At Home In The Woods

[PAGUY]

Beautiful thick grass but you are cutting too low. You need to cut it no more than half its length.

Your now one of us with your bungee cord fix. I've been doing the same since I bought the mower. :thumbsup:

PAGUY

 

[MoKelly]

I installed this safety feature on my mower. I was concerned about heat exhaustion caused by having to restart my mower every time I let go of the mower handle to pick up a stick in the yard. My new safety feature did the trick.

View attachment 424501

Too funny. That was good.

MoKelly

 

[Obed]

Why would you let your grass grow that long before cutting it anyway??

Two weeks of rain every day.
Obed

 

[Larro Darro]

Why would you let your grass grow that long before cutting it anyway??


Sent from my iPhone 5s 64Gb using TractorByNet

I don't know how it is up at Obed's place, but at the Larro Ranchero life doesn't stop just because the grass is growing. Since I mow 6 acres of yard, I thought it would be a good idea to make the garden bigger. While it did make the yard a little smaller, the hour to square foot ratio of garden to yard is not gaining me more time.

 

[clemsonfor]

Honda does this because their carbs will leak gas into the cylinder.

Ariens snow throwers have a spring loaded valve to completely drain the float bowl just by pushing on it. Honda generators have a turn screw. Running it until it dies doesn't completely drain the float bowl.

....I buy Mogas at an airport that doesn't have ethanol so it's less of a concern.

I h just started putting fuel cutoffs in everything. I cut the fuel off and let it run till it dies. Whats left in the bowl i dont much worry about and it will evaporate in a few days.

I buy ethonol free gass for small equiptment. I have my choice of 87 or 91 octane that i can buy E free here.

 

[clemsonfor]

Replacing the Drive Belt on the Kubota Mower

In order to fix the issue I had getting my mower to drive up a hill two years ago, I replaced the drive belt, tension pulley spring, and fixed the tension pulley. Unfortunately, the mower is having trouble moving again. So I decided to try replacing the drive belt again.
View attachment 423375 View attachment 423374

I removed the mower deck.
View attachment 423376 View attachment 423377 View attachment 423378 View attachment 423379

The pulley in the left side of the picture is attached to the gearbox that turns the rear axle. The pulley in the right side of the picture is the tension pulley. You can see the arm to which the pulley is attached that provides tension on the belt using the spring attached to the tension arm.

View attachment 423383
I removed the rear pulley in order to remove the 2 year old drive belt.
View attachment 423384

I replaced the 2 year old Kubota belt with a new Kubota belt. After installing the new drive belt, the mower still had problems moving, especially up a slight hill. Upon closer inspection, it appears that the tension spring I replaced 2 years ago didn't appear to be stretching hardly at all. The spring looks to be too long to do its job. The belt feels much too loose.
View attachment 423385

So my wife found the old spring I replaced 2 years ago.
View attachment 423388

The shiny one on the left is what I put on the mower 2 years ago. The rusty one on the right is the original spring. The replacement spring is definitely longer than the original. It appears that the Kubota dealer sold us a spring that is too long to put proper tension on the drive belt. My wife is going to go back to the dealer to see if we can get a spring that matches the original. Our mower was manufactured in 1989. I wonder if Kubota no longer makes the original spring. Finding a replacement may become a headache.

I knew it sounded like the belt was slipping.

glad you found it and good on her for keeping old but servicable parts. This shows to make sure you check the parts before replacement ...close.

I agree put that one back on, but you will need it for comparisons. You can find a generic spring i am certain if that one is NLA. Check ebay if your store does not have it but i am sure they are still availible even if NOS.

 

[clemsonfor]

My New Push Mower
The consumer grade mowers all seem so similar it is tough to believe that they are actually made by different manufacturers. It makes me suspect that a company in china makes them all and each "manufacturer" specs out the engine model, color, and a few minor cosmetic differences to the "actual" Chinese manufacturer that "actually" builds the machines.
View attachment 423487

.

You have figured out china manufactureing!!! There is a few companies that make things and they end up with different colors and sometime componets but generally simiar. You see the same things except decals and stickers and sometimes raised letters at both Northern tool and Harbor freight and other stores.

I have an earthquake chainsaw which is a copy of a redmax with is sort of based and like some of the homeowner Husqvarnas, and there is just chinese copy saws you can buy off ebay that are copies of these. The Redmax is a japanese saw i beleive and mine is a chineese copy. Earthquakes were sold at places like meynards and HD.

I like it for what it is. I am a chain saw nut. Its a limbing/backup saw/truck saw.

 

[Arkaybee]

Replacing the Drive Belt on the Kubota Mower

In order to fix the issue I had getting my mower to drive up a hill two years ago, I replaced the drive belt, tension pulley spring, and fixed the tension pulley. Unfortunately, the mower is having trouble moving again. So I decided to try replacing the drive belt again.
View attachment 423375 View attachment 423374

I removed the mower deck.
View attachment 423376 View attachment 423377 View attachment 423378 View attachment 423379

The pulley in the left side of the picture is attached to the gearbox that turns the rear axle. The pulley in the right side of the picture is the tension pulley. You can see the arm to which the pulley is attached that provides tension on the belt using the spring attached to the tension arm.

View attachment 423383
I removed the rear pulley in order to remove the 2 year old drive belt.
View attachment 423384

I replaced the 2 year old Kubota belt with a new Kubota belt. After installing the new drive belt, the mower still had problems moving, especially up a slight hill. Upon closer inspection, it appears that the tension spring I replaced 2 years ago didn't appear to be stretching hardly at all. The spring looks to be too long to do its job. The belt feels much too loose.
View attachment 423385

So my wife found the old spring I replaced 2 years ago.
View attachment 423388

The shiny one on the left is what I put on the mower 2 years ago. The rusty one on the right is the original spring. The replacement spring is definitely longer than the original. It appears that the Kubota dealer sold us a spring that is too long to put proper tension on the drive belt. My wife is going to go back to the dealer to see if we can get a spring that matches the original. Our mower was manufactured in 1989. I wonder if Kubota no longer makes the original spring. Finding a replacement may become a headache.

OBED

Confirm that the idler pulley arm swings freely on its pivot post. On the Kubota mowers I have had there is a grease fitting on the side of that post that must be greased regularly. If not greased it can become very stiff and bind up so that it doesn't pivot correctly and thus doesn't allow the spring to properly tension the pulley. Even if the post doesn't have a grease fitting it can still bind due to rust and/or crud accumulation in which case you could remove, clean, grease and reinstall.

HTH
Arkaybee

 

[clemsonfor]

Arkay has a very good point. Spray something like PB blaster or squirt Transmission fluid up there or better yet pull it down and hand grease it and reassemble

 

[Garandman]

You have figured out china manufactureing!!! There is a few companies that make things and they end up with different colors and sometime componets but generally simiar. You see the same things except decals and stickers and sometimes raised letters at both Northern tool and Harbor freight and other stores.

It's beyond that. Most of the mowers are made in one city. The plants are lined up next to each other.