Another "SHORT" Wife Story

[CSAW]

Another \"SHORT\" Wife Story

My wife is 5'1" tall (short). Sometimes she helps me mow the yard with the JD STX38 lawn mower. When she mows I have to move the seat all the way forward. The problem is when she pushes the clutch in to start she has to slide all the forward on the seat and pull on the steering wheel to push it far enough to overcome the safety switch. This results in her rear end raising off the seat then the seat switch won't let it start.

I have to hold the clutch down for her while she starts it. I have not looked to see if it is adjustable or not cause it does not matter as she only mows when I am working in the yard. I'm sure I could overide it but it's no big deal.

 

[Inspector507]

Re: Another \"SHORT\" Wife Story

You could "over-ride" the seat switch, but I'd rather help my wife start it myself. you could also add blocks of some sort to the pedals to help her out /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Re: Another \"SHORT\" Wife Story

Mine is 5' exactly, if you include the hair. She has HER tractor, and I have the rest of the tractors. She has informed me the Yanmar 240D is too dam big, and she won't even try to operate it.
HER tractor is a Jacobsen 120, circa 1972, and she does just fine with it. HER last tractor was a Wheel Horse hydrostatic, she managed to destroy the hubs because she only went from forward to reverse without stopping in EMERGENCYS. I stopped counting after the 37th emergency in the front lawn.
As time goes on you learn to accomodate.
Her first car was a corvair, with 4" blocks on the gas and brake pedals, and a bench seat. I'm 6'1", and learned to ride in the Corvair with my knees on the dash. I didn't have back problems then.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Re: Another \"SHORT\" Wife Story

Reminds me of my first wife trying to drive my hot rod CJ5. It had an aluminum flywheel with a thirty eight hundred pound Scheiffer pressure plate hooked up to the Super T10.

It took both of her hands on the wheel to get the leverage to push in the clutch. When she'd reach for the shifter her foot would come up off the clutch.

Gawd that jeep was fun. I sure miss it.

 

[Boondox]

Re: Another \"SHORT\" Wife Story

When I was in the navy one of my fellow chiefs was a SEAL who stood 6'4"...and his wife was 4'10" with her hair up. Real independent girl. I remember one summer when her husband was deployed and she was hugely pregnant with twins she was cussing up a blue streak because she couldn't reach the oil drain plug to change her own oil. That big belly kept getting in the way! It sure was hard swallowing my amusement!

Pete

 

[Wingnut]

Re: Another \"SHORT\" Wife Story

I'm luckier ... mine is 5'2" with her hair up .... and she's "usually" remembers to put the seat back after she's driven the van or truck. In order for me to drive (long legs), I need the seat all the way back and reclining slightly (hat bumps the roof) ... while she sits up front and straight ....
No problems with the tractor as I'm expected to do all the driving ... tractor, bike, car, truck .... while she does my napping for me. She drives when I'm not around and she has to take her mom to the doctors .....
but heck guys ... those men married to non-vertically-challenged women can't kiss them on the top of the head like we can!

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Re: Another \"SHORT\" Wife Story

One of the most fun things to do with verticly chalenged women is to stare at the top of their head and politely suggest they are going slightly bald in a certain spot. That will definitely drive up mirror time, as well as consults with girlfriends. Course, it can also get you whomped with the broom.
Live dangerously, life is short!
Seat left forward, well, that's a direct path to the Chyropractor, thankfully, mine carrys a pager.

 

[bgott]

Re: Another

I'm 6'4'' and have spent a good part of my life as an auto mechanic. I can't figure out if my bad knees are from standing on concrete ten hours a day forever or banging the crap out of 'em four or five times a day crawling into cars owned by munchkins. I really loved the POS's that had the seat all the way forward and the electric motor shorted out or the cables broken. Those cars usually also stunk and had six or eight terminal problems with owners that wanted you to fix the one thing that would make the car run like new. Due to those folks loving my nasty disposition or my bearded mug or my semi competence and luck at wiring junk back together for next to nothing they would keep coming back time and time again to imprint the images of their dash knobs on my knees. ( Run on sentence, you say? I'm a mechanic, no one expects me to be literate! ) If I never have to crawl into someone else's vehicle I'll be one happy man!