there was one tractor that had many memories behind it. a '64 ford 4,000. so remembering the blue/white scheme, i went to it. when i sanded down to the engine numbers, it showed the 3.5 briggs is a '74. the deck was painted several times before, i think black was the original color, it did have a sticker on the back indicating it came from j.c. penny. tried looking it up online as it had a model #, but nothing. probly just a mass-produced at the cheapest bidder deal. anyhow. this was my grandmothers mower originally, when put in the shed 20-some years ago, it had a bent blade, leaking lower crank seal, broken handle bracket and badly wore plastic wheels where the had turned countless times on the steel shoulder-bolt axles. only thing wrong with the deck was some small cracks on either side of the holes where the motor mounted. heavy-guage steel deck though. arc-welded both sides of the crack and ground down on the side where the engine bolts to. i did add 2 small pieces of channel iron underneath going from the handle mounting brackets to the middle of the deck. save a little stress on the back part of the deck when tilting the mower on its back wheels to turn. i have a few pinecones at all times in the yard, so i put a rubber block-off strip across the deck discharge. has a mulching blade on it so no problem with that. put new 8" steel-rimmed ball-bearing wheels on, new lower seal on the engine along with a magnatron coil (no points now), new air filter foam (original had flat disintegrated), new spark plug & fresh oil,new muffler & new recoil rope & handle. started on the 2nd pull wanted a '53-ish gear/thunderbolt emblem for the top of the recoil, but none could i find. instead i got a blue oval emblem from a hubcap center, was a little too big for the recoil so it got put on the front of the block. stenciled "F" "O" "R" "D" across the front of the deck and clear-coated it afterwards. has a slight puff of smoke when first starting but fires on 2nd pull and runs excellent, governor responds well to load increase. all in all ive got about $140 in this, im guessing it might have been $50 back in its day. but alot better than the cheapest store mower ive seen ($120 weed-eater from wal-mart, you wouldnt believe the way the deck flexes on it) heres some pictures of the project. its been fun. sure its basic and simple, but in a world of retro stuff, this is a original. basic and simple........is good!


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## havasu (Jul 16, 2011)

At least you will have lots of experience when the big ford needs pushing!


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## thomask (Aug 18, 2011)

Hey,

Our two sons just love FORD.  Nice restoration and happy mowing... :thumbsup:

IMO  It is nice to see something recycled and put to good use.  Too much stuff is just discarded in this country, we need to get back to making things last or at least make them repairable. Way too much use of electronics vs mechanical applications.


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## havasu (Aug 18, 2011)

I agree with you 100%!


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