J and J Small Engine Blog

Choosing a new lawn mower is not an easy task. In particular, first time buyers have a hard time because they often don’t know exactly what they want in a lawn mower.

J&J Small Engine Clinic wants to find the best lawn mower or yard equipment to fit your needs. Big box stores often offer a one-size-fits-all model. But there are so many  choices that can fit your lawn, your budget, your time limits and convenience.

When it comes to buying lawn and yard equipment, local dealers are less expensive because they can offer you better choices. J&J Small Engine Clinic will sell you power tools that you will use rather than just store.

The type, style and size of the lawn makes a difference when buying a lawn mower. Is your lawn flat or hilly? Do you have lots of flower beds? Is it large or small? Are you mowing the lawn or are your kids? The size of the lawn mower bed can make a big difference in the amount of time you spend mowing.

For the best lawn mower for your life and home, contact J&J Small Engine Clinic.

Yard and lawn care season has begun, along with those outdoor home maintenance tasks. It is fun to break out the power tools, and regular maintenance is the key to having them run well and last long.

Start with an oil change, most power tools require an oil change every 25 hours of running time. It is best to follow the maintenance plan spelled out in your owner’s manual. The manual usually also calls for once/year engine tune ups.

Air filters need to be regularly changed as well. Think of all the dust you kick up with your leaf blower or lawn mower. To keep your equipment running smoothly, the engine needs air. Of course, if you have not started the lawn mower yet this season, your lawn mower blade probably needs sharpening.

Scheduled maintenance holds off big surprises. There is nothing worse than reaching for a power tool and having it not start. For schedule maintenance or parts for your power tool contact J&J Small Engine Clinic in North Attleboro.

More and more, ethanol in gasoline ruines carburetors and degrades engines in gas power tools. As the EPA considers increasing the ethanol allowed in street gas from 10 to 15% this will get worse.

Small-engine mechanics are busier than ever.  Power tools that look brand new need repairs because the engines are worn out from the ethanol in gasoline.

Owners of power tools fuel those tools with a gasoline-ethanol blend. This is a result of  a federal mandate to convert to biofuels.

Using ethanol products in smaller engines like the two-cycle lawnmowers, chain saws and snow blowers is not a good idea.

A high percentage of the lawnmowers that small engine repair shops see have been damaged by ethanol.
 
But now, at J&J Small Engine Clinic in North Attleboro, Ethanol-free gas is available and distributed in cans for owners of small engines . Why should you use it?

The ethanol in gasoline eats up the insides of engines - the rubber gaskets and parts get damaged, and the metal parts rust.

As the ethanol breaks down the parts of the engines, the engines get stopped up as parts break down. As a result, the engine will no longer run.

In smaller engines, ethanol can create a chain reaction of events that end up clogging valves and rusting out small metal parts — including, crucially, carburetors.

The ethanol in gas attracts moisture, which causes a quicker deterioration of the fuel in the small engine. The alcohol dissipates the oil which is used for lubricating the engine. So on a two-cycle engine, the oil is being pushed away, so the engine is not being lubricated.

That creates a gummy residue that clogs filters and hoses.

Most gasoline is now mixed with up to 10% ethanol. This blended fuel is the only gasoline sold in many areas because of a federal mandate designed to boost the levels of renewable fuels at the pump.

J&J Small Engine Clinic, Inc, is one of the Few Shops to sell Ethanol free gasoline. Ethanol free gasoline will not go bad for at least two years, most gasoline purchase for your vehicle will start to go bad in 30 days. Contact us.

Everyone has a hammer and a screw driver, but think of what you can do with power tools. Put a new tool in the hands of some people and they become giddy at the prospect of all the jobs they can now do. Power tools may be more expensive than a hammer, but when you own them, there is one less excuse to blow off a project. And, power tools they pay for themselves.

The very basic set of tools is perfect for installing shelves or a shower heads. But are there other tools, power tools, that would inspire someone to take on the bigger home projects.

Bob Villa says that what you need is a set of aspirational tools. These tools lean heavily on the power tools category.

Nevertheless,when you own the right power tools, you can take on projects that, had you paid a carpenter, would have cost much more than buying all of those power tools.

The first item on my list of new tools was an 18-volt cordless drill.  It is advisable to get one with a spare battery, so you don’t have to worry about losing power midway through a project.

A battery-powered circular saw is another good thing to have, “especially if you’re outside working on a fence or up on a roof, where you don’t want to drag a cord.”

A reciprocating saw, or Sawzall, is good for demolition and for cutting through walls. It’s the greatest tool in America, and, keep in mind, second only to chainsaws as the most dangerous.

The top tool recommendation is a multipiece drilling-and-driving set, which expands the utility of a cordless drill. For any job, no matter what you need to do, this tool has it.

A 80-piece drill-and-drive set includes nut-setters, roughly 20 drill bits and more than 50 screw-driving tips. For those with more specialized woodworking needs, Ryobi sells a 90-piece drill-and-drive set that includes tools for boring and circular cuts.

When you embark on home projects, you make a mess and need a way to clean up. The recommendation: a wet-dry vacuum or Shop-Vac. They suck up stuff that would destroy a typical vacuum and you don’t think of it as a tool but you get addicted to it.

Another tool that Mr. Vila suggests is an auger for unclogging toilets or drains. Plumbers charge such enormous amounts that when you buy a three-foot Ridgid toilet auger it pays for itself in the time it would take a plumber to walk from his truck to your front door.
 
Are you in the market to add some power tools to your workspace? Contact J&J Small Engine Clinic.

Original article - NYTimes

There are a lot of backyard technicians out there who can change the oil or perhaps an air filter on their power tools. Some of you even know a little bit more. You just need to find the small engine parts. If we don't have it, we can custom order almost any part. 

But if you're not a mechanic, and you have only changed the oil, have you noticed anything different about how your equipment's small engine is running?

Perhaps it is idling at a faster speed than it should be and you just can’t seem to slow it down. But it runs, so it’s no problem. Not so. When your equipment's engine runs faster than it should, it also runs hotter and uses more gas than it needs. Your carburetor needs a tune up.

Having your small engine tune-up regularly not only extends the life of the engine, but it helps it run more efficiently, saving gas too.

Your power tools were designed to run in a specific way, and maintenance keeps them in factory condition and running the way they were designed. If you want to maintain the life of your small engine, contact J&J Small Engine Clinic.