Lawn mower ... noise !!!

[mikechell 0]

First, let me say ... I bought a great looking used mower this morning, a Craftsman 24 Hp rider, for $200.00.  The owner's complaint was that the drive belt wouldn't stay on.  Got it home, started playing with it and found:

Rear axle mounts are destroyed.  Since they're part of the frame, I can't "replace them.  I'll be stopping by a couple of scrap metal places tomorrow, to see if I can find some heavy machinery brackets I can adapt into these areas.  I think it'll be a fairly easy fix, if I can find the metal I need.

But, I have a question for y'all.  Has anyone found a way to replace lawn mower mufflers with something that actually MUFFLES ??? I know the main purpose of L.M. mufflers is to arrest sparks, not to quiet the exhaust ... but I'm so tired of how loud these tractors are.  I'm thinking of getting some motorcycle mufflers and ... well, it's a thought.

Any of you done this or something better, to quiet a lawn mower?

[skeet3t 0]

Can you take the old one off to match with a newer one? Guessing they are all the same. My concern would be rust freezing it to the block. BTW, good luck in finding any parts. When was your mower made and by whom? Under the old Craftsman brand, Sears only kept parts for a guesstimated time for replacement. When they are gone, that's it. Plus they changed a few parts so they wouldn't interchange with OEM parts. Had a Craftsman contract manufacturer as a customer. Got it from the purchasing agent.

Back in the early 90s, Craftsman riding mowers were made by Murray-Ohio in Tennessee. Been in the plant which closed years ago.

[flytire 0]

[Steeldrifter 0]

I don't know how much you would actually gain by putting a larger muffler on it. The big problem with noise is that it is an air cooled engine, and air cooled engines put out a lot of noise that is not actually coming from the exhaust, it's just the nature of the beast with air cooled. I've known a few people that tried to quiet down generators with larger mufflers and just didn't really do much at all.

[Poopdeck 0]

Can’t help with the muffler but I agree with your assessment on fixing the mounts. I’d weld some angle iron on there or just repair what’s there. Sounds like a perfect opportunity to add a welder to the shop. 
 

while you have the deck off check the belt pulleys and pulley spindle shafts. On my old mower the holes in the pulleys elongated and the shafts took an hour glass shape where it went through the pulley hole. This caused excessive play casing the belts to pop off all the time. Couldn’t see the elongated hole and hour glass shaped spindle until I pulled the pulley off. 

[mikechell 0]

Thanks for the replies.  I'll answer some of them, but I'll start with flytire.  I'm sure those ear muffs work well.  However, last time I wore mine (old ones from the military), they started ... tickling.  I actually had pools of sweat flow out when I took them off.  I little disgusting and somewhat uncomfortable.  I realize I'll never be able to mow without earing protection and I do have earplugs in all the time.  But even with, it's just more noise than I'd like to deal with.

Steve, I am fully aware of the engine noises created by air-cooled engines.  Remember, motorcycle and marine engines are what I teach every day.  As I said above, I know I won't be able to completely eliminate the noise ... but I would like to attenuate it by 50% if I can.  

Poopdeck ... absolutely, I am checking, cleaning and rechecking everything I can with the deck off.  So far, I am quite impressed with all the items.

[skeet3t 0]

Howard-Leight makes a foam earplug that has an NRR of 33. This is higher than many other plugs and muffs.  I bought a box of 100 when I worked at Fastenal. Used them when I was active in competitive trapshooting. Still have a bunch in my shooting bag.

 

[mikechell 0]

I got a piece of stainless and some bolts and nuts for $10.00 from a surplus store.  

Cut out the appropriate pieces.

Bolted them in place and drove the mower around for a while.

It was too wet from 1.6 inches of rain to mow, so I'm only 90% sure it'll work.

[Poopdeck 0]

I’m a 100% sure it will work just fine. Nice repair! 

[niveker 0]

Nice fix.  

Wonder what caused the originals to crack like that. Evel Knievel type stuff?

 

[mikechell 0]

Thank you Poopdeck!

Niveker ... based on the round edge of the blades, I'd guess he didn't take care of anything.  I'm guessing he'd bounce right over curbs, etc.  So, yeah, Evel Knievel type stuff. 😄

[niveker 0]

21 hours ago, mikechell said:

So, yeah, Evel Knievel type stuff. 

LOL - I had an old Wheel Horse that was good for that stuff, the thing was the torque monster of lawn tractors.  I could pop wheelies when starting out in 3rd High at full throttle, had to be careful taking turns at full tilt.  

Anyhow, nice job fixing her up.  

[Steeldrifter 0]

I don't think that fix will fail anytime in the next 50+ years👍

[Mark Knapp 0]

Where we live, people will mow their' lawns at 2:00 in the morning because they can and it's a short summer. I myself don't have a lawn and I wouldn't. Why take care of a lawn when there's fishing to be done? Why tend a garden, same answer?

Do work, sleep, go fishing...repeat.

[mikechell 0]

Yeah ... it worked wonderfully!  Unlike me original rider, this one has the wheels on the deck to protect against scalping the grass.  Well, not only does it do that job, but it creates a perfectly even cut.  Our lawn looked ... smooth! 

Looked, I typed, because that was Sunday and it's well on it's way to needed cut again.  Still, I'll take 11 months of cutting grass to your 9 months of shoveling snow, Mark.