Saved Mysef 2000 Dollars Today

7 or 8 years ago I bought a Craftsman riding lawnmower that was a piece of crap. After 2 years of light use and constant working on the Briggs and Stratton engine I finally gave up on the original engine and bought a new replacement engine for it for $700. Even now I'm constantly working on some other part of that crap lawnmower. I kept that old engine.

Around 5 years ago I was given an old John Deere mower with a Kohler engine. The original owner was told the steering shaft was bent and would not turn because of it. The mowing deck was beat all to hell and required much effort to straighten the deck, replace the blade mandrels and generally get it back to the point of mowing again. I got it home and greased up all of the steering linkage, kingpin bushings and so fourth and surprise, the steering broke loose and started turning. When I told the original owner what I did to get it turning he was embarrassed. He does earn a good living but other than that he is lazy beyond belief.

Last year it got to the point that the starter would not turn the engine unless the battery was supercharged to the max. I was told that the Briggs and Stratton would do this same thing if the valves were out of adjustment so I considered this same problem on the Kohler, but where the Briggs has solid lifters the Kohler lifters are hydraulic and not adjustable.

I suspected problems with the starter2 years ago so finally today, after 2 years flucking with it, I finally removed the starter and took it apart. Turns out the field magnet assembly had a broken magnet and was draging on the rotor. A new starter would have cost me $75 or more and I didn't want to spend that much on that old mower so I started looking at the starter on the old Briggs engine. Turns out that the field assemblies are identical on both engines. Who would have thought! I rebuilt the Kohler with the BS field assembly and Wha-La I have a new mower. Saved, paid myself $100+ by fixing the starter myself and another $2000 by not buying a new Cub Cadet mower I was looking at.

Sometimes it pays to just try even though a situation seems unlikely. I'm happy!

a reply to: CharlesT

and here I thought you were going to say you switched to geico

a reply to: Vector99 That's a Warren Buffett company and wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole. Made the mistake of buying a mobile home mfg. by one of his co's. A piece of sheat. Worked for that SOB via Acme Brick Co. and absolutely despise the POS.

a reply to: CharlesT

I was referencing the commercials lol, didn't mean to make it personal for you. Yeah, Buffet is scum, he likes to buy utilities and raise prices on a regular basis.

a reply to: Vector99
I fully understand. Even the slightest mention of Buffet triggers me. All capitalists need to be taken out and strung up. They all worship mammon and don't give a crap about humanity other than just another resource to exploit.

a reply to: CharlesT

Good effort, and you may have saved yourself more than 2k on the Cub Cadet. I have 3 acres of grass cutting and have found some issues with the xt series cub cadets.

The Kawsaki motors perform vastly better than the Kohler, both operating acceptably IF you are running non winter, very clean gas. I killed my 1st cubs (xt2 54 gt)carb and fuel system running gas that was labled less than 10% ethanol, I switched to the the zx zero turn and experienced a similar problem. I tested the gas and it was running over 15% ethanol.

Now I only run Shell gas. Also depending on your amount of cutting I highly reccomend a zero turn, it will cut your cutting time in half!

originally posted by: BlueJacket
a reply to: CharlesT

Good effort, and you may have saved yourself more than 2k on the Cub Cadet. I have 3 acres of grass cutting and have found some issues with the xt series cub cadets.

The Kawsaki motors perform vastly better than the Kohler, both operating acceptably IF you are running non winter, very clean gas. I killed my 1st cubs (xt2 54 gt)carb and fuel system running gas that was labled less than 10% ethanol, I switched to the the zx zero turn and experienced a similar problem. I tested the gas and it was running over 15% ethanol.

Now I only run Shell gas. Also depending on your amount of cutting I highly reccomend a zero turn, it will cut your cutting time in half!

Was looking at the XT2 series. I really don't need a new mower now because I have downsized to 2 acres and most of it I mow with a Land Pride 6 foot finish mower behind my old Massey Ferguson 240 tractor. I bought the tractor new in 1980 when I had cattle on 60 acres.

I'm as frugal as I can be and do my best to keep these mowers running until I just can't any more. The Craftsman was a major mistake. The old John Deere was free other than getting it running again.

When they go down I may just let my 2 acres go to seed, and let it block the view to the highway.

Then again, I may invest in a few goats.

a reply to: CharlesT

I vote goats! But, goats and chickens both leave mud in my experience eventually.

Dont even ask about this evenings out of bounds rooster story

originally posted by: BlueJacket
a reply to: CharlesT

I vote goats! But, goats and chickens both leave mud in my experience eventually.

