That looks just like the one my dad had for about (5) years. My parents lawn is about 4 acres, and very flat. It worked very good until last season, when it wouldn’t start. It turned out that a plug under the switch had worked loose.
Getting it going involved taking out the (4) screws that hold the panel in, lifting that up (wasn’t real easy to do that) and pushing the plug back in. It loosened up several more times last season. I tried wrapping it with electric tape which helped a little, but it still didn’t start on occasion. We discovered that tapping the panel with a rubber mallet would get it to start if there was a “no go”, so he kept that mallet on it and used it for most starts last season.
He got a little too feeble to easily get on and off this year, so I took over the mowing duty. I did the spring service on it, installing new filters and oil change on the Kohler engine.
On my first cut, the grass had got quite high and a spring came off of the deck when I bogged down in a real thick spot. Fortunately, I found it, reinstalled and finished the cut. I had also needed the rubber mallet to get it to go.
On my second cut this spring, the motor started but the pto would not engage. I cut an acre, close to the house, with my old wheelhorse gear drive 12 hp lawn tractor, that I had given my dad to pull his roller, a few years ago. Cutting with that takes a long time, which I didn’t have working a full time job and having a big lawn of my own to take care of about 20 miles from my parents.
The following week, dreading cutting my patent’s whole 4 acres with the old wheelhorse (the back 3 acres now about a foot tall), I walked to the dealer across the street and traded the non-spinning mower blade MZ in on a new z-454 commercial model.
That thing has been working great, after 4 or 5 more cuts. It did bog down a little on the first one, chopping that foot tall grass down to 2” in a single cut. I went slow and got it done. I learned that it handles the real tall stuff much better if done in stages, starting with a max height (4-1/2”) cut. I did a little spot on the neighbors with it last time, that was 2-3 ft tall and hadn’t been cut yet this year.
Mowing with that new Husqvarna is so much fun, that I really look forward to the job every week. I’ve thought about getting the suspension seat for it, but that would just make me do the job faster, cutting down on my “fun time”.
Good luck with your MZ. How big of lawn are you cutting with it ?
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Those things can really go quite a distance, and be awfully hard to find, when they do! I had the idler tension spring pop off my Deere deck once, and the damn thing must have gone close to 80 feet before the grass slowed it to a stop. Given I didn’t see it fly, I had no idea even which direction to start hunting.
