My POS Lawnmower

In reply to WildScotsRacing:

Haha, I love it! I think the budget needs to be capped a lot lower than $2xxx,though. I'm a little scared of the safety implications of what some forum members might be able to concoct for that much!

Furious_E wrote: In reply to WildScotsRacing: Haha, I love it! I think the budget needs to be capped a lot lower than $2xxx,though. I'm a little scared of the safety implications of what some forum members might be able to concoct for that much!

Mandatory safety cage from 1" DOM, properly mounted harness, and Snell 2010. Easy peasy!

Great, have a ported and chambered Water Buffalo on the shelf begging for a tractor chassis.

Well, I've had enough. I'm crying uncle on this POS, can't take it anymore.

I've cut my grass 3 or 4 times so far this season and not once has it been without incident. I think I've thrown the drive belt twice, steering linkage has fallen off several dozen times (Not exaggerating, it's got a separated ball joint on one end and the other the stud is just placed in it's hole, rather than fastened with a nut.), one of the tires has a slow leak, it bogs heavily in any sort of mildly thick grass...the list goes on.

The final straw came last night when gas came flooding out of the exhaust as I was trying to start it. Probably just a stuck float, but when a little percussive maintenance on the carb didn't fix it I decided I really didn't feel like diving any deeper than that.

Surely, no one of these issues is difficult or expensive to fix in and of itself, but in sum they're just really not worth fixing. Hell, I couldn't even bring myself to spend a couple bucks on Wally World's cheapest 10w30 for an oil change.

So I've thrown it to the wolves of Craigslist. If it doesn't sell within a couple weeks I may just end up finding a creative way to destroy it.

And now I'm in the market for a mower again. I think my strategy this time is to find something from a quality brand, old enough to be truly well made, and owned and maintained by a little old man or something.

In reply to Furious_E:

I know a guy, has 8-10 in the yard, 5 are in good running, mowing condition. All priced below $400, he just works to much to put them on craigslist. I can get some pics and some info if you want. I know it's a ride for you though.

In reply to RevRico:

Thanks man, appreciate the thought, but yea that's a bit of a haul to pick up a lawnmower (especially with tolls being what they are anymore on the Turnpike.) I'll keep that in mind, though, if I strike out locally.

And the saga continues: My POS Lawnmower Take II, or why do I insist on turning everything into a damn project?

I timed the sale of the old mower rather poorly, as my dad had been out of town with the lawn mower hauling truck I needed to borrow for like two weeks immediately afterwards. Meanwhile the grass has been going wild, but yesterday I finally managed to bring a replacement home. A rational human being might have just ponied up for a new mower with a warranty, or at the very least one that is currently capable of actually cutting grass, but I bought this thing.

It's a Wheel Horse 312-8, circa ~1986. Paid $450 with a plow and 36" snow blower attachment, which seems to be worth at least half what I paid for the whole lot by itself. But what really sold me was the exhaust flapper.

I say it's a POS, but in spite of the ugliness it's actually a really solid tractor, 100X the machine that old thing was. It runs and drives perfectly, its heavy, it's solid, it's well built, and I'm sure it will stand up to abuse for years to come. I really don't mind putting a little bit of work into something if it's gonna last.

The problem is it doesn't mow. The deck shown in the pics did come with the mower, it just wasn't attached, and per the PO he had never tried to attach it, just used it to push snow. So last night I attempted to get the two together and eventually figured out the deck is from a different model and does not fit. Which is actually pretty remarkable, as there seems to be a massive amount of cross compatibility for decks on this model. So step 1 will be sourcing a proper deck!

I used to pick up "tractors" like this all the time, "flip" the pulleys between the engine and trans, and have a little go-kart with an incredibly high center of gravity that would legitimately do 25 mph. I found that toe-in on the steering was your friend.

Recently bought a Simplicity Sunrunner 18 garden tractor. It was 1300 bucks, used. Best dang tractor ever. The thing is heavy as heck and with the blades sharpened up will flat plow through foot tall grass without missing a beat. My dad recently used it to mow and said he was going as fast as he could, and had to slow down because the tractor was bouncing all over the place on the rough ground. It ate grass as fast as you threw it at it.

My dad just gave me a little honda mower (not riding) for free. It starts if you put starting fluid in it, runs for about 30 seconds.

New carb on Amazon was $30 for next day delivery; guess what I'm doing tonight.

Congrats, you've graduated from a pos lawn mower to a proper garden tractor.