Unlike modern cars, lawn power equipment still requires maintenance to keep them from failing before or during use. If you lack the skill and/or ability to service and repair your own equipment, your at an extreme disadvantage because your going to either be spending a lot of your money at the shop or constantly giving up on your equipment and buying new to replace it. Lucky for some of us who are glad to take your old machines off your hands and repair them for their own use or to resale. Good job with this Toro!

always refreshing seeing someone actually take some pride in what they do.

I have a Toro mower similar to that one. I solved my problem by putting new rear wheels with the metal gears. They cost a few dollars more but well worth the price!

Gosh you’re a joy to watch-you’re knowledgeable, meticulous, and oh so clean!!

James, thanks a million.Listened 2 few guys, only u got 2 issue, thorough, great teacher, patient, knowledgeable, solved problem, learned lot from u. Thanks again, will continue 2 tune u on..... Efrain Sr.

I have used and repaired my own Toros for about ten years. Yes the rear drive wheel gears are a common issue. There is a replacement for the plastic geared wheels with metal ones and it’s a good idea to replace the small gears too. The wheels with the metal gears last much longer.

I’m a big fan of yours. I wish I were as good at these small motors as you are.

Love these videos. Simple fixes and sometimes massive repairs, but alway done well and explained… keep up the great content !!

I love the Torro Personal pace system my 2000 mower is running great with just oil and filter changes. It smokes for a few seconds when cold but for 22 years not bad.

That's a pretty nice mower to get for free, just a few simple fixes and a little tlc was needed, nice work James!

Watch many other with small engine repair but none compared to your abilities and thoroughness. And the way you present your videos are very complete.

Nice repair, Jim. I might add here that the trick to getting the mower deck to last a long time is to keep the bottom side of it clean and free from debris. The grass clumps hold moisture and the pH of the grass is slightly acidic, causing the deck to rust over time.

The only way I can see to fix it is either a larger drive gear or a different mounting plate for the wheels. It might be worth checking parts diagrams between years to see if the part numbers have changed or if there's an after market replacement for the parts.

Very simple repair! Great job! A little cleaning, new wheels and VOILA!

A good freebie!! Got to be happy with that. I do think the drive pinions should be bigger to engage. I'd love to get one of these mowers, take the back wheels off, then look at the drive gears, & make bigger ones from alloy bar using a mill cutter

I had the same issue with my wheels on my lawnmower. My local Toro dealer ordered some updated wheels and they have not failed in the five years since I installed them. Toro did refund me money for the previous set of wheels I had bought in the past. Glad I had the receipt. Thanks for the video. You do a great job and explain everything to us in language we can understand.

Yes, you are right on the design issue. To bad there is not an after market fix for cheap. But you got it working good as new. Great job. Now get back to mowing. Thanks for the video.

I have one of these from about 2002. It has the 6.5 hp with primer bulb. No problems with the drive except once the gears got packed with mulch.

Even $500 lawnmowers are now expendable and throw away. Where do people get the money to just throw things away like that I don’t get it

you guys are lucky i can remember when a sling blade was state of the art for ( mowing) theb came the reel type they cut good very sharp i got 50 cent for about 2 hours work back then

I picked up one of these today but it has the 6.5 Tecumseh on it. People said didn't know what was wrong with it. Got it home and WAY overfilled with oil to the point there was so much oil in the cylinder it was almost hydrolocked. I drained out the excess oil, tipped it up and let oil drain out the plug hole, then fired on the first pull, doesn't even need the carb cleaned. Only thing it needs is a self propel cable then I can get it sold.

Another great quantim. Sometimes it is a few issues that add up. Thanks for balancing blades like I do. Great video. You took care with the auto choke reassembly. Nice

Thanks for detailed video. Our similar rotary mower actually did catch fire once, but only petrol/gasoline and some grass got burned. The carburettor had a small leak, the exhaust/silencer next to it was damaged, and you can guess the rest of the story. Apart from a few burn-marks on the engine-casing, there was no damage!

