15 lawn mower engines

**Lawn Island Scrapper** · 04-03-2011, 07:25 PM

only finished half my route before the truckbed was full of steel this garbage day, but on the way home i see a regular push mower down a side street... whip around the next block and roll up on it to find 15 other almost identical looking mower engines sitting there with it. of course i had to put down a blanket and pack them in the cab!

lucky to have found it first for sure.

wanted to take a picture... probably will beat the time someone had a bundle of 8lbs of wire, complete with a gift bow tied into them, on top of a garbage pail.

it's nice to know some people seem to like seeing scrappers roam the streets every garbage night... its like they welcome the free/safe recycling of items they would otherwise never get rid of, or knowlingly dispose of inappropriately.

**Thejapster** · 04-03-2011, 08:13 PM

That should be $150 bucks easy

**Ace** · 04-03-2011, 08:20 PM

Thats a great find man.

**Bigblue12v** · 04-03-2011, 08:47 PM

are you planning on disassembling them completely? Just curious how you're gonna scrap them. I've torn them down completely and its a royal pain for not a whole lot of gain. I used to be a small engine tech so i know my way around them well enough, but ya don't wind up with quite as much goodies as ya might expect... its extremely messy and a lot of bolts to be removed, aka get the air ratchet and impact out... a big sledge hammer will make things quicker, but a lot of oil everywhere... I was bored and hadn't scrapped one before so I did it... At this point in my current circumstances I wouldn't trouble myself to tear them down really. But the place I take cores to buys scrap engines by the pound and that's what i'll do with any future junk small engine acquisitions...... too much mess and hassle for me personally. Aluminum isn't gold around here unless you have a truck load of it.

Still a good find! Congrats on that and good luck!

**Lawn Island Scrapper** · 04-03-2011, 08:56 PM

the place i take all my scrap to pays by the lb, so i wont be tearing them down... they are all very old, covered in oil/gunk... a good portion of each one is non-ferrous, but i don't have the tools + the amount of time too fully process them... i'll post with what i get for them.

japster, where are you getting that $10 each number from?

**Thejapster** · 04-03-2011, 11:47 PM

Originally Posted by Lawn Island Scrapper

the place i take all my scrap to pays by the lb, so i wont be tearing them down... they are all very old, covered in oil/gunk... a good portion of each one is non-ferrous, but i don't have the tools + the amount of time too fully process them... i'll post with what i get for them.

japster, where are you getting that $10 each number from?

I just took in several and the yards gave me dirty aluminum price and each motor was around $10

**Semo Scrapper** · 04-03-2011, 09:00 PM

While we are talking about small engines what do you do with the block once it's stripped? The cylinder liner is iron and the block is poured around it.( in most of the motors i've seen)
I have them piled out back until I figure out what to do with them. Around here irony aluminum doesn't bring crap.

**IdahoScrapper** · 04-03-2011, 10:57 PM

Originally Posted by Semo Scrapper

While we are talking about small engines what do you do with the block once it's stripped? The cylinder liner is iron and the block is poured around it.( in most of the motors i've seen)
I have them piled out back until I figure out what to do with them. Around here irony aluminum doesn't bring crap.

Same problem here. Blocks are piling up and not sure how to get the liner out for a better price. Or if it's even feasible or worth it.

If I had a torch I'd see what running it the length of the liner would do. Also wondered if cutting the block in half with a metal band saw (of which I don't have) would work.

Or find a yard that pays a clean price...all that's left is that dang liner. I've stripped everything else.

**Destructo_d** · 04-03-2011, 09:23 PM

My scrap yard guy is AWESOME!!! I do tear down lawnmower engines and I put it with the rest of my aluminum... He knows it's there and pays me regular aluminum price....

**Bigblue12v** · 04-04-2011, 05:11 PM

The problem around here is that dirty aluminum only goes for ten cents a pound, whereas sheet steel is 12 cents a pound and shearing is 14 cents. If its something aluminum and not worth the time to clean then it goes in with the steel, it pays more that way than as dirty aluminum which is a crock but whatever. Their loss not mine, they don't want the aluminum bad enough to pay for it then they won't get it. Makes little to no difference to me. Don't usually get enough aluminum to have enough clean leftover to mess with really. But oh well.

**mikeyshane331** · 04-04-2011, 05:52 PM

on pushmower engines, i usually pop off the head, cause its easy to get off, just a few bolts, and no other metals atatched to it, and it has a little weight to it, but i dont usually bother with taking apart the rest of the motor, it just goes into mixed metal pile.

**Lawn Island Scrapper** · 04-06-2011, 01:53 PM

"irony aluminum" @ .10/lb = $15 (actually $14.80 on the ticket but this yard rounds to nearest dollar)

not what i was hoping for, though i knew this would likely be the result...

if aluminum is .65/lb there, and iron is .14/lb, how and why are the paying .10 for "irony aluminum"?

also sold them 2 big printer/scanners... weren't even sure if they would take them since i never bother with printers, so i asked and they said yes. but on the ticket they just called it "tin/steel" @ .10/lb

if i have more time next time will defintely will just take them apart and add the circuit boards to that collection.

**rca987** · 04-06-2011, 04:56 PM

I'll clean aluminum with my RAG. Rivets are super easy to pop off. Everything else I just grind down what's dirty. With the RAG, it's almost effortless.

There are a few things that aren't worth it though, I'll admit.