Your Lawn Mower

[Chauncey Gardiner]

Hi Chance,
I never buy less than a 14 gauge wire. I know that it drops voltage/amperage a little with a 100 foot run, but I'm not running large enough a motor to be concerned.

I think my longest 12 gauge is 75 feet.

Some years back I purchased a corded trimmer and an extension cord for my wife's brother-in-law. It was a thank you gift for inviting us to his beach house. Reading the recommended cord gauge for the length B.I.L. would need, the cord cost more than the trimmer.

Our eldest loves to decorate the yard for Christmas.

HA! Last year his Christmas present was a new 100' cord.

 

[Poppy]

The man has some cords!

 

[Chauncey Gardiner]

The man has some cords!

He's informed me that he's taking all the Christmas decorations and chords when he moves out. Personally, I think he's taken the "What's mine is yours" a little too much to heart. 🤨

The Honda walk-behind is almost five years old. Good tools are worth the price. Also, the actual shed is getting a bit cramped.

 

[Poppy]

well my friend I guess I have two comments on that thought.
1. if he leaves you with no extension cords, you might just have to go completely cordless.
2. Once he moves out, you may still find that some of your "un-needed" tools end up at his place.

Today, I got a call from my son asking if I still have a sheet rock "pole sander"
Sure, I have to find it, but I'll pull it out for you.
While out in the shed, I dug out the pack of sanding screens that are specifically cut in size for it, and I looked all over and under for the hand held sanding block that takes the same sheets.

I told him, I got the pole sander, and some sanding sheets, but I couldn't find the sanding block.
He said..."Oh, I have that!"

 

[Chauncey Gardiner]

A few years ago this Yardman was donated to our church by a friend of mine.

After changing the oil I decided to take it for a mow ......


I liked it so much, that I decided to clean it up a bit .....

I wish I had a picture of his face when he first cast an enamored gaze upon it. Him being a friend, I quickly quipped - "No take-backs. This now belongs to God!"

 

[raggie33]

I had a lawn mower outsmarts me in my teens muffler fell off and with out thinking I picked it up lol

 

[vicv]

Honestly I think you d be crazy to buy a new mower and it not be an ego battery unit. Unless you have more than 0.5 acre. And if you have that, you should be on a rider anyway. They're amazing now. I use one for the smaller areas and an older hydrive case tractor for the large field. Total of about 2 acres. This is my case. If I needed a new rider, I'd go with an ego battery unit as well. I have an ego trimmer, chainsaw, hedge trimmer, and leaf blower already so the batteries can swap

 

[Chauncey Gardiner]

That's a cool-looking mower, vicv. Is it still operational, and what's that oblong handle at the front for?

 

[vicv]

It is operational yes. It's a 1974 model. I'm not sure what oblong handle you're referring to.
Thanks. I've always liked these. Love the big back wheels. And it's all hydraulic. Not hydrostatic. The drive is just a normal axle with a hydraulic motor attacked to its input. The motors output shaft just goes to a hydraulic pump. Not gears or shafts or anything

 

[vicv]

If you're referring to the oval handle in between the front wheels sticking out of the front plate, that the slack adjuster for the mule drive. What tightens the melt from the mower deck to the pto

 

[chip100t]

I was cutting the grass for one of my brothers friends using his ride-on.
I was really tired and kept closing my eyes for a few seconds before waking up like the proverbial nodding dog. Then all of a sudden I was brought to my senses by the sound of one of his sons tennis rackets being smashed by the blades, and stopped. Only to find I was about three feet from the edge of his pool. I have no doubt if it was not for that tennis racket both me and the ride on would have gone for a swim.

 

[bykfixer]

Doh!!

 

[vicv]

I know we're talking mowers here, but I just finished weed whacking with my ego with the 2.5ah battery(the smallest available). I have almost 2 acres and a lot of trees and garden to trim around and between. The battery just dies as I finished. This is the second time doing that on the one charge. These aren't the cordless tools of 10 years ago. And unlike when using my echo previously, my hands aren't buzzing from the vibration. Same with using my push mower over my lawn boy. No buzz afterwards. And I got to listen to a podcast with my AirPods wile doing it

 

[chip100t]

This is my rear lawn, and my front is only twice the size of the rear.

Being so small I bought my self a corded electric mower as it did not seem worth going cordless when my mower plus a 10m lead gets it done.

Although I still spent £400 on a fairly decent mower which makes short work of it as opposed to one of my neighbours who bought a tiny cheap mower that would struggle and he would have to stop a couple of times to let the motor cool down
After struggling to cut his overgrown lawn where he left it too long between cuts.

 

[bykfixer]

I have come to the conclusion my mower should have a blade replacement this year. The blade that came with the 11 year mower has seen its better days. Poor thing has definitely earned a medal for valor after hitting who knows how many twigs, dog toys, the occasional plastic soda bottle and other surprises hidden by tall grass.

 

[Poppy]

A week or two ago a friend said that he decided to NOT hire a lawn contractor for this season and that he would mow his lawn himself (or actually have his son do it). He couldn't get the mower started.

I told him to get a can of carb cleaner, and watch a YouTube video on how to clean it out. Yesterday he told me that he followed my suggestion, and got it to start, but it would only .... put... put.. put. So instead of bringing it over to me, he bought a new unit.

I asked if he threw the old one out yet? When he said no, I said, give it to me, I'll fix it and give it to my son.

He said great!

I called my son and told him the situation. Oh no! He just bought one! He mowed his lawn for the first time this past weekend. In a few weeks he'll be closing on another house, and will need a mower for it, so the plan remains the same. So I'll have a few weeks to make the repair.

 

[bykfixer]

Every house I've moved from I left a working lamp in the attic and working lawnmower under a weather proof cover, a new roll of toilet paper and new roll of paper towels.

If the new resident wanted a better mower or brighter lamp that's on them.

 

[Poppy]

Friday morning I picked up the mower. It's a better quality mower. 2009 Toro 6.75 hp recycler, with a bag, and a garden hose connection to clean the underside of the deck!

After lunch I decided to take a look at the carb.
It has a automatic choke. It was stuck closed. It was VERY stuck. After a few coatings of carb cleaner, and WD-40 a little tapping, and finally some forcing, it freed up, but not enough for the weak little carburetor springs to be able to move it. With the choke wide open, it started with two pulls.

To my surprise, it is a self propelled unit. It moves along faster than I am comfortable walking (with a bad hip). Now I can see how my next door neighbor pushes his mower at such a quick pace. It must be self propelled!

It has a deck mounted hose connection, so I had to look up how to use it properly.

 

[turbodog]

The lights are handy for cutting at dusk.

 

[turbodog]

...

It has a deck mounted hose connection, so I had to look up how to use it properly.

...

My experience w/ a modern mulching pushmower is that the deck stays clean. Am partial to honda's push units though.