Dont even ask about this evenings out of bounds rooster story

out of bounds rooster story? You brought it up. Let's here it.

And that, my friend, is how a man handles it.

a reply to: CharlesT

so my elder roo recently got demoted by the 2nd and 3rd. So now he is not allowed to play any more reindeer games if you know what I mean.

So for a couple of weeks hes been chased away from the hens and generally kept alone behind the coop and kept away from the prime turf.

Well, hes been slowly trying to work himself back into the flock and got the idea he would try to spur me (2 inchers) in front of ladies and the boys while filling the feed bin.
Well I knock him one, he goes airborn and lands over the fence amongst the tree and honeysuckle row etc...

Too proud to let me catch him and toss him back over, he waited till every one went in the coop before giving into his fear of the dark and its critters, finally letting me grab his wiley ass and chuck him back over the fence.

Nothing quite as frustrating as chasing a fast chicken through tight brush. Got dinner on the table 2 hours late...daughter wasnt happy with ol Dad either.

a reply to: BlueJacket

That's good!

Old roosters don't like to be manhandled. I should know. It's probably time to make him or maybe #2 or #3 the main course one evening soon.

My brother and I know someone who owns a scrapyard and we go to get stuff there when we need it. He has lots of mowers and tillers and stuff people drop off. If we bring some scrap metal, we can trade with them. I actually got two nice chainsaws that just needed to have the rings loosened up. If I can't get them to work, I just bring them back and trade them for something else. I also get some real nice commercial pans from him, they are big enough to make a big pan of lasagna or use when we have functions. They are the big baking pans from restaurants. They need to be cleaned when we get them, but Stainless steel is easy to clean. They work great for when we have family functions, using them for the meat from a pig roast and other things like corn on the cobs and stuff.

a reply to: rickymouse

People are often too quick to let frustration get the better of them and just give up too easily. If the human brain is given enough time and free of emotional influences there are many lost opportunities to make the best of situations before giving up and taking the easy route.

originally posted by: CharlesT
a reply to: rickymouse

People are often too quick to let frustration get the better of them and just give up too easily. If the human brain is given enough time and free of emotional influences there are many lost opportunities to make the best of situations before giving up and taking the easy route.

My brother made a big pig roaster from stuff he got from the scrap yard. It is made from a two hundred fifty gallon oil tank. The wheels and axles and most of the parts came from the scrap yard, the stainless steel grating he got from me, old mine grating.

originally posted by: rickymouse

originally posted by: CharlesT
a reply to: rickymouse

People are often too quick to let frustration get the better of them and just give up too easily. If the human brain is given enough time and free of emotional influences there are many lost opportunities to make the best of situations before giving up and taking the easy route.

My brother made a big pig roaster from stuff he got from the scrap yard. It is made from a two hundred fifty gallon oil tank. The wheels and axles and most of the parts came from the scrap yard, the stainless steel grating he got from me, old mine grating.

Rickymouse, Years ago I decided to have a family barbecue one year around Easter so I bought a small pig to grill on an open pit. I built a split from scrap steel, mounted bearings, a pole and forks to hold the pig and used an old
roto-tiler gearbox with an electric motor attached to turn it. After I got it all built it rotated 3 times every minute, all night long. Problem was, I set it too high off of the fire and didn't keep the fire hot enough. The festivities were great but the roasted pig sucked.

PS: It was still squealing when we tried to serve it.

a reply to: CharlesT

You would have saved a lot more money had you just bought an old garden tractor in the first place.

Bolens made solid machines, probably weigh 3-4 times what a modern ride on mower does, and has the power to drag stuff around if needed. Can be had for 400-700 on craigslist, and will last many years with basic upkeep.

a reply to: Vector99

No joke, I probably have saved over 2K with geico!

but back to mowers, our John deere died after 4 years, we sold it for a good price and purchased
an electric riding mower. One of the best purchases in a long time. Cuts over 2 acres on one charge, cuts perfectly, no gas to deal with.

Why Not Just Get A Few Broncos And Let Them Graze.... ?!?

Works Out For All Of Us............

originally posted by: CharlesT
a reply to: Vector99
I fully understand. Even the slightest mention of Buffet triggers me. All capitalists need to be taken out and strung up. They all worship mammon and don't give a crap about humanity other than just another resource to exploit.

Brags about saving himself $2,000... Says all capitalists should be killed. That's a double bind if I ever saw one.