Todays fabrication efforts look like they went a little better than yesterdays.
I’m actually kinda proud of myself for taking a piece of flat plate,
And doing this with it.
Not too bad for a rookie.
It was a long battle but I finally won.
I knew that I was using a lot of wire on that little welder and when I got done with the last weld, I opened up to see how much was left. There was none on the spool and about an inch and a half still pinched between the drive rollers.
Perfect timing.
I have literally been going basically non stop since Friday after work and I finally got done and everything put away at 7:30 this evening.
For some reason the damn drive belt jumped off again when I pulled into the driveway and shut the thing off but it only took me a minute to get it back on. More investigation will be required to address that issue but right now I am wiped the fuck out.
So for now, I can mow the lawn again but I am still going to either find another mower deck or another mower all together.
Of course I still have three thousand little projects and tasks that need doing but at least the pressure of off for this issue.
that feeling of getting the job done is better than a holiday!
a few days ‘off’, then on to the next one on the list
Hells bells, I think you did well! Better than I could do, for sure. It doesn’t matter what the mower looks like, as long as the grass looks good.
That’s the deal these days: a five minute job takes all morning and recovery takes two days.
Just keep telling yourself as I do : I won’t be beaten by a 4king machine!
This Boy Don’t Have Any Quit In Him !!
Thanks for showing us how you get things done, no matter the problem.
Damn! Couldn’t find an old deck somewhere? I’ll admit to hoarding. I must have half a dozen dead mowers around here. Mostly bent crank. Maine is rocky, and they rise.
Looks pretty good to me.
I’ve done bodywork. I’ve built stuff. Going from flat to compound curves? Yeah,, it’s Not going to look great, but ya Got the poor thing patched up and it looks solid. IDK how much time you put in that, but it looks like a Solid Win.to me.
“Who dares wins”
Hey Phil, did my little package arrive in time for all that sheet metal cutting? How the heck was I to know you would actually need the cutting wheels!
I hope it was serendipitous (is that a word?)
I haven’t seen it yet bud.
Crap!. USPS strikes again
Tracking Number:
9500110999934127703539
Delivered, In/At Mailbox
VANCOUVER, WA 98682
May 10, 2024, 1:40 pm
Was in a 9.6 OZ White padded Envelope with a voltage tester and 10 cutting wheels. Grrrr.
I just got home and it was sitting on the arm of my recliner.
THANK YOU!!
Great! You saved me a gripe session with my local postmaster 😉
After the collapse you have a future fixing vehicles for road warriors. 🙂
Hmm!
Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing.
“…An Ugly Win…”
Ugly: it’s beautiful – and it gets the job done!
I think this is great and it keeps a mower out of the junkyard. That’s what the word “conservative” actually means.
I will say that the small air cooled engines in lawn tractors like my John Deere are not designed for mowing when it’s over 100 deg. outside and that lawn mowers don’t hold up as well when you have to mow 10 months a year. When my 18 year old John Deere L-120 blew up it’s second engine and the deck was rotted through I called it off and had a new E-140 delivered. Where I live is really hard on mowers even with careful maintenance. The local John Deere dealership took the old one and put it in their parts yard so at least some use came out of it.
The B&S V-twin engines used on the Deere lawn tractors have a fatal flaw, one that I found too late. My 15-year-old Deere, “thrown in” with the deal when I bought my house, started throwing valve pushrods. It was always on the same cylinder and was always the exhaust valve pushrod. I’d pull the valve cover off and …luckily… find the bent pushrod. “Luckily,” as that pushrod could have fallen into the crankcase instead. I’d replace the pushrod, adjust the lash, and the mower would run again… for a while. Then the pushrod would bend again. This happened every couple of uses.
I used good oil, changed it regularly, and always checked the oil. There was plenty of oil getting to the pushrod. Eventually the pushrod broke, went into the crankcase, and yielded predictable results.
I did an autopsy on the engine. I pulled the fan cowling off. Everything was clean. With the cowling off, I saw two cover plates mounted over the area where the valves were. The plates were there to guide cooling air into the areas surrounding the valves. I pulled those off and found the air passages and cooling fins COMPLETELY PACKED with dirt and grass. There was NO AIRFLOW through the areas around the valves AT—ALL. The valve guide in question was overheating, causing the valve to seize in the guide. The pushrod tried to move the rocker arm. The rocker arm tried to operate the valve. The valve said “NO WAY!” The rocker arm held fast. The pushrod, being the weakest link, bent and finally broke. If I’d found this earlier I would probably still be using that tractor today. As it was, the tractor was pretty well worn. I feared that I’d spend the money on a new engine only to have the transmission go, or something. I ended up buying a Cub Cadet. I’m very happy with it.
I would DEFINITELY include pulling the cowling and cover plates off at least seasonally to clean out the cooling fins and air passages on your engine, WHATEVER air cooled engine you’re using! Do this, along with regular oil changes, and that tractor could outlive YOU!
The valve guides back out of the heads when the engines overheat and cause a collision with the rocker arm that bends the push rod and can make it fall out. You have to keep those engines cool. My original problem started when a certain spouse mowed the whole yard with the choke closed and the flame in the exhaust bent the baffling in the muffler causing a heat build up. I came home from work and she said “That thing sure uses a lot of gas”. I went and looked at it parked in the garage with the choke still slammed shut. That caused a cascading series of problems.
If your mower is a Deere, the deck drive belt jumping off is a SUPER common malady. It drops off the engine shaft pulley. The lower flange of that pulley should have been larger to keep this from happening. Try taking up the tension on the deck engagement cable. The bracket that holds the cable at the deck end has elongated holes for the mounting bolts. Back the bracket up to tighten the cable some. If that doesn’t work, turn the bracket around and bolt it to the deck again. That will give you some more adjusting room. You’ll only be able to use one of the two mounting bolts if you do this, but my personal experience can tell you that this will work. If that works for you, you can drill another hole for the other mounting bolt. There’s also a bracket you can put across the pulley to “help” keep the belt from dropping off. It “kinda” works…
Hey Phil.
Don’t forget to look after the bod. Put the “shoulds” and “need to’s” aside and have some downtime. Nothing is worth your health Bro.
Good job cuz. I’ll be in town for moms bday I’ll come over and mow for ya that week
Lemme know when you are coming.
I’d love to see you again.
Hell Phil – a good Chebby Orange paint job and that fargin deck’ll be plumb fargin be-u-ti-full!! A man after my own hart!!! My own motto was “If I can step acrosst it, I can dam sure weld it!” Gotta be just a wee bit less gap nowadays😜 Keep on keepin’ on, Bro! Never give up.
Y’all take care,
Mike in FLA.