At Home In The Woods

[Tororider]

For your needs a new residential grade, or used commercial zero turn would serve your purpose well.

 

[Obed]

I borrowed my FIL's extra push mower and mowed the yard and property entrance yesterday evening. It took an hour and 30 minutes to mow approximately 3/4 acre. Having the loaned mower gives me a little time to figure out what to do.

Thanks for all the kind words.
Obed

 

[chim]

Good to hear from you. I discovered your thread a little over a year ago, and thoroughly enjoyed your journey.

I've been happily using RFM's for over 20 years here at our place. Until a couple years ago I used 5' RFM's and it took 1-1/4 hours to do a little over 2-1/4 acres.

About two years ago we added 1-1/3 acres of yard, which puts the grass at about 3-1/2 acres. . While we were transforming the additional acreage into yard, I bought an L3200 with a 6'RFM. With the added grass, mowing time is still 1-1/4 hours.

The loaders I've had were very easy on/off, and I never mow with a loader on the tractor. With a loader on, there would be places that I couldn't get close enough without using a small walk-behind or way too much time with a string trimmer. A little creative mulching eliminates most trimming.

 

[like2wheel]

The above quote is from 2 years ago. Now my old Kubota lawnmower is broken again. I just can't figure out why a 20 year old lawn mower would keep breaking. The mower will barely move up a slight hill. I suppose the belt could need replacing. The tensioner pulley seems to be doing its job. However, it feels like the gear that moves the rear axle is worn.
.

Why not at least try a new belt?
If it were a gear, you certainty would know; they can't slip without grinding then it would stop altogether. Maybe replace the spring on the tensioner for good measure. Both should be inexpensive, & its not unusual that a belt would wear out after 2 years. They get a hard glaze & slip in the pulley. If performance improves temporarily when you spray on some belt dressing, you found your problem.

 

[Obed]

Why not at least try a new belt?
If it were a gear, you certainty would know; they can't slip without grinding then it would stop altogether. Maybe replace the spring on the tensioner for good measure. Both should be inexpensive, & its not unusual that a belt would wear out after 2 years. They get a hard glaze & slip in the pulley. If performance improves temporarily when you spray on some belt dressing, you found your problem.

Good suggestion. My wife is going to order the belt. I am optimistic that replacing it may fix the problem.
Obed

 

[Obed]

Today I went to Home Depot and bought a $180 + tax MTD Yard Machines 21" push mower. I didn't want a self-propelled mower; I have found that I can push a lightweight push mower much faster than any of the self-propelled models I have tried.



I opened up the manual to familiarize myself with the mower.



I was astounded to find out that being able to adjusting the throttle was an "option" that this machine does not have.



I definitely would have not bought this mower if I had known there was no throttle control. I was tempted to return the mower; however, that would mean more inconvenience so I decided to make do without a throttle control.

Next, I decided to add oil to the engine. With the help of the manual, I found the oil cap/dipstick. Unfortunately, I could not unscrew the oil cap dipstick by hand; it was too tight and to small in diameter and required a screwdriver to loosen it. The yellow cap in the picture shows the oil cap/dipstick. It occurred to me that if the dipstick is too difficult to access, I may be less likely to check the oil level as much as I should. The oil cap is yellow in the pictures.



To make things worse, the yellow oil cap is in a terrible, almost inaccessible spot. It is underneath the overhanging engine cover. To add oil would require a funnel with a hose. To drain the oil in order to change it, when the machine is upside down, the oil will drain into the overhanging engine cover and make a mess.



Without saying anything to my wife, I had her read the manual and look at the oil cap location and she drew the same conclusions I did.

That was enough for me. I boxed the mower back up and will return it.

I never occurred to me when shopping to check to see if the engine would have a throttle control. It never occurred to me to make sure the oil cap and dipstick were easily accessible. These are features I would think would be standard, even on the lease expensive mowers. But I was wrong.

 

[Coyote machine]

Edit: in a closer reading of your gripes about the junk mower you wasted money buying it is now clear you were talking about a handle mounted throttle lever more so than being able to adjust the throttle mechanism at the carburetor. In either case the 'optional,' extra money throttle lever is not included, and if it was, there would be a start and run position most likely with nothing in between.

It's standard that adjustment of carburetors on lawnmowers and weed eaters, chainsaws, etc. is NOT allowed. The jets are plugged at the factory and adjustment is against the law. Dealers are not allowed to remove the plugs to set the hi/lo idle screws under any circumstances. This has been the case for many years. It's considered tampering with emissions controls and is strictly forbidden by the EPA, ESPECIALLY on lawnmowers, one of the most polluting devices known to man on planet Earth.
What exact planet do you live on that this comes as a surprise?:confused3::confused2:

 

[Obed]

We also shopped for riding mowers today. We went to a Cub Cadet dealer and looked at models between $1800 and $4600. We looked at conventional mowers and zero turn. The salesman was very helpful and seemed knowledgeable. The zero turn mowers came in two configurations, one with a steering wheel and one with hand levers for steering. The salesman indicated that the lever machines are difficult to maneuver on hills because the front wheels are free spinning. He said the steering wheel model would do much better on hills because you can use the steering wheel to force the front wheels to stay in the direction you choose. I tend to think I would prefer a steering wheel anyway.

We also went to a store that sells ExMark mowers. I'm not familiar with the brand but they had a 42" zero turn mower that I liked better than the Cub Cadet mowers.

Regardless, I plan on replacing the drive belt on my old Kubota and see if that fixes the mower. I really like my old Kubota mower.

 

[Obed]

It's standard that adjustment of carburetors on lawnmowers and weed eaters, chainsaws, etc. is NOT allowed. It's considered tampering with emissions controls and is strictly forbidden by the EPA, ESPECIALLY on lawnmowers, one of the most polluting devices known to man on planet Earth.
What exact planet do you live on that this comes as a surprise?:confused3::confused2:

By throttle control, I simply mean increasing or decreasing the speed at which the engine runs - just like I can do on my log splitter, my riding mower, and the push mower I borrowed from my FIL. The MTD push mower manual says a throttle control is an option. See the picture of the manual below.



Coyote, are you saying that adjusting the engine speed on a mower is no longer allowed by the government?

Obed

 

[Obed]

Good to hear from you. I discovered your thread a little over a year ago, and thoroughly enjoyed your journey.

I've been happily using RFM's for over 20 years here at our place. Until a couple years ago I used 5' RFM's and it took 1-1/4 hours to do a little over 2-1/4 acres.

About two years ago we added 1-1/3 acres of yard, which puts the grass at about 3-1/2 acres. . While we were transforming the additional acreage into yard, I bought an L3200 with a 6'RFM. With the added grass, mowing time is still 1-1/4 hours.

The loaders I've had were very easy on/off, and I never mow with a loader on the tractor. With a loader on, there would be places that I couldn't get close enough without using a small walk-behind or way too much time with a string trimmer. A little creative mulching eliminates most trimming.

Chim, you must really enjoy mowing. 2 1/4 acres was not enough yard for you so now you have 3 1/2 acres to mow. My place takes about 1 1/2 hours to mow with my Kubota when I mow the yard, the garden area, and the property entrance. You appear to be able to mow twice as much acreage than I mow in less time.

Obed