Piss me off will ya.
The wide open throttle issue turned out to be the idle screw turned in so far that the little spring looked like a flat washer and the no forward/ reverse issue turned out to be no shear key at all in the axle for the drive wheel.
That little idle screw had escaped my attention, it’s behind the air cleaner housing on the side of the carb.
Now I need to swap the decks, order new bags for the rear bagger set up and it should work.
There are still some minor issues like getting a new seat and a different kill switch but swapping out the decks will make it a functional mower.
Finally.
My thanks to my buddy for giving it to me, and the gentleman who traveled clear across the state to bring me the other one with the good deck and rear bagger set up.
My thanks also to Leigh and several others for hooking me up with wiring diagrams and repair manuals for these things.
It’s been a battle no doubt but as you all know all too well, I’m a stubborn sonofabitch.
I win, BFYTW.
I’ve enjoyed the John Deere saga.Can’t wait to see the grass flying.
Was that wide open throttle? Or the high gear? Did ya crank it up to see how fast it goes?
Low rpm and low gear.
No use pushing my luck, I didn’t feel like trying to push the bastard up the driveway.
Never underestimate stubborn!
I never had a doubt you’d win ! And just think how easy it will make your life to be able to load YOUR riding mower on YOUR trailer and drag it wherever you want to cut grass, by damn !
Oh hell yes. Well now you got something. Good on ya. Sure be nice if you could just leave one at FIL’s. Even nicer if you could get someone to ride it for ya. One step at a time I guess. Congratulations Sir.
Congratulations!
-rightwingterrorist
SUCCESS !!!!
Now, the next project !!!!!
No problem, Bud. Sometimes a little info is all that is needed.
Leigh
Whitehall, NY
Winner, winner. Where’s your chicken dinner?
I hear a VFD calling you now, can you hear it? I can!! ;P
Waiting on a motor mounting bracket now.
Yeah, THAT was a cool find.
Now I have to get off of my butt and get my mowers ready. I have to sharpen the blades on the push mower & the riding, and I have to drop the deck on the riding and lube/clean/retension everything. I put new spindles with grease fittings on it last year. I have the battery on the charger/conditioner so I hope I can get another year out of the battery. At least it doesn’t use a high dollar motorcycle battery like my old one did.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
I really hope you had fun, I really do.
But…
As usual, you spend way too much time and effort and trips to the hardware store etc. and for what?
A POS mower that probably won’t do a whole bunch before needing another 10-20 hours of fuckin’ around and 5 more trips to the hardware store and a bunch of DNA spilled.
Been there buddy, and so have you.
You could have just paid the neighbor’s kid about 10% of all that heartache to mow a lot more lawn than that machine will ever, ever, ever fucking do.
Priorities.
.
What kind of fun is that?
Phil
Since you are bagging your clippings, You might just make frames to catch straight into garbage bags, instead of buying regular ones.
I had also considered making a larger dump type catcher. The double bag system often fills the first one, such that you end up having to dump more often, or dumping the first bag in to the second to be able to get back to your dump place.
Maybe something with a caster wheel to support it.
We also found it worked well to straight mow, then run back over bagging a couple hours after it had dried. It’s said 50% of drying happens within first 4 hours. Reduces the volume of bagging needed. It also blew better.