Man you are the Bob Ross of small engine repair! Thank you

Vacation Day, sips coffee , checks notifications....Big smile , Good morning James .....

I had one of these mowers that stripped the drive wheel gears. They actually make upgraded wheels with a steel gear instead of plastic, problem permanently solved.

Thank you, brother. I learn a little more with each of your videos.

I have one out in my yard and I noticed the same exact thing about the wheels. You saved me from breaking it down to figure out why. I thought it looked in too good of shape to be out by the curb. If the drive issue can't be fixed or modified to work without being engineered to fail, I could see me using the engine for a swap or maybe building some small contraption

I particularly liked the way that the beauty cover cleaned itself instantly with the touch of your hand.

What a fantastic and thoroughly enjoyable video. Super photography, great audio and no stupid music. The work and explanations were all very nicely done. Kudos Sir! 😬 Subscribed and liked.

Greatly appreciate your channel. Thanks for the tip on the degreaser.

Since you already had the wheels off I think I would have removed the pinion gears and cleaned up the spring loaded keys which if you look at the inside of the gear makes it a one way drive. This allows the pinion gears to act like a differential drive and reduces the strain on the plastic gears. Not that this would be a total cure, it would contribute to a little longer life of the plastic. gears. On the keys, I use never seize and wipe most of it off so it won't collect alot of dirt and seize up again. Some mowers use a pin instead of a key but theory is the same. Great video as usual.

File with a file, no heating issue with the blade material... if it's made with hardened steel. Unregulated heat can wipeout the temper.

Nice fix James, I recently had a mower that the air filter was so bad that it was sucking oil from the crankcase thur the breather tube. Changed the oil and filter and after running for a short time all the smoke stopped and ran great. Lack of maintenance again. Also try Fluid Film after cleaning under the mower deck, works great. Thanks for the video.

This is hands down the best repair video on this mower on KZfaq. Well done. Subscribed.

GOOD fix and I was expecting a lot worse too. The Snapper I got from the Re-store for $15 had the differential with no stopper packed FULL of leaves. It took a new pinion, a plug and some 00 to fix that one and a Kawasaki motor off a dead Derre to make a bagger out of it. My electric start has a nice thick coat of oil base black all over the underside of the deck after an angler grinder wire brushing and blowing off. The charger came this morning and now for a battery and carb. I leave the cleaning up of that one to her since she says that 409 is too strong for me to mess with. No telling how many truck cabs it got rid of all the tobacco smoke and such but I'll never live to be sanitary! God Bless and THANKS!

Excellent job James. A nice mower there for someone. Thanks for uploading the video

i started using a needle scaler (air) on the bottom of my mower decks. works fantastic. no scraping .

Excellent video. Excellent production quality. I had just repaired and sold a very similar Toro 22 self propelled mower earlier this week that had the exact same problem. Great job James - keep those videos coming!

I have been given more of these mowers because of the wheel issues and Toro is aware of it. If there was a cheap supply of wheels that would be great because overall very good units!

You should align middle setting on height adjuster bar behind where wheel bolts on pry out till wheel stands up straight. Gears will mesh better. I flip little gear over use new side of teeth. Remember ALIGNMENT teeth will mesh better closer. Amazon had wheels last spring &12 a pair. Ordered 6 pair

Bought a toro 190cc recycler 22 for 50 bucks. Didn’t start, sprayed starting fluid and got it to surge. Replaced spark plug and air filter aswell as cleaning the carburetor. And as been running nice for 6 months

Way to go there. Nice mower. Wish I had that one when I was a kid pushing a Clinton three WHEELED fixed mower. Whew! (but it ran good)

When the air filter is plugged , it's normal for them to suck from the crank case vent tube drawing in oil. I wouldn't call that bad. I remember picking up a mower like that. Last year, I got one where you pulled the cord and oil would gush out the exhaust. It was trash. It was not over filled, just toast. Good video. I tell my customers it I'd absolutely essential to check that air filter a few times a year. Grass and dirt can plug up a filter easily. I like to take off the tins as well. Dollar store simply awesome works great for cleaning and degreasing an engine. Save yourself a few bucks on cleaners.

