Lawn Boy 10642 Lawn Mower With Briggs & Stratton engine

by C Barnes
(Atlanta, Georgia)

I own a Lawn Boy 10642 mower with a Briggs & Stratton engine. It is a self propelled push lawn mower with an automatic key start and a battery. It has a 20" cutting width and comes with a grass collection bag. This lawn mower has served me extremely well for about the last two summers. I have a rather large yard and people think I am crazy when they see me pushing a lawn mower across 3+ acres.

The Lawn Boy mower itself is actually pretty heavy compared to other lawn mowers that I have owned. It has to weigh at least 100lbs and its frame is pretty large as well. I purchased the lawn mower at a Home Depot store here in my hometown as it came strongly recommended by the guy at the store for its durability and its consistency.

I have not encountered much that this particular mower cannot handle. It has a 6 horsepower easy start engine on it which is about as big as they come is push lawn mowers. It takes on all the limbs, pinecones, weeds, and anything else that I have pushed it over. Very rarely does something get caught in the blade or make the mower stop completely. It is also seemingly a very gas efficient mower. I can usually mow all 3 acres of my yard with only about 3 gallons of gas which is far less than many riding lawn mowers would consume over that area.

The only down side to this particular mower is that you cannot pull it backwards. Years and years of mowing have forced me into developing this bad habit, but if I pull this mower backwards, the self-propel line gets all messed up within its rubber casing, causing the self-propel not to function at all.

I am having to deal with this right now as I pulled the mower the other day and now the line is all tangled up. My last lawn mowing was done by strictly pushing the heavy mower without the self propel working. This was excruciatingly difficult because like I said, the lawnmower weighs at least 100lbs. When this problem occurs, I am forced to completely disconnect the self propel line and actually pull the line out of the casing and then re-insert it in order for it to straighten out. It is really a pain to do but I have not found any other way of correcting this problem.

Other than that, I really have no other complaints about my Lawn Boy. It has served me well and when the time comes, I just might invest in another similar one. The only thing I might do differently is to get a smaller and lighter one. The self propel is not absolutely necessary and I would gladly give it up if I was able to pull the lawn mower behind me as I walk.

Regardless, I would strongly recommend a Lawn Boy or any other Briggs & Stratton powered product to anybody seeking a reliable lawn mower. They are tough little mowers and would perfectly suit anybody that is willing to climb off of their fancy riding lawn mower and push one of these around their yards. It is definitely a good way to exercise.