well - sent a leeter to the head honchos of husqvarna

[Alien]

Far be it from me to leave a fellow TBNr 'up in the air' so today, I spent considerable time on my 1542 Kwakka.
So Gem99ultra.... I did a blade maintenance yesterday. I always keep them sharp as I only ever need to run about 1/2 throttle unless I am in heavy stuff.
Today I changed the oil and filter, only needed to clean the air filter, removed the top engine cover and removed and checked the fuel bowl. Nice and clean as I have a auto fuel filter in line. I also filter all my fuel when I refill the mower. Then I checked the valve clearances. One was a smidgen loose and another a smidgen tight but quite OK. (I feel better having done that) Adjusted idle speed and put nickel antisieze on all the bolts when I reassembled it. Nickle antisieze is the best thing when used on the blade securing bolts too.
Dropped out the plugs and checked the gaps. Looked to be in perfect condition for 690 hours of running.
Back together and dropped two LH idler rollers down a adjustment and then took my Pug dog for a drive around the property. He loves anything with a motor so long as he can ride it.
Don't need any choke in this weather at all.
love my Husky...

 

[Gem99ultra]

Awwww Alein, that soooo nice. Your YTH1542 is just going to love you so much and serve you well for another 15 years. But if it does fail you, BlackOps certainly has one that I think you could pick up cheap.

In most cases, not all, good maintenance will pay you back in spades. And with all of the service work that you just did, I think you're holding a winning hand.

 

[cdaigle430]

Awwww Alein, that soooo nice. Your YTH1542 is just going to love you so much and serve you well for another 15 years. But if it does fail you, BlackOps certainly has one that I think you could pick up cheap.

In most cases, not all, good maintenance will pay you back in spades. And with all of the service work that you just did, I think you're holding a winning hand.

Speaking of good maintenance....While I do change the oil every year and oil filter every other year with 400 hours I am a lazy SOB when it comes to the rest. All my belts are original, spark plugs were changed once, valve adjustment once. Fuel filter once, one new battery and I only grease the deck and steering once a year. Doesn't smoke or burn oil and runs smooth. I do condition the fuel and once in a while add sea foam. I also replace the air filter once every three years....cleaning in between. I think I am on my 3rd set of mowing blades and second set of mulching. All that since 2006.....I also still have the 3 bin bagger----all original. I always run at full throttle, not sure why though.

 

[Alien]

Funny thing, I said to my wife recently, If I ever get a new mower I am going to take that Kwakka motor off this one and put it on the new mower.
That is what I think of it. There are many years left in it yet. I also checked the starter motor pinion gear and ring gear for signs of wear but it is perfect considering how much use it has had. Even the deck clutch is original and still working well and I hope it keeps going as they are a couple of hundred bucks here. I always engage it at less than 1/2 throttle.

 

[Gem99ultra]

Funny thing, I said to my wife recently, If I ever get a new mower I am going to take that Kwakka motor off this one and put it on the new mower.
That is what I think of it. There are many years left in it yet. I also checked the starter motor pinion gear and ring gear for signs of wear but it is perfect considering how much use it has had. Even the deck clutch is original and still working well and I hope it keeps going as they are a couple of hundred bucks here. I always engage it at less than 1/2 throttle.

I'm on the other side of the fence with my Rider 155. It's 15 years old with something over 2500 hours on it. If it died today, sure I'd be sad, but I'd give it a burial with honors. I maintained it well and it has served me well. I paid $2700 for it back in '02 which was a lot of money for a mower back then. It has been flooded with over 3' of water over the seat; sat for days like that because the entire area had flooded. Mower was the least of my concerns at the time

But, I essentially totally dismantled that mower, cleaned every part, every electrical connection, and greased every mechanical piece. That was at about age 6. Hit the starter, she fired up, and has never failed to start since, other than an occasional dead battery.

Then Hurricane Ike hit us back there in Texas. Poor old Rider was used like a tractor dragging huge trees out of the yard, hundreds of wagon loads of limbs, building materials, you-name-it. Absolutely abused but it never faltered. All the while it was also used to mow 3 acres of weeds and grass twice a week, 10 months of the year, for 12 of those 15 years. the old Rider is still here in the stable, but has light duty these days, being asked to only cut the pristine patch of weeds around the place. No more grunt work for the little Rider 155. Grunt work is now left to the GTH26V52LS (with a Kawasaki engine) and the Kubota tractor.

 

[Alien]

Sorry to hear about your flood experience mate. We had bad ones here in 2011 and 2013 with a few people still missing. Luckily we are up on a ridge so apart from being cut off for a few days and no power at least we were safe but hungry. All our food wasted away.
I used to mow high thick stalky weeds in my paddocks with the Husky. Some were as high as my chest when sitting on the mower but I had to keep it sharp and take it slow. Luckily I can spare it from that now as I bought a flail mower for my Kioti that does the tough stuff now. I don't get so covered in dust anymore. LOL