The Old Lawnmower Club
Collection, Preservation and Display of Old Lawn Mowers
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PQ Junior Side-Wheel Mower

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dtward55 Fri, 24/12/2021

Hi All,

I'm new to this forum. I just bought a PQ Side-wheel mower on an auction site.  Attached are some photos of the parts...already took it apart. (note: tried to upload photos, but was unsuccessful. I'll try in another post). I'm amazed at the quality of the machinery.

I have a few questions.

It looks like there is a significant amount of original paint under grease and grime.  What is the best way to remove it w/o damaging the original paint.

It has the original tires, which are brittle.  Should these be removed?  Can I get replacements?

Does anyone know the age of this one?

Thanks VERY much for any responses.

Merry Christmas!

 

 

Forums

dtward55 Fri, 24/12/2021

Photos:

Clive1997 Sun, 26/12/2021

Hello 

Your mower looks to have been made by Pennsylvania Lawn Mowers, Philadelphia. They made a very wide range of lawn mowers from the 1870's, by 1918 they claimed to have produced 1.5 million mowers in 42 years.

The PQ (Pennsylvania Quality) logo was first used in 1911.

As to the age, its difficult to tell, the model named 'Junior' was around during the 1930's & 40's. From advertisements rubber tyres do seem to appear around 1937 when ad's stated they were a 'new', feature.

Yes good to keep the mower with original paint, I am sure there are many types of de-greaser available in the USA, we often use a weak citrus based product which can be diluted to suit requirements. Also there are now many portable steam cleaners that can be used.

With regard to replacing tyres, really depends if you are looking to use or display, if just for display leave originals in place, you may be able to find an equivalent size on a more modern mower if you do want to replace them.?

Hope that helps.

 

MikeD Wed, 29/12/2021

right to tell you as we have one which we brought to the uk some time ago.Ifully restored ours as it was in the condition like yours.it is a product of the 20sto 30speriod.the tyreslike yours are cracked but intact and are the standard fitting for this machine.if you want to display the moweryou could try treating them with tyre wall black or the usa equivalent tyre paint.MORE INFO GO TO THE H/D TRUST. ORG .CATALOGUES ONLY TELL HALF THE INFO.