Nice work as always James.

20:55 THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! for cleaning up the tank release ring.... I'm sitting here thinking please don't put it back together without cleaning that ring.... that would've bugged me to hell and back....... You had me in suspense there for a bit James..... 😂😂😂😂😂

Surging on a Briggs & Stratton is often caused by air leaks in the intake manifold or the carburetor. On a Honda or Kohler, the pilot jet sits on top of the carburetor where it's easy for dirt to get into it.

Thanks for the video James. Awesome as usual.

This summer there has been a lot of free mowers at the curb, all easy fixes too like this. Going to be some easy money this next spring

Yes james, thank you for showing us these basic maintenance items. I've had this exact same model since 2013 and recently replaced both rear wheels as well as the drive belt. I replaced all of the drive components because I wasn't sure Which was contributing more, worn out belt or worn out gears on the rear wheels. I also took the time to take the cover off and clean the whole mower, then sprayed a mixture of lots of dishwashing soap and hot water to clean the motor. Then sprayed carb cleaner in the carburetor; also took out the spark plug, sprayed inside the cylinder with carb cleaner. Had to change the oil because water got in the oil. Cleaned up the spark plug. Use a concentrated mixture of very hot water and dishwashing detergent in a spray bottle. Then rinsed the whole machine off with a couple of handheld gallons of very hot water. Because I wanted to be pollution Free pollution on the cleaning job. Then I blew dry the entire machine. Now starts After the first pull. Thanks again for showing us how it's done.

I love finding free or low cost stuff like this. I'm semi-retired and love to work on projects like this. I came across a deal with a very clean Toro Recycler (Not running and a valve cover leak) with a Briggs, and an old Troy Bilt with a Honda GVC 160 engine. Got both for $50. The Toro was a simple fix and is in use now. The Troy Bilt with the GVC 160 runs good but smokes. I'm gonna go through the engine and I'll get whatever it needs. The way it runs, I'm thinking a fresh set of rings and a carb clean. Honda is going to quit making gas powered lawn engines, (going all green), so I'm gonna get whatever the engine needs now while the parts are plentiful. Honda engines last forever. Oh, good job on your finds. You're like me, if I find something and think it's worth fixing, I'll take it. lol

Keep up the good videos

Had the same problem with wheels. Purchased the wheels with metal gears but you have to change the drive gears too since the teeth wont mesh due to a different count of cogs.

I think many of the mowers come out of the same Chinese factory. I hate working on dirty engines and usually will clean them up first. I like to pull the spark plug to check the gap and see the condition. My neighbor started to mow her yard but shut it down she said it smelled funny. She said she had a guy change the oil and put a new blade. The blade was new so I looked at the oil. It had a dark gray smear at the bottom of the dip stick. I told her I would replace the oil . When I drained it about a teaspoon came out. After putting oil, it ran fine and didn't overheat. I didn't know the quick lube mechanics also did lawn mowers.

For 40 bucks I'd sooner just push the mower. Good exercise. It's Dr recommended The wheel issue is mendable. Cut the threaded wheel mounting hole off and re attach it ( weld) closer or further which will give a better gear mesh.

Hi James. I bet you are good at jig saw puzzles because you are very methodical and have an eye for detail. Anyway, thanks for the educational videos. I always look for your latest offering. Cheers.

You know people knock Toro and Murray mowers but I have found them to be excellent for parts and serviceability

Great video. You’ve inspired me to buy a $30 mower off craigslist (that runs and cuts but is smoking a little) and go through it. The mower in this video, I would have disconnected the drive mechanism as I like to push my mower. Thanks again!

