Old and odd push mowers

[KYsawman]

Here is a 1971 Bunton commercial 21" push mower I restored. I weighs 120 pounds with fuel and oil. The deck is 3/16 steel. It has steel rims with greaseable bearings. It originally came with a tecumseh/lauson 3.5hp, other engine options where briggs 3.5hp or briggs 5hp. After trying to keep the original tecumseh going I finally gave up and switched it to a briggs.

 

[KYsawman]

Bunton was known for their bigger walk behind mowers, This mower is what they called a graveyard mower. They made it in 12" 18" and 21" The twelve inch is a three wheeled one. They where for mowing between head stones before the weedeater became popular. The company started out in Missouri as the Goodall company. The Goodall company was the first to use a vertical shaft engine on a mower. Goodall moved from missouri to louisville KY and became Goodall/Bunton. Sometime along the was the Goodall name was droped and it carried on as Bunton. For a short time Bunton made a 22" self propelled model. Textron bought up Bunton anlong with Bobcat and combinded the brands and moved them to Wisconsin. Textron has now sold them off to the company that owns the Mantis tillers, the Bobcat came survived but Bunton did not. The later Bunton push mowers are acually aluminum deck Bobcats. The true Buntons are the Welded steel deck models.

 

[Lee H]

In the mid 70's i got my first job. At a local Taylor Rental store.
They rented those Bunton mowers. Just like to one you have.
They were bullit proof. Any heavy like you stated. The rentals
all had Briggs motors but i believe they were 3.5 hp. I could be
wrong it was a long time ago.

 

[KYsawman]

They where advertised as a lifetime deck. They said that all you need to do is repower and it would be good as new.

 

[Nitehawk55]

Very cool , ment for commercial use with the big fuel tank .

 

[Homelite410]

how about a ride on push mower.

 

[KYsawman]

That is very interesting the mower deck looks like an old sensation or bobcat with the cast aluminum.

 

[Homelite410]

It looks fun on a hill..

 

[bikemike]

No hover lite mowers?

 

[Nitroman]

When I was a kid, I remember my dad buying a Sears & Roebuck self-propelled walk behind. It had a Briggs 5hp motor, gearcase that drove a chain to the shaft the had two rollers pressing on the front wheels to make it go. You could lift the shaft to push the mower if you wanted. It was all metal, and heavy as hell. Oh, and my dad made me mow all seven (yes, that is 7), acres of yard on our farm in Belcross, North Carolina 27918 from 1966 until 1974 when he bought a riding mower for my younger brothers to use. I wore that damned heavy-assed mower out. In the heat. In the humidity. Did I mention we lived on the edge of The Great Dismal Swamp? In North Carolina? In the summer?

 

[Guido Salvage]

This was in a local pawn shop last year. Avco electric, would have been a neat toy (until the batteries needed replacing).

 

[KYsawman]

When I was a kid, I remember my dad buying a Sears & Roebuck self-propelled walk behind. It had a Briggs 5hp motor, gearcase that drove a chain to the shaft the had two rollers pressing on the front wheels to make it go. You could lift the shaft to push the mower if you wanted. It was all metal, and heavy as hell. Oh, and my dad made me mow all seven (yes, that is 7), acres of yard on our farm in Belcross, North Carolina 27918 from 1966 until 1974 when he bought a riding mower for my younger brothers to use. I wore that damned heavy-assed mower out. In the heat. In the humidity. Did I mention we lived on the edge of The Great Dismal Swamp? In North Carolina? In the summer?

My Grandpa had one just like the one you described. He loved that mower, it was the top of the line push mower at the time.

 

[jake wells]

you only got to push this when it runs out of gas. allis B10

 

[Nitroman]

Yeah, I still curse that thing. At the beginning of the summer I would pull out the spark plug and turn the mower on its side. I'd take a big ol' mill file to the blade edge and get it as sharp as I could. It would sure cut like nobody's business with that 5hp on there. Had to re-sharpen about three, four times each summer. I don't think we ever threw it away. I'd like to find another just so I could spiff it up and pull it out every once in awhile.

 

[Locust Cutter]

An old Man in my neighborhood collected old mowers years ago. He had a Jacobsen which was a 2-stroke and had a very unusual blade system. It was a large disc with four pivoting tips that you would sharpen which actually did the cutting. They had VERY large wings and created an un-Godly amount of lift. It was interesting.

 

[Lee H]

An old Man in my neighborhood collected old mowers years ago. He had a Jacobsen which was a 2-stroke and had a very unusual blade system. It was a large disc with for pivoting tips that you would sharpen which actually did the cutting. They had VERY large wings and created an un-Godly amount of lift. It was interesting.

Worked on a few of those back in the day. Very cool mowers.

 

[mikeypizano]

Anyone have a picture of that 12" Bunton? I would love to see one.

 

[KYsawman]

Here is some from Google search.

 

[mikeypizano]

Thanks, I tried searching "12 inch Bunton mower" on Bing but guess I didn't put the right terms in... I would love to have one of those. I love odd things like that.

 

[KYsawman]

They come up on ebay every now and then. Most are here in the central Kentucky area. The factory was in Louisville. There was one in pa last year on ebay.