This Scotts 46572×8 came to me last year for free. I had posted on the NextDoor App looking for free equipment to work on. I was happily surprised to get so many pieces of equipment for free. The previous owner of this machine gave me another free riding mower in addition to this one.
Background
I’ve been trying to limit my exposure to different manufacturers of equipment – especially riding mowers.
The problem is that there are so many different brands, and each brand has numerous models. It’s hard to maintain an inventory of “spare” parts, and you kind of end up with a junkyard of machines that need this or that.
My theory was that if I limited myself to just a few different brands, at least then things would have a better chance of being cross-compatible.
That being said, free is free. So I happily agreed to take this one home with me (and several more).
This Scotts 46572×8 is essentially a Murray brand, which is essentially an MTD product. There have been several mergers over the years, but when in doubt, it seems to be an MTD.
That’s especially true for many of the second-tier brands. I like to think of John Deere, Cub Cadet, and Craftsman as the higher value brands – they tend to fetch a better return on resale.
That may be due to the name brand recognition, but the fact remains that for most everything else, it’s probably an MTD underneath.
For us, that’s good. That’s because this model of Scotts mower is pretty much obsolete.
I had a difficult time finding out much information about it, or even a parts diagram. As this sat over the winter, I spent time researching so that when spring came I could make a more efficient repair.
Fun fact, that’s usually how I spend my winters – clearing snow and looking up parts diagrams.
Initial Observations
When it comes to this Scotts 46572×8, a few things jumped out. First, it was missing a side cowl and a front console cover. Those we were just going to have to live without because I simply could not find replacements.
Since I had a hard time finding the actual parts diagram, I had to figure out a compatible model of MTD to find those parts diagrams and numbers.
Once I did, then I could look up to find things that I needed – like a battery tray, ignition switch, and start solenoid.
Scotts 46572×8 Repair
As far as repairs go, this was pretty straightforward. We didn’t have a key for the ignition switch, but the new one came with a key, so that solved that problem.
There was no signal getting to the battery, but the new start solenoid cured that issue.
From there, the engine turned over but didn’t want to run on its own, so a carb rebuild fixed that problem as well.
Since we were rebuilding the carb, I like to do a full disassembly so that I can soak it in my ultrasonic cleaner. I find that it does a more thorough job of cleaning carburetors.
Scotts 46572×8 Video
If you’d rather just watch the video, you can find it below.
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