Nice fix. I always did away with the self propel system. I never needed it

As I've learned from donyboy73, some carbs have a secret screen in the fuel inlet barb of the carb that can be clogged. Keep an eye out for those pesky things.

Just rehabbed a similar Toro self propelled somebody got fed up with and kicked it to the curb. OK I'll take it. Rebuilt carb. fired it up. sold for $150. Easy money.. A neighbor threw out his troy built a couple of years old. Cleaned it up rebuilt carb. I'm keeping this one.

I like that some carbs are pretty clean on some engines. Makes the job so much easier to get done lol.

I have the FWD version of this mower and the gear teeth are molded into the outer edge of the wheel, are wider and seem to mesh better than the RWD version. The drive gear looks the same as the RWD versions. Mine is a 2011 and I never had a problems with the drive system. FWD isn't for everyone though, especially if you bag or have hills, as the drive wheels can easily slip but I like the easier way it backs up and that you can push on the handlebar and easily maneuver the mower.

Hello there. Drive issue on that lawnmower. Tips of gears are barely engaging. There is no adjustment to it, but, you can fix that problem by bringing center of wheels closer to center of drive gear. wheel carrier plate could be drilled and nut weld on back side. Some measuring is needed of course....depending on skills and tools someone has. Keep up good work.

That is a nice little Engine after a LTC.

I use a big long pry bar to bend the wheel adjusters (pry between the wheel adjuster and the deck) to push the wheel gear closer to the drive gear. Over time, the metal gets bent, but a minor “tweak” brings them back into tight mesh again.

Thanks for sharing James 👍

Ours we had issues with grass filling at the front and the blades were sharp and the shooting blade not the mulching...so we traded it and got a greenworks 80 volt...baller

I have this exact mower! I bough it at Home Depot years ago new. My engine started smoking with in the first month and Yes I broke in the engine properly! And checked and changed the oil, Toro paid for a engine replacement at a local repair shop. Last year the rear drive systems plastic tire gears went out, it was the axle bearings the went bad (they completely oblong’d out allowing the axle shaft to let the gears skip) 2 new rear tires (because they have built in gears) 2 new bearings & the cable for the blade too. As of yesterday It ran fine. My deck is rusting away a bit to.

Another great video. It mirrors my experience of getting mowers with "issues" that are often more about maintenance than actual repairs. Bad gas, filters and carburetors seem to be the most common failures. I use non-ethanol gasoline and synthetic oil exclusively in all my small engines. I also add fuel filters when I can. After every use I blow off the engine with compressed air. And blow out the air filters every three or four uses.

Back in 1960, our next door neighbor had a shiny red Toro lawn mower that was self propelled. I was six at the time and thought that was the coolest lawn mower. I remember the only thing he constantly replaced on it was the drive wheels. Several years later I was old enough to mow our yard. We had a hand me down Craftsman aluminum cast deck push mower. It had a straight piece of black pipe for the exhaust, oil bath air cleaner, and a manual pull rope that that I had to wrap around the flywheel pulley to start it. Always added oil to it, but never changed it. We finally got Snapper push mower sometime in the 70's. Just recently I was browsing the big box stores looking for a lawn mower to replace my very old Honda self propelled. I looked at the Toros with the Briggs engine and the Honda engine. After looking at the reveiws, I will buy another Honda. It seems some of the mowers now days are made to be sold at a certain price point and they are depending on brand recognition and reputation from the past. I remember replacing the drive wheels on my Honda several years back and the wheels were not a expensive as the Toro's, they did not a plastic gear made onto the wheel.

