hey y'all!! let's talk today about man stuff. particularly about mowers and grass. OK,............i need to clarify that statement. I'm talking about the kind of grass that grows in your yard, and not the kind that our government want legalize, and tax for the good of our countries welfare!! damn stupid politicians!!
about three years ago we needed a new lawn mower. i had been keeping the grass cut with anything that i could from sling blades to weed-eaters. ( yep,.....i got one of those trophy scars from a weed-eater.)
I'm not your typical man when it comes to shopping. i do a lot of investigative study before i seal the deal. i compare prices, features, read articles from other owners to get the most bang for my buck.
our yard in like a mini golf coarse. it full of sand traps, bunkers, and water hazards at the right time of year. it mostly produces weeds, but where there is grass it tends to grow hard and fast. no,...........i didn't factor this info in on my great investigative study, but i should have.
all in all, i made a pretty good choice. i bought a 22' troy built self-propelled mulching mower, with big wheels in the back. the first year it ran like a cat that you had took a dry corn cob to his behind, and poured turpentine on it.
the second year it had slowed down quite a bit. i wound up disengaging the drive completely, because it's easier to push that way since it no longer had any pulling power on it's own. i could have just replaced the belt, but it was much easier to push through the sand traps. all the maintenance i ever did on it was just change the air filter, oil, replace the plug, and put a new blade on it every year.
if you have never lived in the desert or Florida, you probably don't even imagine the damage that sand does to metal . now take that piece of metal, and speed it up to a few hundred r.p.m., and you have the same effect as sand blasting!!
it took me a while to realize this fact also. once i ran over a plastic bread bag, and instead of obliterating it to shreds, it just was flopping around. i cut the mower of, and tilted it back to get the bag, and i was amazed by what i saw. i know understood why i wasn't getting the full cut that i once did. over half my blade was gone!! where did it go, and why? honestly,..........i think that I'm pretty smart about most things, but this had me puzzled. i talked to a buddy of mine that's lived here for a while, and he confirmed that the sand had taken it, one revolution at a time!!
the only sand that i ever saw living in bama was when folks would come down here on vacation, and steal it from the beach's. the would take it back to bama with good intentions of building their kids a sandbox to play in full of original Florida beach sand. the bad thing was that every cat in a three mile radius honed in on it, as their favorite litter box!!! getting back to my story now............
i guess that it's time to get a new one. I'm just hoping that this one can make it through the summer. which can last up until November on a good year. well,..........at least it takes the grass the long to stop growing.
this year the mower has been plagued with all kinds of difficulties. it now has the carburetor being held to the frame with a wire clothes hanger. ( high Alabama technology )
it used to start with one pull, and twice on difficult days. now it requires a lot of yanking, and taking the air filter off to prime it. once you get it running if it ever acts like it's gonna die, all you have to do is pull a screwdriver out of your back pocket, and tap on the carburetor bowl, because the floats stickin'.
fortunate for me, i have one of those really high tech buddies that say that they can fix anything. i bet y'all have one of them also. sure enough he fixed it. he tore the carburetor to pieces, and put it back together again. that was after he couldn't figure out why i had used red neck technology with the wire coat hanger, and he set it free,..................really free. he cut the wire, and the carburetor feel to the deck!!
he said that he would cut the grass this time, just to make sure that the mower ran properly. i saw him check the oil, and i was shocked when he put oil in it. i have never known for the mower to need any oil. he pulled the crank until he was about to pass out, and decided to prime it. ( humm.......i thought he fixed it )finally the mower started, and i got my grass cut for free.
i started to cut the yard Monday. the mower ran rough, and smoked a lot, but i need to get the yard cut.
then suddenly it happened...........the mower quit, and as it set there, more and more smoke bellowed from it!! i thought that it was on fire, but i couldn't see any flames!! i could smell the smell of plastic burning mixed with oil. i just stood there watching smoke boil from my mower.
i really can't imagined what i looked like to my neighbors that were getting their mail at the time. the seemed all concerned that the mower might blow up with all the smoke coming from it. i just smiled at them, and said, naa,...........if your really concerned you wouldn't be standing here, so just enjoy the show. how many times has you ever saw this much smoke coming from a mower? after all that i assumed it was dead.
I've spent the last three days trying to correct his genius. he put way too much oil in the crankcase. it was blowing oil through the carburetor, and the muffler. i was shocked when it stared the next day. i figured that was the last time that it would have ever ran.
i know that after all those issues that there has to be some major damage with it somewhere., but I'm gonna try to fix it. i cleaned out the air filter that was drenched in oil. I'm in the process of changing the oil , because that oil in it, looks like hell. i drained it well, and refilled it. then I'll start it, and let it run for a few minutes. then I'll start the process all over again. hopefully tomorrow the oil will be clear and clean, and i can start over with the yard.
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