I have recently purchased a 17" 45 series solid deck with the mower number 45 19234. I would like to know what year it is? Also any other relevant information about it.
It came with an early 2000's 9 series Briggs & Stratton engine which is 3hp. The current owner said it had been in the family for years and had just been in storage for the past few years. He also told me his father got the new Briggs & Stratton put on by the local mower shop. The engine was running, but I have taken it off for the time being as want to give it a bit of an overhaul. As I have a 3.5 hp 9 series B&S engine which I have recently overhauled I have decided to fit that for the time being.I have also swapped a few parts off my other 17" as the front roller, handle bars, reel adjuster screws, front roller adjust and thrust bearing were either worn or damaged.
I am going to use this as my prime mower for the time being, and hope to strip it down, overhaul it and paint it in the near future.I just want to get a bit of use out of it 1st.
Any where between 1968 and 72 for this one. The 17 & 20 inch machines are near impossible to accurately date in Series 1 as they were all originally fitted with Kirby Lauson engines (non date identifiable) and not Briggs engines which were stamp dated and thus one could ascertain an approximation.
The Briggs were only fitted to the 14 inch machines and they had to still have their original engine fitted which is rapidly becoming no longer the norm.
BTW the number on the ID plate doesn't really help us at all as they don't seem to follow in sequence and also the original books that had all the individual mowers written down as they were made have been long destroyed, one thing to take into account is that SB made many different models and they were not built in runs of a particular model, rather they were built on an order placed basis.
Cheers, BB.
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
At lease I have a rough idea of its age. I am very happy with it, and am very pleased how it mows. I will also look forward to overhauling and painting it in the not too distant future.