Mr. Roger’s Lawn and Garden. Grandma freaked out every time you changed your coat and swapped your shoes. Lol

blade balance tip! thnx J

I’ve had 3 generations of toro recyclers just like these 1. They HAVE to warm up before they run good 2. Toro advertises its a “never change your oil” mower 3. Even my brand new one smokes on start up! 4. The oil quantity supplied by toro in box is too much For the initial fill up! 5. It’s considered a disposable mower in today’s standards that’s why there’s no oil change needed. 6. Advertised horsepower is a joke! Mine is a 5.75hp and I’d be shocked if it was 3.5hp at most. 7 if you don’t clean your toro “ every single time you use it” it will be junk before your first oil change! So, what have we learned? It’s disposable, needs more than advertised and it’s not what the rates specs claim….. ITS CHINESE MADE JUNK!!!! BUYER BEWARE!

James, another very fine video. Methodical and predictable. Look it over, assess it, run it, clean it up and change the oil. Then use it. Growing up during the 1960's in a suburb of Detroit where people had fairly good paying jobs, they threw out mowers when they failed to run or start properly. Because (I thought at the time) there were just no repair shops, people went to Montgomery Wards, Sears and Roebucks or the local hardware store and bought new ones. For me it was a goldmine having people put old lawnmowers out at the road for rubbish collection. I collected them. I had so many engines from various lawnmowers one time an Uncle came over and upon seeing them remarked "You've got more little engines than Carter has little liver pills." That was my upbringing. Dad had a few tools and I used them to rip apart everyone of those little engines and learn all about them. For me the neatest thing was that after I had 3 or 4 of the same engine, one would have a bad part that another had that was still good. So I'd combine them and Voilà, I'd have a running engine. In short order I scrounged together an entire lawnmower. It was named after the man who created the Oldsmobile Car, Ransom Eli Olds. It said "REO" right on it. It was a 17" rotary mower that I used as I began my first real money making job mowing lawn for a very nice elderly lady Mrs. Climber. I split $5.00 with my best friend for mowing the front 1/2 of her 2 acre property about once per week. When she paid us I would immediately go down to my local auto parts store and buy a quart of Wolf's Head motor oil for 75¢ and then hit the corner Oak Gas station to fill a 2 gallon can for 50¢ Between mowing jobs, I worked on building a Go-Kart. It was strictly illegal to ride it on my dirt road, I was told by police. So I only made "trial" runs, but only seldom, just to see if what I had accomplished actually worked. Funny thing though; somehow I always managed to burn my 2 gallons of gas by the time the next mowing job was done. Thanks for the video, and conjuring up those old memories James. See you next time. ben/ michigan

Great little mower there. If only the tips of the gears are engaging try replacing the rear axle bearings that mount in the HOC plate, they may have too much play. You can also use the older wheels with steel gears (the LawnBoy version of this mower uses steel gears too). The surging on these Quantum engines is often caused by that gray plastic intake manifold coming loose where it attaches to the intake port, make sure those two little bolts are tight. The carb “O” ring may be worn too, either of those conditions will cause a vacuum leak and surging. Lastly check and re-torque the cylinder head bolts, particularly the three around the exhaust port. You will almost always find those three loose on a Quantum that hasn’t been serviced in a while.

My Brigg Platinum engine drinks only ethanol free gas. They love that stuff. Mine is on an old Sears mower with no self-propel.

Compacted grass that gets hot and burns usually means the auto choke has interference also. The belt drive on the PTO is probably worn and slipping. I haven’t watched the fix-phase here yet. I’m going to bet the carb is clean. I like to make my own calls to see if I’m right. In 50 years of mowing grass, edgers, trimmers, push mowers and riders, tillers, pressure washers and generators, I’ve NEVER had to take my equipment in for service. I do it myself. My last push mower lasted for 25 years, 10 of that in commercial service. (The deck had holes in it, so I gave it to a 13 year-old aspiring lawn care professional. His dad is a welder by profession!)

Well done. If that little drive gear was slack adjustable that problem would not be as frequent as it is. Anyway, great video. Keep them coming.

