Well, I did not get the mower.
It took a little bit, but Andrew and I finally concluded this mower is
not a crankstart and that it is missing its recoil assembly. Andrew was also able to confirm that it's a 1942 via his paperwork. After pulling out one of my brochures which just so happens to have been made in 1942, I found this model that shows the recoil. I wanted to confirm for sure that it
did originally have a recoil because sometimes now and again you come across one of these types of machines that originally came with a crank/rope start instead of a recoil assembly. Anyway, the seller sent me a couple of photos showing what we needed on the end of the crank. At this point, Andrew was able to confirm that it did infact originally have a recoil start. Needless to say, in order to be able to start the mower, you'd have to get crafty and design some sort of piece for the end of the crankshaft for a rope, or, a handle that you'd have to obviously make to fit. Andrew did say that doing this wouldn't be that hard though.
I wrote the seller back, sent him a photo out of my brochure that shows the mower with the original recoil setup. Just to be sure, I even asked if there was some possibility out of a blue moon that whoever he bought it from might still have the recoil. I did not ever hear back from him.
Anyway, look at the two holes directly below the end of the crankshaft. This is what the original recoil assembly would have mounted to. You can see this in the brochrue photo.
Had this recoil assembly been the same type found in the later years as seen on my LK and LQ mowers, I would have had second thoughts because I have enough spare parts I could have mounted one right up. The problem is, this recoil setup is a completely different design than the later model types. Andrew explained the design had 2 hooked arms to engage a pawl that was mounted on the engine. He said the system was not very reliable, so Jacobsen came out with a new design, the ball and cup assembly like my mowers have. If you haven't already guessed by now, hmmmm, I wonder why the mower is missing its recoil assembly then?
Anyway, I really thought long and hard about it, but I decided to pass. I could have probably of been crafty and designed some sort of starting system for it, but because of other obligations mainly, I had to pass. So what good came of all this? I was able to learn a lot more about this specific type of mower as I had not already known much about these earlier models. Maybe not right now, but someday I will find another, hopefully complete.
On the bright side, I broke my Eclipse sulky down and dropped the parts of to get powdercoated today. I also got new rims and tires for it as well and I'm working with somebody to create a new Eclipse decal for it too. In about a week from now, she's going to be fully restored.
Jacobsen 4 Acre- Ebay
Mark - John Deere LT150 Hydro