Nice video. I have yet to see anyone flush the gas tank when doing a carb cleaning or replacement, I always do. Also, Toro doesn’t use in line fuel filters, which you can buy on Amazon, to keep dirt from getting into the carb. I like to add one when working/ repairing neighbors mowers.

Gentleman your show is outstanding, you are a complete professional and I express my gratitude, about the issue with the rear tracking wheels is that it is a comercial matter, if it doesn't break they make no money, a perfect repair would be finding a metal driving gear a little larger than the one on the equipment , perhaps Mc Master Carr have them in stock, from the endless summer paradise, giving you my most expensive thanks, Jesus Torres.

You know your mowers mate..great skills...Regards from Australia.

Crankshaft pulley will wear some, cause slippage. Belt change-out not much fun. Try snapper self-propelled for some interesting design. The original one, rear wheel with friction disk multi-speed.

I've only watched a couple minutes of the video. I love these videos, by the way, but after the oil level was right, I started wondering if the mower was filled with mix, causing it to smoke and start hard?? We will see 😊 Nope, great video and fix! Thanks, fun to watch and learn.

I've seen other videos where they put shims in between that gold bracket and the frame to get the gears to line up better. And some guys replace the plastic gears wheels with the older medal gears, which last longer. I got a 2006 Toro similar to this with the metal gears.

I have the exact mower and l learned a few things about it if there is ever a drive issue. Thanks.

thank you.

good video. I was surprised to learn that the blade torque is only 35ftlb.

I love your videos keep putting 👍great content out...i got my rum and coke, and watch a couple videos before turning in for the night...very thorough and clear instruction

I hope you gave the old guy back his mower, that would really get my vote!

I have the same mower, in fact the 2010 model as well. As with any drive system, the bearings, bushings and the spacers wear out over time and in fact get "egged" out. This causes the drive gear to lose engagement with the wheel gear. So the solution for me was to replace those parts along with new steel gears and wheels that have steel gears as well. There used to be a guy on eBay that was selling these kits, but he no longer does that. I think you can get these parts from the Toro website. I did this a couple years back and it's worked well for me.

Fyi if the lawnmower is smoking check your oil dip level most of the time it's just overfilled dip it over and remove some oil to right level

Excellent work. It cleaned up nicely. I was concerned about the oil dipstick getting knocked out while you were cleaning it. It didn’t happen but could have. Sometimes it’s a bit to easy being an armchair quarterback, forgive my pickiness.

I have had success flipping the drive gear inside the wheel over. I heat the rivets using a soldering iron or torch to soften up the plastic. I pry up on the gear with a flat bar to pry the rivets out. Flip the gear and reuse the rivets. I've done this quite a few times.

Another problem they have is the side discharger failure. After only a few times using it the plastic mounts fail and is no longer usable and falls off the machine when trying to use it. Thanks for another video.

Yes it id help James. Thank you !

Move the wheels closer to the drive gears. Drill, tap, success. (only if the geometry of the gears will allow it. Check that first.)

Great video again. I just did my mower as well and found about three ounces of water in my tank. I do leave my mower outside but how would it get so much water? After cleaning the carb it is a one pull start. Also replaced the geared wheels all were stripped. It takes two and a half hours to mow my lawn. The only thing I might suggest is sharpening the blades away from all your equipment . I see a rotor nearby and other stuff that could get metal filings in them.

i have that exact same mower, i bought it used in non running condition, with a bunch of other mowers, unfortunately the previous owner ran the engine with very low oil causing engine damage, since the deck is still good im looking to someday put another used cheap engine on it. i got the other mowers running tho, its always a dirty carb, if manufacturers would just put a fuel filter on it this wont be a issue which is what ill do with all my mowers.

I remember that recall from years back in Consumer Reports. Once again it's a process of how can we design something so crappy to increase profits margins only to have a recall and shell out the money for that. Penny wise pound foolishness. Anyway, great find and repair. Hope you had no flooding in your area from Ida. We are good here. The tropics are teeming with activity.